.RJ

http://www.griggsracing.com/Safety.pdf

Just some food for thought when building/inspecting your race cars....

SMSP

that doesn't look the results of a 100mph head on crash

splitime

Darnit! Why can I never find the fun animated gifs when I need it.

:raises bs flag:

Xian

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SMSP &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that doesn't look the results of a 100mph head on crash</TD></TR></TABLE>
yeah, I expected much more frame/body damage...

christian, who wouldn't want his brake fluid reservoirs in the car with him...

.RJ

I dont think the point of the article is how fast he was going, but to make sure that all your safety gear is present and working because **** happens.

Brian*

And also to learn from their experience, ie the fire extinguisher mounting and master cylinder construction.

Brian

Xian

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I dont think the point of the article is how fast he was going, but to make sure that all your safety gear is present and working because **** happens.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I agree with you completely about that aspect of the article... I just wonder if the 100mph claim isn't more about a good advertising angle than anything else?

Christian, who has been thinking more and more about a Hans/Hutchins style device before venturing back on the track.

speedracer33

Maybe he was going 100mph when he lost control, but not on impact? Then again, I'm not really sure I've ever seen a car that hit a wall at 100mph though, so I have no idea what it *should* look like....

.RJ

Edited post title.........

CRX Lee

I know the Griggs folks pretty well and have been to their shop a number of times (and will again the the next few weeks). I know their dedication and attention to detail and in addition to the carnage you can see the quality and detail of the car build. I think the way the car made it through the hit and how the driver fared is a tribute to their work and it is extremely forthright for them to mention the things that went wrong like the fire bottle and the reservoirs and their plan to change the design.

Those folks and especially their leader Bruce Griggs are about as "matter of fact" as anyone I know whether you it is news you want to hear or not. Because of that, I doubt their statement of the 100 mph is very far off base. Obviously it has to be estimated as the car has a custom dash with no speedometer and if it did, the last thing the driver would be expected to remember after riding through that would be his final glance at the speedo. On the otherhand, one can pretty easily approximate his speed through most corners on track and know whether the car would have had much decel opportunity before impact. Also note that the impact was not quite head-on but at a bit of an angle from the left front as evidenced by the fender area and engine being pushed toward the right side as opposed to streight back. This would allow a little more chance of deflecting some impact energy although likely causing some complications of it's own.

BTW, there is no warranty on those Konis DA struts on the front if they start leaking! We guarantee that it is made right, we can't guarantee that you can't break it.

Want2race

No way is that 100mph @Point of impact. Thats no more than 40mph! They claim the cars rebuildable.. Well thats one very very brave and patient frame tech!

As said a thousand times before in this thread, its all about the safety equipment! One difference.- If I ever mount a fire extinguisher, im mounting it east west and not north south. That way it would be more likely to stay in place in a head on collision!

madhatter

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Want2race &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No way is that 100mph @Point of impact. Thats no more than 40mph! They claim the cars rebuildable.. Well thats one very very brave and patient frame tech!

As said a thousand times before in this thread, its all about the safety equipment! One difference.- If I ever mount a fire extinguisher, im mounting it east west and not north south. That way it would be more likely to stay in place in a head on collision!</TD></TR></TABLE>

It only looks like the front clip is bent, so put a new one on there, and yes, the car is repariable. Straight? Maaaaybe, but he didn't make that claim now, did he?

Want2race

um, did you see the floorboards?

maybe a new front clip (aka everything from teh drivers seat forwards!)

driftin4

This is what my car looked like after an end over end followed by a barrel roll at around 60 mph..









This is what it looked like before..



I will never cut cost's when it comes to safty equipment!!

MattD@Stoptech

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by driftin4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This is what my car looked like after an end over end followed by a barrel roll at around 60 mph..

I will never cut cost's when it comes to safty equipment!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

So obviously Mustang &gt; Honda

Track rat

It is conceivable that he struck the barrier at an angle at or near 100mph and if he deflected off at around 50 mph, the net impact forces are similar to a head-on at 40 - 50 mph.

Kind of like Earnhardt's fatal crash, he was traveling around 190mph, but due to the angles and the continuing speed after the impact, the velocity change was roughly equivalent to a full frontal crash at around 40 mph (as stated by bio-mechanical engineer Jim Melvin).

One big advantage of production based race cars vs full tube frame cars (like NASCAR spec) is that Grigg's car still had the benefit of a good front crumple zone that can lessen some of that big G spike felt by the driver.

It looks like HANs may have prevented a funeral for the Mustang pilot.

EG TYPE-R

not to be off topic or anything but that orange rally civic is the same one in sport compact this month. too bad to see it dead. i just read that article last night. cool car im sure it was fun.

driftin4

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EG TYPE-R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">not to be off topic or anything but that orange rally civic is the same one in sport compact this month. too bad to see it dead. i just read that article last night. cool car im sure it was fun.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah thats the one..

We rolled on day 2 at the National Club Rally championship in Missouri.. I had a 2 min lead in class for the championship and was going for a 5th overall.. That crash was a result of being 2ft off line....

The crash was much worse then the pictures show. I remember looking out the windshield and looking straight at the ground passing me up... We walked away..

.RJ

Post in another forum about the incident:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was watching this race from the turn 1 overlook (wood patio). This was the worst wreck I have ever seen in a club race. The mustang hit the K-wall driver's right just about head-on after spinning at over 100mph. The car knocked-over 3 sections of K-wall! Pieces of the race cars were scattered throughout turn 1 and one of its tires was down the hill in turn 2. Paul was lucky he was wearing the HANS device - he walked away from the wreck. The SCCA flaggers immediately red-flagged the race. The safety and tow crews were on the scene quickly and did an amazing job. It gives you a lot of reassurance to see the professionals they have working "behind the scenes" to make these races as safe as possible. My friends and I were considering not racing that afternoon after seeing that wreck - it's sobering.
Dave
SM#45
SFR/SCCA</TD></TR></TABLE>

Stinkycheezmonky

Two questions:
1. Is there any type of firewall reinforcement or bracing that would help prevent the engine or engine bay components from coming through into the cockpit area in the event of a front-end collision? I mean on most professionally built race cars, amateur or not.

2. How about everybody buys a HANS device in the next few weeks, thus making it cheaper for me (in the theory that the price will go down if more area sold)?

Track rat

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sscguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Two questions:
1. Is there any type of firewall reinforcement or bracing that would help prevent the engine or engine bay components from coming through into the cockpit area in the event of a front-end collision? I mean on most professionally built race cars, amateur or not. </TD></TR></TABLE>

A well placed dash bar can help keep the drive train from lying in the driver's lap, also helps support the "A" pillar down tubes and door bars.

Stinkycheezmonky

Ah, good to hear

driftin4

One of the things that I see on a regular basis that still floors me is the loose fit of many cages.. The cage in that Mustang is not nearly close enough to the A-Pillar and poses way too much intrusion room..

Is it legal to gusset the cage to the A and B pillar in Road Racing?

My cage is so tight that all Cascade Autosport had to do is run several beads of weld between the cage and the pillars..

johng

I talked to Katherine about it after. Glad you guys are okay.

D.CACO

I love my HANS, and wouldnt race without it.

Thanks for the article RJ, Griggs advertising or not, we are re-evaluating some safety on our car as a result of reading this.