BMW release Kubica's crash data.
Discussion
autosport said:
Data from the Robert Kubica's horrific accident during the Canadian Grand Prix has been disclosed, showing the Pole survived a 75-G impact.
Kubica made contact with Toyota's Jarno Trulli when trying to pass the Italian, the BMW Sauber driver losing his front wing and going off track.
Data showed the Pole impacted against the wall at 230 km/h, and the G-forces on Kubica peaked at around 75 G in a millisecond.
The onboard accident data recorder (ADR) is built in the BMW Sauber car, placed behind the driver below the fuel tank. The device, roughly 15 by 15 centimetres big, is capable of logging data from the whole race.
The data was studied at Indianapolis by former Lotus engineer Peter Wright, now head of the FIA safety commission, together with his colleagues Andy Mellor and Hubert Gramling.
A report by them came to the conclusion that all the safety measures - survival cell, enhanced crash boxes, HANS device, cockpit head rest and helmet - worked perfectly.
"While we were completely shocked about the violence of the accident, we were over the moon to see Robert relatively unharmed and were very content about the behaviour of the chassis as survival cell," said BMW Sauber's technical director Willy Rampf.
"We are never doing any compromises regarding the chassis, never going nearly to the limit regarding weight for instance. We stay always on the safe side and that payed off.
"One must not forget that such a cell is quite complex, consisting of over 1,000 parts of carbon fibre, Kevlar, honeycomb structures and metal."
75G frontal impact! Not quite as bad as David Purley's, but the safety systems on modern F1 cars certainly saved Robert from serious injuries.Kubica made contact with Toyota's Jarno Trulli when trying to pass the Italian, the BMW Sauber driver losing his front wing and going off track.
Data showed the Pole impacted against the wall at 230 km/h, and the G-forces on Kubica peaked at around 75 G in a millisecond.
The onboard accident data recorder (ADR) is built in the BMW Sauber car, placed behind the driver below the fuel tank. The device, roughly 15 by 15 centimetres big, is capable of logging data from the whole race.
The data was studied at Indianapolis by former Lotus engineer Peter Wright, now head of the FIA safety commission, together with his colleagues Andy Mellor and Hubert Gramling.
A report by them came to the conclusion that all the safety measures - survival cell, enhanced crash boxes, HANS device, cockpit head rest and helmet - worked perfectly.
"While we were completely shocked about the violence of the accident, we were over the moon to see Robert relatively unharmed and were very content about the behaviour of the chassis as survival cell," said BMW Sauber's technical director Willy Rampf.
"We are never doing any compromises regarding the chassis, never going nearly to the limit regarding weight for instance. We stay always on the safe side and that payed off.
"One must not forget that such a cell is quite complex, consisting of over 1,000 parts of carbon fibre, Kevlar, honeycomb structures and metal."
Munter said:
Now if we can actually translate some of this technology into the road cars!!
75 G to me sounds massive but it was only a momentary spike. Anybody know what you'd experiance at say 30mph as a comparison?
If I was Kubica I'd be buying the guys who built that tub a good few beers!
Impact from 30mph depends on the time taken to come to a halt. If we assume it takes 0.1s to stop in an accident, then at 30mph it's approximately 13.7G for 0.1s duration.75 G to me sounds massive but it was only a momentary spike. Anybody know what you'd experiance at say 30mph as a comparison?
If I was Kubica I'd be buying the guys who built that tub a good few beers!
(30mph = 13.4m/s, deceleration (in Newtons) = 13.4/(time to stop), 1G = 9.8N)
Munter said:
Now if we can actually translate some of this technology into the road cars!!
I'm hoping this was a tongue-in-cheek remark.I believe that making road cars safer actually increases the chances of an accident because there are those on the road who then adopt a view that they can drive like idiots in the full knowledge that the car and all it's safety cells, onboard computers etc will save them!!
The only way to make road cars safer is to introduce a safety mechanism that Jeremy Clarkson once said - a 6inch spike on the steering wheel
That should focus the minds of many on the roads today
It wont focus the mind of the prat pulling out the side street you go into the side of, killing you, the inocent party, or stop someone going off the road on diesel they didnt see, or help you when someone coming the other way causes you to swerve off the road and into a tree... ad infinatum.
Saving lives and injury by improved design is a good thing, it's one area car makers could definately learn from the racing arena.
Saving lives and injury by improved design is a good thing, it's one area car makers could definately learn from the racing arena.
Edited by johnfelstead on Thursday 21st June 00:16
woof said:
The Hans device is such a simply, cost effective, life saver
I haven't raced in the last 12 months - but I think the next time i get in a car, I'll wear one, whether it's required or not
It's not just the HANS device in F1 thats saving the head injuries. The high padding that was implimented before the HANS device had a large impact (for the better) on the statisitcs. The books written by the old F1 Dr are an excellent read and explain the large improvements in safety over the years.I haven't raced in the last 12 months - but I think the next time i get in a car, I'll wear one, whether it's required or not
MrKipling43 said:
Yeah, but padding doesn't stop basilar skull fractures - a HANS device does
Indeed. Stops the fractures by restricting head movement in comparison with the shoulders. The padding does a very similar job. The stats are in the book. I'm not saying the HANS is a waste of time. But I am saying that it's complimentary to the padding which had already had a significant impact in reducing head related injury. If you read the books the stats are all there.HANS is for the frontal impacts (Hakkinen "probably" wouldnt have headbutted his steering wheel in Adelaide with HANS), the padding is for everything else. Kubicas hit was almost head on, so his head wouldve been thrown forwards - HANS territory.
Prof Watkins books are an interesting read.
pez
Prof Watkins books are an interesting read.
pez
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