TonyG

Just got these today.

I will feel much better knowing they are on there at California Speedway looking at that big, very solid looking, concrete wall at 150+mph.

TonyG

Jeremy Himsel

Very nice. Have you seen those for an early offset car. Those are one of the few weak links left for me.

Lemming

Nice, I'm assuming those are from the Racer's Edge?

CPR

At least they have SAFER barriers there

Safer way to race

California Speedway latest to install energy-absorbing 'soft walls'

12:00 AM PDT on Wednesday, April 21, 2004

By JIM SHORT / The Press-Enterprise



FONTANA - Things will be SAFER around California Speedway from now on.


The 2-mile, D-shaped oval, which will be visited by the NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series teams April 28-30, is the latest of the series' race tracks around the country to be fitted with the Steel And Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barriers commonly referred to as "soft walls."

Elrod Corporation of Indianapolis began the installation two weeks ago, following the Yamaha Superbike Challenge weekend. Company president Jeff Elrod said they were scheduled to pack up and leave town today, after installing about 7,000 linear feet of the barriers on the inside of the speedway's existing concrete walls.

Elrod said the barriers consist of a wall panel made from 8x8x3/16 tube steel. The panel is attached to the existing wall with nylon straps, and polystyrene foam blocks (in a pretty pink color) are installed between the panel and the existing wall.

When a car hits one of the barriers, the energy created by speed and mass is absorbed and dissipated to lessen the potential trauma to the driver. In the aftermath of Dale Earnhardt's fatal accident at Daytona International Speedway in February 2001, several experts were of the opinion that a soft wall might have prevented his death.

"Every track needs it," four-time Nextel Cup champion Jeff Gordon said of the system during a recent conference call. "I think we've learned a lot about soft walls, how they make a big difference, and I'm a big fan of them. I'm in favor of them everywhere we go."

Dr. Dean Sicking, the man who was in charge of the research and development process for the University of Nebraska's Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, said the barriers will be everywhere because NASCAR has mandated them for all 33 venues visited by its Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck series - including the road courses at Sonoma and Watkins Glen, N. Y. - by the start of the 2005 racing season.

The SAFER barriers at California Speedway extend from the entrance of Turn 1 through the exit of Turn 2 and the entrance to Turn 3 through the exit of turn 4 on the outside of the track, and from the exit of Turn 2 about two-thirds of the way down the backstretch on the inside retaining wall. Elrod, whose company manufactures and installs the barriers, said that represents over 7 miles and 420 tons of steel and 1,300 to 1,400 foam blocks.

The barriers were first used for the 2002 Indianapolis 500. Since then, they have been installed at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, New Hampshire International Speedway, Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, Phoenix International Raceway, Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway and Darlington (S. C.) Raceway. Michigan Speedway and Daytona are next in line for completion, and Las Vegas Motor Speedway recently announced its plans for installation.

California Speedway president Bill Miller said, "I know from a driver's standpoint that it gives them an extra sense of security," and Sicking said knowing he and his staff helped create that sense of well-being has been perhaps the most gratifying byproduct of a project he initially planned to reject.

That was back in 1998, when he was approached by Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and Indy Racing League founder Tony George and his staff. Sicking was not a motor sports fan and said by telephone that his "strategic plan for my program didn't include racing." He also felt the lengthy study required would cost at least $1 million, which at that time represented his department's annual budget, and require hiring new staff at a time when the industry was entering a recession.

Sicking said he relented at the request of two of his primary staff members who were race fans, Dr. Ron Faller and Jim Holloway. Now, he said, the only issue is "dealing with overwhelming success" of the project, which has been funded by George and NASCAR.

He said by March, 2002, enough progress had been made that it was decided to install the barriers at Indianapolis for the 500. Sicking said the barriers "took about 10 hits" during practice and the race and functioned well. They were left in place for NASCAR's Brickyard 400 in August and took several more significant hits, including one by Kurt Busch that Sicking said was "more dangerous than he realized."

Following that race, NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. suggested some modifications, to better absorb the mass of the heavier stock cars while continuing to protect the open-cockpit, open-wheel Indy cars. The redesign was completed last July, and in the latter stages of the 2003 season, the revamped barriers were installed at New Hampshire, Richmond and Homestead.

Sicking said during the events at those tracks, several drivers hit the walls - most notably Jason Keller at New Hampshire and Michael Waltrip at Homestead - and "in every case the drivers walked away uninjured."

Now, ironically, the project Sicking at first didn't want seems likely to be his legacy.

"It's very gratifying to see our work being used ... especially in the application it's being used," he said. "It's one of the reasons I still work in this field, because of the intangible benefits of seeing our work used in a positive way.

"We've had quite a bit of success (with highway safety innovations), "but if you take all the attention from that, it would be 1/10th of what we've gained from this. This has been beyond my wildest dreams. It's beyond anything I thought would ever happen to me or my people."

http://www.pe.com/imagesdaily/2004/0...ll20b2_216.jpg

Jonathan J. Dwyer / The Press-Enterprise
Workers install the foam portion of the SAFER barriers at California Speedway in preparation for the May 1-2 NASCAR races.

SamGrant951

In 2007 I asked Karl at Racers Edge if he had considered making an early offset product and he said No way, the 86 spindle is weak/dangerous and told me to get late spindles/hubs.

Looks great Tony! Those are on my list at some point...

Techno Duck

Is that a Rebel Snow Speeder i see in the corner of the 3rd picture.. .

Those look great.. so nice its almost a shame to put them on the car and fill them with grease!

Whisper

Perhaps you could explain a little more?

TRACKIN951

hubba hubba, looking good

Rick

I have those on my race car...they're awesome. Karl is a fantastic person to work with & I could not be happier with his products.

Cheers,

Rick

TonyG

You know what I just thought of.... What about ABS?


Anybody know off hand how the ABS trigger wheel connects to the hub?


TonyG

theedge

The pictures I saw looked like a press fit ring.

333pg333

I've got Karl's fitted with ABS Tony.
Weren't you going to run a Boxter ABS setup though? Would this require some modification?

Rick

Tony,

You'll just take the ABS ring off your hold hubs...press it onto the new hubs and you're good to go. I've had Karl's hubs on my car for approx 2 years & the ABS works great.

Rick

Chris White

the 86 spindles are a known weak point for track cars - I had one cusotmer have two fail in one week...
On the bright side you can bolt on the 87/88 spindles & hubs with out changing the offset.

theedge

Even ABS hubs?