I believe that's currently for bikes only, as it had no curbing last I checked. It would be safer yeah, but it's just not the same circuit then A safer barrier has to be just as easy to put in as new curbing.
They put that in special for the bikes, because the corner was so dangerous for them... they had giant, inflatable barriers they put up for a while, to stop drivers from sliding into the hard wall. But that was still very, very scary when they did have accidents there, far more than in any car.
They've raced there many times before, and at times when it didn't have the catch fences (oh wait, they were installed last year!). Pocono shouldn't be a problem.
For Road America, I wish they'd just make that kink where the asphalt just goes out to the wall. I'm really not a big fan of that corner either when it comes to safety.
Great race today. All kinds of passing on a track where passing usually doesn't really happen. Very clean racing, even with some rubbing. Great performances from Rahal, Conway, Barrichello at the end, etc.
I missed today's race I'm afriad Sounds like I missed a good one. (Couple of friends and I held a small Sprint Cup race party today, and they aren't much into Indycar so I didn't flip and channels)
Is the race rewind posted yet? Indycar.com doesn't help me much on finding videos like it used to
Great race. Surprising how everyone has been so clean and wise so far this season. From the outside it just looks like a whole other set of drivers than the one we're used to see. So far this season we only had one significant incident(Carpenter vs Helio at St Pete, and it was arguably an odd racing incident). Just compare it with last season, after 2 races we already had a good dozen or maybe even more.
It didn't mean the drivers weren't going at it, unlike St Pete there was plenty of passing. I was a bit sceptical with the suppression of the "blocking rule", but so far it doesn't seem to hurt the passing opportunities. It probably make the racing cleaner too, as the guy in front isn't obliged to stay on the outside like a sitting duck, with the very obvious possibility of having the attacking guy outbraking himself and taking both cars out. Of course, on the other hand St Pete and Barber aren't quite the narrowest tracks of the calendar. Long Beach and then Toronto will be some bigger tests for the new regulations.
Kudos to Beaux Barfield for being easy on cautions also. This really makes a change from the start and stop races from last year.
I really feel for Hinch. The guy has been stunning and faultless this week-end, but he loses 2 places in the pits and then 2 places at the final restart, and ends up in 6th only. I might have been a bit harsh with him earlier in this thread, but so far the kid has been awesome this season. Hunter-Reay and Andretti should really up their game, otherwise Hinch might become the man to beat at Andretti.
The Lotuses weren't as bad as some might have expected. SeaBass was one of the big stories of the race once again, this was quite refreshing to see him scrap with fellow 4th time champ Dario all race long. Servia did a great job climbing from 26th to 13th. Simona was pretty much blocked by traffic all day long, but kept posting decent times. The engine seems to have plenty of torque, SeaBass was always on a mission on T3 exit, and this allowed him to set up great passes at T5, despite the lack of top-end power. Now although Barber is more of an engine track than St Pete, it still doesn't have any real long straights. Indy will be another struggle, and obviously missing the upcoming open test will be a blow for Lotus' teams. Fortunately for them it doesn't look like there will be much more than 33 cars this year.
Barrichello was pretty much an enigma isn't it? Strong job in quali - only a couple of hundredths behind TK, would've made it into Q2 if it wasn't for that stupidly strong group 2. Then he completely fell off the radar for the first 2 thirds of the race. Then he woke up for the final third, gained a few spots at the restart and then a couple more during a pretty good final stint. Good on him as double file restarts are a very important factor in today's IndyCar, and the final stint is the one that matters. But still, 8th doesn't reflect very well his performance.
Carpenter was also disappointing. At St Pete he was looking like he made some great progress during the winter. But, on a real road course with lots of fast and challenging corners and elevation changes, he reminded he still has a lot of work in front of him. Good thing for him that Legge's on Lotus, at least he will have someone to fight with on the twisties.
NBC Sports made a great coverage, but that's not very surprising since Versus was the better broadcaster last year already. But, pretty please, give more air time to the grid walk! It's immersive, it feels like you're at the track yourself, and it showcases well the tension and the excitement, which isn't easy to do on TV. All in all, it's great. They said it was one of Dan's idea if I recall correctly?
Can't wait for Long beach anyway. Oh, and the month of May is not that far away too
If you don't mind downloading the whole race, try torrents maybe?
218s isn't that bad for a first test is it? Despite all the doom and gloom talk I'm pretty confident they will have a crack at the 2011 speeds on pole day
Still heartbraking not to see the Lotus teams on the chart though
Can't help but feel this is the end for Dario. There were signs last season, but Dan's death might just be the final nail in the coffin. Nothing really left to prove, probably a little more wary at 39, so why risk it?
Could be age I suppose with Dario. I think I heard he was hampered in preseason testing with the pedals on the new car as he still right foot brakes, so perhaps he is just a little behind the curve on getting to grips with a car that has new characteristics. The tyres are different aswell aren't they?
A safer barrier has to be just as easy to put in as new curbing. 
Sounds like I missed a good one. (Couple of friends and I held a small Sprint Cup race party today, and they aren't much into Indycar so I didn't flip and channels)
