Bob Barnard Track Engineering

The events of the last couple of weeks have given me pause to reflect on how life and death are flip sides of the same coin, and how often whether people survive or die an incident is based on how the flip of that coin goes. We are mortal and will die, although I have seen too many people in racing who think they are immortal!

We see Dan Wheldon die in an accident we have seen many times before with results ranging from drivers walking away to fatalities. Mike Conway's accident at Indy kept him out of racing for a year, but he recovered from what looked a similar incident. Indeed, I think 15 cars were involved at Las Vegas, and most of the drivers walked. Talking of the number of cars, much has been made of 34 cars on a 1.5 mile track. Tune in this weekend to watch NASCAR run 43 cars on a half mile paper clip oval. Any comment Jimmie Johnson?

We see Marco Simoncelli die in a simple get off that he and many others have had over the years. Kevin Schwantz at Phillip Island two years in a row! Marco was just in the wrong place this time, as was the Moto2 rider a year or so ago.

While we were mourning these two great competitors three others from off-road racing died in a plane crash. How many times have we seen this with sportsmen, especially motorsport, rushing from one event to another? Rick Hendrick's great loss of a few years ago, Graham Hill, former F1 Champion killed after he stopped racing, and David Coulthard walking away from a fatal crash where the pilots died. I see a great friend, Skip Jackson, Australian Sprint Car Champion and Knoxville fan favorite, be diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer at the age of 42, after a purely fortuitous blood test, and survive. Chance. Then there is that great Austrlian driver, Peter "Perfect" Brock who died after retiring in a fun rally driving a replica Cobra Coupe built by his American namesake. What were the odds of that?

So where does falibility come in. Everything we do involves us humans, and we are all falible. When I see a fatal crash I think of the tracks I've built or approved and think "there but for the grace of God go I." As I have said in presentations on track design, we are becoming over-reliant on simulation and computers, and too clever for our own good as a result. As it happens I received my monthly copy of the Engineers Australia magazine yesterday, and there are three articles related to this. One is from a forensic accident investigator who writes, "No matter how hard we try to prevent these events, they will still happen because we are all human and errors will occur despite our best efforts." He goes on to say "New processes and materials are constantly arriving on the market, and the uses to which they are put constantly changes. What doesn't change seems to be the human factor. Insurance records historically show that about 50% of all accidents are directly related to human error and that figure has hardly changed over the years."

In the same magazine is a report of the brand new grandstand in Wollongong, yes there is such a place, being damage by high winds. This is the structure we are talking of, not the roof panels. How does that happen in this day of computer analysis? At college in the mid-sixties we had to analyse by hand and slide rule the new cantilever grandstand roof at the Sheffield Wednesday soccer ground. This obviously had been originally designed a few years earlier just the same way, but still stands to this day without incident.

So to sum up. I have been known to say that track design is more art than science. One of my favorite engineering sayings is "it's more art than science, but at least we are doing the art more scientifically these days." The following quote is also from the Engineers magazine, and I wish I had know it earlier. It is a 1960's definition of structural engineering, but I think you will see the message."Structural Engineering is the art of moulding materials we do not wholly understand into shapes we cannot precisely analyse, so as to withstand forces we cannot really assess, in such a way that the community at large has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance." Touche.

At the end of the interview I did Friday I was put on the spot to say racing is safe, and I said at the time that it was bound to come back and bite me. Well it did not take long. Marco Simoncelli passed away from injuries he received on lap 2 of the Malaysian MotoGP after falling, losing his helmet, and being run over by Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi who were too close to avoid him. Marco had his fair share of falls, and it appears to be just the wrong one in the wrong place. Did his hair contribute to his helmet coming off? Who knows but I'm sure someone will look at it. Very sad, too young, and spare a thought for Edwards and Rossi.

At least this time they red flagged the race.

Other big news is the "Grand Prix of America" F1 race to be run on the streets of New Jersey with the Manhattan skyline in the background to give Bernie his New York race. Given Austin is the "Circuit of the Americas" I would have thought that should have been given this title rather than the US Grand Prix. Rumors have abounded for this for a while, and this is still not official, press conference scheduled for Tuesday. So who is going to lose out, or are we headed for 25 races?

 

Practice for the Valencia F1 race and qualifying for the Assen MotoGP this morning. Caught the second F1 practice, but not much to excite there, can't say I like this layout. Most interesting thing so far is Schumacher's continued good form following Canada. Tomorrow will tell if the engine mapping restrictions will have an impact on Red Bull's qualifying speed. The back end of the grid is the usual suspects, HRT, Virgin and Lotus, and surprising to see Lotus still over 4 seconds off the pace, as is Kobayashi. There is a big gap to his team mate Perez of 1.5 seconds, did Kobayashi not use the super soft option?

Over in Holland the works Hondas all had crashes in the morning which left them a bit tentative in qualifying. Simoncelli had no such worries, it is the race that's his problem. Ben Spies nearly pipped him for pole in a reversal of form which saw him outqualify Lorenzo for the first time. Rossi's switch to the 2012 chassis does not seem to have done him miuch good as he is down in 11th, outperformed by Abraham on the privateer Ducati in 7th.

The news out of Austin continues to suggest ongoing problems with local politics, but the organizer's attorneys statements seem designed to scare the locals into supporting the project, so not sure how bad this really is for Tavo and the boys.

He just loves to keep stirring doesn't he? In an interview with CNN, and why would he do this now, he said "We have gone too far with artificial elements. It's like, if I push footballers to wear tennis shoes in the rain. To have so many pitstops - listen, I want to see competition, I want to see cars on the track. I don't want to see competition in the pits," he explained. I like the "tennis shoes in the rain." I think he hit Bernie's sprinklers and Pirelli tires with one shot. So, is this all sabre rattling to get a better deal for the teams at the next Concorde Agreement, or are they for real? You can read the whole piece at:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91349

In other news, Ferrari say Massa has their complete support, look out Felipe, that's usually the last sound someone hears, and the teams do not want to go testing again. Seems they cannot afford it. Not now they spent all that money on simulators. At Monza "Jules" Vergne is quickest in FR 3.5 practice with American Alexander Rossi not far behind. Aussie Daniel Ricciardo is much further back. It almost seems like FR 3.5 is just something to keep his hand in between F1 Friday sessions, and the up coming full ride.

At Le Mans the MotoGP boys are practicing for this weekends French GP, with Stoner breaking lap records and leading the way from Simoncelli. Let's see if he remembers the tires are cold at the start of the race? Nicky Hayden has the Ducati in fourth! Where did that come from? His mate Valentino is a second off in ninth, with Ben Spies even slower. Unless someone can step up Casey is going to run away with this one, but it is only Friday.

Seems the Indian GP is having a few problems with its neighbors. Not complaining about the noise, just everyday stuff about access to their temple, and threatening demonstrations over arguments with the government about compensation for land.

Someone else with problems is Sutil. You have to wonder what the conversation was to apparently smash a wine glass and stick it in someone's neck? Not a thing you do lightly, even after a few drinks. It is an odd situation with it having occurred in China. Who is bringing charges and where?

The News buyout of F1 saga rolls on with another group joining in that includes the Abu Dhabi investment arm, Mubadala, another Ferrari link. This can't all be smoke and mirrors.

Going on that is. The Indycar race was concluded this morning, still raining and crashing, and did anyone watch? The "who's buying F1 and will anyone stop them" saga continues. The latest is Ferrari being involved, possibly as part of the News Group takeover. Now that would give Montezemolo a way to kill the small engine. Is this a team takeover by the back door? Not sure how the other teams would feel about Ferrari being part owner, but it would probably be no different than when they had a secret veto.

Simoncelli blames cold tires for his crash. Why would his be any different to all the others? Didn't he expect his tires to be cold on the first lap?

Still nothing definite on the Bahrain GP despite the deadline passing. Bernie is desperate to run this race. It cannot just be the money.