CART Requires Wheel Tethers Starting at St. Louis Race ©1999 SpeedCenter Publishing Safety improvement to prevent tires from being launched Championship Auto Racing Teams Chairman and CEO Andrew Craig announced today that all Champ Cars racing in the FedEx Championship Series will be required to run tethered suspensions and front wheels beginning with the series' next race, the Motorola 300 at Gateway International Raceway in suburban St.Louis on May 29. The announcement was made here prior to Round 5 of the FedEx Championship Series, the GP Telemar Rio 200 on the Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway at Nelson Piquet International Raceway. "Safety is the priority in racing," said Craig. "This is part of the continuous evolution of the safety systems for our fans, teams and officials." The suspension and wheel tethers are required for front wheel and suspension assemblies on all cars. CART's mandate utilizes FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) rule 10.3.4 which states: In order to prevent a wheel becoming separated in the event of all suspension members connecting it to the car failing, cables must be fitted which connect each wheel/upright assembly to the main structure of the car. Under such circumstances, the design of the cable must be such that no wheel may make contact with the driver's head. Each complete cable restraint system, including its attachments, must have a minimum tensile strength of 50kN and the cable must be flexible with a minimum diameter of 8mm. "The evolution of safety over my 20 years in the sport is very significant," said J. Kirk Russell, CART Vice President of Competition. "Our cars and race facilities today are safer than they have ever been. We have carefully reviewed the data on this subject for several months and have come to the conclusion that this step will create a safer event for everyone involved in our race weekends." The cable must attach the entire wheel and upright assembly to the race car chassis. A para-aramid fiber is normally used for tethers, as it is able to exceed the standards noted above. Source: CART

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