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When were tyre walls, and ‘Armco style’ barriers introduced?

2K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  Martyn_ 
#1 ·
... at leading, European, motor racing events? I have been Googling, this including studying photos for a long time and am unable to establish this. I would be grateful for any info in the interests of historic circuit authenticity. Many thanks. Keith.
 
#2 ·
I'm not sure when tyre walls were introduced, but Armco appeared in the late 1960s.

What now seems incredible is that many drivers racing at club level at the time didn't want Armco to be used. My dad was one of them, his argument being that if a circuit was lined with solid Armco, most crashes would almost certainly cause significant damage to the car, whereas prior to Armco, grass banks and suchlike were often less harmful. Quite an ironic argument really, given that he'd fitted full race harnesses in the back of his road car for us children to use!

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/march-2000/65/armco-barrier
 
#3 ·
I've been looking into similar topics for US courses in the late '50s and early '60s. Armco (known as highway guardrail in the US, but produced by Armco) was certainly present in the 1950s on purpose built courses. A crash at Watkins Glen in 1952 resulted in the death of a child that fueled opposition to racing on public roads. Here is the short lived Paramount Ranch course in the 50s and Road America in 1965, with both showing steel barriers.

Sky Mountain Plant Tree Asphalt

Sky Tree Motor vehicle Monochrome Pole


Tire walls didn't appear until the 1970s, it would seem.
 

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#7 ·
I remember rows of catching fences being placed at Zandvoort in the late seventies. It was not a succesfull safety mesure, the cars just flew through them at frontal impact.
Maybe that was due to their inappropriate placing? I suspect that like barriers they may have only really been intended to suppress glancing blows; unlike tyre walls that can better sustain more direct impact.
 
#8 ·
I thought the much hated catch fences were at Zandvoort to slow the car down if it was about to either torpedo into or launch skyward after hitting the sand dunes lining the track.

Absolute nightmare if the car got tangled in them, trapping the driver. Wasnt there an incident where a support pole injured a driver during an off?
 
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