VIR is still dangerous tho, there are some areas the car can go to the grass and crash others on the track at full speed, not fun. Grass run off should be followed of an asphalt area, that avoids more serious accidents, some of these series when a car crash they retire for the whole weekend or even season due to budget, not good. I'd rather have cars running and people employed than grass run off for my entertaiment. Once Tilke said that many things people complain about his tracks are there because the owners ask them to make these for motorbikes too, when this happens there are some rules he must follow on new tracks.
Cars can and do run into each other all the time -- at full speed -- without ever leaving the actual racing surface, regardless of the track. The two best ways of reducing these incidents is unchoking bottlenecks like the esses at Watkins Glen, and banning the Gustavo Yacamans.
Without leaving the race surface is one thing, leaving it and going ice skiing on the grass with almost no speed loss and hitting another car in a random point of the track is another whole different history which shouldn't happen. Heck some of the crashes on tire barriers at VIR are senseless, they could put the grass, fine that will make the driver pay for his mistakes, but having an asphalt area after that or even a gravel trap saves cars and budgets. Looks like you love to see cars crashing, not wasting my time with people like this, I prefer to watch them race instead
If you race a track like Virginia International Raceway(VIR) you find there are sections with almost no runoff area. There is the track surface and very little outside of that. Running off track in one of the downhill sections like the last corners(Hogpens) can really put you in dire straits. But modern F1 style tracks have wide wide racing surfaces with even more run-off. This allows drivers to drive wider out of a turn to carry more speed. And it's why there is hardly a F1 race these days where the phrase "Track Limits" is not heard.
Screwing up badly at a place like Hog pen might lead to a car getting in the tire barrier, but there's still time to bleed off a fair amount of speed. I've seen some drivers wreck around that spot, and it's always a non-issue from a safety perspective. Personal and vehicular safety technology are so far advanced now that ending up in the tires every now and then isn't that serious.
There's an F1 briefing from last year where some of the drivers ask for grass or gravel and Charlie said they couldn't because of the bikes
Thanks for this release. Really good work. I'm finding the track quite enjoyable. It's nice to be able to get more familiar with it before the grand prix tomorrow.
That has been a common refrain at many tracks in the USofA. The track formerly known as Mazda Laguna Seca, which was formerly known as Laguna Seca often had complaints about the low curbs which were required for AMA and International bike racing. Apparently the big superbikes don't jump very well.
