Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Brand
More run-off at Gerards is desirable - I've seen some pretty hefty impacts with the tyre wall at several points around there. Do you place your ability to get the photos you want above driver safety? Not much consolatiopn to a driver who's being cut out of his car that somebody got a few great pictures of the crash, I'd suggest!
Let's be realistic about this - spectator viewing facilities at Mallory have been considerably improved over the last couple of years & continue to be improved. Driver (&rider) safety has improved immensely, but there are still improvements that can, & will, be made.
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I agree in principle but sometimes wonder whether the actions taken really add up to a major advantage for safety.
I've seen a few incidents (or aftermath of incidents) at Mallory in recent years including a few at Gerards and pout of those the Gerards incidents concluded well short of the barriers. I am aware that was not so often the case in times gone by but these days the gravel seems to work well.
Think of Donington for a moment.
The revise chicane was related to the proximity of the wall at the old one, or so we were told. I don't recall too many incidents of cars hitting the wall under the VIP centre although have seen a few hitting the wall near the pit entrance when they lost it or had some other incident as they reached the straight.
Now the new chicane needs gravel. Which gets thrown all over the track So in come the modern equivalents of straw bales to protect the gravel and the BTCC boys contrive to have a large incident the leaves cars in barriers all over the place. Hmm.
Add to that that now the Wheatcroft Straight is longer the terminal speeds at the end of it are higher - so Redgate corner needs to be revised in terms of runoff space and gravel traps which, it seems, means removing Redgate Lodge and pushing the gravel back and so pushing the spectarot area back. And as that has nowhere to go inside the circuit boundary wall it means taking over some (or all?) of the hardstanding used for other activities and the Sunday market ..... etc., etc., etc. Or so it seems.
So with all that effort and expense lets remind ourselves about the nature of and frequency of the original perceived problems just to check that the solutions are proportionate to the problems.
I could foresee facilities with well protected spectator areas but no spectators and well protected and safe track areas but few people able to afford to use them.
Maybe private Race Resorts are the way to go?
And no, I don't put my ability to take a photo above the requirements for competitor safety but if you take it as a proxy for attracting people to the sport in a live rather than TV managed environment then just maybe those few spectators who do turn up will become fewer, maybe even for the traditionally 'big' meetings.
Whether that would adversely affect the finances of the sport I have no idea but I can't see it helping much.