If you didn't think a helmet could save your life.....

[cad600]

I know that the helmets are different, but the reason and basic principles behind them are the same. Last weekend during practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Felipe Massa had an encounter with a suspension spring from another car. The spring was made from solid steel so it was very heavy. Here is a link that shows what he looked like when they pulled him from the car.

Massa Picture

Here is a Youtube video of the accident. Keep in mind that he did not get knocked out and he hit the wall at 120mph. I can only imagine what speed he hit the spring at.



Massa had emergency surgery to repair his fractured skull and was put into a medical comma for a few days to allow his body to heal. He is expected to make a good recovery, but no one knows the meaning of that yet. Michael Schumacher is coming out of retirement to substitute for Massa during the next race in a few weeks.

Here is a link that talks a little about the tech that goes into a F1 helmet. Formula 1 Helmet

Basic lesson here is, Helmets save lives.

Get well Felipe. Can't wait to see you racing again.

[ragedigital]

I wasn't sure what you were talking about till I looked again. Around the :08 mark of the video, you can see the object (spring), fly directly toward him.

I'm not certain where it would have come from, since the cars in front seem to be a ways in the distance.

darrin

[cad600]

Lost of teams were having trouble with the suspension systems that week. The spring came off of Rubens Barrichello's car which was a decent distance in front of him. The section of track he was in had a straight section of track that wasn't very long, let's say 300 ft long. But remember that @ 120 mph, you cover that 300 ft in about 4.7 seconds. And that was the speed he hit the wall at. He was going faster when he hit the spring.

What I find amazing (and frightening) is what the helmet looked like and what his face looked like after the accident. The amount of energy his helmet and skull absorbed is unreal. I found one other picture where they must have been pulling him out of the car. It looked like one eye had the "deer in the headlights" look while you could see his skull dented in a little and the eye shut on the other side.

[dru86]

A friend of mine binned his r1 hard a few years back and slide into a rock wall. It was severe enough that the police took his bike thinking that it was going to be a fatality. He was wearing a helmet (the law here) and full leathers but still managed to get internal bleeding on the brain and numerous fractures of the skull from the impact, along with a broken spine and a broken arm. He if hadn't of been wearing a helmet he would have been gone.

I'll have to see if he's got any pics of the helmet it was smashed!