Stewart Grand Prix, Lear Corporation Champion F-1

Driver Safety Montreal (PROTEXT) - Three-time Formula One (F-1) WorldChampion and long-time safety advocate Jackie Stewart shared adifferent kind of podium today, on the eve of the Canadian GrandPrix and on the Stewart Grand Prix (SGP) Executive Chairman's60th birthday, Stewart joined Jim Masters, President of LearCorporation's Technology Division, at the podium to discuss F-1safety issues and the progress being made by SGP and Lear -- anSGP technology partner and one of the world's largest automotiveinteriors suppliers. They also highlighted the technologytransfer from the F-1 racetrack to roadways that eventually willbenefit everyday drivers. Safety is a pertinent topic in light of the massive accidentinvolving 12 drivers on Turn One of Lap One of last year'sCanadian Grand Prix. Stewart Grand Prix Drivers Rubens Barrichello and JohnnyHerbert each race in personalized versions of the award-winningextractable seat system, a collaboration between technical anddesign engineers at Lear, SGP and the FIA. The FIA's TechnicalWorking Group adopted the technical specifications from theprototype designed and developed by Lear and SGP in conjunctionwith Professor Sid Watkins, the FIA Medical Commission Chairman,and Charlie Whiting, the FIA Safety Delegate. This type ofextractable seat became mandatory on all Formula One cars fromJanuary 1, 1999. The seat is designed for rapid extrication of an injureddriver (30% faster than conventional methods), to prevent furtherinjury and to provide better stabilization. Fortunately, the extractable seat has not been put to the testduring the 1999 Grand Prix season but each driver now uses aversion of the seat made in accordance with Lear-SGP designspecifications. Track crews also have been trained to apply thehead stabilization board, attach the belts and lift theimmobilized driver from his car without causing further injury. Jackie Stewart, a motorsport legend with 27 victories from 99Grand Prix starts and three World Championships between 1965 and1973, praised the innovative extractable seat: "The extractableseat provides ample hope not only that drivers will surviveaccidents with their lives but may be able to walk after crashesthat would otherwise have left them paralysed. The team of peopleinvolved in this project at Lear both in North America andEurope, have done an extraordinarily good job. Many hundreds ofhours have been devoted to it by a whole army of experts. StewartGrand Prix is proud to have been part of the project and to havecontributed something to motorsport in terms of driver safety, asubject about which I am very passionate. I am delighted that theFIA has seen fit in 1999 to make it compulsory in all Formula Onecars." In addition to its work with the extractable seat, Lear alsoworked integrally with the SGP team to develop the F-1 drivers'1999 seats entirely using computer-aided design. Lear designersuse highly specialized modeling and software to help determinethe optimum position to enhance driver comfort. "It's becomeincreasingly clear that comfort can have a major impact on driverperformance," said Lear Technology Division President JimMasters. "As the race progresses, the driver naturally becomesfatigued. Discomfort could interfere with his concentration, slowhis reaction time and potentially compromise his safety as wellas the other drivers' and even his crew. The seats we designedfor the SGP drivers took all this into consideration and thescanning technology we used might someday allow us to build acustom seat for retail customers." Lear and SGP took an unprecedented approach in designing theinteriors of the two 1999 Stewart-Ford SF-3 racecars: Rather thanwedging the driver into the remaining area available for thecockpit, they started with the driver cockpit area and worked outfrom there. The team focused on vehicle packaging, driveranthropometry (the study of human measurements) and custom seatdesign. The new design converted the uncomfortable, old foam seatto new, carbon fiber/kevlar composite structural sheetsupplemented with individualized foam inserts to enhance drivercomfort and support. The new seat structure also is lighter, akey factor in racing because weight reduction can improve speed. "The seat gives me the support in the lower back that I didn'thave during my first four years on the circuit," saidBarrichello. "We're talking about going a tenth of a secondfaster at the end of the race when your body is tiring, leavingthe body free to use your mind as well. It provides me withfantastic lower back protection where I really need it." The extractable seat system has earned Lear and SGP severalimportant safety awards. The Specialty Equipment MarketAssociation (SEMA) presented Lear and SGP with its prestigious1998 Motorsports Engineering Safety Award for "outstandingcontribution to state-of-the-art motorsports engineering."Earlier this week, Automotive and Transportation InteriorsMagazine honored Lear and the extractable seat with top prize in1999 Interior Design and Technology Awards' ProductionDivision/Safety Category. One judge called it "a truly innovativedesign and engineering solution with easily measurable gains insafety." Another said, "This concept is particularly commendablebecause any translation to production vehicles means extendingthe seat's safety responsibilities still further, beyond currentwork with whiplash protection." Stewart Grand Prix, under the direction of Executive ChairmanJackie Stewart and Deputy Chairman Paul Stewart, is racing twoStewart-Ford SF-3 racecars driven by Rubens Barrichello andJohnny Herbert in this weekend's Montreal Grand Prix. LearCorporation signed a three-year contract as a Technology Partnerwith Stewart Grand Prix on December 17, 1997. Lear Corporation, a Fortune 200 company headquartered inSouthfield, Michigan, is the world's largest supplier ofautomotive interiors, with 1998 proforma sales of more than $12billion. The company's world-class products are designed,engineered and manufactured by more than 100,000 employees inover 300 facilities located in 33 countries. Information aboutLear and its products is available on the Internet athttp://www.lear.com . ots Original Text Service: LearCorporation Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: KarenStewart, Director Corp. Communications of Lear Corporation 001-248-447-1651, USA; or Cameron Kelleher Media Relations Managerof Stewart Grand Prix +44-0-1908-279-794, UK Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/518304.html or Fax, (USA)800-758-5804, ext. 518304 Web site: http://www.lear.com

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