do you think this will ever happen to the S?
05-01-2007, 06:24 AM
#1
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do you think this will ever happen to the S?
05-01-2007, 06:43 AM
#7
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I've never seen a car come off on the front side so clean...
i've seen some bad s2000 accidents, but this is a new level of chilling accident for me.
i've seen some bad s2000 accidents, but this is a new level of chilling accident for me.
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05-01-2007, 06:52 AM
#8
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I am sure there have been crashes that severe in the S but the way the lotus broke apart tells me the car was built to receive damge differently.
cars can be built two ways when it comes to damage. they are referred to as Plastic Vs. Elastic damage.
Plastic damage is the type you see in race cars and some exotics like the enzo. the car is designed to break apart and dissipate the energy created by the crash away from the vehicle and driver. That is why you see what appears to be horric damage to the vehicle (parts flying every which direction etc) during races. All of those pieces flying around are dispersing kenetic energy away from the core (driver/roll cage area)
Elastic damage is how most of our consumer cars are built. these cars are designed to absorb as much damage as possible and retain its parts and shape. This is partially a by-product of consumers wishes to save as much of the car as possible. we are emotionally attached to our vehicles and, when in a crash, we want the least amount of damage possible. It is probably safe to say people would not buy a car (at the prices currently charged
) that is designed to complete destroy itself on impact (event though it is considerably safer).
This not to say that the design is less concerned with the safety of the passenger (hence all the airbags and crumple zones etc) but only to say the designers are concerned with the retention of the car as well.
Look at the type of crashes race car drivers survive compared to the simple crashes that retail car drivers die from.
The lotus looks like it was designed to recieve and dissipate plastic damage and even though the driver died, he/she most likely had a better chance of survival in that car Vs. being in the exact same crash in a car designed to recieve and absorb elastic damage.
this probably does not make perfect sense without several pages of explaination but hopefully this sheds some light on what may have happened.
The Lotus is a small car but in my semi-educated opinion about damage, I feel it is designed quite well (minus a solid core (roll cage)) I would rather have a car designed to break apart like a race car than to have the same car designed to accept all of the crash energy like most of the retail cars out today (including the S).
cars can be built two ways when it comes to damage. they are referred to as Plastic Vs. Elastic damage.
Plastic damage is the type you see in race cars and some exotics like the enzo. the car is designed to break apart and dissipate the energy created by the crash away from the vehicle and driver. That is why you see what appears to be horric damage to the vehicle (parts flying every which direction etc) during races. All of those pieces flying around are dispersing kenetic energy away from the core (driver/roll cage area)
Elastic damage is how most of our consumer cars are built. these cars are designed to absorb as much damage as possible and retain its parts and shape. This is partially a by-product of consumers wishes to save as much of the car as possible. we are emotionally attached to our vehicles and, when in a crash, we want the least amount of damage possible. It is probably safe to say people would not buy a car (at the prices currently charged
) that is designed to complete destroy itself on impact (event though it is considerably safer).This not to say that the design is less concerned with the safety of the passenger (hence all the airbags and crumple zones etc) but only to say the designers are concerned with the retention of the car as well.
Look at the type of crashes race car drivers survive compared to the simple crashes that retail car drivers die from.
The lotus looks like it was designed to recieve and dissipate plastic damage and even though the driver died, he/she most likely had a better chance of survival in that car Vs. being in the exact same crash in a car designed to recieve and absorb elastic damage.
this probably does not make perfect sense without several pages of explaination but hopefully this sheds some light on what may have happened.
The Lotus is a small car but in my semi-educated opinion about damage, I feel it is designed quite well (minus a solid core (roll cage)) I would rather have a car designed to break apart like a race car than to have the same car designed to accept all of the crash energy like most of the retail cars out today (including the S).
05-01-2007, 07:30 AM
#9
Moderator
It almost looks like that truck and trailer drove through the front of the Lotus. He must have got sideways and just speared the truck.
[QUOTE]Man dies after 3-vehicle wreck
An Austin man died Thursday after the car he was driving collided with two pickups in western Travis County, a Texas Department of Public Safety official said.
Jack Griffith, 41, was traveling west at a high speed on FM 2244 between West Lake Hills and Bee Cave just after 1:30 p.m. when he lost control of his car and hit an eastbound GMC pickup driven by William Jackson, 42, of Austin, DPS communications operator Analisa Guerra said. Then the car collided with an eastbound Ford pickup driven by Cutberto Segura, 29, of Austin, Guerra said.
Griffith was taken to Brackenridge Hospital, where he died.
Jackson, Segura, and two passengers in the Ford
[QUOTE]Man dies after 3-vehicle wreck
An Austin man died Thursday after the car he was driving collided with two pickups in western Travis County, a Texas Department of Public Safety official said.
Jack Griffith, 41, was traveling west at a high speed on FM 2244 between West Lake Hills and Bee Cave just after 1:30 p.m. when he lost control of his car and hit an eastbound GMC pickup driven by William Jackson, 42, of Austin, DPS communications operator Analisa Guerra said. Then the car collided with an eastbound Ford pickup driven by Cutberto Segura, 29, of Austin, Guerra said.
Griffith was taken to Brackenridge Hospital, where he died.
Jackson, Segura, and two passengers in the Ford
05-01-2007, 07:39 AM
#10
The pictures of this latest crash is unbelievable also.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisla...y-top-headlines
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisla...y-top-headlines