david karr wrote
>Ouch! Good for you that you made it through such a bad one.
>Your idea about tires wall for Nascar, though, doesn't consider how
>difficult it might be to repair such a system if it was damaged early on in
>a race. In F1, if it happened that a tire wall was damaged so that it
>couldn't be repaired in short order, the marshalls could at least
>yellow-flag that corner. In Nascar, since they don't have partial yellows
>(at ovals), that'd be the end of the race, wouldn't it? Correct me if I'm
>wrong--maybe they DO have partial yellows. I'm not really sure. . .
>> > > > The difference is that 240+ at Michigan is relatively not that
>> > > > dangerous since the angle of impact is generally very shallow, so
>the
>> > > > car will tear itself to pieces along the wall and slow down
>gradually
>> > > > in the process. In any collision the speed of the initial impact is
>by
>> > > Ummm, tell that to Ernie Irvan and let's see what he has to say about
>> that.
>> > > It is very easy for a car to get sideways and hit the wall straight
on
>> at
>> > > Michigan. Becuase Michigan has no tire barriers at all compared to
>Spa's
>> > > tire barriers I would say Michigan is much more dangerous.
>> > That would require a VERY tight turn radius, especially for a car out
of
>> > control... How wide are those tracks really? And the inner (or outer)
>> radius
>> > of the turns?
>> > In the TV coverage, however, it often LOOKS like a car gets sideways
and
>> > impacts the wall at a near 90 degree angle. Again those extreme lenght
>> > teleoptics make trusting your eyes hard...
>> Well I actually have personal knowledge too. At Mosport (in real life) I
>got
>> tapped in the rear on the high speed, downhill, left hand turn 4. The
tap
>> was in the left rear and I was able to catch the slide with counter lock.
>> Unfortunately when the car scrubbed off enough speed and caught grip
again
>> it snapped to the right, did a full 180 degree spin so that I was facing
>the
>> opposite way and slid sideways into the tire wall. The entrance to that
>> corner was about 120 - 130 MPH flat out in a highly modified CRX-Si. I
>> figure I scrubbed off enough speed that I was maybe going anywhere
between
>> 80-100 MPH when I hit the wall. The impact launched the car into the 15
>ft.
>> into the air (that is what the corner workers told me, I couldn't tell
>since
>> it was 2:00A.M. and pitch black when it happened [24hr endurance race]).
>The
>> car landed, impacted the armco on the left side of the track, and then
>> landed right side up in the middle of the track. The impact was brutal
and
>> the worst thing I ever experienced in my life. I definitely think that
the
>> tire barrier on the right armco where I had my initial impact saved my
>life
>> or at least allowed me to walk away with only a sore side and a sprained
>> ankle. There is no way I would want to go through the same experience
with
>a
>> bare concrete wall. Tire walls decelerate the body such that it can
>survive
>> great impacts. A concrete wall presents instant deceleration. I would
take
>> hitting a tire wall any day over hitting a bare concrete wall.
>> In Ernie Irvans (NASCAR drive) case he almost died the first time he hit
>the
>> wall at Michigan. His car hit the wall almost straight on. Even though it
>> had a lot of momentum still pulling it down the track the impact into the
>> wall was great enough to severely injure him. Just recently he hit the
>wall
>> again in a Busch Grand National car. Fortunately his injuries this time
>were
>> not as great but he was still knocked up pretty bad. If oval tracks
>utilized
>> a tire barrier with a *** belt on the outside oval tracks could be
>> tremendously more safe!
>> - John
There's an oval here in Brazil that has tire barriers
If you watch CART it is the Rio one
Bruno
