Massa suffers serious injury - helmet strike by Barrichello's broken suspension

[Hedge]

I think you're losing the love, Geezer. It just happens. Nowt you can do to change it. The interest/ enthusiasm goes.

You can even tell it from following your own posts.

Cheers, Hedge

[Steve]

[quote="jon b"]
Have you, why not?

On a serious note, I have been thinking about my car options for some time. With the delay on the delivery of my 3 I may just sell my 2 now and then consider next steps, delaying delivery if the 3 until next March
[/quote]

Haven't ruled out getting one.

On a serious note, some years ago my Grandfather caught a bouncing lorry wheel straight through his windscreen in an old Triumph Saloon. Luckily it came through on the passenger side, but still smashed his face up.

[jon b]

I knew a bloke who smoked 100 fags a day - yet still lived to the age of 89 

[benyeats]

[quote="jon b"]
In some respects it was lucky this 2lb spring was still moving as the impact speed will have been reduced to maybe 110 ish mph.
[/quote]

Wasn't the spring moving towards Massa thus increasing the effective impact speed ?

Has made me think about getting a proper car helmet with a thicker visor that's for sure.  However racing drivers must have smaller heads than me as I have yet to find one that will fit, also the reduced peripheral vision could negate the benefit.

Ben

[jon b]

[quote="benyeats"]
[quote="jon b"]
In some respects it was lucky this 2lb spring was still moving as the impact speed will have been reduced to maybe 110 ish mph.
[/quote]

Wasn't the spring moving towards Massa thus increasing the effective impact speed ?

Ben
[/quote]

Weird isn't it - the spring certainly should be going in the same direction when you think about it

[Bruce Fielding]

[quote="benyeats"]
Wasn't the spring moving towards Massa thus increasing the effective impact speed ?
[/quote]

I think it was the other way around... the spring was moving away from Massa, just slower than he was moving towards it...

[Hedge]

I read somewhere that the lids these guys use are 4x stronger than either they used to be or what your average lid currently is.

Is this true? How much do they cost, then? Scary amounts, presumably.

Cheers, Hedge

[NathanE]

[quote="benyeats"]
also the reduced peripheral vision could negate the benefit.

[/quote]

Ben,

I've been using a car helmet (Bell RS3) for a year now, and the peripheral vision is categorically not an issue for me.  The main difference is in the vertical apeture measurement, not the horizontal.  I do not notice any difference in field of vision between this helmet and my other bike helmets. 

N

[Bruce Fielding]

[quote="Hedge"]
I read somewhere that the lids these guys use are 4x stronger than either they used to be or what your average lid currently is.

Is this true? How much do they cost, then? Scary amounts, presumably.

Cheers, Hedge
[/quote]

I don't think it is true compared to a normal car racing helmet...

I use a schuberth (same make as Massas) but I don't think it's quite as strong (c.£400). And I also use an Arai GP5-W - the same as the leading car one without fireproof lining and with a slightly wider aperture - and much less expensive (£560 vs £930). Still uses a 3mm visor though. There is a now a GP6 but that's £2500!!!!

[wasp]

[quote="jon b"]
There comes a time when you think about your options. This reality is just another reason for me to consider other options. How much have I driven the atom in the last year - oh maybe a few hundred miles....The reality isn't about whether I'm man enough to drive an Atom
[/quote]

Truth is, when one of the worlds' best drivers, with a super responsive car and the best safety equipment money can buy has an accident like this we all have a bit of a panic re our mortality and the risks we take out on a track. I have yet to meet an Atom owner who religiously kits himself out in full nomex every time he goes out, buys the most expensieve Helmet money can buy, nevers fuels up from a jerrycan etc,etc.
Jon B is the only owner I have seen use a Hans device and I would be lying if I said I was even considering buying one.
The Atom is a great handling car and pretty well screwed together. On a nice sunny day there is nowhere I would rather be than hurtling round a track in mine. I know the risk and I try to minimise it as much as possible (even if I do look like a cock in my suit).
Jon is a good driver who takes safety seriously and makes his own choices but i would much rather be in an Atom than on any bike I have owned. For me, cutting out all risk would make life just a bit too sanitised

[Bruce Fielding]

Interestingly, Massa wore (as do all the drivers this year) a Schuberth RF1 helmet. Extensive searches on the web reveal... none for sale except replicas. What's that about?

[Hedge]

[quote="Bruce Fielding"]
Still uses a 3mm visor though.
[/quote]

When you think about it, considering all the R&D that goes into the rest of the lid, a 3mm-thick piece of plastic protecting your minces don't sound a lot, does it 
Cheers, Hedge

[benyeats]

[quote="jon b"]
Weird isn't it - the spring certainly should be going in the same direction when you think about it
[/quote]

[quote="Bruce Fielding"]
I think it was the other way around... the spring was moving away from Massa, just slower than he was moving towards it...
[/quote]

Logically that has to be the case now I think about it, however just watched it again and it appears to be moving towards his car, look at its position ref the marshalls post to the left of the track.

My supposition is the spring uncompressing from its normal operating position 'pinged' off the car in the opposite direction, it will have been under quite some compressive force and having seen the effects of a road car spring suddenly decompressing (badly fitted spring compressor) I can see and argument for it going in almost any direction!

Ben

[Steve Gibson]

I thought Barrichello's response was strange. He said that the Surtees and Massa incidents happening in the same week were 'not a coincidence'. He reckoned that they happened for some kind of spooky reason. A coincidence is exactly what I thought it was. I think it's perfectly possible for two helmet impacts to occur in a week, given the thousands of miles that are raced every year.

If I sat down and listed all the risks associated with driving the Atom I'd probably never get in a roofless car again, but then I'm not a dad, so I can see where Jon is coming from.

[Bruce Fielding]

I think it's a bit 'dog bites child' sort of thing.... they always seem to come in pairs - or more...