Motorsports safety has come a long way from the days, not so long ago, when drivers would pull themselves out of a wrecked race and walk across a hot track to a place where maybe there might be someone who could help out. The understanding of injuries suffered from racing has grown exponentially and as a result, the design of most race cars—especially open-wheel race cars—includes measures for stabilized driver extractions. This includes removable seats and so forth to minimize the potential for further injury while moving a driver. But how does that extraction change when there are live electric motors on board a race car?
In several series, like the FIA World Endurance Championship and Japanese Super GT, hybrid powerplants mean electric motors are aboard a few cars in a given race. Even Formula 1 cars are no driven by hybrid powerplants. However, the FIA Formula E championship is a series where all of the race cars are powered by electric motors only. The cars are designed so that in the event of a crash, the power is cut off, but the Formula E safety team practice at every event how to extract a driver if the car is hot, a so-called “Red Car.” It’s fascinating to see how the crew neutralize the car so they can reach the driver without compromising their own safety. With electric motors becoming part of road racing, this kind of thing is likely to become increasingly more important.
This is a simulation of a driver nearly dying of boredom….