Safety because

The safety because ( pace because in North America) or simply security car is a vehicle which is used to neutralize the unfolding of a automobile Compétition. In the event of accident, remains on the circuit or of too dangerous weather conditions, it enter in track and position in front of the leader to slow down the group. That makes it possible to the police chiefs to intervene in full safety to clean the track, to evacuate a broken car or with the doctors to carry help to a wounded pilot.

In Formula 1

The first intervention of the security car in Formule 1 goes back to the Grand Prix of Canada 1973 disputed on the layout of Mosport. Intervened following a violent one accident of the French pilot François Cevert, the " pace car" as one said then had completely distorted the course of the test while positioning in front of the second and not the leader. Peter Revson had thus been able to take almost a turn in advance on all its adversaries and to gain the race easily.

In the years which followed, Formula 1 did not use any more the security car, then especially considered with scorn as an element of the folklore of the North-American automobile races. This policy had nevertheless a great disadvantage since in the event of accident, the direction of race had only the choice between letting the test continue (what in spite of the deployment of yellow flags obliging the pilots to raise the foot on the place of the accident presented security issues) or stop the race with the red flag.

The TRUSTED finally decided to officially integrate the recourse to the security car in its payments as from the season 1993. To be distinguished from the North-American tests, TRUSTED it chose the terminology " safety car" and not " pace car". The security car was used for the first time at the time of GP of Brazil 1993 because of a violent one storm.

At the beginning of 1993, much of observers feared that the safety because becomes for the organizers a means artificially of starting again the interest of the races by reducing to nothing the advance of a too dominating pilot. The experiment showed that the organizers could make of it a use moderate and justified by real safety requirements.

Since 1993, the security car is a Mercedes. It is seemingly about a mass-production car, but which actually underwent various modifications to improve its performances. Concept of " ralenti" is indeed quite relative, and what is regarded as a slow speed for a Formula 1 is much less for the safety because. Besides at his wheel, one finds generally a professional racing driver. In F1, it is the German Bernd Maylander (specialist in DTM and the TRUSTED WP) who held this role a long time.

The security car has gyrophares oranges which it lights the time of its intervention. It cuts them the turn where it returns to the stand to release the race.

In North America

In the American tests, the use of the security car is much more widespread than in Europe. That is explained partly by the configuration of the layouts (which they are oval circuits or circuits downtown, the track is more easily blocked in the event of accident than on a traditional road circuit having vast releases) but also by an approach different from the automobile sport, under consideration before very under the angle of the spectacle. Thus of many interventions of the pace because appear largely dispensable in comparison with safety and have other goals only to start again the spectacle while allowing all the competitors to reposition itself behind the leader.

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