Made in France – Tecpro, the protection revolution

The Tecpro company, based in Aubagne (Bouches-du Rhône) is the work of Rafaël Galiana. This Marseillais, former pilot of karting, decided at the turn of the 2000s to build a plastic protective barrier for its indoor kart track. Through self-sacrifice, bricks covered with Tecpro plastic are today approved by the FIA ​​because they are safer than piles of tires and more durable over time. Its price is 800 euros per linear meter, barely 200 euros more than a meter of tires meeting FIA standards.

Tecpros abound all over the world and support the construction of new circuits. Formula 1. Before (or after) discovering our article Developed for JDE in n°2147 ofCARhebdo, discover the biggest crashes suffered by these French barriers in F1.

The accident that revealed Tecpro: Pérez in Monaco
This is the sequence which allowed the Tecpro blocks to be known to F1 followers. During testing, at nearly 280 km/h, Sergio Pérez lost control of his Sauber exiting the tunnel and collided sideways with the Tecpros at the chicane. “There have been many trials of different protections at this delicate location (Jenson Button hit several rows of tires in 2003). No barrier has absorbed a shock as effectively as ours”, analyzes Rafael Galiana.

Forfeited for the race, the Mexican escaped with “only” head trauma. The toll could have been much heavier; In 1994, Karl Wendlinger was plunged into a coma for three weeks after an identical accident. His helmet had hit the metal rails.

The Sainte-Dévote bend
Almost every year, television cameras capture someone leaving the road when braking for the first time on the Monaco route. In 2013, Felipe Massa (Ferrari) tested the protections not once, but twice! Friday in free practice, then Sunday in the race. The Brazilian escaped without injury, the protections fully fulfilling their role.

Two years later, the young and fiery Max Verstappen recessed from the front Toro Rosso after an optimistic maneuver on Romain Grosjean (Lotus). Nothing to impress and even less to hurt the Dutchman.

A shock at 46 G: no injury
Among the most feared accident dynamics, passing under protective guardrails is among the most frightening. In 2015, Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso) hits the Tecpro piles during free practice for the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, at high speed: 153 km/h.

The image is worrying, the first line of barriers having passed above the engine air box. However, the FIA ​​report explains that the steel barrier, stuck to the Tecpro, returned the kinetic energy absorbed during the impact, towards the Tecpro, which then rose. History of removing the last doubts about the effectiveness of the system, the son of the double world champion WRC took the start of the event 24 hours later, without the slightest injury.

Find the whole history of Tecpro (from its creation to its use, including crash tests in Germany) in issue 2147 ofCARhebdo, available on kiosks or digital download.