will SUCK the car AND the driver and turn their spine into slime or
something like that (it is a joke, Dave, it is a joke)
It is sad to realize here but SOME (I didn't say ALL) of our American
friends here are just going nuts everytime someone (anyone, they are not
choosy) suggest ANY change in nascar security/organisation.
F1 is changing every year and we consider it a normal process, it is called
evolution and even if it makes for races which are not as thrilling as a
nascar race where 4 guys come side by side of the last corner and try to
puch each other into the wall to win the race, it is still VERY interesting.
For the record did anybody see the aerial shots of the Ferrari in time
practice yesterday while taking the double 90 corner ? how the hell does he
get THAT grip ?
Anyway it seems that suggesting a change in nascar would be like ripping the
heart of an american tradition; this country is so full of contradictions
taht it is very hard for us outsiders to understand it, someday I would like
to have a COLD deate about it but of course here is not the place...not with
the HOT guys roaming around.
I feel that "tradition" whatever it is doesn't stand a chance when the life
of people are at stake, the FIRST thing someone should think, when they are
organizing a race/series is "have I done everything to protect the drivers,
marshalls, spectators, mechanics....", it is particularily alien to me
because as many europeans I come from "old" places, my home city is just
2002 years old (yes 2002) so when I see/read about "American tradition" I
have trouble figuring out, maybe that is also part of the american
"strangeness" in some aspects, they have this feeling of youth in their
country and thus they want to have "traditional" things to get a collective
identity, I respect that, but when it comes to motor racing, and peoples
live I think that change is not a bad thing.
Okay that was my serious post of the week, now back to the usual level
WAAAAZZZZZUP ?
> I saw on one of the many shows this week (think it was on RPM2NITE)
> that a place in Indiana makes these "soft walls". I guess a few F1
> tracks have already ordered and installed them for the upcoming
> season. These walls, when seen from a cross-sectional view, look like
> big, thick radiators. they have 2 layers, one (inside) being ***
> and the other some other material. On the inside they are shaped like
> radiator fins, and the walls come in sections which can be easily
> replaced after 3 major impacts take place. They are hard enough that
> there would not be the need for any clean up after a wreck, like with
> traditional foam soft walls. However, and this is exactly what they
> said on TV.........Traditional concrete walls only absorbs 5% of the
> energy before it reaches the drivers body. These new walls absorb 95%
> of the energy before it reaches the driver. 95%!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> According to RPM2NITE, it would cost $1.2 Mil. to fit a 1 1/2 mile
> track with these walls. They sound like something NASCAR needs to
> SERIOUSLY look into.
> Todd
> >> My only concern with a soft wall would be the driver
> >>who doesn't completely loose control but drifts just high enough to
'tag'
> >>the wall. Would the soft properties of a soft wall act like a vacum and
> >>suck the car into wall rather than just letting it skid along the
concrete
> >>wall for a few yards?
> >Yes it would. Not only that, it would probably stop a car travelling
150+ mph
> >in just a few feet and might possibly even sling the car, spinning, back
out
> >into traffic. I can't imagine the idiocy of this idea not gelling in the
> >minds of the people proposing this suggestion. How stupid would it be to
put
> >soft walls around the turns at Darlington?
> >I'm all for soft walls at the road courses and I'm sure Jimmy Johnson is
too.
> >Let's do it. One thing that hasn't been advertised about his crash
though,
> >mostly because it would hinder the cause of soft wall lunatics, is that,
not
> >only did Jimmy punch through about 10 feet of styro but, he also punched
right
> >through the guardrail. How many people know that? He didn't hit a
concrete
> >wall, he knocked a hole in a steel guardrail, thereby transferring some
of the
> >energy of the crash to the guardrail.
> >Dave Casey
> >Casey#9 (NASCAR Racing 4)
> >www.teamcasey.net
> >www.lvkc.com
> >www.buycoolcrap.com