22 replies to this topic

[Graham Clayton]

Would someone be able to tell me the last time that hay bales were used as part of the safety measures for a Formula 1 WC GP?

[Michael Ferner]

Straw bales were generally frowned upon after Monaco 1967, but I don't think they were actually ever banned; I recall discussions from 'mixed meetings' (cars and bikes) in the seventies when the two-wheelers expressed their desire for more bales while the four-wheelers wanted fewer of them. There were certainly still straw bales present at e.g. Monaco into the seventies, perhaps until the big revamp in 1972 or '73? Most purpose-built tracks could make do without, but true road circuits still used them to cover immovable obstacles like trees or lamp posts, so perhaps Clermont-Ferrand in '72? Nürburgring probably dispensed with them after the '71 revamp, although they still used them for motorcycle events later on.

[Risil]

Straw bales were visible at world championship bike events well into the 1980s.

 

Hay is generally considered too valuable for racing cars to crash into.

[GazChed]

I am sure I remember Brian Muir who was competing at a mixed Bike/ETCC meeting back in the seventies, mentioning that the problem with straw bales for the four wheel competitors was that they could act as a launch ramp should a car hit them.

[Dick Dastardly]

Straw bales were still used to protect cars at immovable objects like trees and the ends of armco at Barbon Hill Climb this year. Maybe at other hill climbs as well. 

[nmansellfan]

There were certainly still straw bales present at e.g. Monaco into the seventies, perhaps until the big revamp in 1972 or '73?

 

Yes looks like '73 was the first year entierely without straw bales at Monaco, looking at an onboard lap that year (I think it's the one filmed for the JPS Lotus documentary 'If you're not winning, you're not trying'?).  Quickly checking some race footage, by '71 / '72 only the Grand Hotel / Loews hairpin and possibly the Gasworks hairpin had straw bales left, plus the occasional optimisitic protection of a lampost!

Edited by nmansellfan, 13 September 2023 - 12:13.

[Michael Ferner]

Yes, I was thinking of uninterrupted use at hill climbs (in particular) to this day, too. And the bikes in general couldn't get enough of them - as Risil pointed out, Brno or Imatra were positively unthinkable without straw bales (though they raced there without them only about twenty years earlier). On purpose-built tracks, straw bales were also used to protect the bodies of fallen riders until medical help arrived, and that was probably done until very recently and the advent of modern protective barriers.

 

Interestingly, I was also thinking "Hay bales? Not that I know of...", but a quick google session made it clear to me that I know not enough of farming practice to really make that call (I guess that straw was not available for spring or early summer races?). Anyway, I don't think I've ever heard of 'hay bales' as a protective measure at racing events, it was always 'straw bales' (even if, on occasions, it may have been hay, actually) 

[AJCee]

As Risil rightly points out, hay (dried grass) is far too valuable to use as protection as it is animal feed (and very expensive these days 😡). Straw (cereal stems) is used for (mostly) bedding etc and there’s generally enough to be available all year round for protecting solid objects or generally sitting on etc.

Edited by AJCee, 13 September 2023 - 15:19.

[milestone 11]

There were the odd straw bale at the Revival last weekend. There was also a double divan and mattress as part of one tyre wall along with tyres and Safer barrier.

[E1pix]

A karting street race we once did had bales all around to block the street curbing... and it was pretty intimidating at 90 mph.

[GregThomas]

They're still used here at motorcycle street circuits. Wanganui has several air fences in addition which are a much better solution.But costly.

 

The last car street race I saw used very large bales hard up against the curb. Hit them, they don't move.

I'm told that here anyway it's become quite difficult to find the classic smallish bales as most modern farm balers do a bigger size.

[Dick Dastardly]

On stage rallies, large bales, wrapped in black plastic [?],  are used to build chicanes on long / fast straights to reduce the average speeds on stages. Cars may inadvertently hit them, causing them to split and/or move slightly thus creating a less tighter chicane for subsequent cars to negotiate, sometimes crews need to bypass the chicane completely to avoid hitting any part of. 

[kevins]

They're still used here at motorcycle street circuits. Wanganui has several air fences in addition which are a much better solution.But costly.

At the Skerries road races, just north of Dublin, they have a "sponsor a bale" scheme where for €50 IIRC a local business/person gets their name in the event program and on the bale, I think.

[Stephen W]

We still use straw bales at Aintree on the sprint course as they are part of the layout as agreed with Motorsport UK.

 

On my first visit to Doune in 1971 I spotted that in one section there were straw bales tied to certain trees (not all by any means). I asked one of the marshals why those trees had bales tied to them, the reply was simple "Well those are the trees that people have hit at past events!"

 

  

[Lee Nicolle]

On stage rallies, large bales, wrapped in black plastic [?],  are used to build chicanes on long / fast straights to reduce the average speeds on stages. Cars may inadvertently hit them, causing them to split and/or move slightly thus creating a less tighter chicane for subsequent cars to negotiate, sometimes crews need to bypass the chicane completely to avoid hitting any part of. 

And a far slipprier road as well. Hay is quite slippery,, and that is to walk on.

In my 50+ years I have never have had hay bales on the track edge or worse on the track. Around distant objects at hillclimbs [and they have been hit] would be the only times.

[Glengavel]

Straw bales were visible at world championship bike events well into the 1980s.

Hay is generally considered too valuable for racing cars to crash into.

And not particularly resilient either.

[E1pix]

One wonders about using bales of pot to see if crashing could become more desirable.

“How’d your race go today?

“Awesome! I totaled the car, but it was super fun!”

[LittleChris]

One wonders about using bales of pot to see if crashing could become more desirable.

“How’d your race go today?

“Awesome! I totaled the car, but it was super fun!”

 

Whittington Bros Recticel 

[Gary Davies]

Wouldn’t it be nice if those enormous, technically advanced barriers they use at modern Grands Prix could be made to resemble hay bales. 

Edited by Gary Davies, 15 September 2023 - 08:55.

[Zmeej]

One wonders about using bales of pot to see if crashing could become more desirable.

“How’d your race go today?

“Awesome! I totaled the car, but it was super fun!”

 

If there isn't an Indy or other race in Oregon, just based on this, there should be.

 

Let's hear it for HEMP BALES!!!!       

 

FYI, my stoner days (such as they were) are waaaaaay in the past.

Edited by Zmeej, 15 September 2023 - 21:44.

[Michael Ferner]

Just looking for an excuse to post this lovely video: lots and lots, in fact thousands of straw bales...

 

 

 

 

Edited by Michael Ferner, 16 September 2023 - 20:03.

[Michael Ferner]

Compare to only 14 years earlier, hardly any straw bales at all in evidence. A few sand bags in front of a stone wall that the riders face head-on while approaching on cobble stones was considered sufficient...

 

 

Edited by Michael Ferner, 17 September 2023 - 07:15.

[Lee Nicolle]

Wouldn’t it be nice if those enormous, technically advanced barriers they use at modern Grands Prix could be made to resemble hay bales. 

Would be nice if those mad boffins nightmare cars could be made to look like cars, for me 80s cars.