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.

Hot on the heels of the concerns raised about Lotus Renault finances there is a very interesting piece by Joe Saward today on the goings on behind the scenes.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/

As I said, Tony Fernandes only has to wait this out. It also seems the question of drivers is far from over with Grosjean's name being mentioned despite a less than stellar performance last time out in F1, and a falling out between Kubica's manager and Lopez from GenII Capital.

Reports are coming in that the crane at the chicane in Monaco is to be moved so the run off can be moved back another 20 meters. The logic is that an accident there will bring out a red flag or safety car so there is no rush to move a car, but that is not necessarily true if it is down the escape road. Still, as often is the case it is a choice between less than perfect options. I forgot to comment on the removal of Maldanado's car in less than a lap last weekend, that's less then a minute from when the leaders were expected, so great job. If you read the comments my view on tires is "old fashioned'" but perhaps so am I and glad to be. At the Circuit Forum in Cologne last year Hubert Gramling, scientific adviser to the FIA Institute, proved that straw bales actually worked better, how old fashioned can you get! No one is suggesting going back to them as they of course catch fire and make a mess when you hit them, but it goes to show that not all new ideas are better. Remember when catch fences were all the rage, and then gravel, ploughed this way and that, and now we have asphalt everywhere.  Yes you can go under tires, but Perez was not so far from going under the Tecpro, especially if he went in nose first. Anyway, I am happy to spark debate and will publish all comments even if they disagree with me.

It seems that Rosberg is re-signing with Mercedes up to 2016. He must believe Ross Brawn when he says the 2012 car will be "excellent."

Someone not keen to extend a relationship seems to be Virgin who are reported to be looking to tie up with McLaren in a similar way as Force India. Sorry Nick Worth and Cosworth. Still, Cosworth look like picking up Lotus Renault next year. Lotus Cosworth? Now that has a familiar ring to it.

Bahrain's "state of emergency" is lifted today. Now what? The FIA says it will listen to the teams, who object to the calendar being extended but will not come out in public and say they do not want to go. Gutless.

Great live streaming pictures and sound from SPEEDTV.com this morning. Wish I could watch all the F1 like this, no ads, no idiot commentary, maybe ALMS has something here. No picture break up or lock up, and the quality was better than cable. Two interesting sessions today with some big accidents, two at the chicane after the tunnel. Rosberg lost the back end under braking and took off over the speed bumps put into the center of the chicane, presumably installed to slow cars down that short cut it. Thankfully these were removed before qualifying as they actually only make it worse, as demonstrated . I for one did not expect to see Rosberg back out in quali, not that he was hurt, he missed the center island between the track and the run-off, but the car had substantial damage. Great job by the Mercedes team to have him not only back out but competitive. Perez was not so lucky in Q3, hitting the island side on, and thankfully he did, a head on would probably have him under the TECPRO barrier. The jury is still out on these compared to tires, and they cost many times more. For me they are too light, as we have seen already cars go under them. Perez will miss tomorrow's race but fortunately his injuries are relatively minor.

Unlike the two HRT cars who despite not turning a wheel in qualifying have been given the OK to race, and they did not even have to buy a starting spot! The Stewards in an unfathomable piece of generosity will let them race, despite being 6-7 seconds off the pace in practice. Now on another track that may be OK, but around here there is no place for sentiment, and no room to overtake. Let us hope that decision does not turn around and bite someone.

Perez's accident showed the absolute necessity to get out early and bank a lap in these short sessions. McLaren failed Lewis and now he is stuck down in seventh despite being fastest in Q2. As I suspected, no one tried to save tires, starting position is everything here. It will be interesting to see what McLaren's pit strategy will be to try and leapfrog Lewis up the field.

I commented the other day on the efficiency of the Monaco track team in repairing the asphalt, and it was in evidence again today. Most of these incidents would have taken lesser crews a long time to clean up, and in some cases may not have repaired in time to finish a session. Indy, NASCAR et al need to go there and see how they do it. As Michael Schumacher was crashing Thursday at Ste-Devote you could see the crane operator start up. Having said that the "crest" coming out of the tunnel seems to have contributed to a few accidents this weekend and needs addressing. Given their usual rapid response it is surprising it was not planed smoother during yesterday's quiet day.

In other news it seems the Lotus sponsored Renault team is in a spot of financial trouble. The Marussia money is not flowing and since Kubica's accident interest from new sponsors has all but disappeared. The Geni Capital deal was a novel one for starters, and Lotus Cars is another work in progress. maybe Tony Fernandes just needs to wait this out. Story is Renault is owed big time for engines and may be looking elsewhere for 2012, like Williams.

I did miss a race from my list yesterday. The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars were at Charlotte last night, but got rained out anyway. Rescheduled for tonight, but will only be live streamed. Kimi qualified 15th for the Nationwide race! Outqualified not only his mentor Kyle Busch but his car owner Joe Nemechek! Need to watch that tonight.

Ferrari have now expressed their concern at extending the calendar to accommodate Bahrain. Has no one the guts to come out and say they will not go? I for one will not watch it if it is reinstated and encourage others to do the same. That is the only message Bernie and his cohorts will understand. This would be almost the last straw for me and I hope many others about what has become of our sport.