Putnam Crash

[tderonne]

A rather ugly incident at Putnam a week or two ago.

http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16273&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=250

(Jumps right in the middle of a thread, but the pictures are there.)


Thoughts? Comments?

[Off Camber]

I was there in a diferrent run group.
Scary as hell man. Its never a good sign when you see the life flight chopper landing. Glad the guy is OK he is one Lucky F@#er and that was one hell of a fast car as well.

[Z3_GoCar]

Here's a thread with a post by the driver:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1011557

Not been a good spring at the track :(

James

[pgipson]

nasa has a notice on their home page regarding a driver that died in an hpde accident this past weekend at WSIR. and a couple of weeks ago they had a hpde car go off course and hit some course workers. i think it was at Sears Point. there hasn't been anything posted on their condition since then.

[JoshS]

nasa has a notice on their home page regarding a driver that died in an hpde accident this past weekend at WSIR. and a couple of weeks ago they had a hpde car go off course and hit some course workers. i think it was at Sears Point. there hasn't been anything posted on their condition since then.
The NorCal incident was at Thunderhill. They were running the track in the reverse direction. A driver lost control and hit one of the flagging stations, injuring at least 2 workers.

[lateapex911]

Wow...
I think I'm going to go adda couple gussets to my cage...

[DavidM]

Since this is the tech forum, what additions could be done to a cage to help withstand something like this? This was a freak accident with all the force concentrated in a small area by the tree, but are there some general things that could be done to strengthen the roof?

Diagonal from the main hoop forward to the A pillar has been mentioned as well as some form of diagonal that goes from the main hoop upwards to the roof bar on each side. What else?

I'm tall and even with the seat on the floor my head still is up to the roof. I'd probably be dead if that were my car.

David

[shwah]

A gusset tube from the main hoop to the halo would help.

An additional down tube from the top of the A pillar tube to the bottom of the A pillar tube with no bends would help.

Gusseting at the top bend of the A pillar tube - like you see on most Touring Cars, with a very tall section of U welded to the tube, and holes cut along the length of the gusset (leave them in for even more strength, and weight) would help.

Basically look at rally car cages, touring car cages, or even Kirk Knestis' cage for some decent examples.

I am glad I have some gussets between the main hoop and halo, but don't think mine are big enough to have withstood this particular impact. I am even more glad that I have 8-10" between my helmet and my roof with my tall car and low seat arrangement.

[shwah]

Let's remind ourselves that this car is a 400+ whp awd monster that was able to acheive roughly my top speed at Road America in the short 4-5 straight before going wayyyyy off to the trees. The only way I can fathom presenting my car with that kind of force is some sort of outrageous direct hit at full speed from a competitor in a faster class - even then, the cars will turn some of that energy into motion, while the trees didn't.