This was posted over in members forum as a "Dont drink and drive" But it shows what can happen in a car fire. Warning: possibly disturbing images.
Its a powerpoint presentation.
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/we...MxeTU0MQ%3D%3D

edit link is working


[Modified by elgorey, 4:09 PM 12/20/2002]

 

File name is all screwed up. Link is not working.

 

Hmm, file downloads, but no pages to see.

 

link works now


[Modified by elgorey, 4:09 PM 12/20/2002]

 

I prefer Lynn St. James' wreck to demonstrate the neccessity of fire equipment.


Imagine being stuck in a 5 or 6 point latch style harness, with a full cage, window net, etc.....upside down with the car on fire behind you.


[Modified by mojoGSR92, 4:12 PM 12/20/2002]

 

[speechless]

 

That is disturbing and serious. I applaud that girl's courage.

Happy holidays everyone - drive safely.

 

I'd rather not...

Someone I was talking to brought up an interesting point aoubt HPDEs. They require an SA approved helmet (designating fire-retardency, I believe, among other things), but not a fire retardent suit. Got me thinking at least.

 

Add that information to any "open-face helmet or closed?" conversation that you have. Those of you who don't use a balaclava - even in a closed helmet - might want to rethink that option as well.

Kirk

 

personally, i dont know of any club that requires a SA rated helmet for HPDE type events. they may say "Snell 90" but that includes M90. and not all helmets are in fact Snell rated, so its not like a M helmet is all that bad. and your point of not requiring any extra fire protection but requiring a SA helmet would show that its a dumb rule to only require SA and not M, and even allow a SA OPEN FACE over a full face M is dumb.

anyway, im all for safety, but i think the level of safety should match the level of risk. do what makes you think is comfortable, but understand that non modified sedan is not likely to blow up in fire, not as likely as a formula car or sports racer as shown above since things are so much more exposed. they engineer passenger cars to NOT blow up in any accident (all cars after the pinto at least). so unless you havent screwed around with the fuel system and everyting is in good working condition, (unlike a lot of older cars that are tracked, then its worth the caution) i dont think a paranoia of fire in you honda is reasonable.

 

Tyson I used to think the same thing, but the car that the girl was in was a regular street car. not even being driven that fast. And it doesnt sound like it had anything to do with the fuel system, seemed to be some kind of engine fire.

 

sorry, dont have pp on my home computer so i cant see the file. but any engine fire is still going to be the result of a fuel system. with cast fuel rails and well made oem fuel lines, the the likelihood of an engine fire is rather low. im just not one to look at one event and think, oh god, its going to happen to me! like a plane goes down somewhere in egypt and now i pack a parachute every time i fly.....

however, with carburated systems, and even EARLY FI systems, its a lot of rubber hoses. i mean, ALOT. i got a 280Z becuase its FI, and i dont know much about carbs. so when i pop the hood, all i see is friggin RUBBER HOSE and $.02 HOSE CLAMPS keeping my fuel lines together. start the car, and 3 streaks of fuel start flying out the bay from holes in the rubber lines. this is HOW THEY FRIGGIN DESIGNED THE CAR! i couldnt believe it. but then i thought about it and the 280Z was one of the first cars around the 70's when they just DEVELOPED fuel injection and only had carburator technology to go by. but FI systems require much higher pressure system so they figured out hose clams was not going to do. you can see the evolution of the FI development as you look at the later Z models up to what they use now. Im not comfortable driving my Z without a friggin fire extinguisher in the car quite frankly, but never do i really worry about a engine fire in my crx, unless im headed 90 mph into a wall... but then i got other things to worry about...

 

Tyson: I agree. One can interpret that two ways:

1.) why they hell do you need an SA helmet for an event like this if you don't need a suit (what's the point). Everyone can use an M rated helmet and be fine.

OR

2.) they should require proper racing clothing. THis is ideal, but not exactly practical for entry level high performance driving like HPDEs.

Either way, that link is disturbing.

 

well, for those of you who are motivated by firey crashes, heres some more motivation. driver was completely fine btw... i believe it was a touring prepped corvette, which is why there are no body panels left.




[Modified by Tyson, 5:04 PM 12/20/2002]

 

I'm glad I asked for fireproof goodies for christmas.

 

Well, I already got the suit and balaclava, but... Madame Geezer is taking me over to OG Racing this afternoon for early Christmas. Looks like time to ask Santa for a full face helmet. Just hope I dont claustrophobe too bad in one.

 

Here's a scary story about maintenance of fire protection equipment:

http://corner-carvers.com/forums/sho...&threadid=6503

Reminds me of Chris Ibarra's (owner of the corral.net site, avid Mustang driver) story a couple years ago, when he crashed at Summit Point. I don't know if any of you guys read that, but both this link and Ibarra's story just give me nightmares. At least both of them emerged unscathed.... physically.

Karen

 

Tyson,

You seem to think that FI was invented in the '70s. Even Chevy had FI on the Corvette in 1957 and they were certainly not the first. Of course it was MECHANICAL FI as opposed to modern, computer controlled EFI.

Just another data point

 

yeah, not so much the first, just early development for mass production. very different requirements. even by the 70's still couldnt get it right.


[Modified by Tyson, 11:48 AM 12/21/2002]

 

:burn: