A few things worth noting about barrier design:
- Protecting the driver is not the number one design goal. Protecting spectators by keeping errant cars --or their remaining pieces-- "in bounds" is in fact of primary importance.
- The barrier has to be durable enough so that the track owner isn't spending a fortune every time one of us idiots missing a brake point in the heat of battle.
- And just to make matters worse, a solution that works well for one class of cars may be totally ineffective for another. Gravel traps are a case in point. I doubt a skippy car topping out at 120 MPH would skim all the way through the massive gravel traps of a modern day F1 circuit, but 190 MPH F1 cars managed to do so with distressing regularity.
None of this is meant to put a damper on the discussion of what can be done to improve the safety situation for drivers --I'm all for it!!! But we need to be realistic about the fact that track owners have more than just driver safety in mind. We can bitch all we want, but if a solution doesn't meet the above criteria at a reasonable cost, it's not going to fly, no matter how much driver safety improves as a result.
I do wonder what it would cost to put in SAFER barriers at some of Lime Rock's more dangerous corners, at the Kink at Road America, or at the exit of the chicane at Daytona, for that matter. Of all of the technologies that have been devised for relatively high speed crashes in confined areas where runoff is not an option, it seem --from a distance, at least-- to be the best solution. But for all I know, the price tag is such that it is out of reach for any track that isn't pulling in 100,000+ spectators twice a year for a NASCAR show.