The FIA publication, "Medicine in Motorsport", was published in January 2011. It was intended as a primer for all things that related to providing medical care at (FIA-sanctioned) motorsport events; from how the various roles and organisations fit togther to explanations of race car safety structures to resuscitation topics, all in the context of a motorsport environment. Edited by Dr Gary Hartstein, it was released in digital format through Amazon and could be read on Kindle devices or as a pdf on any laptop or smartware device.


As a textbook, it had its issues, but it represented a serious attempt amongst others to begin to standardise the medical and rescue intervention being rendered at racing incidents.

And as with all first editions, it is generally only a matter of time and perceived ongoing need before a second edition is released.


Medicine in Motorsport (2nd Edition) has been edited by Dr Ian Roberts and this time the publication has been released as a free app.

iOS users can download it from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/app/medicine-in-motor-sport/id964491739?ls=1&mt=8

Android users can get it from Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.propeller.fia

If it seems just a little barren at the moment, it's because it kind of is. The plan is to make it a dynamic resource and part of the reason for releasing it as an app is so that portions can be rapidly updated as new information evolves. So the development group has decided that there is enough content to go ahead and release it now, with updates sent out as new sections are added or modified.


At first glance, it looks promising. The content is organised into "Themes" or "Topics", making it fairly easy to quickly find what you are looking for, though again the content is currently a little sparse so it will be interesting to see what happens as this gets filled. There is a search function, so hopefully finding items will not get too cumbersome as more content is added.







Each chapter is quite well presented, with a short summary of the chapter with is then carved up into manageable sections. The text is easy to read, is kept fairly short and most chapters have included a reasonable range of images. There are even some videos.


I haven't read it all yet, so I can't really provide a review. Also, I've written the "First response - Rally" chapter (yet to be released on to the app) alongside Australian motorsport paramedic Jeff Woods, so you could argue a conflict of interest. However, please feel free to leave comments below, even if it is just to slate my chapter; and let me know if you want me to pass anything back to the app editorial group. It would be great to get some feedback.