earlyapex

I am a practicing emergency medicine physician and avid racing fan like all of us Rennlisters. The recent fatalities have touched us all. I am attaching a link to a blog by Dr. Jim Norman, a race car driver and physician. As we morn the loss of a member of our racing family, let us not forget that racers are often the ones that have to take the lead in improving track safety.

http://blog.parathyroid.com/race-car...racing-deaths/

jbossolo

Great info, thanks for sharing! I'm an orthopod myself.

Chaos

Wow does that hit home.

sbelles

The original article was posted when it came out but I'm sure many missed it. It seems like sanctioning bodies in general are becoming much more attuned to evidence based safety improvements.

mcongleton

Thanks for posting, that was an excellent article however somewhat sobering.

Mark

Leigh2

Depressing but good to know...thanks for posting.

earlyapex

I'll make it a point to look at the track "safety" features the next time I do a track walk.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Fantastic article; I hope the right people read it. Only a unified effort by both professional & amateur drivers to demand safety changes will anything be accomplished.

mtesh73

wow.... sobering is right!!!

500

A very good article... the observations were insightful.

As far as tracks have come in the past 30 years or so, this article shows that there is still a lot of avenues for improvement. I may be wrong, but my understanding that the track in Australia at which Sean lost his life is relatively new? If so, then it is instructive in reinforcing the point that track safety can't be assumed for new venues.

Vonschmidt

Detailed and as I was in Houston sobering.

jdistefa

Eric, thx for posting. I read Jim's blog in the summer when it made the rounds. He is obviously, sadly, updating it. Lots of docs here, myself included, who as students of the sport keep a close eye on this stuff. Sobering. But I suspect driving on public roads is still more dangerous, an act which most people take for granted. I remind myself while at the track that although there are inherent dangers, there are also no drunk people... or texting drivers... or fragile elderly... etc.

I have a friend (a doc) who tore his SMA with a trivial deceleration mechanism, sliding through a stop sign at low speed and nosed into a ditch. He barely made it to the OR. So, things can only be made more safe, not safe safe.

Nizer

Good article. My first thought after seeing the photos of Sean's crash was what was a perpendicular cement wall doing at the end of a straight with just a row of tires in front of it? Senseless.

earlyapex

Here is some reading on barriers and gravel traps.

http://www.racesafety.com/news_detail.html?NEWSID=313

FFaust

From the article



This is exactly what happened to me on Labor Day this year; lock up due to mechanical failure. And no, gravel does not slow you down, well nowhere near as much as you would expect.

From the second article:

Runoffs of T1 and T2 at Mosport were paved over this year, and let me say that it feels MUCH safer just knowing about it. At the limit, it can be used as additional track-out, and save the day. Granted, these were previously grass and not gravel, but two feet in on pavement is way better than two feet in in gravel.