16 replies to this topic

[quintin cloud]

hi Guys

I was asked a question the other day about safety car in Formula 1, when was the safety car first seen at a GP and when was the safety first used ?

[Vrba]

I think the first deployment of safety car was in 1973 Canadian Grand Prix....and a controversial one it was as the car went out in front of the wrong Formula 1 car (not the leader) and everything after that was a chaos, it is even questionable whether Peter Revson really did win the race (there were claims that Fittipaldi was the actual winner).
I think that first mention (but not deployment because there was no reasons for it) of the safety car was at the 1973 Austrian Grand Prix. But in those days of less formal rules, the idea was probably not written in the rules then.
IIRC, the safety car was finally brought in in 1993.

Hrvoje

[Japan Time]

I think the first safety car (actually I think we called it "pace car" these days) was a Porsche 914 - quite a horrible car indeed:


Photo: Forix

Yet, at some other times better, exotic models have been in use - like this one at Monaco in 1982:


Photo: Lamborghini registry

Since the "re-introduction" of 1993, I believe FIA mostly uses silver Mercedes-Benzes.

[René de Boer]

Originally posted by Japan Time
Since the "re-introduction" of 1993, I believe FIA mostly uses silver Mercedes-Benzes.

I just finished a story about the Formula 1 Safety Cars for the Dutch importer of Mercedes-Benz, so I have some more details. Mercedes-Benz have signed a deal to supply the Safety Car - and other Formula 1 Support Vehicles, such as Media Shuttles, the doctor's car etc. - in 1997. The first Mercedes to be used was a CLK 55 AMG (1997, 1998 and 1999), then came a CL 55 AMG (2000), an SL 55 AMG (2001, 2002) and the new CLK 55 AMG that made its debut as a Safety Car at last Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.

It is based on the CLK Coupé, powered by an AMG eight-cylinder engine with 5.5 litre displacement and an output of 270 kW (367 hp). Modifications were made on the aerodynamics, the cooling system, the fuel tank, fuel supply, suspension and brakes. Mercedes-Benz DTM-racer Bernd Mayländer is the regular driver of the car, although he was replaced by Swiss DTM-colleague Marcel Fässler a few times in 2001 and 2002 when Mayländer was ill or injured. At last year's American Grand Prix, Darren Manning drove, IIRC, because Mayländer had to race in the DTM-round at Zandvoort.

[kober]

I know that in 1994 some kind of Renault was used as safety car, but I can't tell which - the only picture I've seen was in one of the GP2 menus .
Plus I can add that on thursday there's even safety car practice session

[Vrba]

Originally posted by kober
I know that in 1994 some kind of Renault was used as safety car, but I can't tell which - the only picture I've seen was in one of the GP2 menus .
Plus I can add that on thursday there's even safety car practice session

It was a Clio, probably a Clio Williams.

Hrvoje

[dmj]

What was the car in which Jean Ragnotti hit Taki Inoue's towed car in Monaco?

[kober]

Originally posted by kober
I know that in 1994 some kind of Renault was used as safety car, but I can't tell which - the only picture I've seen was in one of the GP2 menus .

I made a little search, and I found out that at least at Imola 1994 the safety car was Opel Vectra, so I may be wrong.

[kober]

Originally posted by dmj
What was the car in which Jean Ragnotti hit Taki Inoue's towed car in Monaco?

It looks like a Clio:

and I don't have to introduce this to you, my avatar-mate :

[oldtimer]

Originally posted by Japan Time
I think the first safety car (actually I think we called it "pace car" these days) was a Porsche 914 - quite a horrible car indeed:


Photo: Forix

I doubt that's a 914 with the 4 cyl. VW engine. More like a 914/6 with the Porsche 6 cyl. engine.

Altogether a different proposition

[BRG]

Originally posted by oldtimer
Altogether a different proposition

But still a candidate for the TNF Ugliest Car Ever thread no matter which engine was fitted - and I say that as a life-long Porsche fan!

[dmj]

Originally posted by kober

It looks like a Clio:

and I don't have to introduce this to you, my avatar-mate :

(each excuse for having one more Tatra pic here is a good one).

[Ralliart]

I don't understand, with all the money floating around, F1 especially, that the pace cars are not all exotics and that they are driven so slooooowly around. Behind them, no matter the race, are drivers keen to put and keep heat in their tires and trying to keep the temperatures up. It's incredibly boring as the train goes round and round, but if exotics were utilized AND if they picked up the pace, it would be much better, in my opinion.

[Ray Bell]

You didn't see what happened to the new Lagonda course car at Monaco in 1981, did you?

[BRG]

Ralliart

I think that you will find that the current Merc safety cars are very quick - they are far from standard - but that any road car looks pedestrian compared to an F1. To use exoticars mights give a little more speed, but they tend to temperamental. It would hardly do to find that the Ferrari safety car won't start (if it was a damp day, for instance) just when it is needed! But of course Mercs are broingly reliable.

As for the speed of safety car laps, you don't want them going too fast. Firstly that compromises the whole point of a safety car period, to slow everyone down while the marshals can clear up the remains of Rubens's car in safety. Secondly, it would use up more neutralised laps than it needs to. We want the minimum number of laps lost, not the maximum. And if the F1 teams can't build cars that can cope with that scenario, perhaps they should try a bit harder.

I see that the natural outcome of my remarks should be that the safety car ought to be a 1200cc VW Beetle - reliable and slow.

[dmj]

Originally posted by BRG
Firstly that compromises the whole point of a safety car period, to slow everyone down while the marshals can clear up the remains of Rubens's car in safety.

You're naughty... From time to time other drivers are crashing too...

[oldtimer]

Originally posted by BRG
Ralliart

As for the speed of safety car laps, you don't want them going too fast. Firstly that compromises the whole point of a safety car period, to slow everyone down while the marshals can clear up the remains of Rubens's car in safety.

From the days when CART was at the top of its game, I think of Mario Andretti driving into a recovery vehicle on one of the street circuits, whilst others steered around it.