Henri Joosten Pro Mod Fire

[mk1kieran]

This happened yesterday at the FIA Main Event.

From this :

To this:





Pics taken from Santa Pod's Facebook page

'Henri Joosten's nitrous pro-modified dragster suffered fire damage after a huge nitrous burp on launch on the Saturday of the 2011 FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, Northampton England, UK. . Thankfully Henri escaped unscathed but the same cannot be said about the car.'

ETA

Sorry for removal but images are subject to copyright.

Edited by Big Al. on Monday 30th May 17:37

[central]

My pics -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fast_n_bulbous/sets/7...

[Geoff Stilwell]

Fantastic pictures and they demonstrate just how serious a fire can get..very quickly. Worse one i have ever seen. Big respect for the marshalls.

[j3ffers]

Such a shame as it was a great looking car. About £200k up in smoke.

[Toyowner]

Bit of history gone too, that was Tim Cooks original shoebox IIRC.

Very scary how fast it went up.

Joostens dont seem to have much luck in general at the Pod.

[Flying Toilet]

Toyowner said:

Bit of history gone too, that was Tim Cooks original shoebox IIRC.

Very scary how fast it went up.

Joostens dont seem to have much luck in general at the Pod.

He retired the old Tim Cook car.

This car is the old Charles Carpenter ADRL 55 Chevy.


Bad luck Henri, hope to see you here again soon.

[Toyowner]

Ah didnt know that Dan, cheers.

[dan tournay]

Frightening stuff and you can see that the wind clearly didn't help. Such a shame but good to see that Henri was ok. Well done to the marshals

Just wondering how much would be salvageable. I'm guessing the rear axle would be ok but would the temperatures write off the chassis and gearbox?

[veryoldfart]

i read/heard that the NOS lines split open?

the oxygen released thus would feed any flame like, well, as it did in fact

[robc3303]

seemed that way to me from about 40 yds away

[Toyowner]

It didnt look as though the marsalls could get to the electrical cut off at the back of the car and the fuel pumps just kept running.

[robc3303]

Overall, what a professional job the fire marshals did. From my recollection there was three levels of fire fighting arriving one after the other within about a minute or so. Normally, the two marshals with hand held extinguishers would be able to douse flames but they suppressed them for about twenty second or so. Then the quad bike arrived to pump more suppressant on and at this point it was a fireball with members of the public scattering away from the bank side. At this point it looked very scary but the driver was out so that was the main thing. Then the fire 4x4 truck arrived to add its hose. All very quick and the fire marshals deserve huge credit for doing a very professional and brave job, they may well practice but the real thing must be challenging but they were well rehearsed and trained. Well done those guys !

[veryoldfart]

do Promods carry onboard extinguishers?

[Toyowner]

veryoldfart said:

do Promods carry onboard extinguishers?

[nuknuk]

Toyowner said:

Do they have one in the engine bay.

[Slinky]

nuknuk said:

Do they have one in the engine bay.

Yes, but against a pumped flow of race fuel it'll struggle!

Methanol cars have a solenoid to shut off the main battery switch if the fire bottles are triggered, but I don't believe petrol ( ie nitrous) cars do..

[veryoldfart]

dont some drivers have a lead to thier gloves so snatching thier arm across themselves shuts everything down, or did i make that up?

sherry trifle for tea again

[snakehips]

Vof,Yes. I have a shut off in the car next to me as well as the manditory one on the back.

[veryoldfart]

snakehips said:

Vof,Yes. I have a shut off in the car next to me as well as the manditory one on the back.

Q, Do NOS bottles have shut off solenoids (held open by leccy so "failsafe") fitted on the bottle (or very near it) or are the engine bay solenoids (normally closed/opened by leccy) in the engine bays the only supply valves in the NOS line?

[wicked fish]

no