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. 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

Procedure

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 orange 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. This is done so as to allow cars between the SC and the race leader to overtake the SC and continue at reduced speed and without overtaking until they reach the line of cars behind the SC. Once the race leader is right behind the SC, the orange 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 driver of the Safety Car also has a co-driver.

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.

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.

The current Safety Car used since is based on the gull-wing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. The V8 supercar is the fastest F1 safety car ever. It made its debut at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Safety car starts and finishes

There have been eight instances where the race has been started under safety car conditions due to wet conditions considered dangerous to race in: 1997 Belgian Grand Prix, the 2000 Belgian Grand Prix, the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix, the 2010 Korean Grand Prix and the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix. The same procedure was also used in the restart of the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix. After rule change in 2005, the procedure has been applied every time as the race has been stopped and restarted again, a total of four times, the first time being in 2007 European Grand Prix.

To date, only the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix, the 2009 Australian Grand Prix, the 2009 Italian Grand Prix and the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix have finished behind the safety car in Formula One.

History

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. The first to be used was a Fiat Tempra in the Brazilian Grand Prix. The same year a safety car was also used in the British Grand Prix.

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.

As of the start of the 2010 season, once cars have lined up behind the SC, lapped cars are no longer allowed to unlap themselves before the race is restarted.

Indianapolis 500

The first use of a pace car in automobile racing was at the inaugural Indy 500 in 1911. The officials at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have been selecting a pace car and its driver for the Indy 500 each year since that first race. 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, owing to the ability for them to be used at both major automobile races at the Speedway (typically Corvette at the 500 and Impala at the 400). 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 2011 Indy 500, the Chevrolet Camaro was chosen as the Official Pace Car with A. J. Foyt to be the pace car driver.

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. However, the cars who get waved around are not allowed to pit until the green flag restarts the race (so they do not get the advantage of getting their lap back AND a free pit stop).

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.

Unlike most series in motorsport, owing to NASCAR's short-track roots, each track usually offers their own safety car, typically from the manufacturer, but in recent years, it has been a local dealer or association of regional dealerships-provided safety car. Tracks that use Toyota safety cars will use a Toyota Camry Hybrid, while Ford tracks will use a Ford Mustang, while Chevrolet tracks use a Chevrolet Camaro and most Dodge tracks use a Dodge Challenger. If a manufacturer is promoting a new vehicle, they will often use the new car instead of the standard safety car.

For the Camping World Truck Series, often the Safety Car is a pickup truck, as the series races pickup trucks. Tracks affiliated with a local or regional Chevrolet dealership will use a Chevrolet Silverado, while Chrysler dealership affiliated tracks will use a Ram 1500. Ford-affiliated tracks will often use the F-Series, but Toyota-affiliated tracks are less likely to use the Toyota Tundra, but prefer marketing the Camry Hybrid.

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. The Beneficiary 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 two cars on each row on every restart, similar to the start of the race, instead of lead-lap cars on the outside and lapped cars on the inside. Also, the "wave-around" rule, similar to what is enforced in the Indy Racing League was adopted to ensure the first car on the restart is the leader, and ensure there are no lapped cars ahead of the leader.

Incidents with safety cars and other course cars

2011 6 Hours of Castellet

The 2011 6 Hours of Castellet got off to a controversial start when the pace car did not return to the pits when the green lights came on. The front running LMP's slowed down but some of the GT cars could not react fast enough, resulting in all three GTE Pro class Porsche's getting heavily damaged and inevitably retired. Also the GTE Am class IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche and GTE Pro JOTA Aston Martin got caught up in the carnage.

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"

2002 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix

At the 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix, Alex Ribeiro, the Medical Car driver, was involved in a potentially serious incident. During the morning warm-up on race day, Enrique Bernoldi crashed his Arrows in Turn 2. When Ribeiro went out to check on Bernoldi, he opened the door to the car. Just as he opened it, Nick Heidfeld came along in his Sauber, and smashed into the open door. Both Heidfeld and Ribeiro were uninjured in the incident.

2011 Le Mans

Eight hours into the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans, an Audi R18 crashed after making contact with a Ferrari while trying to pass. After the accident, the safety car came out for over 2 hours. This was the first time ever at Le Mans that the safety car had to stop for fuel and be replaced. The safety car was told to drive as fast as possible to keep pressure within the race car tyres. However, doing so consumes more fuel.

References

External links

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Formula One

''Formula1.com'': Safety car

An article on the F1 Safety Car

The speed freak in F1's safety car - from BBC Sport: Motorsport

Indianapolis 500

Indy 500 Pace Cars

Category:Car classifications Category:Formula One Category:Automotive safety technologies Category:Motorsport terminology

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{{infobox f1 driver| name	Taki Inoue | nationality Japanese | birth_date September 05, 1963 | Years – | Team(s) Simtek, Footwork | Races 18 | Championships 0 | Wins 0 | Podiums 0 | Poles 0 | Fastest laps 0 | Points 0 | First race 1994 Japanese Grand Prix | First win | Last win | Last race 1995 Australian Grand Prix | }}

Takachiho "Taki" Inoue (井上 隆智穂 ''Inoue Takachiho'', born 5 September 1963 in Kobe) is a retired motor racing driver from Japan.

Inoue competed in the British Formula Ford Championship in 1988, followed by a spell in All-Japan Formula Three from 1989 to 1993 and a season in the International Formula 3000 championship in 1994.

He participated in 18 Formula One Grand Prix races, debuting on 6 November 1994. He scored no championship points, and is perhaps best remembered for two bizarre incidents while driving for Footwork in 1995. The first occurred after a practice session at Monaco, when his stalled car was being towed back to the pits when it was hit by a course car, driven by Jean Ragnotti, causing it to roll into the barriers, although Inoue was fit to race the next day. The second happened in Hungary on live TV worldwide - attempting to assist the marshals in putting out the engine fire which had forced him out of the race, a vehicle driven to the scene by a marshal hit him, injuring his leg, although he recovered for the next race.

For most of the season his team-mate was Gianni Morbidelli, but late in the season Max Papis replaced Morbidelli, and was sometimes outpaced by Inoue.

Entering the season, Inoue lobbied Tyrrell for a drive, but the team chose Ukyo Katayama with his Mild Seven sponsorship money from Japan Tobacco. Instead, he was announced in January to drive for the Minardi team. However, one of his personal sponsors pulled out at the last minute and the team took on Giancarlo Fisichella instead. Fisichella, the team's test driver in 1995, had backing from Marlboro Italy.

With his sponsorship reduced, Inoue was out of a drive in Formula One. After a brief switch to sportscars, he retired from racing at the end of 1999 and now manages drivers in his own country.

Complete Formula One results

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List of Formula One World Championship points scoring systems>Points

Simtek>MTV Simtek Ford

Simtek Simtek S941>S941

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Footwork Hart">Ford Motor Company

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References

External links

[[Category:1963 births">Footwork Arrows ! [[Brian Hart Ltd. bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#CFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#CFCFFF" bgcolor="#CFCFFF" bgcolor="#CFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" bgcolor="#CFCFFF" bgcolor="#EFCFFF" ! NC ! 0

References

External links

[[Category:1963 births Category:Japanese racecar drivers Category:Japanese Formula One drivers Category:Living people Category:People from Kobe Category:International Formula 3000 drivers

bg:Таки Инуе ca:Taki Inoue cs:Taki Inoue de:Taki Inoue es:Taki Inoue fr:Taki Inoue it:Taki Inoue lv:Taki Inoue hu:Inoue Taki nl:Taki Inoue ja:井上隆智穂 pl:Taki Inoue pt:Taki Inoue ro:Taki Inoue ru:Иноуэ, Таки sl:Taki Inoue fi:Taki Inoue sv:Taki Inoue tr:Taki Inoue vec:Taki Inoue