In
motorsport, a
safety
car or
pace car is a
car which limits the speed of competing cars on a
racetrack in the case of a
caution period such as an
obstruction on the track. During a caution period the safety car
enters the track ahead of the leader. With few exceptions,
competitors are not allowed to pass the safety car or other
competitors during a caution period, and the safety car leads the
field at a pre-determined safe speed, which may vary by series and
circuit. At the end of the caution period, the safety car leaves
the track and the competitors may resume racing.
In production automobiles, a
safety car is one
which highlights safety features (see
automobile safety).
Implications
The use of a safety car has the side effect of pushing all the
competitors together, so any time advantage of one car over another
that remains on the same lap is virtually eliminated. This "drawing
together" effect can make racing more competitive; conversely, it
can be viewed as preventing faster drivers and cars from receiving
appropriate rewards for their efforts.
It is common in many forms of racing for drivers to make pitstops
during the safety car situation. This way, they can form back up
behind the back after refueling and changing tires (and perhaps
making more advanced adjustments which would normally cost too much
time to be practical in racing conditions). Any other drivers who
have to pit within the next few laps would then fall behind this
car when they make their pitstop under green-flag conditions.
Cars use less fuel while running under safety car (usually
approximately half as much as under racing conditions), which can
allow drivers to run longer on a tank of fuel than expected, and in
some cases means being able to make one fewer pitstop.
Formula One
In
Formula One or other road racing
events if an accident or heavy rain prevents normal racing from
continuing safely, the Race Director or Clerk of Course will call
for the marshalls to wave yellow flags and hold SC boards, warning
drivers that the safety car has been deployed. From 2007, all
Formula Cars must have LEDs fitted to the steering wheel, which
inform the driver which flags are being waved. A yellow LED is
illuminated when the safety car has been deployed.
The F1 Safety Car (SC) has both yellow and green lights mounted on
its roof in the form of a
light bar; the
green light allows the driver just behind the SC to pass. Once the
race leader is right behind the SC, the yellow lights go on. This
car is to be operated by a professional driver—currently
Bernd Mayländer—and must maintain a
good speed so that the tires on the racecars can stay at operating
temperature and at the same time avoid engine overheating.
The first use of the Safety Car in Formula One was at the
1973 Canadian Grand Prix. However,
the Safety Car took its place in front of the wrong driver, which
placed part of the field incorrectly one lap down. It took several
hours after the end of the race to straighten out who the winner
actually was. Starting from the
1993 season, safety car was
introduced to official rules. It was used in Brazilian and British
Grands Prix that year.
To date, only the
1999 Canadian
Grand Prix, the
2009
Australian Grand Prix, and the
2009 Italian Grand Prix have
finished behind the safety car in Formula One.
The race has been started under safety car conditions six times due
to wet conditions:
1997 Belgian
Grand Prix,
2000 Belgian
Grand Prix,
2003 Brazilian
Grand Prix, the
2007
Japanese Grand Prix, the
2008 Italian Grand Prix and the
2009 Chinese Grand Prix. The
same procedure was also used in the restart of
1994 Japanese Grand Prix and of the
2007 European Grand Prix.
When this happens, there is no warm-up lap - the race is considered
to be underway as soon as the cars leave the grid, so any driver
who can't get away before the safety car returns will go a lap
down.
In Formula One, during the one lap to green, the SC will have the
lights on until it is a few turns away from the pits and the lights
will go out. That notifies the drivers that they will be racing in
a few moments.
When required, the Safety Car will
lead the field around the circuit at reduced speed.
For incidents during the first three laps, the safety car also has
an advantage over the traditional red flag; in a red flag, it would
take a minimum of fifteen minutes to restart the race, and the
two-hour limit would not start until the cars are ready for a
second reconnaissance or formation lap. With regards to the time
limit, the race is being scored and the time is also counting while
a Safety Car period happens, and the race resumes.
From 2007, two new procedures were instituted, which were applied
for the first time during the
Bahrain Grand Prix.
The pit lane was closed immediately upon the deployment of the
safety car. No car could enter the pits for the purpose of
refuelling until all cars on the track had formed up in a line
behind the safety car, they passed the pit entrance, and the
message "pit lane open" was given. A ten second stop/go penalty
(which must be taken when the race is green again) was imposed on
any driver who entered the pit lane and whose car was refuelled
before the pitlane open message is given; effectively these drivers
were penalised for choosing to remain in the race, rather than
running out of fuel. However, any car which was in the pit entry or
pit lane when the safety car was deployed would not incur a
penalty.
From 2009, however, this procedure has been dropped, and replaced
by software that calculates where a car is on the track and a
minimum laptime it should take the car to get to the pits. Cars
that enter the pits before this time limit has expired are
penalised.
When the safety car and the drivers behind it are on the
start/finish straight, there is a red light at the exit of the pit
lane. Drivers who go past the red light are disqualified from the
race. This has happened to several drivers during the years, such
as
Giancarlo Fisichella and
Felipe Massa in the
2007 Canadian Grand Prix. At
the same race a year later
Lewis Hamilton failed to notice the
red light and slammed into the back of the car of
Kimi Räikkönen, who was waiting at
the end of the pitlane alongside
Robert
Kubica.
When the circuit has been cleared of the incident that caused the
safety car to be deployed, the message "lapped cars may now
overtake" is given. Any lapped cars which are between the cars
running on the lead lap at the time the safety car was deployed are
required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car. They
must then proceed around the track at an appropriate speed, without
overtaking, and take up position at the back of the line of cars
behind the safety car. This change ensures that all cars on the
lead lap run consecutive to each other, eliminating any advantage a
driver may have had in having lapped cars between himself and a
rival. This was introduced after a backmarker failed to get out of
the way on a restart at
2006
Australian Grand Prix, thus extending the leader's
advantage.
For the 2004 and 2005 seasons, the safety car was a (tuned)
Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG. For the 2006 and 2007 seasons the newer
Mercedes-Benz CLK 63
AMG was used. For the 2008 season, the
safety car is based on the SL 63. It has a weight reduction and the
same V8 engine as the CLK63, but tuned to produce . This is the
eighth Mercedes-Benz - AMG model used as the Safety Car in Formula
1.
Indianapolis 500
- See also List
of Indianapolis 500 pace cars
The
officials at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
have been selecting a pace car and its driver for
the Indy
500
each year the race has been held since 1911.
The first pace car was a
Stoddard-Dayton driven by
Carl G. Fisher.
In recent years
Chevrolet models have been
chosen as the official pace car numerous times. The pace car is
selected two months before the race runs, allowing the manufacturer
of the selected pace car to produce replicas of that year's car,
which sell at a marked premium to collectors and race fans. Pace
car replicas are often seen on the streets of Indianapolis weeks
before the race is actually held, and a celebrity driver is usually
used for the start of the race only. For the 2009 Indy 500, the
Chevrolet Camaro was chosen as the
Official Pace Car, with Josh Duhamel driving the pace car at the
start.
Automakers compete for the prestige of having one of their models
selected as the year's pace car for the publicity. In 1971, the
move backfired as no automakers stepped up to provide a pace car.
Instead,
local Indianapolis
-area Dodge dealers fulfilled the duty. Eldon
Palmer, a local dealer, lost control of the
Dodge Challenger pace car and crashed into
a photography stand, injuring several people. The blame for the
crash was never fully determined, as officials realized that an
orange cone (or perhaps an orange flag), which was to identify
Palmer's braking point, was accidentally removed.
In the last 50 years, the
Pontiac Trans
Am,
Chevrolet Camaro,
Chevrolet Corvette,
Oldsmobile Cutlass, and
Ford Mustang are the only models that have been
selected as pace cars three or more times.
During the IndyCar Series season, however,
Johnny Rutherford is the normal driver of
the IRL pace car for all events. The pace car is deployed for
debris, collision, or weather reasons. Since 1993, upon the waving
of the yellow flag, pit road is closed until the pace car picks up
the leader and he passes the pit entrance the first time, unless
track blockage forces the field to drive through pit lane. Another
duty of the pace car is to lead the field around the course on
parade laps prior to the start of the race. These increase in
speed, allowing for a flying start of the race.
Furthermore, two other rule changes have been implemented. Since
2000, with one lap to go before going back to green, the pace car
pulls off the track in turn one rather than in turn four. The
current leader of the race is then assigned the task of pacing the
field back to the green flag. After much consideration, this rule
was added to prevent a situation much like the one that happened in
the
1995 Indianapolis 500,
when
Scott Goodyear passed the pace
car going back to green. In 2002, another rule was added. With one
lap to go before the green, the pace car waves by all cars (if
there are any) between the pace car and the actual leader of the
race. This allows for the leader to control the restart without
lapped cars being in front of him. It also creates a strategy for
cars to gain laps back, loosely resembling the "
Lucky dog" rule.
NASCAR
In all
NASCAR series, if the caution is out
for debris, accident, or inclement weather, the flagman will
display the yellow caution flag and the pace car will pull out of
the pits and turn on the yellow strobes on top and/or behind the
car. One lap before a green flag, the pace car will shut off its
lights to signal drivers that a green flag is coming.
Since NASCAR does not allow speedometers or electronic speed
limiting devices, the pace car circles the track at pit road speed
during the
warm-up laps. This allows each
driver to note the RPM at which pit road speed is maintained.
Drivers exceeding that speed on pit road will be penalized,
typically a "drive-through" or "stop and go" penalty, costing them
valuable track position.
Since mid-2004, NASCAR official
Brett
Bodine has driven the vehicle during official race functions
during
Sprint Cup Series races.
Other famous NASCAR pace car drivers include Robert "Buster" Auton
and
Elmo Langley.
The Beneficiary Rule (informally known as the"
Lucky dog" rule) states once the safety car is
deployed, the first car not on the lead lap will regain a lap.
Initially, the free pass was deployed on the one lap to go signal,
then on two laps to go signal, but after that controversy, the
current rule was applied so the free pass car will regain his lap
once pit road opens. Bodine will signal that car to pass him
through radio contact between NASCAR and that team. The free pass
car must pit with the lapped cars.
In 2009, NASCAR introduced a new "Double-file restart" rule that
lines the field up 2-by-2 on every restart, rather than lead-lap
cars on the outside and lapped cars on the inside.
Controversies involving safety cars
2009 WTCC Pau
An
accident occurred during the 2009 World Touring Car
Championship meeting at Pau, France
. A
succession of first-lap accidents caused the safety car to be
placed on standby, with yellow flags waving on the start-finish
section of the track. The safety car driver then proceeded to drive
onto the track at slow speed, without official approval, moving
across it and passing the white line which traditionally delineates
the track from the pitlane. Race leader
Franz Engstler came through the kink on the
start-finish straight and was unable to avoid hitting the side of
the pace car.. Engstler commented "I saw the safety car coming out
from the right and realized that I had no chance to brake... I
really do not understand why he was going out of the pits"
References
- autosport.com - the Daily Grapevine: F1: AMG
unveils new safety car
- Rules aren't always what they appear in
NASCAR
- Safety car had no permission to exit pits
- Menu opens account amongst Pau mayhem
- Video of the Engstler - Safety Car crash
External links
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Indianapolis 500
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