IndyCar Considering F1-Style Cockpit Protection


IndyCar is considering adopting an F1-style windscreen or cockpit deflector to protect drivers says the series’ vice president of competition and race engineering, Bill Pappas.

While speaking at the Performance Racing Industry show in Indianapolis, Pappas said “Some sort of windscreen is currently the one we’re researching the most. We think if we can get something that gets the driver’s head below whatever we have in front of them – a windscreen – that should act as a deflector.

“If you think about Justin [Wilson]’s accident, it was such a one-in-a-how-many-millions chance, but then you look back at Felipe Massa’s accident [in practice for the 2009 Hungarian GP], if he would have had some sort of screen in front of him, it probably would have deflected the spring. So, we’re looking at that as a more likely solution.”

Further detailing possible solutions IndyCar could adopt, Pappas said that it is looking at the high-strength cockpits used by jet fighters and the possibility of using similar materials in racing, reports Motorsport. 

Although Formula One was originally set to adopt head protection for the 2017 season, a decision was made in July to push back the radical change 12 months to allow for additional development time of Ferrari’s ‘Halo’ system.

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