Danica Wins!

This is great news for Danica and the IRL.

Danica won the Japan Indy 300 and deserves it.  She is the first woman to win an IndyCar series race.  When she started in Indy racing back in 2005 she became the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500 race (Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James, and Sarah Fisher preceded her).  She did very well for her rookie debut, leading the race at times and finishing fourth. 

Many wondered if she was just lucky and just a pretty face when her 2006 and 2007 seasons failed to produce any wins, and no podium finishes. 

With her win today it will mean that there will be an enormous amount of attention and pressure as the Indy 500 takes place the end of May. 

Racing is a demanding sport for both men and women, but has been especially demanding for women.  Shirley Muldowney became and NHRA Top Fuel champion three times and suffered through a horrific accident.  Janet Guthrie had to deal with there being no women’s bathrooms in Gasoline Alley when she competed. 

Some will say that Danica’s win today was only due to the fact that the leaders had to pit for fuel.  Well, tough, that’s racing, and if it had been one of the guys that won because of those circumstances it would have been because of their skill and luck.  Well Danica worked for the win and deserves it.

Now let’s see how things look at the Indy 500.  Maybe Danica Patrick will someday be looked at as the reason the IndyCar Racing League became as big as NASCAR.

Let’s Rescue Danica from Herself

CART and IRL have merged, or rather CART has tanked and IRL agreed to pick up the pieces: drivers, teams and all. 

The IRL is now living by the golden rule – he that has the gold makes the rules.  So now the IRL has seen fit to create a new rule that has changed Danica Patrick’s outlook on racing, life, and possibly her own genetic makeup.

According to a USA Today article the IRL is now going to include the driver’s weight with that of the car and handicap the lighter drivers.  For Danica, who weighs in at 100 pounds soaking wet, this will mean that her car will be carrying some extra poundage as ballast to even things up. 

 

Danica’s feather weight status has irked other drivers in the series since 2005, with some claiming that her light weight would possibly give her an added mile per hour advantage per lap.  Such were the whispers around the tire changing machines.

So we thought that Danica might benefit from the right sponsor.  One that could help her even the odds.  One that would set the tone, so to speak.  We think that Krispy Kreme would be the perfect match for this petite racer.  Much in the spirit of Subway’s Jared, who’s weight went from 425 pounds to 190, partnering Patrick with Krispy Kreme could be just the advantage Danica needs to be on par with her peer group and in a few weeks she can weigh in with the best of them.

Krispy Kreme could use the star quality that Danica can provide.  If you look at their delivery trucks you can plainly see that their colors would really work well on an IRL car.  The free doughnuts would be an inspiration for the team and it would take no time before Danica’s weight was no longer an issue.  Hey, they could even tailor her driving suit after a police uniform!

This is one Splinter you will Like

Just off a country road and tucked into the woods north of Durham, North Carolina, the spirit of the deHavilland Mosquito has been rekindled.  This time it will be taking to the roads and not the skies. 

Prior to the Battle of Britton deHavilland broke with the technology trend of metal airframes of mono wing war birds and designed the Mosquito as a laminated ply and balsa skin formed in concrete molds.  What resulted was a multi-role war bird that out performed just about every fighter in the sky.  Light and fast it was originally configured as a bomber that was found to be able to carry twice the bomb payload it had been designed for.   Its twin supercharged Merlin engines allowed one variant to have a top speed of 425 miles per hour.

This car, known as the Splinter, will also employ twin superchargers along with air to water intercoolers on a GM Northstar block.  This V8 engine was chosen partly for it aluminum construction and the fact that the head bolts were symmetrical and would allow for the exhaust ports to be on the top side of the block and therefore keep the heat high and in the open where it could be exited more easily than if the headers were tucked in between the block and the rear wheel wells.

A custom bell housing was constructed out of aluminum so that the engine could be connected to a C5 Corvette transaxle.  The six speed transmission will easily be able to handle the horsepower generated by the engine, which should be at least 600.

 

The Splinter is a dream car. It has been Joe Harmon’s dream and it is coming to life.  A graduate student of NC State, Joe and a team of like minded students are creating a spectacular piece of automotive engineering that rivals anything that Chip Foose ever created. 

The central tunnel is the backbone of the vehicle and it is an astounding piece of craftsmanship.  Sighting down the tunnel you can see the many components that make it up and it is a thing of beauty.  It consists of laminated outer shell of the tunnel along with inner channels that were laminated and molded in place after the tunnel itself was created.  Then, attached to all that is the front suspension tower, upper control arm mounts, and lower control arm mounts.  Tunnel ribs are added to the inside to ensure the cornering loads from the suspension are supported by the structure.

 

As a young boy I would often go down to the boat shop in Crosby Town and watch the workmen craft sailboats out of wood.  The ribs that supported the boards that made up the hull, each one shaped to fit the compound curves and tapered to fit with its neighbor.  Planks removed from the steam box and bent in an artful curve to form the cabin of a Wianno Senior.  Mahogany and teak and oak and ash were wood that I became familiar with as it was used for each area of the boat that it was most suited for.

These memories returned as I watched the craftsmanship that taking place in the shop where the Splinter is taking shape.  Here they were using the latest epoxies and creating wonderfully artful compound curves of laminated wood that is far stronger and lighter than aluminum or steel. 

 

Even the springs of the suspension is made of wood.  Recognizing that a mono-leaf suspension is rather like an English Longbow the team researched what species of wood would provide the strength and elastic memory required of a suspension spring.  Osage Orange (a.k.a., Hedge Apple) was found to be the strongest wood in North America its properties prized by manufacturers of long bows.  Considered a nuisance wood, it was not particularly easy to find and as a result they had to travel to Kentucky to obtain some logs.  It took several logs to make veneer that wasn’t fraught with knots and could be laminated into the spring they constructed.

Everywhere possible wood is being used in the construction, even the wheels.  They are of a three piece construction where the forged rim is bolted to a wood laminate center section.

 

The exhaust system is metal, of course and one of their innovations is to use the rear wing as the muffler.  It provides a very large surface area with which to dissipate the heat a supercharged engine generates as well as serve double duty as an aerodynamic aid.

The central tunnel not only provides structural support, it will funnel cooling air back to the engine compartment aiding the movement of heat out of that area. 

The wheel wells do more than just contain the tires; they are another structural element of the Splinter.  Formed out of laminated oak veneer they are simple, light, and very strong.

The body includes a roll bar fashioned out of laminate and plywood forming a truss system.  The engine compartment covers will open like butterfly wings made from beautiful compound curved balsa and veneer laminates.

By August the Splinter should be a “roller” at the very least and after completing several show dates, it should be able to get some road time under its tires.

Despite all the jokes about termites, a wood burning engine, and the like this creation should be recognized as the astounding piece of engineering that it really is.  Take a look at the Joe Harmon Design web site for yourself and be amazed.

 

 

Does Speed Kill?

A better way to put this situation is that it’s not how fast you are going as much as how fast are you stopping.  The human body can only take so much deceleration before it ends up injured.  In an accident there are at least three collisions that occur.  The first is the vehicle (or as Newton would say – the object in motion) decelerating as it impacts another object.  The other is your body being slowed down by such things as belts, air bags, and portions of the vehicle’s interior.  Finally all the soft tissues inside your skin (and skull) also being subjected to rapid deceleration.  Just ask Richard Hammond, of Top Gear fame, who survived a rollover crash in a jet car traveling 288 miles per hour.

Today’s vehicles are designed with a sort of encapsulated frame designed to isolate the passenger area from most of the crushing effects of a collision.  Known as crumple zones they are areas of the vehicle that are intended to sacrifice their integrity so that as much energy as possible is expended by the time the passenger compartment is directly involved with a collision.  Front engines are designed to slide under the passenger compartment and fenders and trunks are designed to collapse all in the name of absorbing energy that would otherwise be transferred to the passenger compartment and the vehicle’s occupants.

Of course you can be traveling at great speed, lose it on a corner, spin off the road, slide across a grassy area, and come to a stop.  Again, the speed doesn’t kill unless you collide with something.

Walk into a wall and you will bruise your head.  Do the same on a skate board and I hope you are wearing a helmet.  Restrain your body in a car and hit a wall and you could find out what Dale Earnhardt did when his NASCAR ride hit the wall at one o’clock.  Your body will be restrained, but your head is not and will be compelled to keep going unless you have an air bag or HANS device to save you.

Avoid rollovers.  The national average is that a third of vehicle deaths are due to rollovers.  That is just the national average, in Montana it is twice that as indicated in the excerpt from the NHTSA’s report titled: An Analysis of Motor Vehicle Rollover Crashes and Injury Outcomes

“In 2004, for the United States as a whole, 31,693 passenger vehicle occupants were fatally injured in crashes of all types, 10,553 were fatally injured in rollovers, and 8,565 were fatally injured in single-vehicle rollovers. This means that 33% of passenger vehicle occupant fatalities were in vehicles that rolled over. State-by-State, this percentage ranged from 10% for the District of Columbia to 67% for Montana.“

If you are going to be in a rollover it pays to be short and light.  Here is another conclusion from the same report:

“One finding of this section is that among fatally injured drivers, those who were restrained tended to weigh more, be taller, and have a higher BMI than those who were unrestrained. Another interesting finding is that drivers who weighed less, were taller, and had a lower BMI tended to be overrepresented in single-vehicle fatal rollovers. Thus, while heavier individuals received fewer benefits from seat belts, they might also have been at a lower risk of fatality given involvement in a single-vehicle rollover. On the other hand, this over representation of lighter, taller, and lower BMI drivers could be related to age and its relationship to risk-taking.”

Do I need to add that seat belt usage improved the odds?  Here is a quote from another NHTSA report entitled: Characteristics of Crash Injuries Among Young, Middle Age, and Older Drivers

“There was a statistically significant reduction in injury severity in both rollover and non-rollover crashes to the driver when seat belts were used. Non-belted drivers were eight times more likely than belted drivers to sustain serious injury. The driver serious injury risk (odds) in vehicle rollover crashes is three times higher than that in vehicle non-rollover crashes.”

Pay attention to the emphasis on fatalities.  These figures don’t include the percentage of incapacitating injuries that occur at a higher rate.

As you may have noticed the weight of vehicles in each class has been rising over the years.  For example, you could have bought a Ford Fiesta in 1978 that weighed in at just over 1800 pounds while today your Ford Focus would weigh in at about 2600 pounds.  Some of this could be attributed to additional features and a bit more luxury, but the vast amount of extra pounds have been to design in crash worthiness into the vehicles. 

Do you need another example?  Noel provided a link to this news article from the Saratogian where rescue workers comment on how much more difficult it is becoming to extricate occupants from a vehicle that has been involved in a collision.  Where is used to take ten to fifteen minutes of use of hydraulic cutters, saws, and metal benders, it can now take twice as long.  The crews also have to be aware of just what they are cutting through and not set off airbags.  Hybrid cars introduce additional concerns of hidden power cables.  All these delays impact the “golden hour” or the period of time where critically injured people have the highest chance of survival if they can be extricated and moved to a hospital.

Don’t get me wrong, I like safety features.  I wouldn’t drive without using at least a three point safety belt.  I wouldn’t drive in an autocross or track day event without a helmet.  I am glad that car designs include crumple zones and reinforced passenger compartments.  Just keep in mind that there is no free lunch here.  What has been done to minimize your injury potential may impact just how quickly you can be rescued.

Does speed kill?  Stopping too fast (say a 40G impact) can definitely kill.  If we take it to its extreme we could insist that all vehicles travel a zero miles and hour and therefore eliminate all accidents.  Unfortunately we would also eliminate all the benefits of transportation of food, materials, people, etc.  There are risks in everything.  It is the circumstances that put you in that situation that can kill.  Doing things that keep us from focusing on the job of driving provide far more risk than the speed at which we travel.  Getting proper training on vehicle dynamics and handling limitations is not a bad idea either.