http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66348 Autosport has confirmed that the G-Forces sustained in Lewis's crash were enough to harm God, yet Lewis leapt from the car unscathed. The 2 conclusions I draw are that Lewis is either a.) God himself or b.) a Robot. Or c.) God is a robot. Discuss.
Did they say how many Gs the impact was? I remember Paul Tracy crashing a champcar many years ago in Elkhart Lake and sustaining something insane like 99gs and winning the race that sunday. Could Paul have been a robot too????? : )
I watched it gob smacked, he just got on the back of a motorbike and that was that. The car's are strong , the tyre wall did it's job, and I'am sure he is super fit. I heard he has said sorry to Ron for wrecking the car..
Eh, it was a good wreck but what about ol Kubica last year? What happend to him, a sprained ankle? That was WAY worse than the Ham sandwich. Maybe they're all robots.....well except Scott Speed. LOL I felt bad for him every race, that poor bastard.
Two things. first they have to rebuild the car tonight. Speed says he doesn't have a spare. Second, when he wakes up in the morning, he'll feel it. Neither of which can be good for his qualy.
No 3rd car allowed this year, they can only bring a tub. Not sure if they can even hang the suspension on it before hand. So to avoid penalty, they will have to rebuild the car tonight. You took the words right out of my mouth (Meatloaf), Hamilton will feel the effects when he wakes up, he is certainly in terrific condition, so the effects will be less than you or I would feel. And yes, I am glad Lewis was not hurt. He is talent and apparently a nice kid. But I am always concerned about what I call the "Mark Donahue Effect", Mark walked around for a while before collapsing from a blood clot caused by the sign that feel on his helmet.
Kubica? Must be Jesus or one of the robot disciples I guess. On a serious note.. Kubica's crash has horrendous. But remember Dale Earnhardt's and Senna's crashes were relatively benign looking. The impact force is not dispersed efficiently if the car doesn't take flight in cartwheels and shed itself of the energy by means of ripping apart, etc. A non-eventful accident often is the harshest.
Very true LOL. I do think he will feel something. If you watch the reply on speed, he had both hands on the wheel practically ripping it off as he tried to turn the wheels to the right. On impact he still had them there and thats(the impact) what knocked them off. All that strain on his wrists is going to hurt im atleast some tomorrow if its not already hurting.
Drivers are supposed to take the hands off the wheel before a shunt. However instinct sometimes takes over to steer the car no matter what. There needs to be a shear pin or clutch that disconnects the steering wheel automatically from the column in these cases.
Amen. As much as that has been drilled into my head, it is nearly impossible to 'practice' it to make that reaction automatic. As for the crash, once the car is sideways and loses its aero assist downforce like that you just hold on for the 'ride'. Happened to me once last year at LRP and was no fun
There was a story in Sports Illustrated a few weeks back discussing a new "impact detecting helmet" for American football players. Its being tested by the Arena Football league, and the company that makes it is hoping it will be used by everyone from Pop Warner to the NFL. It has a little green light that turns red if subjected to 98g (Not 9.8, 98, almost 100g! - Honest!) They said its the equivalent of coming down from about 13ft head first...... Blew me away - 100g - WTF! - The manufacturer says a red light doesn't mean the guys got a concussion, but rather that he should be checked out for signs of concussion - My initial thought was they'd be checking him for signs of *life* after such an impact..... Cheers, Ian
Maybe it matters more the duration and direction of the force than the peak G force, provided it is not sustained. A friend had the fuselage of a Pitts Special biplane, that still had a G-meter in it. We trailered it from one airport to another (on its own wheels backward). By the time we got there, the G-meter was pegged in both directions - both positive and negative. No damage, though. Sustained flight like that - way more than 7 Gs each way would have fractured it for sure.
The technology that goes into keeping these guys safe seriously blows my mind. Glad to see that Lewis was ok. Too bad that he ended up having a really bad race anyway.
I felt most sorry for the poor marshal who had his back to Lewis whilst chatting with others. they all saw him coming but he didn't pick up on it until impact into the tyres behind him.
David Purley crashed his Lec F1 car in practice at Silverstone for the 1977 British GP. There were no onboard data recorders back then like today but after a thorough examination of the crash it was determined that Purley decelerated from 108 mph to 0 in approximately one half meter. It was calculated that he survived a deceleration force of 179.8g's. He was very badly injured in the crash, especially his legs, but he recovered. He did return to racing and later took up acrobatic flying. He died in 1985 in an air crash. In the 1973 Dutch GP David Purley pulled his car off the track and ran to the aid of his friend Roger Williamson, who had crashed and was trapped in his overturned March. Purley tried in vain to right the burning car as track marshalls stood by and watched. Many of you have probably seen the film. David Purley was no robot, but he certainly was a better man than most I'd say. Cheers, Kurt O
