Save the Open Cockpit Racecars

So I was on the internet the other day, and I found this.  (Yes, I know that’s not how the Top Gear joke goes, but I’m lazy).  I also found an article in Race Car Engineering (a magazine that takes its motorsport commentary a lot more seriously than I do) on the subject of closed cockpit F1 cars.  To boil the argument down to its essence, F1 and Indy Car drivers are racing at 200 plus miles an hour, with their heads sticking out of the cars like a Golden Retriever riding in a convertible, which puts the driver’s at additional risk.  This is what happened in Jules Bianchi’s crash at last year’s Japanese Grand Prix, and was responsible for Dan Wheldon’s tragic death in 2011.

I’m a firm believer that for the good of racing, racing needs to be as safe as possible.  The day racing becomes a blood sport is the day we lose racing.  But I still want to keep the roofs off of the cars and keep the drivers acting like Labradors having the time of their lives.  Simply put, open cockpit racecars adds excitement to the race by letting you see the driver at work.

Take a look at two pictures I took at this year’s Rolex 24 to see what I’m talking about.  The first picture is of a prototype challenge car, the only open cockpit left in top tier American sports car racing.  The second picture is of A GTLM Aston Martin. 

An open cockpit prototype challenge car.  Believe it or not, this Sponge Bob Square Paints painted car took pole in PC class.  Shortly after qualifying, all the other PC drivers committed ritual suicide.

A GTLM Aston Martin.

I’ve never been a huge fan of prototype challenge.  It’s a pro-am class, which means it must be shunned and hated by the auto-racing master race, but sitting in the stands, I couldn’t take my eyes off these cars, and it was because I could see the driver, not because one was sporting a Sponge Bob Square Paints livery.  You could see the drivers heads tilting to side under cornering forces.  It added an element of drama to the watching cars, while the closed cockpit cars might as well have been driven by Skynet.

Racing has a long tradition of open cockpit cars, and if the open cockpit car dies, racing will have lost something special, but tradition alone isn't enough of a reason to keep the roofs off the cars, I think there's a good marketing reason for open cockpit cars.  Some of us, the target audience of this blog, are fascinated with the technical aspect of racing.  While people like us have our favorite drivers, we also love the cars.  In my case, I'm more interested in the cars, and the design of the cars, then the people driving them, but I think I'm in the minority.  I think that most people, especially more casual fans that we need in order to grow the sport, are more fascinated by the drivers, and an open cockpit car puts the drivers closer to the fans.  It adds an extra level of excitement and drama to the racing, and excitement helps sell the product, especially among people who don't really understand the difference between out breaking and out breaking yourself.

I could keep rambling on, but I don't feel like I'm really making a good case for the survival of the open cockpit car, so let me boil the argument down to it's most basic element.  Open cockpit cars are cool, don't get rid of them.