Motorsports has made a lot of phenomenal strides in driver safety in the past 10-15 years. So much so that I remarked to my father the other day how nice it was to see a large GT crash and just know, instinctively that the drivers would be fine.
We've had the HANS device, superb. We've got the collapsing structures along high speed corners (the foam stuff), superb. We've got incredible material sciences, superb. We have amazing helmets which meet increasingly strict criteria, superb. We've got great emergency response teams, mobile doctors, helicopters, etc.
One thing we haven't made a break-through on (in my opinion) is curbs and curb materials. Normally they don't produce such horrific results as Macau, but they frequently cause issues during the race - while at the same time we have increasing issues with track limits. I'd really like to see some well thought out solution to this. A material solution that dissuades drivers from crossing.
Sticky paint doesn't work. (great at helping slow cars safely, but doesn't dissuade the drivers much)
Grass doesn't work (great at dissuading but becomes a skating rink for cars out of control)
Sand doesn't work (great at slowing cars, but creates yellow flags too easily)
Curbs work, but create some problems on occasion (as seen here). I'd like to see a robust material solution which slows cars, maybe even risking minor damage to splitters etc. (in the way a curb can) without the ability to launch a car, or send it veering out of control. Perhaps a material that can be laid out in strips, much like sticky paint, but more aggressive --- with the ability to help slow or catch an out of control car (assuming it's not airborne of course).
It just seems like the one thing we haven't cracked, and it's something that would benefit tons of series. Perhaps some kind of much larger/robust "astro-turf" that's made from used motorsport tires ---so it can be cheaply acquired or produced?
