FIA Institute President Sid Watkins was delighted with the event and the enthusiasm of the participants. He said: “The presentations were of a very high standard and there was a good spirit of concord between the delegates.”
 
Professor Hugh Scully, a Fellow of the FIA Institute and ICMS Chairman, said: “It demonstrates an ever increasing collaboration and cooperation between the many people involved in the safety of motor sport.”
 
It is the fourth time the FIA has linked up with ICMS for the biennial conference but the first since the launch of the Institute. Scully added: “It’s the best event we’ve had so far. We are very grateful to the FIA Institute for all their support.”
 
The three-day symposium, which was held in Rome’s Michelangelo Hotel, examined all aspects of safety in motor racing from a scientific angle. The delegates were mainly made up from the top specialists in motor sport medicine from around the world. They were joined by a number of technical experts in motor sport safety.
 
FIA Institute advisor Peter Wright, who is also head of the FIA Safety Commission, said the joint event helped to facilitate discussions between technical staff and medical personnel about the major safety issues in motor sport.
 
Wright said: “It was very successful, more even than people anticipated. It really connected the doctors and the engineers.”
 
The FIA Institute and its fellows provided a number of the presentations. Wright presented an overview of the work of the FIA Institute to date. He went through the main programmes of research currently undertaken by the Institute’s four working groups. The Institute is currently running over 40 research programmes including debris fence modelling and validation, improving side impact protection, developing helmets for young drivers, and F1 wheel tether testing.
 
Gary Hartstein MD and Dr Jean Duby talked about the new FIA Institute medical training initiative and the medical facilities at the Paul Ricard circuit. Paul Ricard is one of the most advanced circuits in the world, especially in terms of safety. It was recently chosen as the FIA Institute’s first Centre of Excellence for Motor Sport Safety.
 
Other seminars included a look at new developments in high-speed impact barriers, insurance and liability in motor sport medicine and the development of the FIA youth helmet standard.
 
The symposium also welcomed a number of delegates from US motor sport. Mike Yates, Indy Racing League’s Assistant Track Safety Coordinator, talked about the potential lift characteristics of an Indy car. He revealed new research which showed that when cars are launched in the air during an accident it is mainly due outside forces, such as debris on the track, rather than the aerodynamic and mechanical attributes of the cars.
 
FIA Institute advisor Andy Mellor said that the presentations were well received on both sides. Mellor said: “There was a strong exchange of ideas and good opportunities for networking in between sessions.”
 
The Fellows of the Institute – Professor Gérard Saillant from France, Hugh Scully from Canada, and John W. Melvin, Ph.D, Terry R Trammel, MD and Stephen E. Olvey, MD from the US – were all present at the event.
 
The ICMS is an association of motor sport doctors and many of the Fellows of the FIA Institute are also ICMS members.
 

All of the presentations from the Symposium will be available on this site shortly.