im sure they’re very safe. honestly less so than a stock car. but easier to get out of if it’s on fire
PJ, just rest knowing that the two-ton steel boxes you drive will never be as safe as these monocoques. You’re more likely to die in a 50mph impact in them than a driver going 180 in theirs
Have fun.
Did you not pay attention in science class paul? If you ever did the egg drop, you should have a decent understanding of how the cockpits are deisgned to keep the driver safe and designed around crashing at those speeds. Obviously its way more complex then that and im not a physics major but the video adam posted explains it quite well. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to have a basic understanding.
it really is amazing how in most cases how these cars are designed a driver can walk away from a crash at 180mph nose first into a wall and walk away with nothing but some bruises and waking up very sore.
RIP Dan
yeah those cars are def pretty fucking safe, if i did 200 mph in anything and crashed, i’de wanna do it in an F1 car… not some street level production car
that crash is horrible and very saddening to hear about his death
I hate to agree with PJB, really, I do, but if that car had a roof he would have had a much better chance of survival.
Nascar goes roof first into a fence=NBD
Indy/F1 car goes roof first into a fence=RIP
Regardless, I love open wheel racing, I’m just playing devil’s advocate at the worst possible time to be doing so and for that I’m sorry.
Lack of understanding of open wheel racing crash characteristics ITT.
RIP DW.
.
RIP 
I disagree, even if was only 20 cars it was early in the race and the cars were still bunched up, hell it wouldn’t have mattered if it was 10-15 cars on the track at the start of a race bunched up it only takes one car to make a terrible incident like that.
And those cars are designed to be VERY safe, hence why they tear apart so easily, they are supposed to do that so the car disperses the energy from the crash quickly. Unfortunate incidents happen and people will die there is no way to avoid deaths in auto racing except to stop racing itself. Drivers know this and they understand that otherwise I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t get behind the wheel without knowing possible results of wrecking.
Bottom line is what happened absolutely sucks, RIP DW and I hope the bnest for his wife and 2 kids (one which is a newborn).
Few here seem to understand the design principles behind a carbon mono tub, and how it and it’s relative components/substructures designed to blow apart and separate in major impacts to dissipate the tremendous energy that’s taking place.
I’d rather be in a mono tub than a nascar chassis at comparable speeds during an accident.
Shift being shift. Keeps me coming back.
Nascar’s are much safer then they used to be, but compared to watching an open wheel car come apart, its like watching solid steel hit a wall… I think NASCAR relies more on restraint systems and “safer barriers” to soak up the energy then the chassis itself.
Go to 0:50 or so Denny Hamlin head on at the Glen
Guy would of survived if he was in a Sprint Cup car.
Micheal Waltrip WALKED away from this car 20 years ago and safety technology is x1000000 times better now
Rusty Wallace WALKED away from this one (fast forward to one minute mark)
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rusty+wallace+crash&aq=f
HORRIBLE Nascar crashes, all lived
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq7zfowwYN8[/ame]
Carl Edwards ‘head’ first into the wall, walked away
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nlytg1bYI0[/ame]
In budgetless forms of racing, closed cabins are safer than open ones.
RIP.
I love how every time there is a racing accident that the media decided it is news worthy would yield to them and the general public asking “Is racing too dangerous?” or “Is _____ racing too fast?”.
99% of the worlds auto/moto racing is fast and dangerous. I don’t care how much safety measure is put into the cars or the track. That is part of racing and no one is being forced to do it.
I can assure you no one person that participates in auto/moto racing are being tricked to think that they are very safe.
There are probably much more deaths related to DUI, driving and texting in a year than deaths related to racing in the same year.
TT: Ok so explain how Dale Earnhardts crash killed him?
His own fault. It was common knowledge that he loosened his safety equipment at the end of races. My family is/was huge fans of him, but even we accept the truth.
Earnhardt died from blunt force trauma to the head, most certainty would not have happend in a COT, but i think thats irrelevant anyhow. Whether it was Earnhardts own fault for being a bit careless is debatable, cared more about winning and being comfortable in his car he knew the risks, if he had chosen to wear a hans he may have lived, but thats also why now safety equipment inspections are frequent and the hans is now required.
Watch a driver crash in a COT these days, they can smash and flip into a wall, if they show the incar the driver hardly moves an inch
lmp1 ftw.
the best of both worlds
Wrong.
This thread is like a Shift Wrongness Competition. Who else wants to play?
Closed wheel/closed cabin Sprint Cup cars are safer than their open wheel/cabin counterparts. Engineering aside, what matters is what happens on the track. We saw a terrible crash this past weekend that killed a racer, father, friend, etc (RIP), that a Sprint Cup driver would of walked away from.
i’d almost bet there are more street driving deaths in 1 year than there are (legal) racing deaths in 5 years