Auto Racing Safety Features
How important are helmets in auto racing?
Helmets may be one of your more important safety aspects and I think as a driver, never cheat yourself on trying to get the cheapest helmet or whatever, because that's obviously protecting your head. Helmets now are very expensive. In open cockpit, open forms or open wheel racing helmets are, there are some aerodynamics built into helmets, otherwise you're going down the straightaway at two hundred miles an hour and your head could be sitting back like this, because airs getting under it. So aerodynamics they kind of have little air dams on the chin. But a helmet, don't ever cheat yourself on safety.
What is the purpose of a 'window net' in auto racing?
Window net is something that's clamped to your door and your roofline to keep your body parts and your arms and things like that. If you are rolling over and tumbling, you don't want your hands or your arms sticking out of the cars because that could create a problem. In NASCAR you have to have a window net on both sides of the car, and the more serious is at least on the driver's side.
What are 'roof flaps' in auto racing?
Roof flaps are used mainly in nascar. I don't know whether any other series have them, but what happens is that the nascar's do have some aerodynamics in the shape of their body to keep the cars plain on the ground. I guess it's like an aeroplane probably couldn't fly sideways, because there wouldn't be lifting under their wings, so if a nascar gets sideways, all those aerodynamics go away, so basically all the roof flaps come up to help keep the car from floating up in the air, and tumbling. It helps the down force on the car.
What is a 'roll cage' in auto racing?
With a roll cage, basically, in the old days, you just had a roll bar right behind your head, and it went from one side of the car to the other. Now, a roll cage is basically where there's a front roll cage hoop where your legs are, there might be a rear one, there's one, obviously, over your head, there's beams down the side of each door, and it's just a big cage. If you looked at it separately, with no body around it, it'd be a tubular cage that you sit in.
How do drivers stay safe in the roll cage?
They stay safe in the roll cage by having a seat that is basically formed to their bodies, so that they have a maximum support and then a belt system. A safety belt system that keeps them in that seat. So then at the roll over they don't move, they stay in that protective cocoon.
What are 'restrictor plates' in auto racing?
In the super speedways, if cars are getting up to over 210 or 220 miles per hour, and they felt from a safety standpoint, that's a little bit too fast for running in NASCAR where you don't have the aerodynamic advantage of wings and things like that. So they put on restrictor plates, which it's basically a plate that's issued by NASCAR, and you put it I believe between the intake manifold and the carburettor, and it has a certain sized hole to restrict the air-fuel mixture going into the engine. So in a sense, it equalizes the cars so that everybody can only go fast. So it basically reduces the speed I would say by 10-20 miles an hour.
What are 'tire inner liners'?
How does a racing uniform protect a driver?
What is the 'HANS' device in auto racing?
A HANS device is a "head and neck restraint system," and it enables your head and neck to remain stable under an impact or an accident, so that it doesn't move around. Where your body is strapped in by the belt system. If you don't have a HANS device, then your head is able to move around. With the HANS device, your head stays in line with your body.
What is the 'SAFER' barrier?
Let's look at is as if you hit a concrete wall. You're hitting something that's pretty solid. If you hit a 'SAFER' barrier, it will collapse a little bit and absorb some of the energy, so that the car doesn't absorb all the energy. It's more like a glancing blow rather than a head on.
