Jules Bianchi recovery - Japan 2014

[Forza]

Marussia F1 Team - A medical update and expression of gratitude by the Bianchi family
http://www.marussiaf1team.com/news/1042/



Forza Jules!

[lebesset]

presuming that the statement that bianchi suffered no external damage is correct then it seems certain that he didn't actually collide with the tractor , which is what the slowmo seems to show

kenny brack is supposed to have suffered a 200G stop and was briefly back on track a couple of years later

[RZS10]

G-sensor in the ear measures 92 g.

I read the article with google translate. Would appreciate any further comments.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 12210.html

short summary:
- tractor weighs 9 tons and got lifted by 1,5 meters at one point
- car came to a halt on a distance of only 5 meters
- the complete left side of the car was missing
- the roll hoop was cut off completely
- the "neck support" (i'd rather say headrest) that is supposed to soften the impact to the back of the head was found somewhere in the engine bay (!)
- the chassis had a crack from the nose to the cockpit area
- the safety cell however stayed intact, including the actual neck support
- a 'roll cage' (closed cockpit?) would not have helped according to whiting, could not have withstanded such an impact

He's basically unscathed externally, all the damage was done to the brain

[tommylommykins]

- the "neck support" (i'd rather say headrest) that is supposed to soften the impact to the back of the head was found somewhere in the engine bay (!)

If they mean this http://scarbsf1.com/blog1/wp-content/up ... /01/01.jpg, then it's possible that the people attending the accident may have just placed it there out of conenience?

[RZS10]

- the "neck support" (i'd rather say headrest) that is supposed to soften the impact to the back of the head was found somewhere in the engine bay (!)

If they mean this http://scarbsf1.com/blog1/wp-content/up ... /01/01.jpg, then it's possible that the people attending the accident may have just placed it there out of conenience?

i guess they will claim to quote the official FIA report, so they've translated it and used "nackenschutz" translated literally it's "neck guard" ... since it can't be HANS it's probably that, maybe it got pushed back that hard ... well know when (if) they release the report

[ringo]

Iv'e seen online where it is said his crash was 92g.
The medical update doesn't really tell us much about progress but at least things aren't getting worse and he's under control.
Funny how modern lethal f1 crashes tend to result in putting a driver in a coma due to head injury. The rest of the body is well protected on the other hand.
It's the head protection that may need a rethink.

Let's hope jules doesn't have to pay the ultimate price. I hope he recovers like Massa, only that he keeps the speed.

[Moose]

The news from the BBC is not good. The situation is described as "medically challenging" (a polite way of saying FUBAR). Jules' dad saying that he's expecting every phone call from the hospital to be saying that Jules has died.

Very sad news indeed.

[FW17]

Iv'e seen online where it is said his crash was 92g.
The medical update doesn't really tell us much about progress but at least things aren't getting worse and he's under control.
Funny how modern lethal f1 crashes tend to result in putting a driver in a coma due to head injury. The rest of the body is well protected on the other hand.
It's the head protection that may need a rethink.

Let's hope jules doesn't have to pay the ultimate price. I hope he recovers like Massa, only that he keeps the speed.

JB survived because of HANS else he would have suffered a basal skull fracture which would have killed him.

The problem with this case was that the car did not have anywhere to move after impact as it came to rest almost immediately and the energy was not deprecated.

[ScottB]

Iv'e seen online where it is said his crash was 92g.
The medical update doesn't really tell us much about progress but at least things aren't getting worse and he's under control.
Funny how modern lethal f1 crashes tend to result in putting a driver in a coma due to head injury. The rest of the body is well protected on the other hand.
It's the head protection that may need a rethink.

Let's hope jules doesn't have to pay the ultimate price. I hope he recovers like Massa, only that he keeps the speed.

The injury was caused by rapid deceleration, all the armoured closed cockpits in the world wouldn't prevent this particular sort of damage.

[SectorOne]

How does this crash in terms of rapid deceleration compare to other front impacts?
Say this one for example, goes off at 160mph and looks to stop pretty damn fast.

[hollowBallistix]

It's probably more due to the deceleration on an individual component or body part, in the Hamilton impact the deceleration isn't isolated to his head, where with Jules it probably is when his helmet hits the crane...

[Tim.Wright]

I think the main impact in Bianchi's case was the roll hoop hitting the recovery vehicle. Niether the roll hoop or the recovery vehicle have crush zones so the vehicle acceleration would have been massive. Then there was only the seat belts and HANS which filtered the g-force of the impact.

Hamilton, in the above video, has 3 layers of tyre barriers in addition to the car's front crash structure and his belts and the HANS. The acceleration imposed to his head would have been a lot smaller because all of these things work in series to filter out the high g-force spikes.

[lebesset]

It's probably more due to the deceleration on an individual component or body part, in the Hamilton impact the deceleration isn't isolated to his head, where with Jules it probably is when his helmet hits the crane...

doesn't look like his head came in contact with the crane

[Jonnycraig]

Probably already been pointed out, but the damage has been caused by the brain being unable to decelerate inside the skull at the same rate as the body, and also parts of the brain decelerating at different rates with each other, causing tears within the brain tissue and the axons that control the way the brain processes information and communicates within itself. HANS is of course designed to aid this, but was never designed to counter a heavy hit against a recovery tractor.

[ScottB]

Probably already been pointed out, but the damage has been caused by the brain being unable to decelerate inside the skull at the same rate as the body, and also parts of the brain decelerating at different rates with each other, causing tears within the brain tissue and the axons that control the way the brain processes information and communicates within itself. HANS is of course designed to aid this, but was never designed to counter a heavy hit against a recovery tractor.

Indeed. The HANS device likely prevented him from being killed outright by a neck break, but there's nothing it can do to stop the deceleration forces on the brain.

Basically, he hit a solid mass, with the airbox being the first thing to make a clear contact. I don't think there's anything you could do to make that exact eventuality safer from a car design point of view. Slowing the cars when passing trucks and lowering their ground clearance enough so that it would be the nose that made first contact and not the airbox are the simple, easily and quickly implementable solutions.