Kovalainen’s Accident in 3D
As pointed out by Scott in the comments earlier, RTL have released a 3D animation detailing Heikki’s crash at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The video shows the front left rim exploding, the tyre deflating and then the front suspension giving up altogether, before the car careers headlong into the tyre barrier.
RTL also created a similar sequence for Kubica’s crash in Montreal, so they’re getting pretty good at these. I don’t know if they have access to any specific crash data although it seems likely, but assuming this animation is accurate then that barrier deformation is somewhat frightening.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:24 pmKeith said:
I like the way they’ve re-branded the car!
I’m not sure how accurate the barrier rendering is because I thought he hit it at a steeper angle than that.
I think the barriers have to be quite deep in order to keep the force of the decceleration down. I remember reading after the crash that peak decceleration never exceeded 30G but it was quite a sustained decceleration. Whereas I presume if he’d hit a harder and perhaps shallower barrier the decceleration time would have been shorter, but the force would have been higher, and potentially much more dangerous.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:04 pmAlex Andronov said:
I really do think that they should consider digging tires into the ground. If the curtain went underground there would be no way of getting underneath it.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:26 pmme said:
i’m worried honda might get ideas!
could be onto something there alex. it amazes me that tyres are still the best solution F1 has.
my biggest concern is the way that the rubber appears to be compressed into the cockpit area by pressure from the roll-hoop.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:57 amAlex Andronov said:
I have probably missed an anouncement or something but I am missing the “Original and Best”TM Sidepodcast Podcast for this week.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:51 amChristine said:
It’s now so late, we may as well wait for this weekend. Plus, we can discuss all the testing news as well.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:47 amSidepodcastFan said:
Wise choice ….. should be plenty time to catch up with Honda’s latest (D E’S) as in RND.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:08 amChristine said:
Haha. “Dumbo-Flügel”. I like that the silly wings have been labelled the same all over the globe
May 15th, 2008 at 12:41 pmSteven Roy said:
Can someone confirm that my memory isn’t playing tricks and Olivier Panis had a design for a high tech barrier a few years ago.
If we are to continue using tyres and conveyor belts the conveyr belt has to be secured at the bottom somehow to stop cars going under it. Digging in the tyres seems a sensible idea to me.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:20 pmme said:
the fia have this design:
http://www.fia.com/automotive/issue6/sport/article4.html
they installed it at monza in 2006, not sure what’s happened since then though?
May 15th, 2008 at 1:20 pmAlex Andronov said:
Sounds good!
May 15th, 2008 at 8:48 pmSidepodcastFan said:
Here’s another from a flight attendant.
May 17th, 2008 at 3:24 pmAlianora La Canta said:
According to F1 Racing, the official name is “seagull-wing”. Still prefer “Dumbo-wing”, though.