Recently, the Bowling shunt of the Formula E New York Race, reminded me of several issues that the Safety measures do not include in most series. Maybe as you read this, you wonder: Who is this guy to talk about safety in such a prestigious series? Well, I have organized racing events in my humble Guatemala (yes, there’s racing in Guatemala, we even have a racetrack!), over 115 of them over 20 years, I have seen the most ridiculous accidents happen and the others where people have died as well, but never in one of “my” events.
Drivers are like superstars, the more successful on track, the bigger the star; but I had the chance to see them come from their humble, very humble beginnings to see them grow through the years and become these icons of the sport. Now, in the end, they are human as we all are, believe me, they make mistakes and they learn as well but sometimes they forget to keep educating themselves and focus only on the data, their driving and leave safety on the hands of the engineers that put the cars together, they take it for granted and that should never be the case.
When I started, I started a small, small event, few competitors, mostly friends ready to have fun but I always recognized the dangers and so I immediately set basic safety rules and regulations that drivers and cars had to comply with. There were always accidents but only material damages, in part, luckily you may say, in part thanks to these regulations. As cars got faster, drivers more experienced, it got more dangerous, it also quickly stopped being the sport for a group of friends, other people started to participate, and so I started to apply more serious safety regulations. Now, these regulations, in a country where money and access to recognized safety brands has limits, and even if we did, money is a problem for sure, focused a lot on the consciousness of the danger, they appealed at the driver’s awareness and attention to what was going on around them. People think it’s just about going fast but in my experience, the fastest driver is not the one who wins most of the time, it’s the one who is more aware of his surroundings and of course, has the tools and the abilities to be fast as well.
Looking at the accident at this past weekend’s Formula E, many people would blame it on the rain, blame the race direction for allowing the race to go on, well I disagree with the people who feel that way, the best events I have ever organized have been in the rain. Yes, there is a limit where the race direction has to stop the race, of course, there are times when this moment is so difficult to recognize, but there is a confidence in the race director who knows the drivers and their preparation that allows him/them to recognize that moment with more confidence. People may be screaming to stop it but the confidence of this knowledge allows for the best racing moments a fan or a driver will ever remember.
How do you accomplish this? Communication is a good start, we use to have meetings at restaurants where I would explain the reasons for the regulations, see past cases, talk procedures and, as some people were “too busy” to participate and would like to just show up with a 300hp-1,600 pound-Civic to the racetrack, I made a test, pass it and participate, fail it and go home. In a small country, many powerful business people wanted to do this, and got truly frustrated at me, but in all the years only a handful at most, didn’t come back due to their egos. The safety of the people participating in the event was always most important to me and it grew in them to feel that as a priority as well.
Now, coming back to the Formula E shunt, engineers work hard to make cars safe, race direction also invests in safety time, to prepare the medical assistance to get to the drivers too, but there’s something I have always seen in racing that I do not agree with, after an accident, the frustrated, uninjured driver, starts to loosen his safety belts and getting out of their cars, I always told my drivers, after an accident while the race is not neutralized, stay in your cars, you are safe there in case someone else looses control and hits you. This, of course doesn’t involve a fire for sure but in 95% or more of the cases, it is true. I saw a driver get out of his car as other cars were passing by, behind him, even if the flags are out, the risk of being hit by another car is huge, and that is the driver awareness I am talking about, comes into play.
Enough talk about drivers… what about the marshal’s safety? Marshalls run towards the accident by pure hero instinct, but as hard an impact, they shouldn’t, until the race is neutralized. Again, there are exceptions like, again, fire. I always told my drivers, if there’s fire, prepare to bail, but try to stop near a marshal’s post, not because the marshals are going to help you but because they will have fire extinguishers that you can use yourselves. Drivers are wearing Nomex race suits that will protect them to a certain extent, marshals aren’t. Is it fair for the driver to jump of their car and point them to extinguish the fire? Drivers are largely commended when they do this on their own but it is what they should do, don’t you think? After the point I am making?
It’s a high risk sport, I just don’t agree with putting the marshals at high risk. If a car burns to the ground, so be it, but if a marshal looses his life, that is irrational to me. This is also achieved by working with the marshals, I had a very efficient group, and still mistakes were made, small mistakes that only race direction recognizes, but there are still mistakes. I agree with having volunteers and I can’t talk about the preparation that they receive before the event, but in such an expensive sport, they should receive a wage for sure.
Let’s keep the sport safe, common sense has to prevail.
Eddy Tobias
