Safety Cars - The Inception

d4rk

Known Member
Jul 26, 2010
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Johor Bahru


When one mentions the word “Porsche”, the things that instantly pass through my mind are 911s, straight-six engines, Ferdinand Porsche, Stuttgart, and Jeremy Clarkson’s favorite reference in mocking Richard Hammond’s most beloved car, a squashed Beetle. Besides those, it is a very great marquee from Germany and many considers it as the most sensible supercar there is, where one could drive it as a daily car on weekdays, and go blasting on the tracks on weekends.



But surprisingly, there is another fact, or should I say contribution that Porsche had brought to the racing world, particularly F1, that is somehow “hidden” from the general view. If some other manufacturers had revolutionized F1’s gameplay with some new aerodynamic designs or lightweight materials, Porsche had made it safer for the drivers with the introduction of safety cars.



The idea was the brainchild of Porsche’s test driver, Herbert Linge. His career with Porsche started off during the post-war era, where he had started as an apprentice mechanic. Linge’s career then rose along the years as by the 1950’s, where besides of being a test driver, he was also a driver for the Porsche works racing team. Being in a place where motorsports are very popular, he had taken part in a lot of races in Europe like the Nurburgring 500km, Targa Florio and also the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Niki Lauda crash at Nodschleife / nurburgring 1976 Green Hell - YouTube

But although motorsports was rapidly growing back then, it was still a very dangerous sport. Accidents and fatalities were pretty much inseparable, and the priority given on the matter was so poor that the cars that were taking part in a race will pass through an accident site a couple of times before the ambulance finally arrives.

This slow pace had sometimes forced the drivers to take the matter into their own hands in helping their stricken rivals, like how Arturo Merzario, Guy Edwards and Harald Ertl got out of their cars and braved the intense flames to save Nikki Lauda who was caught in a crash at the Nurburgring back in 1976.



Realizing of the dire attention given towards safety, Linge came out with the idea of a “safety car”. It is basically a very fast car equipped with both firefighting equipment and a doctor, driven by a very capable driver in order to reach the accident site as quickly as possible.



And given Linge’s position and connections with Porsche, he managed to persuade Porsche in providing him a car, a 914/6 to be precise, for this specific purpose.



He was also the one behind the wheels, and alongside with him during the first three years was Professor Sid Watkins, a famous British neurosurgeon and motor racing medical specialist. This idea was so brilliant that the F1 President Bernie Ecclestone immediately requested for the same concept to be implemented in F1 as soon as possible to increase the standards of driver safety.



Linge did not only stop there. He proceeded in establishing the first mobile track marshalling crew known as the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund, which is pretty much the predecessor of the track marshalls trained and certified by the FIA that we see today. Professor Sid Watkins also followed in the footsteps in improving motorsport’s safety with the “medical car”, where this car will proceed following the cars in the race during the first lap so that it could quickly reach any “first lap/ first corner” incident.

Although this is a large turning point, much of Porsche’s contribution in this improvement of safety is rarely mentioned in F1, and surprisingly this includes in Porsche’s own archives. It is said that even during Porsche’s 60th Anniversary Celebration, no recognition was given to Herbert Linge’s work in ensuring the survivability of the drivers that put their lives on speed machines that are both fragile and dangerous.



Sources
File:Safety Car 2010 Malaysia 4.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A short history of F1 safety cars, and the Porsche link
TheSamba.com :: VW Dictionary
1st F1 pace car - Pelican Parts Technical BBS
Girls Like F1 Too!: 2010-11-14
PROF SID WATKINS-autograph collection of Carlos Ghys
 

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