Wet race solution

Wet race solution

Author
Discussion

vulture1

Original Poster:

12,737 posts

185 months

Thursday 6th October 2022
quotequote all
Is there one? With it seemingly being too much spray and too wet and then straight to inters what can be done?
I would look at effectively some sort of fia mudguards universal spec that gets bolted ontop of the wheelnut fixing.

Or is it unsolvable with modern knowledge of aero over old school slower cars that had more mechanical grip?

TheDeuce

24,373 posts

72 months

Thursday 6th October 2022
quotequote all
None of the new guard at race control want to be the one that says 'its fine, let's race'. These days that makes that person culpable if there were a nasty incident.

Blame blame culture.

HustleRussell

25,144 posts

166 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
These days that makes that person culpable if there were a nasty incident.
Does it? That seems like a guess.

super7

2,002 posts

214 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
The MotoGp from Thailand last week saw the Moto2 bikes racing in atrocious conditions...... They did stop the race 2/3rds of the way through, but the amount of standing water was terrible.

There was no waiting for the rain to stop, or waiting for the track to dry. They whacked some rain tyres on and got on with it.

I know a bike cuts through the water better, but they also only have two wheels so can crash more easily and it's a much higher risk of the rider actually being hurt, but what happened was that the riders rode to the conditions until the bikes were aqua-planning...

F1 has ultra-wet tyres, just let them run and race on them. Sort the men out from the boys....

JmatthewB

919 posts

128 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
It was touched on last week by one of the analysts that one of the reasons we don’t see much racing in the wet is because the full wet is a bit of a crap tyre. It is basically only suitable for following the safety car until conditions are good enough for inters.

Also, I’m guessing the wider tyres introduced in 2017 create more spray, and perhaps the ground effect cars make this even worse.

Muzzer79

10,857 posts

193 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
HustleRussell said:
TheDeuce said:
These days that makes that person culpable if there were a nasty incident.
Does it? That seems like a guess.
Maybe not legally, but it certainly would in the eyes of the press and commentators, etc.

One can see it now

"Driver killed in wet race because incompetent race control didn't wave red flag"

Jasandjules

70,419 posts

235 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
What we should have is special tyres that are designed to be used in the Wet. We could call them "Wet Tyres" or something like that.

PhilAsia

4,506 posts

81 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
Jasandjules said:
What we should have is special tyres that are designed to be used in the Wet. We could call them "Wet Tyres" or something like that.
smile I think you have stumbled onto something there...

oyster

12,822 posts

254 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
So many ill-informed posts on this thread.

The capability of the wet tyres is not the problem.
The blame game is not the problem.
Comparing it to bikes is loony.

The problem is that it's impossible to see through the spray and no-one wants to see an F1 driver die on live TV.
How is that so hard to understand?

It's a sport, not a gladiator contest.
And it's 2022, not 1962.

TheDeuce

24,373 posts

72 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
HustleRussell said:
TheDeuce said:
These days that makes that person culpable if there were a nasty incident.
Does it? That seems like a guess.
Culpable was a bit strong but people are more risk averse these days and any nasty incident will give rise to questions of the decisions made. The more decisions are analysed and discussed the more likely people are to play safe.

In my view the primary reason rain is more likely to cause delays these days is risk aversion. There appeared to be a step change when Charlie passed away - I suppose that's natural though.

Zetec-S

6,214 posts

99 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
oyster said:
The problem is that it's impossible to see through the spray and no-one wants to see an F1 driver die on live TV.
How is that so hard to understand?

It's a sport, not a gladiator contest.
And it's 2022, not 1962.
I do love a wet race, the unpredictability of it adds to the excitement, but (reluctantly) I would have to agree:


TheDeuce

24,373 posts

72 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
Zetec-S said:
oyster said:
The problem is that it's impossible to see through the spray and no-one wants to see an F1 driver die on live TV.
How is that so hard to understand?

It's a sport, not a gladiator contest.
And it's 2022, not 1962.
I do love a wet race, the unpredictability of it adds to the excitement, but (reluctantly) I would have to agree:

I reluctantly agree too. It is 2022 and driving with virtually no visibility is no longer acceptable. The race director would be criticised heavily if it were allowed and someone was hurt.


mat205125

17,790 posts

219 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
None of the new guard at race control want to be the one that says 'its fine, let's race'. These days that makes that person culpable if there were a nasty incident.

Blame blame culture.

This!

The savagery of the pitch forks that were waved at the FIA and race director in 2021 has given rise to a massively risk averse leadership of the sport.

No one seems to be volunteering to take tough calls, and get the racing going.

On a tangent, I do miss not being able to hear the chatter between principles and race directors that we enjoyed last year. It's a valuable insight into an aspect of the sport that fans could benefit from





super7

2,002 posts

214 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
oyster said:
So many ill-informed posts on this thread.

The capability of the wet tyres is not the problem.
The blame game is not the problem.
Comparing it to bikes is loony.

The problem is that it's impossible to see through the spray and no-one wants to see an F1 driver die on live TV.
How is that so hard to understand?

It's a sport, not a gladiator contest.
And it's 2022, not 1962.
It IS a sport contested between Gladiators!!! That's why we watch it. We want to see the best car control, the best skill and the best machines. Spray has ALWAYS been a problem. It always will, but it never stopped anyone before... seems to just be a new thing to moan about.

And most deaths in F1(not that there's been many), even before this new fear of the rain, i'd hazard at guess, occurred in the dry!

MontyPythonX

526 posts

122 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
Is there something about they can't race if the conditions are bad enough that the medical helicopter can't take off?
Possibly explains why they don't run when it's absolutely chucking it down

Cold

15,511 posts

96 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
Sounds like the simple solution would be to build a roof over any F1 circuit.

Zarco

18,387 posts

215 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
JmatthewB said:
It was touched on last week by one of the analysts that one of the reasons we don’t see much racing in the wet is because the full wet is a bit of a crap tyre. It is basically only suitable for following the safety car until conditions are good enough for inters.

Also, I’m guessing the wider tyres introduced in 2017 create more spray, and perhaps the ground effect cars make this even worse.
Is it not more like, they don't let them race until the track is ready for inters?


TheDeuce

24,373 posts

72 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
super7 said:
oyster said:
So many ill-informed posts on this thread.

The capability of the wet tyres is not the problem.
The blame game is not the problem.
Comparing it to bikes is loony.

The problem is that it's impossible to see through the spray and no-one wants to see an F1 driver die on live TV.
How is that so hard to understand?

It's a sport, not a gladiator contest.
And it's 2022, not 1962.
It IS a sport contested between Gladiators!!! That's why we watch it. We want to see the best car control, the best skill and the best machines. Spray has ALWAYS been a problem. It always will, but it never stopped anyone before... seems to just be a new thing to moan about.

And most deaths in F1(not that there's been many), even before this new fear of the rain, i'd hazard at guess, occurred in the dry!
Back in the day, when spray caused very limited visibility most of the drivers actually did back off from the car in front as the alternative was an almost guaranteed crash/collision sooner rather than later - they literally couldn't see anything if they followed too closely. This had the effect of turning much of the running into a procession, the most likely exciting thing to occur would be a car hitting standing water and sliding straight off the circuit.

Of course there were occasional ballsy moves made too.. It might have been the case that for most drivers the sensible option was caution and to hope the track dried, but if a driver in contention for a title or who knew they could be if they get one over on a rival was feeling brave, they could risk a short 'driving blind' (they know the track layout and can see the barriers either side still) blast down a straight and get a pass made that their opponent would never see coming.

So really very heavy rain caused more uneventful running than excitement, although now of course the clips we re-watch are only the exciting ones. I'm not sure if they could realistically get away with allowing it these days, sooner or later there would be a nasty incident and the finger of blame would be pointed, it always is - at least indirectly by the press. I'm also fairly certain most teams, most of the time, are OK with the risk aversion now they're cost cap limited. It's the same for everyone so they're probably pretty happy to sit and wait it out, the race director will be aware of their preferences too.

Zarco

18,387 posts

215 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
MontyPythonX said:
Is there something about they can't race if the conditions are bad enough that the medical helicopter can't take off?
Possibly explains why they don't run when it's absolutely chucking it down
That is a thing.

Don't think it was relevant at the last GP.

TheDeuce

24,373 posts

72 months

Friday 7th October 2022
quotequote all
Cold said:
Sounds like the simple solution would be to build a roof over any F1 circuit.
Or pre-season testing followed by 21 rounds at Bahrain?