rec.autos.simulators

daxe

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--
Oliver Nikolic
DP-MAX Computers
http://www.dp-max.co.yu/
BeoRocket Racing Team (retired)
http://www.beorocket.co.yu/

I can think of a ton of possible problems you'd have with a canopy,
including heat retention, smoke inhilation during a fire, sun glare off an
increasingly oil-fouled canopy, seconds lost opening up the canopy in an
emergency exit, etc.  But I'm not an expert and I don't delude myself into
thinking that I have the answers to racing safety.  I think a canopy is a
logical safety factor when you don't know all of the facts.  But again,
I'm no expert.

--
Bob Curtin
Worcester Area Strategy & Tactics Exchange
http://www.tiac.net/users/ten10ths/
"If God had intended men to join the Army he would have given us green,
baggy skin"

On Mon, 1 Nov 1999 07:15:50 -0500, "Dave St.Onge"

--
don

[|]-(_)-[|]

One need only to look at Formula One to see that Tire walls in the wrong
place can cause as much damage as the may prevent.

Eddie Irvines qualifying crash going into the Suzuka hairpin was
worryingly ***.  If it had been wall all the way, he'd have just
ground his way to a halt.

Michael Schumacher hit the tire wall outside of Stow corner at a meer 70
mph, yet broke his leg.  Tire walls on the inside of Ovals will throw
the car into a horrendous spin (imagine Irivines crash, twice, three
times as fast)  However, a wall will only give a glancing blow.  

What is worrying is that people still assume that a single seater is
better off going thru gravel, not tarmac.  Tarmac would have brought
Schumacher to a virtual standstill before he hit the tyres, it would
have stopped Greig Moore from Rolling.  It would not have helped Gonzo.

Motor racing is dangerous. That is why we enjoy driving great games such
as GPL. They allow us a taste of that danger, with the added adantage of
being able to walk away after driving into the outside wall of the Masta
Kink at 170 MPH in a 415 bhp Cigar on wheels.

The driver know and respect the danger. They enjoy it.  Unfortunately,
from time to time, they are taken from us.

It's a sad fact. No one conciously attempts to make tracks dangerous.
Calling the Americans stupid was stupidity in its self. I am a european
embarrased by such talk.  However, there are issues to be raised in all
forms of motor sport. Perhaps things people havn't thought of
yet...constant efforts are being made by ALL concerned to improve safety
across the board...but it still remains VERY VERY dangerous.

Doug

: One need only to look at Formula One to see that Tire walls in the wrong
: place can cause as much damage as the may prevent.

: Eddie Irvines qualifying crash going into the Suzuka hairpin was
: worryingly ***.  If it had been wall all the way, he'd have just
: ground his way to a halt.

: Michael Schumacher hit the tire wall outside of Stow corner at a meer 70
: mph, yet broke his leg.  Tire walls on the inside of Ovals will throw
: the car into a horrendous spin (imagine Irivines crash, twice, three
: times as fast)  However, a wall will only give a glancing blow.  

Panis at Montreal in 1997 is a good example of the damage tires can do.

Stephen

l8er
ronny

--
"I heard if you play the NT-4.0-CD backwards, you get a satanic
message."
"That's nothing, if you play it forward, it installs NT-4.0"

--
Oliver Nikolic
DP-MAX Computers
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
BeoRocket Racing Team (retired)
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

:>: Michael Schumacher hit the tire wall outside of Stow corner at a meer 70
:>: mph, yet broke his leg.
:>
:>Panis at Montreal in 1997 is a good example of the damage tires can do.

: But Panis (and Schumacher) are still alive..

True.  don't take my point out of context.  I fully support tire walls,
especially when they have a protective mesh covering them.  I was only
adding another example of the (rare) case where tires can worsen the
outcome.  As I remember it, Panis hit the wall at a shallow angle, the
nose stuck in the tires and was sheared off.  His Prost was a sorry sight
after the incident.  But I also remember several cases where Indycars at
Detroit went spearing through a few layers of tires at the end of the
straight with very little damage, and no injury.  Al Unser even continued
racing once after being pulled back out of his rather deep dive into the
***.  Overall I think tires are great, until we come up with some nice
constant density foam barriers or god knows what to absorb energy in a
uniform fashion.  Big magnets?? :)

Stephen

Kev

And the front of the chassis was severely damaged to boot. Are you
suggesting that by hitting a completely non-deformable concrete wall and
applying the same forces, that the car would not have been more seriously
damaged and thay the man himself would have been less likely to have been
killed?

Even without brakes as was the claimed cause of the accident? Come to that,
how do you see tarmac effectively slowing a single seater minus several
wheels as is often the case?

I tend to agree here, grass on the inside of an oval is just stupidity IMO.

The bottom line is that there is NO one single solution that will work in
every given situation. The best we can hope for is to keep learning from
tragic occurences and apply the accrued knowledge in a common sense manner
in an endeavour to minimise the risks further. It will always be a
percentage game though and all we can do is try to stack the deck further in
favour of the drivers.

 There is only one thing that we can all rest assured about. As long as men
race speed machines, men will die in them. No amount of technology or great
thinking will ever result in a zero risk sport. The simple fact remains that
the human body and explosively high G forces are strange bedfellows.

MS