'SAFER' retained for NASCAR Brickyard 400
NASCAR has confirmed that the controversial 'SAFER' barrier wall system will remain on the four corners of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for its Brickyard 400 Winston Cup race on August 4
IMS officials believe the 'Steel and Foam Energy Reduction' walls, consisting of concrete padded with foam blocks, protected drivers involved in accidents during last month's Indy 500 meeting from more serious injury.
The walls will be modified for the Brickyard 400 by inserting one additional energy-absorbing unit every 10 feet, because stock cars are far heavier than IRL open-wheel cars and behave differently in high-G impacts.
However, this week NASCAR announced it would not give New Hampshire International Speedway owner Bob Bahre the green light to implement the impact-absorbing system in time for the Winston Cup race on July 21.
NASCAR has said it needs to carry out further research into the system, especially as the different tracks on the circuit have their own peculiarities - including varying corner widths and banking gradients.
The SAFER system won the SAE's 2002 Louis Schwitzer Award at Indianapolis, but has been criticised by US safety barrier expert John Fitch, among others.
Share Or Save This Story
McLaren: Pirelli F1 tests will help Ferrari, Red Bull for rainy Canadian GP
BTCC Snetterton: Sensational Sutton strikes from 10th to win, disaster for Ingram
DTM Zandvoort: Van der Linde grabs victory for BMW as Dorr takes maiden podium
Why wet Canadian GP will be "the perfect storm" for F1
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments