Warbrain said:
Just got around to double checking, and his big one in '04 the section of wall he hit was solid concrete, not the SAFER barrier, Indianapolis Motor Speedway extended the SAFER barrier by 200ft for the 2005 season, meaning that his near identical crash resulted in far less serious injuries.
I still think it's a massive shame that they didn't incorporate more of the oval into the F1 circuit, instead of the infield section, they should have provided a couple of chicanes, one before turn 1, and then on the back straight, like what they did to the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans.
Doing some reading up on the 2006 IRL chassis, I get the impression that they're over 3 years old and this might be their 4th season of use? It would be interesting to see if the tubs have seen revisions to improve their strength and performance in an accident in that time, or whether they are what they are... which is essentially a design that is the best part of half a decade old.
