I am sure when Delaware first put them in they thought it was a good idea and a cost saving measure.
It was. Ask Pete Bennett.
Imagine the races now and how long it takes to clean up a big accident. Then imagine another half hour to fix the fence before the show gets started again.
Listen, my standpoint may not be the politically correct one, but here it is: There's risk involved in racing. Don't matter what kind of walls you have up. Sure, poured walls would be nice and we'll likely get them at some point...but these are what we have now. Blaming car damage on the walls sounds pretty nitpicky.
There's gonna be damage no matter what walls you have, and guys are going to bounce back into the fray no matter what kinds of walls you have. It all depends on the angles.
Apples and Oranges Shadow. Guard rails were never suited for a race track but that is the technology they had at the time and they were cheap. You would be better off with nothing (yes I know there was nothing at one time) or have a sandbank like Sunset used to be. Jerseys were designed to pull cars into them and as I have said earlier their effectiveness has been disproven through testing. That is why they don't get used as permanent highway dividers anymore. Same deal, they were never suited for a race track. At some point Delaware has to face the facts. I agree it is what it is and jerseys are better than guard rails but better than guard rails doesn't cut it anymore. If they want to keep calling themselves 'the best short track in Canada' they had better start planning to actually be that. You don't see cars climbing straight walls on a straight away (unless they get shoved up) that have been designed for a race track. I'll keep picking nits thankyou. I don't race but I have been pushed into a jersey before on the highway. Not fun. And as for the risk, yes it is inherent in the sport but it is also incumbent on tracks to provide as safe as is reasonable venue notwithstanding any waivers anyone signs as these guys aren't professionals but weekend warriors. I may not have any standing to complain about this but I'm going to anyways. At the end of the day it is the racers opinions that matter not mine.
Those steel gaurd rails have probaby killed more drivers than anything else. the safer barrier is rectangular steel tubing with a stack of compressable material behind them. At todays prices softer walss would be real expensive. The car is still going to mangled anyway.
I've seen the original test movies made for jersey barriers and they were designed to change the motion form lateral to vertical to eat up energy. They were tested at 55 mph and seemed t owork quite well with the car parallel to the wall
I've seen the original test movies made for jersey barriers and they were designed to change the motion form lateral to vertical to eat up energy. They were tested at 55 mph and seemed t owork quite well with the car parallel to the wall
If I can find them I'll post the newer test videos as the originals were done in the early 70's I think. Once the 55 MPH limit was abandoned and accident rates increased new testing was completed. Anything above 70 MPH was deadly. You are correct about the original testing.