Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Motorsport UK has announced that it will introduce cloud-connected impact data recorders (IDR) to British Formula 4 and other championships it sanctions.
The devices will be introduced during this season, and are a key component in being able to assess the risk of injury during crashes and other on-track incidents.
Weighing 0.012 kilograms, the small Impact Detect-manufacturered devices run on battery power and operate fully remotely. They are designed to sustain up to 80 impacts while still providing accurate, and therefore usable, measurements.
Once data is collected in real-time from the crashes recorded and is added to the FIA’s database, later with details such as location and post-crash consequences, mathematical patterns can be built that show the parameters in which different risks manifest.
An example of an application of such data would be crashes that may look minor visually, but for which the data recording would reveal the impact forces in various directions are in the thresholds which have previously led to concussions. The recording would be accessible via the FIA’s impact data recorder app for digital devices.
Once the FIA began wider distribution of the devices, the app featured over 2,5000 impact data reports by 2023.
However take-up as a whole has not accelerated until 2025, since series have not made IDRs which return recordings to the FIA’s database a requirement. There was no incentivisation, with limited availability and other advanced IDRs on the market.
In Formula 1 the ‘black box’ has been part of the technical regulations since the 1990s, and local storage of data is of greater significance. The boxes are designed to survive fires and car-destroying shunts involving larger impact parameters than seen in junior single-seaters. While that data can be added to the FIA’s database retrospectively once boxes are retrieved, all of the FIA’s world championships and other series it sanctions down to karting have now used its cloud-connected IDR.
“The IDR has the potential to provide crucial data that will reshape the future of safety across UK-wide sport,” said John Ryan, Motorsport UK’s sport and safety director.
“It will enable us to improve our understanding of any incidents using scientific data and better prepare in the future, helping to mitigate risk and ensure a safe and fair environment for our competitors.”
Impact Detect’s chief technology officer Chris Emery added: “The launch of the FIA IDR within Motorsport UK marks a transformational step forward for motorsport safety at all levels. Until now, meaningful crash data was largely confined to the top tiers of the sport. With the IDR, critical and objective data can now be gathered from grassroots through to national competition and beyond—something that was never previously possible.
“This data will enable Motorsport UK and the FIA to refine safety standards, empowering engineers, medical teams, and circuit designers to make informed decisions that directly enhance competitor safety.”
While the FIA launched a concussion awareness programme in June 2024, a concussion procedure only appeared in Appendix L of the international sporting code several months later.