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The Fast Track to Safe Cars
| Article
# : |
19993 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1992 |
2,685 Words |
| Author
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Judith Bell And Timothy Bell
Judith Bell is currently writing a screenplay. Her husband,
Timothy Bell, is the owner of Foreign Service, an automotive
repair shop that specializes in BMWs, Porsches, Volvos, and
Mercedes. |
When the tightly bunched field of thirty-three race cars came through turn four in the second lap of the 1989 Indianapolis 500 at close to 220 MPH, the twenty-seventh car, driven by Kevin Cogan, strayed ever so slightly out of the "groove." The car glanced off the outside wall and spun in toward the lower and inside portion of the track, miraculously missing all the cars immediately around it. Still traveling at speeds of 170-180 MPH, the car grazed the inside restraining wall near the entrance to the pit lane, causing the right-side wheels and a few body parts to break away from the car.
Spinning down the track, the car was speared broadside by the dividing wall that separates the pits from the race track and exploded upon impact. Left intact were the "tub" the driver sits in and the engine, which was held to the tub by tethers. This detritus then slid down the pit lane for 150 yards before running out of inertia.
The car was destroyed, but how about the driver? After his seat belt was unbuckled, Kevin Cogan climbed out of the wreckage and walked away from the accident, with minor injuries only. What saved Cogan was a chassis made of a carbon fiber and aluminum composite, the cutting edge in racing materials technology. Cogan's accident at Indianapolis may seem somewhat removed from your everyday driving to and from work or, say, picking up the kids from school, or even the weekly trip to the grocery store. But it may someday save your life. Indeed, it may already have.
Handy Little Device
Think of the rearview mirror. A handy little device, isn't it? Back in 1911, Frank Haroun thought so too. He was competing in the first Indianapolis 500 and mounted a rearview mirror so he could watch for upcoming cars. This simple addition also eliminated the need for a riding mechanic, and consequently, the drag of 150-200 extra pounds of weight. By the way, he won the race.
More recently, seat belts were introduced via racing. They not only held drivers in place so that they did not bounce around in their seats, but the belts also kept them inside their cars in the event of an accident. By the late 1950s, shoulder harnesses, an idea taken directly from jet fighters, were bolted into the car. Shoulder harnesses prevented drivers from being thrown onto the steering wheels during a crash.
Automotive experience on the race track vastly accelerated
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