Certainly a good debate and a topic worth revisiting annually to address the current state of affairs.
Last summer I had 3 friends (one distant but good none the less, one a roomates's dad, and one a teammate) get seriously injured at Road Atlanta all within the same 3 turns. The scary thing about all three crashed it the common theme. In all three cases the driver took what would be a normal trajectory for a racecar, they all hit concrete at a greater then 45 degree angle (90 in one case), and in all three cases common sence in track design would have allowed the drivers to walk away. In 2 of these three cases the life of the driver was seriously threatened thought I am happy to report all have recovered well and are getting better daily.
The saftey of the skippy car has never been something I have thought was sub par. When crashing into other cars or soft barriers or rolling over repeatedly in the dirt it has proven itself time and again. The head protection is decent for a formula car, far better than a formula mazda, especially in the side impact department as seen here.
As long as the driver wears a HANS, full nomex with underwear, correctly TIGHENS THE BELTS!!, and fits the correct head rest the car is very solid.
The issues isn't the car but the barriers. These cars are not designed, nor should they need to be, to hit concrete walls at big angles. A new Formula Mazda isn't either and while the tub might hold up better it does little to reduce the impact of the driver against the internals of the cockpit, footbox and pedals, or the belts. The big issue comes down the tracks, but with no organized group of drivers little can be done. I have been thingking of organizing such group recently but I am not sure if I am the guy to be the poster boy at this point in my career. I am interested to hear some thoughts.