Seatbelts in 60-ies

[Robert Blaschke]

Can anybody explain me how exactly was a driver fastened by 6-point seat belts in F1 in years cca 1968-71? I try to understand, why are leg straps so long and which way they went to the central lock around the legs(?). TIA

[CMSMJ1]

They rarely used seatbelts as they are today until the 70s if I recall correctly.

Jochen Rindt was killed as he "submarined" in the chassis as he did not have all his belts connected and this was in 1970.

No idea about the mountings etc but the 6 point harness normall has two shoulder straps, two hip straps and two that circle the thighs.

Am sure some of the racers here can supply much better info for you

[Robert Blaschke]

two that circle the thighs.

That's what I am interested in. Leg straps on foto have a loop at end. Hmmm

[Scuderia_Russ]

First the waist straps are clicked together, then the crotch straps pass through steel loops woven into the waist straps then around the buckle of the shoulder strap before that is inserted.
Looking back over that it makes no sense at all.

Here are two pics I found via Google.

Single seater harness.


Sports car harness.


This is a traditional single seater harness. Sports car harnesses have the crotch straps connected to each other and another male part that simply clicks into the bottom buckle with the waist and shoulder straps.
On both harnesses the crotch straps are bolted down to the floor at two points and can be adjusted to suit. Bear in mind that these straps wrap or come up around your nut sack so getting the lengths right is critical for comfort!

[Robert Blaschke]

Thank you very much

[Vitesse]

It's also worth pointing out that some of the harnesses/belts were near-impossible for drivers to attach properly by themselves. Graham Hill's crash at Watkins Glen in 1969 being a prime example: he had stopped earlier and undone his belts but was unable to refasten them on his own. It's a moot point whether his life was saved by being thrown out of the cartwheeling car ....

[Steven]

It's also worth pointing out that some of the harnesses/belts were near-impossible for drivers to attach properly by themselves. Graham Hill's crash at Watkins Glen in 1969 being a prime example: he had stopped earlier and undone his belts but was unable to refasten them on his own. It's a moot point whether his life was saved by being thrown out of the cartwheeling car ....

I'm not even sure if today's F1 drivers can strap them in themselves. Before going out on track they are always aided by a mechanic to fix everything and make sure it's well fixed.

Fortunately though, I don't think the drivers still have to do it themselves. Once out of the car they're out (interesting thought... next year without refuelling, what will they do when they're out of fuel 10m before the finish line? )

[Roland Ehnström]

I remember that Kimi said in an interview after a race a couple of years ago that his seatbelts came undone during the race and he couldn't fasten them himself. He complained that he was thrown around in the cockpit by the G-forces, but I'd say he should be happy he didn't have an accident...

Jackie Stewart was the first F1 driver to wear seatbelts, as early as 1967, after his horrific crash at Spa in ´66 opened up his eyes about driver safety. It took years until they were mandatory, though. F1 in the late 60's and early 70's was extremely dangerous, as this list of deaths confirm:

1967 Lorenzo Bandini (I)
1967 Giacomo 'Geki' Ruso (I)
1967 Bob Andersen (GB)
1967 Georges Berger (B)
1967 Ian Raby (GB)
1968 Jim Clark (GB)
1968 Mike Spence (GB)
1968 Lodovico Scarfiotti (I)
1968 Jo Schlesser (F)
1969 Lucien Bianchi (B)
1969 Paul Hawkins (AUS)
1969 Moiss Solana (MEX)
1969 Gerhard Mitter (D)
1970 Bruce McLaren (NZ)
1970 Piers Courage (GB)
1970 Jochen Rindt (A)
1971 Ignazio Giunti (I)
1971 Pedro Rodriguez (MEX)
1971 Jo Siffert (CH)

That's 19 F1 drivers killed in crashes in 5 years. By 1971, 50% of the drivers on the starting grid of the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix would be killed in crashes. Imagine that happening today...

[Scuderia_Russ]

It is possible to strap yourself in if you don't have a helmet on otherwise you are doing it by feel because you can't look down at the belts to see what you are doing. Hans devices are another pain in the arse element because you have to tighten the belts a bit, pull them towards the neck, tighten a bit, pull them towards the neck etc.etc because they will slide off the Hans otherwise. Complete ball ache.

[architeuthis1]

Sorry CMSMJ1, but Jochen Rindt didn't "submarined" in the chassis as he did not have all his belts connected, but because the fixings of these belts broke! Team Lotus didn't have any other option but to admit it was the reason why he "slided" to the front of the car and had his legs destroyed.

Sorry as well, Roland Ehnström, but your list includes a lot of drivers (at least 8!) who were not killed in F1, but in other disciplines, such as :


1967 Georges Berger (B)
1968 Mike Spence (GB) - Indy 500 qualifying
1968 Lodovico Scarfiotti (I) - European Championship Hillclimb
1969 Lucien Bianchi (B) - Le Mans 24 Hours April practice
1969 Paul Hawkins (AUS)
1970 Bruce McLaren (NZ) - private CanAm testing
1971 Ignazio Giunti (I) - Endurance race, killed by another car when hand pushing his own car
1971 Pedro Rodriguez (MEX) - Interseries race in Germany

I must add that I have a few doubts about "Geki" Russo, Bob Anderson (not Andersen), Moises Solana and Gerhard Mitter, but didn't get the time to check.

[Scuderia_Russ]

I read that Rindt didn't like wearing crutch straps. He had a frontal impact which with him crutch strap less sent him down the car enabling his feet to get caught behind the pedals. The front of the car then got trapped under the barrier. The rest of the car carried on but the footwell and his trapped feet tried to stay behind meaning he was chocked on his waist belt. This is how I remember things I might be wrong.

EDIT: Just found this too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jochen_Rindt

[Roland Ehnström]

Sorry as well, Roland Ehnström, but your list includes a lot of drivers (at least 8!) who were not killed in F1, but in other disciplines

True, but they were all F1-drivers killed behind the wheel of a race car. I just copied the lists from http://www.f1technical.net/articles/24 & http://www.f1technical.net/articles/25

[architeuthis1]

OK, but in this case you shouldn't have written : "F1 in the late 60's and early 70's was extremely dangerous, as this list of deaths confirm:" right above the list, as it clearly implies that they were all killed in F1

And, Scuderia Russ, I am unfortunately not that young, so I was already accurately following Formula 1 when Rindt was killed, and I perfectly remember that Team Lotus agreed that the fixations of the belts to the chassis had broken under the impact. This is not at all to criticize the late Colin Chapman and his staff, but, reknowned for its relentless hunt for saving any useless gram, Lotus had unfortunately an impressive record of various mechanical breakages, especially in the 60s/70s.