Bob Barnard Track Engineering

I have just started reading Bill Bryson's latest book. If you have not read any of his you need to find them. Always entertaining and full of great information. The latest is about the year 1927 in America, which was quite amazing actually. He focuses early in the book on aviation and how the US lagged behind the rest of the world. He has one paragraph about the state of aviation at that time.

"Aviation in America was almost wholly unregulated. The country had no system of licensing and no requirements for training. Anyone could buy a plane, (or a track) in any condition, and legally take up paying passengers. The United States was so slack about flying that it did not even keep track of the number of airplane crashes and fatalities." And so he goes on.

If this sounds familiar he could just have easily have been commenting on the current state of motorsport in America. Indeed, with the number of deaths worldwide this year he could have been commenting on a wider stage. As I have said before, motorsport at the top level gets the attention while the majority of the sport goes its merry way, ignoring the basic measures that could be taken.

I continue to receive expert witness cases involving death and horrific injuries which should have been avoided if a professional were consulted as to the proper way of designing, constructing and running a track, but it seems most track owners know better, and who is there to tell them otherwise? Just building tire barriers correctly, not hard, not expensive, would save so many injuries and fatalities. But as I keep asking, does anyone care? 

Let's all send good vibes to Michael Schumacher. Not my favorite driver, but not one I would wish ill of.

And so on to 2014 and all that beckons. F1 with 1.6 liter turbo engines, the United Sports Car here in the US and Porsche back at Le Mans. Happy New Year everyone, and safe racing!