Bob Barnard Track Engineering

A few coincidences in the last few days have prompted me to write about motorsport safety. I was due to join a panel discussion after a showing of the Senna film in London next week, but the technical difficulties of doing it from Phoenix proved too much. One of the things I was asked to comment on was the impact Senna's death had on safety.

It is true the events of that weekend prompted Max Mosley to re-light the need to improve safety that Sir Jackie Stewart started and which had perhaps lost momentum. Senna's was the last death in F1, so perhaps it worked, but it made me consider what had really changed.

The biggest steps have come with the cars themselves, and as we saw at the weekend in Monaco drivers can now survive virtually intact some huge accidents thanks to the “survival cell” that surrounds them, but what of the tracks themselves? Have we really seen such a great improvement, and the real question for me is what has been done for the bulk of competitors at National level and below?

Safety costs money, and most competitors and track owners do not have any. As a track inspector here in the US I face the problem of telling an owner he needs to fix something, only to be told he cannot afford it, and he can’t. I had a track manager tell me the other day that they subsidize track rentals by around 40% because that is what the market will bear.

The Tecpro barrier is a case in point. They may be better, but only tracks run by Governments can afford them. Jarno Zaffelli sent me information the other day on an installation he is supervising at Imola, but said that cost was not an issue. Well for most of us it is, and having tires is better than nothing. There is also a better mesh available for the debris fence, at a price, but I cannot get proper fences built now, let alone the best one.

Even for F1 tracks we still see corners like the last one in Sao Paulo, which cannot be changed till next year despite two deaths there in other events, and we have street events in Valencia and Singapore which by their nature have to be a compromise. The last corner in Korea was not a great example either, as was the wall that Webber hit. Yes we have asphalt run off everywhere these days, but again at what cost? You probably add about 200% to the area of asphalt at a track, and that is probably the most expensive piece. It was said in Abu Dhabi that the walls were moved closer to give it more of a street track feel. And now they are going to bring MotoGP there?

The cost of most tracks is about one tenth of what is spent on F1, they have to make money, so how is safety going to improve? This does not even take into account the thousand or so little tracks here in the US that operate on a shoestring without basic knowledge of safety in most cases. It’s OK having helicopters, fast intervention vehicles, surgical units and loads of fire fighters and doctors for GP’s, but what about Joe Bloe on a Saturday night in his sprint car?

All the effort is being made at the top level, but there are huge numbers of competitors at risk below that who are not receiving enough attention. Here in the US the Sports Car Club have been trying to improve things through a track review program with limited success, and they have great training for their officials and safety teams, but that is the real extent of it.

On a different note, it seems my prediction of Nick Worth's departure came true very quickly, and the lifting of the state of emergency  in Bahrain did not change much on the ground.

In the absence of other major race series this weekend all eyes are on Brno for the Czech MotoGP.  For once Lorenzo did not grab pole, and both he and Rossi dropped the bike near the end of qualifying, but so did a lot of others. Pedrosa grabbed pole from America's Ben Spies who is obviously benefiting from being here before, and his increasing experience with the MotoGP machinery. In the 125cc class the usual order changed due to Marquez still feeling the result of his crash earlier in the week, but still on the front row. Pole went to young English rider, Bradley Smith, which will give my mates back there plenty to cheer about. Moto2 continues to be  almost anybodies race on any weekend, which at least keeps it interesting.

Let's hope tomorrow's GP lives up to the grid with probably four riders all in contention on qualifying times, and Rossi lurking in fifth.

The other series racing is the British F3 at Silverstone where points leader Jean-Eric Vergne took pole for both races, but was beaten by James Calado in the first wet race. Is this his Achilles heel? Vergne seemed unbeatable up to now and has been predicted for big things.

Here in the US the NASCAR boys, and girls, are at Michigan where Jack Roush made a surprise visit following his plane crash at Oshkosh a couple of weeks ago. Good to see you up and about Jack, but sorry to hear about the eye. Jack has some great WWII planes, and when he used to do his end of year thank you to sponsors at Road Atlanta he would take them to the nearby  airfield to give rides in both his many cars and planes. Does Jack still do that I wonder? It used to provide a very interesting comparison of the performance of the different vehicles, such as the Panoz ALMS and a NASCAR, no contest around Road Atlanta.

Our would be F1 racer, Danica, has played down expectations of her performance in the Nationwide race! Who had any? She finished 22nd at Mid-Ohio last weekend in an IRL car, and this is who we want to promote F1 in the US?

Booked the hotel for the Track Forum in Cologne, Germany, next November. Looking forward to it, should be a great conference. Started thinking about next year's New York Forum, and so should you if you are involved in the sport here in the US. After meeting with the attorney yesterday it just brought home again the poor state of tracks and track management here, and the need for more effective licensing and inspection. The lack of any consistent standards such as the FIA applies, and the myriad sanctioning bodies allows tracks to avoid play one off against another and avoid meeting even basic standards or best practices. Last Turn Club touched on this recently and the SCCA has been trying for some time to impose some basic requirements for certification, but lack the clout to force necessary upgrades. I understand that the current state of racing here makes earning a dollar very hard for track owners and operators, so spending on safety improvements is hard, but not as hard as when you face a law suit for wrongful death. Think about it.

It seems in motorsport, and maybe in life, it pays to have a rich or famous father, or preferably both. Now I'm not saying these guys should not be out there, in most cases they are good enough, but so are many more who never get the chance.

Two news items today prompted these thoughts. Paul Menard has signed to run with Richard Childress in 2011. Now this is not so much Childress signing a new driver as Menard Senior taking his bag of money from one team to another, as Childress is adding a car to its team for Paul to race. Ed Carpenter is also back in IRL, courtesy of step-dad Tony George, late of IRL and part of the Hulman family that owns Indianapolis Speedway.

Over at the US F1 track and promoter Tavo Hellmund says that the race could be in Austin for forty years. he needs to hope so as then he may finally make a quid. But how did Hellmund get the rights, well his dad promoted the Mexican GP way back when.

Then there are all the famous sons in racing at the moment, Alex Gurney, Nico Rosberg, Jacques Villeneuve, Joylon Palmer, the Mansell and Taylor brothers, Tambay, Brundle, Piquet, Magnessun, the late Henry Surtees, Damon Hill, Derek Hill, Conor Daly, Prost, Nicholas Todt, Paul Stewart, Bruno Senna(I know he is a nephew), Scheckter, and I'm sure there are a lot I missed. Let's not even start on that family business, NASCAR.

Bernie must be reading my blog as he has decided that he and Tavo need an American driver for the US race, but who does he pick? Rossi, Newgarden, Summerton? No, Danica Patrick, the driver who is doing so well in the Indy Retirement League and crowd favorite, personality of the year. C'mon Bernie at least do your homework and look past the face and the gender. She might get some column inches but is unlikely to make F1 popular in the US. I guess if you think Schumacher is a good advert for your sport then Danica could be a good choice.

Another great presentation session last evening for the Sol Real project. We are getting great response and the word is spreading. I was contacted by the SCCA to inspect a track in the same region, but the owner knew of this project and my role, and was concerned about me working on a track that might compete with his. He might be questioning my integrity, but he confirmed his.