Kinda makes you think for sure. Should the cages be triangulated more? The cage stopped crushing where the triangular support comes up in front of the steering gear. Is it possible to make an open wheel open cockpit car survive a crash like that?

I think the second crash test is a bit extreme.. but I am sure they are doing this testing for WORST case scenario. What I want to know is why the chassis was hard fixed to the sled beneath it. How much did the sled weigh? it seems to damage the bottom chassis rails also with the forces that are pushing it into the barrier. How fast was the test?
It is GREAT to see that a manufacturer is contucting these tests for future chassis development. Anything to add that extra bit of safety is excellent!

I agree. Maybe they should have tried to make the chassis like brake away...say 10 feet from the wall. Definitely makes you think though. I still wouldn't change my passion though

I believe Shane Hmiel would think that the test is not too extreme.

That's exactly what I thought when I saw that one too, Gregg. It made me remember a moment that I really wanted to forget.

Jerry

I want to thank John Godfrey, CAPE, and any and everybody else who was involved with this project for starting to study what happens to us drivers in an open wheel crash...I am sure there won't be any world changing technology that comes from this first session but it's a start and I am sure there was info collected to build on in the future.


I would love to see the next phase done with various head and neck restraint systems and some sort of repeatable, multi angle crash. Combine the accelerometer info from the helmet with the high speed video slowed down and you could get a great understanding of how well the various devices keep the drivers head in place.

Surely there's plenty of us out there with old slightly bent chassis that could be donated for such a test.

The problem is that the drivers area is basically a rectangle shape. Tape together four straws into a rectangle and see how much it takes to collapse it. Virtually nothing. Now take three straws and make a triangle and see how strong that is.

The second test was a bit extreme but extreme cases can still occur. I think chassis builders should be thinking about how to make the drivers area into a more triangulated form.

Just an engineering students perspective.

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1. Looks like someone did not latch the stearing wheel.

2. I am sure they take the mass of the slead into account for these test. Sure wadded it up that second time around.

3. John is the type of guy to tackle a project like this and come up with results.

4. The only thing that dummy driver did not do is brace himself on the steering wheel. I have seen some prety bent up wheels in my day.

the second test also was done with the frame that had already been crashed