I think They probably did not factor into that second test the "INERTIA" of that sled that delivered the car to the wall. I would bet that the sled was 4 times as heavy as the car and all that extra inertia of the sled is what did all the damage to the roll cage.
On the other hand had not that thing been bolted to that heavy old sled, there probably would not be any footage of that second crash. That thing would have bounced around that room like a big old coil spring taking out anything that got in it's way.
I am very pleased to see destructive crash test data being generated for sprint, midget & silver crown cars.
One of the reasons for the safety of F1, Indy & NASCAR cars is the money is there to afford such research.
Sprint, midget & champ car builders have to rely on anecdotal evidence from actual crashes and their own intuition
to build safe race cars. In my opinion they do a pretty impressive job of building a safe compartment for a
driver with "soft" front and rear ends to absorb energy.
Could these open wheel car's safety improve? YES
Is this type of testing a means to that end? YES
Is this type of testing fully developed? NO
Is this type of testing a step in the right direction? YES
This was an extremely interesting test to witness, albeit a little nauseating given the real-world scenario. Thanks to CAPE Testing and also to John Godfrey of Spike Chassis for their time and effort as they develop to make the sport just a little safer.
I'm getting old and kinda of confused, so I said this seems like ground hog day all over again. I know I have been here before, do a little research. YEP>>>>>>D.O. posted this back 2 years ago in IOW way back in December of 2011.
Never hurts to go back and look things over again. Have we made any progress in 2 years. The one thing I can think of is the "CRASH PAD" have we done anything else?