Check out the shot that accompanies this blog and you’ll notice something. No, not that the driver in the recognizable helmet is handsome and suave, just doing some laps of the Nürburgring on the ol’ expense account.
Well, you might catch that part, too, but the real thing I’m talking about is the windows. Specifically, their upness.
Literally every other country I’ve tracked in has allowed or even encouraged windows up while on track. But here in the good ol’ U.S. of A., all but a scant few clubs and tracks require open windows even in the foulest of atmospheric conditions. I guess my big question here is “Why?”
And I’m legitimately curious what everyone thinks about this. Best case, maybe this can start a dialogue on why we stick with some practices without ever reexamining them.
Probably the easy reactive answer is “safety.” I guess the assumption here is that an open window makes for easier extraction of an incapacitated driver, but I’d love to see some numbers on how many drivers have actually been pulled through open windows. Seems to me if you’re in need of an extraction in the first place, a closed window is a fairly low hurdle for rescue workers to cross.
And if you’re in a late-model Camaro–or several other models of modern sports cars–you aren’t coming out that window open, closed or otherwise. So I’m not entirely buying that particular part of the safety argument.
The other argument I hear is that open windows facilitate better official-to-driver communication. I guess I can kind of see that on grid or in the pits, but I’m also not seeing a powerful argument for not rolling ’em up as you’re leaving.
Point-bys are another frequent argument I hear, and this is probably the most powerful one in favor of running with the windows down. Still, shooting your whole-ass arm out the window at 120-plus could arguably be not the safest option, either.
Of course, while we’re talking about point-bys, I’ll also give a quick mention to the other uniquely American implementation of allowing turn signals for point-bys. In the rest of the world, turn signals are the de facto option for point-bys, used in a similar manner to how you would on the road: You signal the direction you’re going to move so the overtaking driver can act accordingly.
In all the implementations I’ve seen in the U.S., though, flashing turn signals indicate the side you want the overtaking driver…
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