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The very high speeds achieved by IndyCars at the 1992 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and practice have led to a complete reconsideration of the safety implications involved in the sport. The present work describes calculations performed in order to totally redesign and reconstruct the outer concrete retaining wall and fence structure at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), to ensure spectator safety. Car capabilities were first examined to ascertain energies involved in realisticcollisions with the wall at racing speeds. A series of practice and race accidents was examined via frame-by-frame video analysis, and further calculations performed to refine energy calculations. Calculations and actual accident analyses indicate that a substantial amount of kinetic energy is lost before car-to-wall impact can occur through aerodynamic drag and tire scrub. Wall strength requirements and estimates of impact forrealistic car speeds, spectator visibility and construction were also computed.

Speed trials have been conducted on the Bonneville Salt Flats for more than 50 years. In many ways, land speed racing represents the ultimate in freedom, ingenuity and creativity for engineers and constructors. Most of the rules associated with the various classes (and there are literally hundreds of classes) are safety-related, while the rules associated with the design and construction of the vehicle itself are extremely free, with streamliner and lakester classes being the most uninhibited of all. This freedom of design leads to widely disparate attempts to solve the Bonneville riddle. To successfully race at Bonneville requires the engineer to possess expertise in a number of aspects of vehicle design and construction rarely seen in other forms of racing competition. We begin with an overview of the nature of land speed racing competition, and continue to a discussion of the engineering aspects and fundamental requirements of car design and behavior.