No other date on the calendar equals the dynamism of May 27, when attention centers on Indianapolis, Monaco and Charlotte, not to mention Lime Rock Park, Topeka and scores of other racetracks around the nation. Hopefully, all the events will be thrilling and safe, and our sport will continue its steady rise in popularity. This, despite the rivalries and internecine warfare that has plagued motorsports since the first engine bellowed into life. At this point, there is no telling how the suit will be resolved and which side will prevail - other than to predict that legions of lawyers will realize a bonanza in fees and settlement shares. There can be no arguing that the human body is vulnerable to extreme g-forces, both in terms of intensity and duration.
Astronauts withstand enormous deceleration during re-entry, but for only a matter of seconds.
Modern racing cars are easily capable of generating more than 1g in lateral acceleration, and those levels are easily tolerable. Now that the genie of aerodynamics is out of the bottle, there is theoretically no limit to the speeds attainable with a racing car. It is possible that, given free rein with ground effects and unlimited power, race car engineers could theoretically create a car that could lap TMS at perhaps 300mph. No driver would be necessary, because we now possess the telemetry to control a car by computers, negating the need for a human being in the cockpit. The young men who climbed into their Reynards and Lolas at Texas were prepared to drive the oval flat-out, relying on ground effects to glue them to the corners.