Alonso's Crash

[Tim.Wright]

A crash like that is due to an error in aerodynamic design.

Same thing that sent Mark Webbers Mercedes into the bushes at La Sarthe some years ago.

In these cases problem is the car, not the wind. These accidents would have happened even without a single breath of wind at all.

[lebesset]

A crash like that is due to an error in aerodynamic design.

Same thing that sent Mark Webbers Mercedes into the bushes at La Sarthe some years ago.

In these cases problem is the car, not the wind. These accidents would have happened even without a single breath of wind at all.

and your evidence is ??

[Gaz.]

A crash like that is due to an error in aerodynamic design.

Same thing that sent Mark Webbers Mercedes into the bushes at La Sarthe some years ago.

In these cases problem is the car, not the wind. These accidents would have happened even without a single breath of wind at all.

and your evidence is ??

Aside from air gutting under the car when it regains traction as the body begins to rotate?

This video of a GT1 Porsche is similar to the Lexus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b31O4FmljGY

[Tim.Wright]

A crash like that is due to an error in aerodynamic design.

Same thing that sent Mark Webbers Mercedes into the bushes at La Sarthe some years ago.

In these cases problem is the car, not the wind. These accidents would have happened even without a single breath of wind at all.

and your evidence is ??

It just a judgement call based on my own engineering experience...

[bdr529]

It's called a blowover, they happen all the time in drag racing, wind or no wind

[Andres125sx]

I´m a complete ignorant about drag cars, but I´ll venture to do a guess....

Drag racing is all about acceleration
For acceleration traction is crucial
For traction a backward weight distribution is really helpful as any MX rider like myself know
Rear wings/spoiler help at this aspect too, that´s the reason the use one at the rear but not at the front

So I guess they try to load the rear end as much as possible to increase traction as much as possible.... but if they go too far this is what happens

My guess comes from my MX experience. On a start you have to move the body forward to avoid a wheelie, but once the wheelie is not possible because of a long gear or simply a slippery track, you need to move your body backwards to improve traction. The perfect start is that where the front wheel is always almost in the air, not completely as that would force you to release the throttle, but you can´t either move forward too much because you´d be losing traction

I´ll never forget some starts from Stefun Everts (yes I´m a bit out of date) where he reached the braking point with the front wheel stopped! He was that good, the front wheel never touched the ground so it never started spinning until releasing the throttle for braking. Just perfect!!

I guess these cars try to follow that route, but if they go too far then you can see what happens on those videos. On a bike you can avoid it releasing the throttle, but on a car once the front end raises, the floor act as a wing and they literally take off

[George-Jung]

Drag racing is all about acceleration
For acceleration traction is crucial

Sorry for the offtopic, maybe I take it a bit too far...

Look at the rear tires..

[Andres125sx]

Exactly, that´s the reason drag cars are so long, use those rear tires and also have that rear structure going backward to avoid a wheelie, it´s all optimized for traction

[lebesset]

don't know if anyone has noticed , but it appears that an insurance company will have to pay out $2million as alonso missed a race he was contracted to appear in UNLESS IT WAS DUE TO A CAR FAULT

I don't know a lot about insurance companies , but i do know one thing from personal experience ...they will do anything they can to avoid paying out ...a bridge partner of mine was the head actuary for a major uk insurance company and always said that they were there to take our money , not to pay it out again ! ok , a little tongue in cheek , but not totally without foundation

so i think that there is a very interested party who will claim a car fault if there is any possibility of there being one

we shall see

[motobaleno]

don't know if anyone has noticed , but it appears that an insurance company will have to pay out $2million as alonso missed a race he was contracted to appear in UNLESS IT WAS DUE TO A CAR FAULT

If i understood the rationale of such a contract
I think that "car fault" means the car registered to that specific race...

[Mesteño]

https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/580007433797574656 Will this nonsense end? Why so much importance to every single step? Is all this marketing logical? Is it F1 taking some kind of benefit of it?

Seriously, can't wait to Malaysia to end this nonsense, with Alonso on the grid.

[Richard]

They're damned for silence, or damned for saying too much.

I'll be glad when he's back in an F1 race.

[Mesteño]

In this case I am not talking about Mclaren, if you misunderstood, just the opposite: the need to make a statement about every single step, forced by people and the press.

edit: Sometimes it is difficult to contribute to the forum when you get downvoted so randomly.

[SectorOne]

"Fernando recalls a sense of ‘heavy’ steering prior to the accident. Consequently, the team has fitted an additional sensor to the car, to increase our data capture."

Let´s just say Alonso´s hunch is correct. What possible things could create something along the lines of a heavy steering?

[turbof1]

(so far the memory loss speculation!)

Could be a lot of things. Power steering failing, something that broke in the steering wheel, suspension,... . It does by no means rule out the gush of wind theory since it influences grip hence steering too, understeering off track.

In short can be anything from the steering wheel forward. I think that rules out an electric shock too, since the sensation would definitely be something else then "heavy steering".