When it comes to auto racing events, there are plenty of activities that go on throughout the major NASCAR and professional auto racing events that many people lose sight of. One such activity is the safety issue involved with auto racing. Even though there are five point harnesses included with the cars and even though there are heavy-duty safety belts included with the cars that automobile drivers are strapped in, it seems as though there still needs to be an important safety measure that has to be added. Because auto racers are able to speed well over 200 miles per hour should shed light on the fact that the current measures of auto racing safety are just not cutting it. For starters, what happens when a driver crashes into the wall of a NASCAR track? The driver has no choice but to smack into the wall of the auto racing track, which is the reason that more widespread use of Soft Walls needs to be implemented at race tracks all around the country.
What are Soft Walls?
In order to decide whether or not you agree with the fact that soft walls need to be implemented at all the auto racing events of the major season, it’s first important to know what these contraptions exactly are. As the name states, Soft Walls are designed to be literally a soft wall for the driver of the auto racing car to crash right into. Let’s face it: auto racing crashes and accidents are all too common anymore, and there needs to be something done about it in order to save more lives of the drivers at auto racing events.
What are Soft Walls Composed Of?
The design of the Soft Wall material is quite simple: it is made to be easily crumbled so that the drivers of the auto racing vehicle will be able to collapse the wall by him or herself when the vehicle smashes into the side of the wall. For this reason, some collapsible material is placed within the Soft Wall. For example, Cellofoam is one type of the Soft Wall that can be implemented easily on a race track. In fact, one of NASCAR’s own race tracks currently has part of the Soft Wall implemented. This is mainly because the NASCAR organization has realized that more intense safety precautions need to be taken, but the whole of the NASCAR tracks need to be accounted for as well!
There are also several other materials that can be used for Soft Walls at auto racing tracks across the country besides Cellofoam. Polyethylene Energy Dissipation System, or simply PEDS, is a system that is designed to increase the withstanding pressure of the current walls around auto racing racetracks. In Europe there is an Impact Protection System that is in place on most auto racing walls. This system involves layered PVC materials so that the structure of the wall is enhanced greatly. Finally, compression barriers are another option for materials of Soft Walls.
Altogether, though, Soft Walls are probably the best possible safety measure that could be taken in order to increase the lives of many auto racing drivers throughout the world. Even though some measures have just begun to be implemented in the United States, there definitely has to be more Soft Walls involved!
