The American Renault that changed motorsport forever 

Damn, you mean he created a revolutionary safety device AND built a four rotor race car? That's one rad man

The single most meaningful comment ive ever gotten seeing as its from someone directly related to the main subject. thanks! i appreciate it.

I saw Jim Downing race a number of times to include in the Kudzu. I loved how he thought outside the box with his racing.

The hans has saved more drivers in the last generation than any invention since the multi point seat belt harness.

I spoke to Jim Downing a couple times over the years. Once at Daytona and once in Miami. At the miami Grand Prix when mazda was debuting their 4 rotor GTP car (silver and blue livery) and Jim had the Kudzu. I mentioned the Mazda 4 rotor and he said "yeah, well, we know how to make ours work" with a sly smile. The mazda GTP didn't make it thru the race and hard to remember now but may not have even started. they had the engine out of it before the race. Jim is a Rotary engine legend and legendary driver too. Super nice guy and I was glad I got a chance to chat with him in the paddock area on those days long ago.

And thank you for listening to it

Almost everyone knows why the Hans device is used now. God I remember that day. No one (myself included) knows why/where it was created. Thank you.

@@stijnpaspont should do a pagani lemans race cars origin story there along of the Chrysler lmp cars too

@@Mercman1010 it was created after Dale Earnhardt died of a basilar skull fracture in 2001

Joe Wheatherly had a similar fatal accident in turn five. Pretty sure it was 1967. I remember seeing a centerfold spread of Dan Gurney's 1968 Torino with a black metal screen that look like a refrigerator shelf on his car. The first practical one was after Richard Petty's barrel-roll on the frontstretch at Darlington in 1970. "He "only" suffered an arm/shoulder injury, but people were horrified when they saw the clear images of him half hanging out of the window, with his shoulder belts still fastened. That's when NASCAR took that seriously.

Gotta start somewhere . . .

Exactly. And none of it is helped by the "it wont happen to me" mindset some drivers have/had.

You’re absolutely correct that safety innovations occur almost always after someone dies, or several incidents occur that test the understanding of current safety regulations. This was never more evident than in the late 1950’s and the early 60’s. Cars became dramatically quicker and many drivers weren’t even wearing seatbelts. Safety had taken a back seat, pardon the pun, to competition and profit. Drivers were becoming more aware of the dangers they were facing at every level of motorsport. No one could initially foresee the effects of these immensely higher speeds would have on the human body, especially the head and neck. Helmets had become mainstream, and safety belts were mandated but the HANS Device was still a long ways away. In much the same way as war advanced Traumatic medical treatments, racing crashes have forced the governing bodies of racing series to advance safety. That’s an unfortunate comparison but it’s the best I’ve got.

@@medic53067 After the helmets and belts, everything was attributed to blunt force trauma, as a general term. It took awhile for that to show a pattern.

Only in the motorsport world....

Technically speaking: Glass goggles, leather helmets, full helmets, nomex fire suits, and seatbelts were already there when an onboard camera wasnt a heavy device..

Thanks man! And likewise, you make some stuff that all WEC fans should watch as its the perfect introduction/guide into the world of IMSA.

You weren't the only one to design another method to try and stop the BSF. My educated guess that the reason that it didn't get accepted by the sanctioning bodies is that they require a single point of release for the restraints. Sounds like your design required the driver to have a second point to release them from the seat. I've watched the HANS device evolve from the late 80s and my company has sold thousands to the racing community. The number of emails we've gotten thanking us for having the HANS devices in stock and able to ship the same day is countless. So I have to say that the HANS device is the best thing to come along to help save lives in the racing community.

Some track versions even went up to 400

I ve only played ac2 on play station. Yet i was sure that was AC music when i heard the bass slaps!

I was a crew chief for a Champion Spark Plug Challenge car at the time of Jacquemart's accident. I had seen him racing a regular R5 in the same class, and he was amazing; a very competent driver competing bravely in a woefully underpowered car. It was nice to see him recognized for his talent when the R5 Turbo did so well in the GTU class. His accident was very minor, and didn't even damage the car. So that was what made people take notice that something needed to be done. Safety as a significant aspect of racing took a long time to really progress. I think it was the mindset that all effort needed to be directed to going faster, and safety equipment just slowed the cars down. Sir Jackie Stewart was really one of the most influential people in changing this mindset. Making safety devices mandatory was the only way to get them implemented so that all teams had the same weight penalties, and the safety devices affected all teams equally. I do like where motorsport is now and all the safety equipment and apparel is just considered part of the deal now. I also like how driver's deaths are a very rare occurrence instead of something that happened 3 or 4 times per season.

Completely honest here. I did too for a while

Well, collar bones are curable, broken skull base is not so much. It's like with seatbelts. Maybe, back in a day, you could break the glass with your head and be thrown out with just some minor injures, modern windshields don't break at all, and it's like smashing your head against the wall.

They're not really that much smaller than Pinto or a Gremlin, narrower and lighter, but not that much smaller overall. Yanks know them as Le Car.

Kyle Petty tested a REEEAL early version at Watkins Glen in the early years of NASCAR Cup racing there. I believe it was a Hubbard/Downing design. It could have been someone else inspired by them. I was a hard collar, held down by the shoulder belts like the present one, but had four small shock absorbers that attached to the helmet that controlled speed of the head movement. Besides the size, the major downfall of it was it also limited the speed at which the driver could turn his head to look around. I think somewhere in my collection of 'recorded off TV' VHS tapes there may be one of that race weekend with a segment about it. It could have been the year after JD McDuffie's accident at the Glen. The Bustop (now named the LeMans Chicane) was added to slow down the entry speed at turn five.

For MC duffie if your browser and looks real speed he crash that so brutal bro no human Will life

@@theuser698 The crash of McDuffie was indeed extremely violent and the angle was also very awkward. However, part of the impact was being absorbed by the armco which moved back a lot, and in the end his only fatal injury was a skull base fracture. This being said, even with current technology and the HANS system, maybe McDuffie still wouldn't have survived...

Thought before but not applied after, so no benefit to the users.

It's called R&D, also known as Research & Development. You have to do the Research in order to Develop the product.

Well mainly because "it look stupid"

Thanks! I initially thought some guy named hans made it so i felt kinda dumb when i realized a few years ago that it stood for head and neck support