FRANCE: MOTOR RACING - THE WORLD MOTORSPORT COUNCIL MEETING IN PARIS MOVE TO SLOW DOWN FORMULA ONE CARS ON THE GROUNDS OF SAFETY.

Record ID: 647599

  • Title: FRANCE: MOTOR RACING - THE WORLD MOTORSPORT COUNCIL MEETING IN PARIS MOVE TO SLOW DOWN FORMULA ONE CARS ON THE GROUNDS OF SAFETY.
  • Date: 30th June 2004
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JUNE 30 2004)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. PARIS OFFICE OF FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE D'AUTOMOBILE 2. DELEGATES GATHERED FOR MEETING OF WORLD MOTOR SPORT COUNCIL 3. NAME PLATES ON DISCUSSION TABLE 4. MAX MOSLEY, PRESIDENT OF FIA, SHAKES HANDS WITH DELEGATES 5. FORMULA ONE'S COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR BERNIE ECCLESTONE WALKS IN AND TALKS TO MOSLEY 6. DELEGATES/FERRARI DIRECTOR GENERAL JEAN TODT SIGNS IN 7. FIA MOTORSPORT COUNCIL MEETING 8. (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) MAX MOSLEY SAYS There is this question of the performance of the cars. There is no doubt that they are now too fast. They are on the limit of what we can deal with with our safety precautions. And as a result of that we are giving formal notice which we can do under the Concord agreement to the technical working group to produce measures to slow the cars. And what happens is that if they don't produce the measures then we are entitled to impose the measures, having given them a reasonable time and so on. So that's the exact situation at the moment and the world council was unanimous in that decision that the notice should be given to the technical working group. Well over the last seven years the lap times in places like Imola, Melbourne, Monza for example have decreased by as much as eight or nine seconds. Now that is a massive change in speed. We can accommodate one-tenth (of a second) or two a year but improving the safety precautions of the cars, improving the safety facilities at the circuits, the run-off areas, the crash-barriers and so on . But it is very difficult to cope with increases of the order of a second or more a year. and we have been seeing those so now we must pull it back. In the end it is a question of probabilities. The faster the cars go, the greater the probability that someone will be hurt or killed, and really now we feel that the probability is too high and we have got to pull it back. There are various things we could do with the tyres but the essence of it is that we need to reduce the grip but there are several ways of doing that and we are quite prepared to talk to the tyre companies about that. But one of the side effects of reducing the grip is that you may have less debris off the line and less grip on the line and these two things taken together mean that quite possibly we will have a better opportunity for overtaking as well which would be a benefit. 9. CUTAWAYS Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2004 13:00
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  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA3SL56ED8BOKI9YEQDOINZSCNB
  • Story Text: The World Motorsport Council is making moves to slow
    down Formula One cars on grounds of safety.



    Formula One must be slowed down before someone gets
    seriously injured or killed, world motorsport head Max
    Mosley said on Wednesday (June 30).

    "There is no doubt that they (the cars) are now too
    fast," the International Automobile Federation (FIA)
    president told Reuters in an interview at his Paris
    headquarters.

    "We must pull it back. It's a question of probability
    -- the faster the cars go, the greater the probability that
    someone will be hurt or killed.

    "We now feel that the probability is too high."
    Recent crashes in North America had highlighted the risks.

    Germany's Ralf Schumacher crashed his Williams at Indianapolis 10
    days ago and could miss the rest of the
    season after suffering two fractures to his spine, while
    Sauber's Felipe Massa smashed into the tyre barriers in
    Montreal after a rear wheel failure, which Mosley said had
    been potentially more serious.

    The FIA said that Ralf Schumacher's accident pulled
    78G, so his body was briefly 78 times heavier than usual.

    Massa pulled 113G in his impact.

    Mosley said lap times had been slashed by as much as
    nine seconds over the past seven years at circuits such as
    Imola or Melbourne and that was "on the limit of what we
    can deal with".

    "That is a massive change in speed," he said.

    "We can accommodate a 10th or two each year by
    improving the safety precautions on the cars, improving the
    facilities at the circuits...but it's very difficult to
    deal with increased speed in the order of a second or more
    a year."
    Mosley confirmed that a meeting of the FIA's world
    motor sport council had agreed to give Formula One's
    technical working group notice to come up with changes to
    reduce speeds.

    If no proposals are forthcoming within two months, the
    FIA can then impose measures.

    Mosley has linked the debate on speeds with his own
    package of technical measures to be introduced by 2008 to
    cut costs and attract fresh blood into the sport.

    He has suggested, among other proposals, reducing
    engine capacity from three litre V10s to 2.4 litre V8s and
    stripping out expensive electronic systems.


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