Wrong Place for Flying

Racing cars and airplanes have shared an inter-connection dating all the way back to the dawn of the 20th Century. The development of more efficient and lighter weight internal combustion engines benefitted aircraft development, while rapid advances in aeronautical engineering and aerodynamics have played profound roles in auto racing. Even the “pilots” of these machines have cross-pollinated with names like Rickenbacker, Flockhart, Constantini and Lauda having made contributions both on land and in the air. However, while aircraft do spend some amount of time at high speed on the ground, for the most part, racing cars are not supposed to venture into the airplane’s milieu. The one possible exception to this rule in the racing world is a very special place at the Nürburgring, known as the Flugplatz, or “flying place.” As the name implies, racecars are expected to take flight here and for decades this spot has provided some of the most dramatic photos—and dramatic crashes—in all of racing. In 1968 Chris Irwin’s racing career was essentially ended when his Ford 3L GT took flight there and the car blew over backward in a spectacular crash. Manfred Winkelhock experienced a similar flip, or “blow over” in 1980, when his March F2 took flight and the aerodynamics went horribly wrong. While the Flugplatz has seen its share of airborne crashes over the year, none of these have really come as a surprise because, as the name implies, it is the place for flying. Much more shocking has been the unexpected at the “wrong” places for flying.

I write this column at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend in the United States, which, of course, is synonymous with the Indianapolis 500. This is most certainly the wrong place for flying, as evidenced by an unprecedented string of cars taking flight this year. Our resident Indy authority, John Zimmermann, suggests the root of these Indiana airspace incursions may lie in the new “aero” packages designed by many of the manufacturers for this year’s Indycar season. In particular, Zimmermann posits that “the ‘box kite’ on the tail and the big, flat ‘sail area’ underneath make the current cars particularly vulnerable to flying.”