Taking the sting out of crashing
New 'soft' walls have been installed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in time for the Indy 500. It will be the first time anywhere in the world that a super speedway has used energy-absorbing barriers during competition running.
The SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers have been under development by the Indy Racing League and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility since 1998.
The barriers are designed for multiple impacts by Indy Racing cars and stock cars during an event. NASCAR joined in the development of the project in September 2000.
“Since our founding in 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has always been a leader in automotive safety and innovation,” said Tony George, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy Racing League. “Today’s announcement of a new energy-absorbing barrier represents another milestone in this long history, and it will not be the last.
“The Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the month of May is the perfect time to install and test the SAFER barrier. The amount of time teams and drivers have to practice leading up to the race will allow us to get feedback on the barrier. Though we hope it doesn’t happen, the odds are likely that the barrier will be impacted during those practice periods, which will allow us to evaluate its performance before we get to racing conditions.”
The goal of this wall is to reduce the forces seen on the car to a range that lessens the likelihood of the driver being injured.
Brian Barnhart
A total of 4,240 feet of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s permanent outside wall have been covered with the energy-absorbing barrier. Each turn of the speedway has 1,060 feet of barrier and another 60 feet of transition element approaching the actual energy-absorbing barrier (see diagram above).
“The goal of this wall is to reduce the forces seen on the car to a range that lessens the likelihood of the driver being injured,” said Brian Barnhart, vice president of operations for the Indy Racing League. “This barrier has really evolved since the first PEDS barrier was put in place in 1998.”
The new energy-absorbing barrier is constructed in 20-foot modules. Each module consists of four rectangular steel tubes, welded together, to form a unified element. The modules are connected with four internal steel splices. Bundles of 2-inch-thick sheets of extruded, closed-cell polystyrene are placed between the concrete wall and the steel tubing modules every 10 feet. Six or seven sheets of polystyrene are used in each bundle, depending on the location of the module.
Despite its name, however, it is not really a soft wall, like those trialled at the Rio oval a few years ago. The SAFER wall is a stiff wall that moves backward in one piece as the Styrofoam energy absorbent layers behind it crush, meaning there is less likelihood of a 'pocket' being created around a car during a crash, flinging it back into the track.
Although the IRL owns the rights to the system, it is understood that it will be made available to any track owner wanting it. The University of Nebraska retains rights to all road use applications, however.
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