Some people moan about it restricting their view and photographers hate them .......but sometimes...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jlWDgEB6ecM

That's wheely poor parking!

If you have cars that reach more than 25mph, *this* is what the catch fence is really for......!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wySxP-tWZQU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsVOk7TRTfo

<thumbsup>

...and why even the best fence isn't always good enough - bet the insurers had a laugh at his claim!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIXfftASHNk

Ah, back before restrictor plates. The cars were reaching ridiculous speeds back then, wasn't the all time NASCAR lap record something like 220MPH, with no downforce. <yikes>

No, the record in 1987 was 212mph at Talladega. It was broken a couple of years ago by Bill Elliott at the same track while testing the Nextel radio system. In order to maximise the wind noise they ran a non plate restricted car for a couple of laps. He managed an average of 224mph IIRC, and hit over 230 on the back straight. After which the tyres were shot to pieces and he reckoned that with more testing, more durable tyres and so on that a 230+ lap was easily possible.....

Oooops.... not quite. It was Rusty Wallace that did the test....

"June 10, 2004: Rusty Wallace tests a stock car without a restrictor plate for series sponsor Nextel to test communication capabilities, and hits a speed over 228 mph (367 km/h) on the straights (some reports say the speeds were close to 235 mph / 378 km/h), and 221 mph (356 km/h) average speed for the lap."

Going to on topic I think they should be mandatory. I have twice seen racing vehicles (one car, one bike) end up in spectator areas when I have been spectating and it is not a pleasent thing to see.

Both were at Thruxton. The car was Kelvin Burt in the Porsche Carerra Cup earlier this year. The car did go over a safety fence.

The other was a few years ago in one of the British Superbike support races. One rider lost it under braking for the complex. His bike cartwheeled over the tyre wall onto the spectator bank. Had there been a debris fence it would have stopped hit. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt. Since this incident there has been a debris fence at the complex.

Over the years, I've known several vehicles that have ended up going OVER the debris fence and into spectator areas.

The last such incident was at Mallory Park, when an errant mini cleared the debris fencing at the Hairpin, broke a couple of fledging pine trees and ended up on its wheels a couple of feet away from a 10 foot drop.

So, mandatory or not, if the accident on track is big enough, a debris fence won't actually help.

Sounds like tracks in the UK need to build catch fences, not picket fences......

<roflmao>

Errrm, well, the fence is question is about 6 feet high. It's perched on top of a bank behind the recticel, making the top of it somewhere around 10 feet off the ground!

10 feet is sod all if a car goes end over end!!

True, but the incident I'm referring to was a MINI and it was AFTER the chequered flag! <yikes>

Was Dario Franchitti driving?

<roflmao>

Nope

<think> In that case, was it sponsored by Red Bull?

Debris fences don't always help. Remember this?

The debris fencing did it's job again yesterday at Combe
Link to some Pics,scroll down

Good grief!

That was certainly a wild ride. Everybody ok?

Good lord! That was a biggie!

Onboard footage of the incident,both Drivers ok btw <thumbsup>
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0Xi0p7OVQ

Ahhh. Driver error.

But glad to see that all are OK. <thumbsup>