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Browsing Archive: January, 2014

Rollcage Medic launches the Motorsport Medicine & Rescue Google community

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Notifications 
Medical education, as with everything, is evolving and the progress of the online medical resources has been remarkable. Starting out as a hodge-podge of niche newsgroups and individual blogs, the FOAMed community has galvanised itself into a broad range of blog sites, content communities, journal clubs, podcasts and even conferences (think SMACC and Bedside Critical Care). Individuals and groups are finding ways to shape Web 2.0 resources to the benefit of promulgating medical education in n...
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The Rollcage Medic site gets an overhaul

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Notifications 
The Rollcage Medic site has been in and out of the pit lane in something over 3.2 seconds and had a complete redesign to clean it up and streamline it. It's been a lot of hard work and I hope it will prove to be worth the effort.



The navigation should be quicker and the url at the top of the page should be more consistent. You'll notice the older blog posts have two sets of dates as a result of the reconfiguration; the older date is the original post date and the newer one is the date on whic...
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Formula 4 comes to Australia in 2014

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Technical developments 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, December 15, 2013 


Formula 4 has been confirmed as the new stepping stone in progression in open-wheel race car competition in Australia. So here is a summary of the key items of this new formula, with a focus on the elements that impact on medical and rescue provision.

The aim is to keep cost to a minimum, to encourage young talent to progress through the ranks to Formula 3 and on to Formula 1. That doesn't mean it will be particularly c...
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Time for a Registry

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Friday, October 25, 2013



It’s hard to know that a problem exists if you don’t look for it.

Sometimes you’ll find it because the problem finds you, usually through an adverse outcome. But wouldn’t it be better to know of  a potential problem’s existence beforehand and, even better, put something in place to mitigate it. So it makes sense to look out for problems before they cause trouble; that’s just basic survival.

And it is not without ...

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Compensation for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Concussion in sports and its associated complications have bubbled to the surface of public media again recently. And there may be wider implications to the latest development, which relates to the controversial entity known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE.

Competitors who suffer repeated concussion events are considered by many experts to be at risk of developing cognitive, behavioural, mood and somatic d...
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Motor sport crash barriers

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Technical developments 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, June 6, 2013 
I've previously taken a (non-engineer's) look at run-offs and gravel traps and their role in minimising harm in motor sport crashes (ASMMR Newsletter Vol 2 Issue 4, May 2010). Having watched the Monaco F1 GP at the weekend and in particular the impacts of Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado, I've done a little digging around the type of crash barrier used. The Monaco circuit, which is a street circuit, uses a brand of barrie...
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Hugh Scully on TEDx

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Conferences, courses & events 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, May 29, 2013

TED talks have established themselves as a major medium for transmitting ideas and knowledge. Starting in 1990 as a means of sharing design and technology topics, they have expanded into all aspects of thought, opinion and project with presentations from all walks of life. The TED motto is "ideas worth sharing" and speakers are given about 20 minutes for their presentation.

Following on the success of TED talks, the TED franchise has been...
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The 2013 AAN Guidelines on sports related concussion

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, March 28, 2013



The American Academy of Neurology released their guidelines on concussion in sport this month. They serve as an update to the existing guidelines, orginally published in 1997. The evidence is mostly drawn from field sports; rugby, soccer, hockey, basketball. 7 of the 12 panel of experts were non-neurologists, drawing from other specialties that are involved in managing concussed athletes. The 2013 guidelines involved a review of all ava...
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Monitoring on the go

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, March 16, 2013

I'm sitting in the front passenger seat of a Mercedes E250 station wagon between Turns 13 and 14 of the Albert Park Formula 1 GP circuit watching Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and the others zip around. Earlier in the day I was chatting to the senior ambulance co-ordinator who gave me some interesting reading material.

It is a brochure from a company called Remote Diagnostic Technologies Ltd who produce a portable patient monitor called the...
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Swept into the Vortex

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, March 6, 2013



Yet another development in airway management has appeared. I came across it about a month ago and it's worth having a think about how it might fit in with motorsports resuscitation.

It is called the Vortex Approach and is designed for use when you find yourself in an unexpected difficult or failed airway situation. The Vortex Approach is a cognitive model developed by two Australians, Dr Nicholas Chrimes, an anaesthetist at Monash Medica...
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Pre-hospital RSI - Addressing some of the challenges

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, January 23, 2013



Airway management can be a cause of great stress in the well apportioned and resourced resus bay of an ED or an ICU or in an operating theatre. The stress factor is magnified in the pre-hospital environment where the conditions and elements may operate against you. This can be even worse if you are working with people and equipment that you are unfamiliar with, as is not uncommon at motorsport events.

So it's always worth seeing how t...
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Extraglottic airway device review

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, January 19, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Back when I started up the ASMMR and put out a newsletter, I wrote a piece on the range of airway devices available, from simple oropharyngeal airways to endotracheal intubation (You can read it here: ASMMR Vol 1, Issue 3, July 2009). Recently I came across a review article in Anaesthesia & Analgesia devoted just to extraglottic airways (also known as supraglottic airways, though there is some semantics involved) and it makes a good ...
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Concussion in Motor Sports - Assessment and controversies

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Conferences, courses & events 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, December 18, 2012

OK, this is my first video podcast, so it may not be up to the Scott Weingart or Mel Herbert standard, but we'll fire ahead regardless.

A little over a week ago I attended the FIA Institute Medicine in Motor Sport summit in Istanbul, where I had been asked to give a presentation on the assessment of concussion at motor sport events and the tricky issue of clearing competitors to return to play. It came out of work I'd been involved wit...
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FIA Annual General Assembly Istanbul 2012

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Conferences, courses & events 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Last week I went to the FIA Annual General Assembly, which was held in Istanbul, Turkey. It ran for a week and the first day and a half were, for the first time, given over to medical and rescue aspects of motor sports, under the title of Medicine in Motor Sport. And it was pretty good.



Monday morning was a Chief Medical Officers' seminar, which consisted of a report from each of the major FIA categories (F1, WRC, WTCC and WEC) and a...
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Pre-hospital intubation using ultrasound - What, huh?

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Friday, November 16, 2012

OK, so we all love ultrasound; who doesn't? I remember a time when ultrasound was a diagnostic utility that gave medical school physics lecturers something to talk about and later on, a modality that lived somewhere at the back of a dark corner of the radiology department, crooned over by pale-faced, moon-eyed individuals. In the past couple of years, it is a modality that has arisen phoenix-like and has become almost the next Seldinge...
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Rollcage Medic gets Twitterlicious!

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, October 14, 2012

Sorry about the long gaps between posts. I've been working on some collaborative projects that have taken up time usually put aside for motor sport medicine. They've been mostly centred around the other site that I'm involved in, the Intensive Care Network, along with an emerging online medical education movement called FOAM (Free Open Access Meducation), which I'll do a separate post about. If you can't wait, you can find out more by d...
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The truth about Permissive Hypotension in Trauma

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Monday, September 10, 2012

Trauma is a diaphenous beast, simultaneously simple and complex. The priciples that underpin it are apparently straight-forward enough and yet some of the concepts and management strategies generate intense controversy and debate. If you read much trauma literature, there are a couple of names that recur routinely; one of those is London-based Trauma and Vascular surgeon, Dr. Karim Brohi, who is the driving force behind the Trauma.org...
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Clinical logistics: A key pillar for efficient provision of acute care

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Monday, September 10, 2012

One of the many nice things about working as a medic at motorsports events, apart from the cars, the racing and the atmosphere, is the chance to work alongside a focused group who share the same goals and work co-operatively to a purpose. Everyone brings something to the playing field and a lot of traditional barriers come down. This probably explains in part why managing a trauma victim in a hazardous, resource-limited, potentially h...
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Trauma coagulopathy & Head and Spinal injury prediction

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, August 1, 2012

If you keep an eye on some of the great critical care blog sites, at some point you will have come accross Cliff Reid's Resus M.E. site. Recently he has put up 2 great posts that should be of interest to all of us who practice medicine and rescue in motor sports.

The first is a presentation given by HEMS doctor, Pete Sherren, on the bleeding trauma patient. He outlines an illustrative pre-hospital case and follows through to the ICU ad...
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Ketamine in trauma and pre-hospital medicine

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, July 22, 2012

Ketamine seems to be one of those divisive drugs that some practicioners really love using (professionally of course), some seem to despise and some are put off by the scare stories that permeate the textbooks. The preservation of airway reflexes and comparative haemodynamic stability draws favour, while the age-associated emergence phenomenon, increase in ICP and incidence of laryngospasm draws fire.

From a practical point of view, it is a...
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Pre-hospital practice and motor sports medicine on PHARM

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, June 21, 2012

There's a lot to be learned from the guys who practice pre-hospital acute medicine that can be adapted to motor sports medicine. Minh Le Cong is a retrievalist working with Queensland RFDS who has created a great blog (PHARM) that covers tricky topics and offers pearls in pre-hospital medicine.

He interviews individuals who have particular expertise or experience that may be of benefit to practicioners and this week (Lord knows why) he in...
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Gareth Roberts

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Notifications 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Sunday, June 17, 2012

Motor sports has lost another rising talent. This weekend past the IRC ran the Targa Florio in Sicily. On SS8, Craig Breen and co-driver Gareth Roberts crash and Roberts was killed. Fortunately Breen escaped unharmed. It looks like an accident not too dissimilar to the type in which Robert Kubica sustained a hand injury that put him out of the 2011 F1GP season, but the full details have not been released. There is media available, but its ...
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Concussion and the 'Second Impact Syndrome'

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Friday, June 8, 2012

I've been working away on a project for concussion in motorsport and it seems that, much like the rest of medicine, the more we examine what we think we know, the less we find we really do.

Concussion is a problematic injury in sports in general. It's easy to miss and has the potential to do further harm. Watching a rugby player stumble around the field after a blow to his head makes it easy to see how he could fall over and dislocate a sho...
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Captain Morgan, sailing the salty seas

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Out of theatre hip reductions are notoriously difficult and usually require a fairly beefy proceduralist (Thank Heaven for orthopods), a good deal of sedation and have a fair degree of risk of injury to both patient and practitioner. A competitor who's had his or her foot braced against the cockpit's firewall for a head on impact runs the risk of a posterior hip joint dislocation, with an associated acetabular fracture risk. Any vascular...
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Scalpel-finger-tube emergency surgical cricothyroidotomy

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, May 19, 2012

Airway management is a hot topic amongst ED, critical care and pre-hospital communities and emergency cricothyroidotomies are generally the procedures that create the most angst. Largely it's the decision that it needs to be performed that fills most pants, rather than the actual doing. But just to make it a bit more troublesome, there are several approaches that are promoted.

Two Adelaide anaesthetists who also work in retreival, have rep...
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Spanish Grand Prix drama

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Monday, May 14, 2012

The Spanish Grand Prix was held at the weekend and it was a drama filled event, from qualifying to an hour and half after the podium presentation. Hamilton's relegation to the rear of the grid promoted Pastor Maldonado from his impressive second place to his first pole position. He then backed it up with a confident sensible drive into the Turn 1, losing out to Fernando Alonso, only to regain the lead with solid driving and clever pit strat...
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Continuing after concussion

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, April 26, 2012

I caught up with the IRC Series recently and watched the Circuit of Ireland event on wrcforeva's YouTube channel. If you watch "IRC 2012 Circuit of Ireland - Day 2 Highlights" at about 17:54 on the timeline, Andreas Mikkelsen has a high speed side impact with a haybale barrier on the short Lisburn stage.



The commentator states that Mikkelsen lost 40 seconds on the stage and complained of "dizziness". It is suggested that he sustained a ...
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Good stuff from online

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Some good stuff coming from ED and Critical care blogosphere and Twitterverse. Here are some recent ones:

George Douros (Victorian ED physician) RSI checklist. relevant to in-hospital practice but worth looking at and I like the S.O.A.P.M.E. mnemonic (not for the reasons you might think).

Minh Le Cong (Queensland retrievalist and regular guest on multiple blogs and sites) - Pre-hospital retrieval pearls. Worth listening to as they are cl...
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New name for the ASMMR

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Notifications 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Monday, March 19, 2012

The Australian Society for Motorsport Medicine and Rescue was set up in an attempt to bring together physicians, paramedics and rescue specialists who take their skills to motorsport events. The aim was and still is to share medical and motorsport information and experience amongst all practitioners, newcomers and established.

However, while the title was created somewhat tongue-in-cheek, it is probably a little austere and doesn't exactly...
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Australian Formula 1 GP, Melbourne 2012

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Monday, March 19, 2012

Australia has once again openend the F1GP season and overall it was a good couple of days. We've finally been able to get a feel for what the 2012 cars can do - who has made progress over the winter period and who has stood still? It seems that Ferrari have gone backwards and HRT are falling off the tail end of the pit lane.

Mercedes were looking like the big movers, unfortunately a gearbox issue dropped Schumacher out of the race and a la...
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Formula 1 2012 Season regulations

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Regulations developments 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The 2012 season of Formula One is about to get started, with all of the teams converging on Melbourne this weekend for the opening event at Albert Park. Every year there are a slew of changes, as drivers renew or change contracts (or are terminated altogether), teams get new names and new liveries nad the FIA adjusts technical and sporting regulations.

You could go to the FIA website and trawl through all of the regulations, or you could ...
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Fluid type in volume resuscitation

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Friday, March 9, 2012

The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine recently issued a consensus statement on volume therapy in critically ill patients , in which they make 10 recommendations in all, based on the GRADE system. Of interest to the motorsport medical community is their recommendations on choice of fluid for trauma, traumatic brain injury and burns.

Recommendation 4 states that albumin and synthetic colloids (e.g. gelofusin, hydroxyethyl starch) s...
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Tranexamic acid in trauma

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Monday, March 5, 2012

The use of Tranexamic Acid in truamatic haemorrage has been gaining increasing attention since the publication of the CRASH-II trial in 2010. Tranexamic acid (TXA) is an antifibrinolytic, meaning that it prevents the breakdown of clot that has already formed. This is different to the commonly used FFP and prothrombin complex concentrates (PCC), which provide clotting factors to facilitate clot formation and the much more expensive Factor ...
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The Azores ... beautiful stages

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

I'm watching the beautiful Azores stages of the opening event for the 2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge , courtesy of wrcforeva who posts coverage from both WRC and IRC events on YouTube - which I am grateful for, given the lack of television coverage here in Oz.

The Azores IRC is a gravel event, on a volcanic island - so the dirt is dark and rich and the vegetation lush. There are some great stages where the road runs in a gully...
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The value add of hard c-spine collars

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Monday, February 27, 2012

Courtesy of Cliff Reid's Resus.ME blog, here's an interesting article (Emerg Med J. 2012 Feb;29(2):104-7) that questions the added value of applying a hard c-spine collar to a trauma victim who is already secured on a spine board with head blocks and strapping. Balanced against the apparent lack of benefit is the potential for harm due to a greater limitation of mouth opening while a hard collar is in situ; though conventional practice...
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Crazy Monegasques

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, February 9, 2012

For me, the Catalunya Rally always had the most mental spectators. Lining the edges of the route 3 - 5 deep and scuttling out of the way only metres in front of an oncoming rally car and surging back in afterwards, it was only a matter of time before someone's luck ran out.

The Monte Carlo Rally is back on the WRC calendar, with a mammoth 5 day event (the influence of Jean Todt's preference for endurance events perhaps?). What a great...
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FIA requests formal tender for promotion of the WRC

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Notifications 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, February 9, 2012

Most people with an interest in motor sports, especially rally, will be aware that the WRC lost its promoter when North One Sport had its contract terminated by the FIA at the end of last year. This occurred after North One Sport's parent company,  Convers Sports Initiatives, went into receivership. (Slight problem with alleged fraud by two of its directors.) Eurosport is currently filling the breach, but this is a temporary arrangem...
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A history of race suits

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, January 17, 2012

There's a summarised history of race suit development on the F1 GP website, that charts the transition from the cotton pants and shirt of the gentleman racer to the two-layer nomex with undergarments worn by today's speed demons. The article also names one Paul Trafford, a UK surgeon who has been involved in motorsports medicine for about 25 years and has worked alongside the likes of Sid Watkins and Terry Trammel. Traf has taken on th...
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FIA summarises WRC 2012 regulation updates

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Regulations developments 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The FIA have updated the WRC regulations for the 2012 season. They mainly affect the starting order in gravel events, including determining the starting order through use of a Qualifying Session. Other changes include the changing of the Super-Rally rules title to Rally 2, clarification of the numbers of engines and sets of tyres allowed per event and the status of priority 1, 2 and 3 drivers.

For more details, go here:
http://www.fia.c...
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Rally Australia CoC awarded FIA Senior Official of the Season

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Michelle Gatton, a former rally driver, has been officiating for Australian and Asia-Pacific rally events for more than 10 years. This year she was the Clerk of Course for the Rally Australia stage of the 2011 WRC season. For her efforts, she was recently awarded the FIA Outstanding Senior Official of the Season.

You can read more about Michelle and her award here:
http://www.cams.com.au/en/Media/News/2011/Australian_named_FIA_Outstandi...
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Dakar's fangs are still pointy

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 7, 2012

2012 is off to a motorsporting start with the Dakar Rally. The world's self-proclaimed most dangerous motorsport event takes its name from the original Paris (France) to Dakar (Senegal) route. The only other event that has such a publicly fearsome reputation is the Isle of Man TT, which annually kills riders and not infrequently spectators.

The Dakar was life-threatening enough negotiating rocks, trees, sand dunes, lions and the heat, ...
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Michelle Mouton gets Knighted

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 18, 2014, In : Notifications 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Saturday, January 7, 2012

Former WRC driver, Michelle Mouton, received the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor from France's president Nicolas Sarkozy just prior to Christmas, for her services to motorsports. She was the last woman to compete in the WRC, having followed a very successful career.

Starting as a co-driver, she switched to the driver's seat of a Renault Alpine A110. She competed most famously behind the wheel of the awesome Audi Quattro and , having ...
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V8 Supercar: Car of the Future safety features

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014,
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The V8 Supercars Cars of the Future were unveiled at the Telstra 500 in Olympic Park at the start of December. They include a number of weight-reducing, stability improving and cost saving developments that, so far, have been approved by the drivers that have had a go in them. Having had a chat with one of the engineers involved in their build, they still have a quick release steering wheel and quick release doors. They will also have...
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Professor Sid Watkins retires from FIA Institute

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Notifications 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, December 13, 2011

At the age of 83 and after 50 years of work with motor sports, Professor Sid Watkins has retired from his position as President of the FIA Institute, which was established in October 2004. He has been succeeded by Prof Gerard Saillant, the former Deputy President. Prof Saillant is, in turn, succeeded as Deputy President by Mr Gary Connelly, previously an executive committee member.


To mark Prof Watkins’ massive contributions to motor...
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Intubation in the field - Clear enough space!

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Check out this article for some insights on factors that make pre-hospital intubation a challenge.

Difficult prehospital endotracheal intubation – predisposing factors in a physician based EMS. Resuscitation 2011 Dec;82(12):1519-24.

A European study that attempted to identify factors that influenced the difficulty of pre-hospital, physician conducted intubation. Along with the usual patient features that have previous been identified,...
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Competitive driver license

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Regulations developments 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, November 2, 2011

From the "Medicine in Motor Sport" textbook, produced by the FIA:

"As concerns the FIA, the absolute contraindications to issuance of a standard competition license are:

  • treated or untreated epilepsy with behavioural effects at any point during the previous 10 years;
  • any cardiovascular problem with a risk of sudden death;
  • monocular vision for less than 5 years (in case of monocular vision for more than 5 years, the FIA Medical Commissio...

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Inventive approach to rapid cricothyroidotomy

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Emergency cricothyroidotomy is a scary beast in the resus room of a tertiary hospital ED. Having it flop down in front of you at a race event is a pant filler!

There is constant debate over the best method to use, bouncing between needle cric and scalpel cric with various versions of tube introduction. There are supporters of both approaches, with cogent arguments on both sides, as seen on the previously mentionned EM Crit debate, betw...
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Farewell Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Monday, October 24, 2011

It has been a bad week for motor sport and more specifically for the families of motorsport competitors. The weekend before last, Indy Car driver Dan Wheldon was kiiled in a high speed, 15 car pile up at the Las Vegas circuit and yesterday Marco Simoncelli was killed at the Malaysian Moto GP. Both deaths occurred during racing and resulted in the remainder of each event being appropriately canceled.

Dan Wheldon, an Englishman who had pre...
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WRC and F1 GP 2012 calendars released

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Notifications 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Both the WRC and F1 GP have confirmed their calendars for the 2012 season.

The WRC calendar will start with the classic Monte Carlo stage and, for the first time since 2005, will finish in Spain instead of Wales (Rally GB will be held in September). It is a very Eurocentric schedule, with only 3 of the 13 events being held outside of Europe - Mexico, Argentina and New Zealand.



The F1 GP calendar is similar to the 2011 season. Melbourne ...
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Australians assisting with Year 2 of F1GP South Korea

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The F1 juggernaut returns to South Korea in just under two weeks for the second time. Last year was the first ever hosting and a training team assembled by CAMS went over to help the Korean team to prepare and conduct the event. There were a number of stumbling blocks along the way, but despite these, the event won an FIA award for its efforts.

This year a smaller Australian contingent is returning to Mokpo for back-up while the K...
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CAMS/NMAC Review for Medical Services Requirements at Motor Sport Events in Australia

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Regulations developments 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Monday, October 3, 2011

Earlier this year, the National Medical Advisory Council, which acts as an advisory body to CAMS on medical matters as they relate to motor sports, reviewed the medical services and requirements component of the CAMS General Regulations, which are located in the CAMS Manual of Motor Sport (http://www.cams.com.au/Sport/CAMS_Manual_of_Motor_Sport.aspx).

The document details personnel, vehicle and equipment requirements, along with the for...
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Simpson Safety Solutions Hybrid Head Restraint system

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Technical developments 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Monday, October 3, 2011

The Simpson Performance Products company, which is based in New Braunfels, Texas, produces a range of race safety equipment, from suits, boots and gloves to helmets and HANS devices, catering for all categories of land based motor sports. It does all its own manufacturing and testing.

In July this year the FIA homologated its latest version of HANS devices, the Simpson/Safety Solutions Hybrid Head Restraint system (FIA 8858-2010 standard...
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Flywheel KERS

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Technical developments 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Friday, August 19, 2011

Racecar Engineering has an interesting article on flywheel KERS. While the article spends most of its time tracking the history of how former Renault F1 engineer, John Hilton, developed his flywheel KERS and started up his Flybrid Systems company with Doug Cross, it does give some insight into how flywheel kinetic energy recovery systems work. As it is written for an engineering magazine, it assumes a level of engineering knowledge.

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Can't intubate, can't oxygenate debate

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Clinical topics 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Friday, August 19, 2011

Scott Weingart, of EMCrit, has podcasted a useful debate on the pros and cons of two airway techniques for the "can't intubate, can't oxygenate" disaster. He has also linked to several useful YouTube videos. Check out the details here.

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Fire safety tale

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Friday, August 19, 2011

01/08/2011, 21:30 - Just found another angle on the Heidfeld fire (http://tinyurl.com/3pjqlkj). It wasn't the tyre that blew, it was the left sidepod.

Also, it's probably a sector marshall that gets caught in the blast - Distinct lack of fire retardant overalls and a plastic rain poncho. There's also no sign of a Yellow flag near pit exit nor a safety car, which seems odd given the nature and position of the incident - Watch two cars zip...
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V8SCs go to the US

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Notifications 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The V8 Supercars and Circuit of the Americas have agreed to a deal that brings the V8s to Austin Texas for 5 years from 2013. You can read the full details at http://tinyurl.com/6bjg4h8
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New F1 engines

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Technical developments 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, July 6, 2011

On the 28th of June, the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) voted to make the next generation of F1 engines 1600cc direct injection V6 turbos, with a controlled fuel flow. This will come into effect for the 2014 season. They will be higher revving (increased from 12,000rpm to 15,000rpm), but they will have the same fuel efficiency requirements placed upon them. They will also still incorporate energy recovery systems, such as KERS.
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Medicine in Motor Sport, the movie (well ... the textbook, to start with)

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, June 30, 2011

Anyone who has visited the FIA or FIA Institute websites in the last 3 months, or has read the most recent edition of the ASMMR Newsletter will be aware that the FIA have published the Gary Hartstein edited textbook  "Medicine in Motor Sport". You can read it online on the FIA Institute website or buy it for your e-reader from Amazon at www.amazon.com/dp/B004XJ6BQG. I'm planning on putting aside some time to leaf through it over the next...
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Wiley Coff's business

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Coff's Harbour Deep Sea Fishing Club has spotted a market opportunity and will place one or more of their vessels in the harbour during the rally with Monaco-esque views of the super special stage. If you are interested, you can visit their website at http://deepseafishingclub.com.au/

Sounds like the Coff's residents are getting into this rally thing ....
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Australian WRC driver returns

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Musings and opinion 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, June 29, 2011

For anyone wondering what Chris Atkinson has been up to since the Subaru World Rally team folded up its operations, he's been competing in the Asia-Pacific Championship in a Proton S2000. He's planning to content at the Coff's Harbour WRC Rally Australia round in September.
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The ASMMR site goes live!

Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Thursday, January 16, 2014, In : Notifications 
Posted by Matthew Mac Partlin on Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Hi everyone out there in motor sports land. The Australian Society for Motorsports Medicine and Rescue site is out and about for all the world to see. If you are involved in providing medical or rescue services to motor sports events in Australia, or elsewhere in the world, come and have a poke about - Hopefully you'll find something of use to you on this site.

Good luck!
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