Vettel keeps cool to fulfil destiny

Sebastian Vettel was choking back tears as he tried to respond to his team's congratulations after he won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to clinch an unlikely first world drivers' title. They were tears of disbelief as much as joy.

The German and his Red Bull car have been the fastest combination on the Formula 1 grid all year but a mixture of driver errors, mechanical failures and pure bad luck had meant that Vettel - who replaces Lewis Hamilton as the youngest world champion in history - had never led the title chase heading into the final race of the season.

Starting from pole position but 15 points adrift of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who was directly behind him on the grid in third place, the title looked a long way away for the 23-year-old.

But Vettel did everything he needed to do by driving a race of cool maturity as things began to unravel for Alonso and Ferrari almost from the start.

A lost place to Jenson Button off the line was a minor inconvenience for the Spaniard, but the title was lost with a catastrophic strategic call to mirror the decision of another championship protagonist, Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber, to stop early for fresh tyres.

It put Alonso back in the pack of midfield runners, breaking the cardinal rule of all F1 strategy moves - keep track position and if you don't make sure you have clear air in which to run at your maximum pace. Stuck behind Renault's Vitaly Petrov, Alonso had neither, and the Ferrari driver was at the mercy of Vettel's result.

Vettel did what he has proved more than capable of all year - made no mistakes when running in the lead, reeling off the laps to the chequered flag.

It was an incredible final twist to end an astonishing season, one that will go down as one of the greatest in F1 history.

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It was the first time four drivers had ever gone into the final race all with a chance of the title - and a fifth, Button, was only knocked out of the reckoning seven days ago in Brazil.

What has made 2010 so compelling was to have so many superb drivers competing in cars that were relatively evenly matched.

For Alonso, Hamilton and Button, though, the season was always a rear-guard battle fighting a faster car in the Red Bull, and they were able to compete only because of the mistakes made by that team and both their drivers.

For all Vettel's stunning qualifying pace and coolness when leading, he is less convincing when not in first place.

He crashed into Webber while trying to pass him for the lead in Turkey, got a puncture at the start in Silverstone after making an ill-advised decision to sit it out around the outside of Webber at the first corner, and inexplicably rammed into Button after losing control behind him in Belgium.

His talent may still have some rough edges, but it is of the highest quality, and he has made a convincing case this season that he can now be considered in the same breath as F1's two benchmarks - Alonso and Hamilton.

Vettel shot to prominence in F1 with his performances for Red Bull feeder team Toro Rosso in 2008, culminating with a brilliant victory in the wet at the Italian Grand Prix.

Back then, his image was all positive. He was young, fast, approachable and had a sense of humour - he was that most unlikely thing, an Anglophile German who liked The Beatles and Fawlty Towers.

Since then, he has displayed a darker side to his character, and the steeliness and ruthlessness all great F1 champions need has been fully in evidence this season as he and Webber have gone toe-to-toe at Red Bull and sparks flew.

It was obvious Vettel was going to be the man to beat this season from the moment he took pole for the first race of the season in Bahrain and led until a spark plug failure handed victory to Alonso.

Vettel lost another victory two weeks later in Australia thanks to a wheel-nut failure and had he won those two races perhaps the pressure would have been off and he would have led comfortably throughout the season.

Thankfully, for the sake of the championship battle, that is not what happened.

Two superb wet-weather wins for Button in the space of three races put him in the lead; Webber took over after dominating in Spain and Monaco; Hamilton took his place at the top after back-to-back wins in Turkey and Canada; Webber took it back; and then it was Alonso's turn after a quite superb late-season run of form.

As Vettel put it on Sunday: "All of us could write a book about races we should have finished in higher positions. We have all had so many ups and downs. It has been a tough season mentally to ignore what people were saying and always get your own thing done."

It has been an intensely competitive year and the pressure on everyone was huge throughout, but Vettel and Red Bull always had the consoling thought that they were the fastest thing on the grid.

Still, though, it had looked as if the drivers' title was going to slip through their fingers. And what appeared as if it was going to be the decisive turning point of the season occurred at the Korean Grand Prix two races ago, when Vettel - under intense pressure from Alonso - suffered an engine failure.

That put Alonso 11 points clear of Webber, and the manic cackle he gave over the radio at the end of the race - a mixture of joy, surprise and disbelief - summed up everything about the Spaniard's unlikely fightback from being 47 points off the championship lead after the British Grand Prix.

In Abu Dhabi, though, Ferrari again found themselves at the mercy of a faster car. Caught between deciding whether to cover Webber's early stop and Vettel disappearing up the road, Alonso's engineers chose what in hindsight was the wrong option. As Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey said after the race, had Alonso stayed out, he would probably have finished fourth. Which would have made him world champion.

Alonso had been adamant before the race that this would have been a great season for him no matter what happened in the championship, and although clearly gutted he stuck to that line after the race.

"If we didn't stop, Webber would probably overtake us; if we stop, we let (Nico) Rosberg and Petrov overtake us," he said. "Very difficult call.

"Next year we try again. But it was [a] very good [season] for me, especially after two years of some difficulties, coming back to winning races, fighting for the championship in the last races.

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"I won five races, I overtook in victories Niki Lauda, Juan Manuel Fangio, some great names, and I'm sure with this team it is very possible to fight for championships in the future, so I am happy."

Forget all the nonsense about team orders at the German Grand Prix, Alonso would have been a fully deserving world champion. In fact, no matter who won it there wasn't going to be a bad one in 2010 and in Vettel there can be no doubt that the sport has a good one.

This is a man who is going to be at the heart of F1 for years to come. There will be many more victories, probably many more titles. And at 23, who knows, even his friend Michael Schumacher's record of seven titles and 91 victories might be vulnerable.

To get there, though, he will have to beat the likes of Alonso and Hamilton, who are not going anywhere in a hurry, as well as Renault's Robert Kubica, a man who this year convinced even his doubters that he will be a major force once he gets his hands on a competitive car.

In 2011, the same top drivers will be with the same teams, and there is every reason to believe it could be just as good as 2010, perhaps even better. Bring it on.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/11/vettel_keeps_cool_to_fulfil_de.html

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Richard Petty and Investors Take Control of RPM From George Gillett Jr.

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CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Richard Petty will once again run his race team and participate in day-to-day operations as chairman of the new ownership group that was announced Monday.

The assets of Richard Petty Motorsports have been sold from George Gillett Jr. to an investment group that consists of Petty, Medallion Financial Corp. and DGP Investments.

"Today is a great day for me, my family, our fans and our wonderful sponsors," Petty said in a statement that listed 10 partners that "have supported me through thick and thin and I thank them from the bottom of my heart."

RPM will field cars for AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose in 2011.

The transfer of assets has been in the works for several weeks because of Gillett's ongoing financial problems. Debt-laden English soccer club Liverpool recently was sold despite the objection of Gillett and business partner Tom Hicks. And a U.S. hedge fund is suing Gillett over what the firm says is more than $117 million in debt he racked up investing in Liverpool.

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/11/29/richard-petty-and-investors-take-control-of-rpm-from-george-gill/

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Canadian Grand Prix 2010 Race gallery


A superb tyre gamble by McLaren saw Lewis Hamilton claim his second victory in Montreal at the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. His second win in three visits to Montreal. His team mate Jenson Button claimed a strong second position, making it a McLaren 1-2 in as many races so far this season. Fernando Alonso had a fine race to finish third for Ferrari after a disappointing Turkish Grand Prixhttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f2dCclIT9q8/TBYXktBug1I/AAAAAAAAGVw/xd9Kyvkgs-Y/s1600/Canadian+Grand+Prix+2010+Race+gallery.jpg


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Brad Keselowski Gets Nationwide Crew Chief Paul Wolfe for Cup Team

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No driver competing in NASCAR's two top series showed greater disparity in results in 2010 than Brad Keselowski, who won the Nationwide series championship with six victories while eking out a couple of top-10 finishes in a forgettable Sprint Cup campaign.

Both cars came from Penske Racing, and when Roger Penske is involved, nonperformance won't stand.

Thus, the organization announced Tuesday that Paul Wolfe, Keselowski's championship-winning crew chief in Nationwide, has been promoted to become his Sprint Cup crew chief, replacing Jay Guy.

In addition to the six victories and the championship, Keselowski and Wolfe scored 29 top-10 finishes in 35 races. Twenty six of those were top fives -- a series single-season record. He also won five poles, led 1,147 laps and had an average finish of 5.2.

By contrast, in his Sprint Cup car, Keselowski had no victories, one pole position, no top fives and just two top 10s -- 10th-place finishes at Martinsville and Talladega late in the season. He led 41 laps and had an average finish of 22.4.

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/11/30/brad-keselowski-gets-nationwide-crew-chief-paul-wolfe-for-cup-te/

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Canadian GP: Hamilton denies Webber of pole, pushes car home!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f2dCclIT9q8/TBR7Za671lI/AAAAAAAAGUs/2i2O0617Pwc/s1600/Hamilton+denies+Webber+of+pole,+pushes+car+home%21.jpg

June 12 '10

Lewis Hamilton will begin tomorrow's race on pole position, beating the Red Bulls, who for the first time this season didn't qualify on pole.

Hamilton's final attempt to set the fastest time was when he crossed the line to start the lap with eight seconds remaining. This is his third pole in as many visits to Montreal.

Mark Webber yet again out qualified his Red Bull mate Sebastian Vettel. They both start second and third on the grid respectively.

In Q1

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@Jamesallenonf1

Dropping out of Q1 were the usual suspects, the six drivers of the three new teams. A gearbox change on the HRT of Karun Chandhok limited him to just one run in Q1 and costing him a five-place grid penalty.

Heikki Kovalainen was the fastest of the new team drivers. He out-qualified his Lotus team mate Jarno Trulli by more than four-tenths of a second. Kovalainen's impressive performance put him in 19th position.

Also failing to make it into Q2 was Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi who had impressed us by reaching Q3 in Turkey couple of weeks back. He narrowly beat Kovalainen by just two-tenths of a second. At the end of Q1, Hamilton was quickest from Vettel, Alonso, Rosberg, Kubica, Button, Webber, Sutil, Petrov and Schumacher.

Drivers eliminated in Q1
18. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 18.019s
19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1m 18.237s
20. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1m 18.698s
21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m 18.941s
22. Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 1m 19.484s
23. Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1m 19.675s
24. Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1m 27.757s


In Q2

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f2dCclIT9q8/TBP4ohoS_TI/AAAAAAAAGUE/SZXREJ-AXOM/s1600/Jamesallenonf1_2.PNG


@Jamesallenonf1

Michael Schumacher failed to make the cut. He struggled for grip throughout the session and then when he came under pressure to clock a fast lap, he made a mistake at the final chicane and had to skip the corner altogether.

During the dying moments of the Q2 session, Schumacher and Vitantonio Liuzzi improved on their lap times and pushed Jenson Button onto the relegation zone. Liuzzi had improved ahead of Schumi and when Button improved on his lap time, Schumacher got dropped into the relegation zone.

"I am obviously disappointed after today's qualifying," he said. "We simply did not have the balance or grip and overall we had a lot of problems with braking and handling. The car was just not performing as we expected. We had similar issues yesterday afternoon and we made some changes after second practice. This morning, the changes seemed to have made sense as our position was reasonable but this afternoon, I was facing similar issues again. It's difficult to understand the reasons at the moment but we will look deeply into it now and find a good strategy for the race tomorrow."

Up at the front it was as close as can be, one second separating the top 13 drivers. At the end of Q2 it was Hamilton again on top of the timing screens followed by Vettel, Alonso, Kubica, Webber, Button, Rosberg, Liuzzi and Sutil.

Drivers eliminated in Q2

11. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1m 16.434s
12. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 1m 16.438s
13. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 16.492s
14. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 1m 16.844s
15. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 16.928s
16. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 17.029s
17. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 17.384s


In Q3

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_f2dCclIT9q8/TBP4qSeNb6I/AAAAAAAAGUU/ZpIZFLOF4LM/s1600/Jamesallenonf1_3.PNGhttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_f2dCclIT9q8/TBP4pICezNI/AAAAAAAAGUM/Z95ONpwz8xQ/s1600/Copy+of+Jamesallenonf1_2.PNG


@Jamesallenonf1

Hamilton was at the top of the timing screens for majority of the session, until Fernando Alonso claimed it using super-soft tyres. Not far behind was Mark Webber who beat Alonso using the harder of the tyre and his team mate Sebastian Vettel claimed second, leaving Alonso in third. With eight seconds remaining, Hamilton began his final lap which eventually resulted in a spectacular pole, some two-tenths of a second faster than Webber.

But on his way back to the pits on a slowing-down lap, Hamilton's team radioed him to turn off his engine and save fuel as he had no sufficient fuel left in the tank for a mandatory fuel sample.

He unbuckled his belts and sat on the side of his cockpit as the car slowly rolled forward. He then jumped out of the rolling car and proceeded to push the car home along the back straight! His efforts were interrupted by the track marshalls and a medical car dropped him back to the pit lane.

BBC commentator Martin Brundle said, ?The FIA don?t take kindly to you not having enough fuel to get into the pits at the end of the lap ? they?ll be taking a look at that.?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f2dCclIT9q8/TBR5vpKG5TI/AAAAAAAAGUk/rwaAJWpF29E/s1600/002_small.jpg
Hamilton pushes his car home along the back straight

Whether or not Hamilton will be penalized will have to be seen. Assuming that he wont receive a penalty, Hamilton would still be vulnerable as he starts the race with the softest of the 2 compounds that Bridgestone have provided for the weekend. Super-soft tyres seem to grain a lot quicker at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as we saw during the second practice session. Red Bulls seem to be in a stronger position having qualified using the harder of the two compound tyres and starting the race from first and second row of the grid.

Said Vettel: ?Looking at the strategy, obviously, McLaren hopes for a safety car. We don?t know. There?s no guarantee, but we?ll see (Sunday). It?s a long race.?

Hamilton, for his part, said he didn?t think his team?s approach amounted to a particularly big gamble.

?Every race you?re taking gambles,? said Hamilton. ?It?s definitely interesting to see the two different strategies. It?ll be interesting to see how they pan out (Sunday) . . . I feel we?re in the best situation we can possibly be.?

Update:
Hamilton will keep his pole position. The FIA have issued a $10,000 fine for exceeding the maximum time allowed to return to the pits and given Hamilton an official reprimand.


Top ten drivers in Q3

1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 15.105s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 15.373s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 15.420s
4. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 15.435s
5. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 15.520s
6. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 15.648s
7. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 15.688s
8. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault 1m 15.715s
9. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 15.881s
10. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 16.071s


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F1 2011: Tyres, adjustable rear wings, 640 kg and...

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June 24 '10

The FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) announced a raft of decisions after a meeting in Geneva on Wednesday (June 23). Decisions include the rule clarification which involved Michael Schumacher at the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix, where he passed Fernando Alonso on the final lap when the safety car returned to the pits and was handed a twenty-second penalty. Also, repeat of Hamilton's Montreal qualifying stunt wont be allowed.

Others decisions are taken to "improve the show" which involves the use of proximity rear wing.

Tyres

We finally have an F1 tyre supplier for 2011. The FIA preferred the idea of Michelin, as did McLaren and Ferrari in particular. But it is Pirelli who have beaten off competition from Michelin. Pirelli becomes the official F1 tyre supplier from 2011. The Italian tyre manufacturer gets a three-year contract from 2011 to 2013. They last supplied F1 teams in 1991.

According to WMSC:

Pirelli has been selected as the single tyre supplier for the FIA Formula One World Championship for a period of three years, commencing in 2011. The sole supplier will undertake to strictly respect the sporting and technical regulations implemented by the FIA.

Safety Car

In the wake of the controversy involving Michael Schumacher in Monaco, the FIA has ruled that there will be no overtaking even when the safety car pulls in on the last lap of a race.


With immediate effect, no car may overtake until it has passed the first safety car line for the first time when the safety car is returning to the pits. However, if the safety car is still deployed at the beginning of the last lap, or is deployed during the last lap, it will enter the pit lane at the end of the lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.

General safety

Lewis Hamilton?s fine and reprimand after qualifying in Canada has resulted in a new rule requiring drivers to stay below a ?maximum time? set by the FIA on in-laps.

With immediate effect, any car being driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically, or which is deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers, will be reported to the stewards. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry or the pit lane.

In order to ensure cars are not driven unnecessarily slowly on in-laps during qualifying or reconnaissance laps when the pit exit is opened for the race, drivers must stay below the maximum time set by the FIA between the safety car line after the pit exit and safety car line before the pit entry. The maximum time will be determined by the race director at each event prior to the first day of practice, but may be amended during the event if necessary.


The grid

Next year, the 107 per cent qualifying rule will reappear. Any car not setting a time within 107% of the fastest time in the final part of qualifying, will not be allowed to start the race. This was dropped when single lap qualifying was introduced in 2002. There are exceptions however, whereby if a team sets competitive lap times during practice session, they maybe allowed to race.

From 2011, any driver whose best qualifying lap exceeds 107% of the fastest Q1 qualifying time will not be allowed to take part in the race. Under exceptional circumstances, however, which may include setting a suitable lap time in a free practice session, the stewards may permit the car to start the race. Should there be more than one driver accepted in this manner, the grid order will be determined by the stewards.

An analysis by F1Fanatic: "Had the rule as proposed been in place this year it would have prevented both HRT drivers from starting in Bahrain and Malaysia. Lucas di Grassi would have been out of the Malaysian race as well, leaving just 21 cars on the grid.

"Bruno Senna would have missed out on racing at Barcelona ? by just one-hundredth of a second ? and Karun Chandhok wouldn?t have been on the grid at Canada last week."


Adjustable rear wings

The FIA has banned F-ducts for 2011 and approved the debut of the proximity rear wing. The adjustable rear wing can only be operated by the drivers to overtake the car in front.

McLaren?s engineering director Paddy Lowe said on Wednesday, "In the race, you can?t use it (the wing) for the first two laps at all, but after that if you?re within a second of the car in front then you will be able to deploy it,?

?So that will be very interesting. That?s a FOTA initiative to improve the show and I think it?s very exciting.?

From 2011, adjustable bodywork may be activated by the driver at any time prior to the start of the race and, for the sole purpose of improving overtaking opportunities during the race, after the driver has completed two laps. The driver may only activate the adjustable bodywork in the race when he has been notified via the control electronics that it is enabled. It will only be enabled if the driver is less than one second behind another at any of the pre-determined positions around each circuit. The system will be disabled the first time the driver uses the brakes after the system has been activated. The FIA may, after consulting all the competitors, adjust the time proximity in order to ensure the purpose of the adjustable bodywork is met.

Weight

For the return of KERS, the minimum car-plus-driver weight will increase from 620kg to 640kg.

From 2011, the minimum weight of the car must not be less than 640 kg at all times during the event.

Licences

A ?four-race probationary super license? has been approved for Renault?s official third driver Ho-Pin Tung.

Based on his career résumé and comparative F1 testing times, the World Council has approved the granting of a four-race probationary super license to Chinese driver Ho-Pin Tung.


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Michael Curtis Waltrip Scott Alan Wimmer Jonathan Edward Wood Christopher Beltram

Canadian Grand Prix 2010 Qualifying gallery


Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole for the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. Mark Webber claimed second and his team mate Sebastian Vettel took third. Michael Schumacher had a disappointing exit from Q2.

Here are a few pictures from today's qualifying sessionhttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_f2dCclIT9q8/TBU2pSETAWI/AAAAAAAAGU0/TikVOL6oQ7E/s1600/Canadian+Grand+Prix+2010+Qualifying+gallery.jpg


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Nascar Safety Accessories And Restrictions

Nascar was always criticized for the lack of safety ordinances in its races. But since 2001 after a series of accidents killed many peak drivers, including the ill-fated last-lap wreck of Dale Earnhardt, Nascar had to disengage and modify its position on this. It has now begun to bring in safety devices and accessories.

The Seat
The Seat has evolved over the last few years. The seat in a racing car is designed to contract and distribute the impact over a greater part of the body in case of a wreck. The rib cage is one area where the force of a crash can get centered. Another area is the shoulder. This will contract the impact and it will not get centered on one particular area, which can often be fatal.

Harnesses
Now Nascar has updated its norms, and the HANS device is now mandatory. Earlier, the Hutchens device was all that was required. But since the accidents, the norms have converted.

The Seat Belt
A very fundamental accessory when it comes to the safety of the driver. In Nascar, the six-point seat belt is utilized. In this system, two straps come over the drivers shoulder and two come over the waistline. One strap even comes up between the legs of the driver.

The Restrictor Plate
This is a very important accessory that reduces power on the racing circuits. This is placed in between the carburetor and the intake manifold. It confines air flow and subsequently power as well. Since this add-on was made mandatory in high-speed racing circuits like Daytona, the speeds have reduced considerably.

Today, in order to see high speeds, the spectator has to go to certain race courses where the restrictor plate is not required. In such race courses, high speeds like 230mph have also been achieved. But the restrictor plate has become a mandatory part in most race circuits by Nascar.

Barriers
The new S.A.F.E.R (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers have been put in across most Nascar race courses. This will absorb a lot of zip from the car in case of a crash. This is much better than a concrete wall, which does not absorb any energy at all. There are some other types of softer walls and barriers as well. Cello-foam barriers are also very popular. The PEDS system, which involves the use of small cylinders inside bigger ones, is also a popular form of barrier.

Compression barriers were also used in earlier times. This involved the use of soft materials like tires over the walls and then covering it up with a soft surface. This guaranteed that the walls came back to their original shape as soon as the impact was over.

This author is a HUGE fan of NASCAR licensed merchandise

Article Source: Nascar Safety Accessories And Restrictions

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/111195/nascar-safety-accessories-and-restrictions

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