LocostUSA.com

I'm looking for some pictures of crashed Lotus 7s, Locosts, or similar cars. I'm curious as to how they fail in collisions, whether on the street or off-track excursions.

I don't expect there's much that could be done to protect against madmen in monster trucks, but I'm interested in how the chassis deforms anyway.

You might have more luck looking into the British forums or perhaps do some Googling for "clubman" related crashes. The cars are raced in the UK (and perhaps Australia as well?) as part of a "clubman" series.

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.. in the world

I'm still coming up with zip for crash photos, but YouTube coughed up some video of some Caterham crashes, including one that on a scale of 1 to 10, rates a solid 12 - the car leapt into the air, twirled like a ballerina, hit the tirewall while airborne, backflipped, rolled, and came to rest rightside-up.

No commentary regarding how the driver came out, but from what I could see the entire cockpit area remained intact.


I didn't catch what caused such a spectacular leap, but at the local dirt track I've seen sprint cars do it when the front of one tire hits the back of another tire on another car. With both surfaces moving in opposite directions it just flips the rearmost vehicle up, though I don't remember anything as spectacular as that...

I think the car you're speaking of is a Locost, in the Locost racing series in Britain. There are several videos of that accident including one from an in car camera in the same race. My recollection is that the driver suffered a badly broken arm from comments on the UK Locost site. Arm restraints would be a good idea on these cars for racing.

There have been some photos posted on this site of collisions and repairs to frames. I don't have pointers though. Keep reading! try some searching on our site too, if you find some stuff post it here.

I would say I've crashed a couple of Formula Fords over the years, like the car in my avatar. That 16 gauge mild steel tubing is very strong when it is well braced. The wheels and their wishbones will also absorb considerable energy by crushing and bending.

Keeping the weight down is a big deal here. Part of why these cars are so deceptively strong is that they are not carrying a lot of crap around. So the frame which is the strength and protection is actually a big percentage of the car's weight. The driver and the engine are the big pieces of weight not contributing to the strength.,

Start imagining a few more items in the car, 50 lbs. of air conditioner, 50 lbs. of glass and door hardware, spare tire, sound insulation, roof, bigger battery and more wiring etc. There are hundreds of pounds of this in a normal car. Now imagine just 250 pounds of this stuff in an accident at 10 g's deceleration. That would be a minor accident. All of this stuff turns into anvils during an accident...

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.

I think this is Mark Riviera's crash. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDrNrPLhqow

Mark has photos of the chassis on his build log.http://rivera.fotomojo.us/g/MX7
Go to page 27

have a look at my build log...
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1249&start=180Cheers,

fred

I 've attached a picture of a locost crashing if it helps :þ

There are lots of pictures to be had....

http://www.google.ca/search?q=caterham% ... 24&bih=655

http://www.google.ca/search?um=1&hl=en& ... =&aql=&oq=

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Build log: viewtopic.php?t=9291

TRX,

I must admit to being a little perturbed by the word "snuff" in the title - doesn't feel right to me.

Anyway, here's a few pics I took today after a PRB-Birkin clubman had an unintended nose first into a tyre wall. Driver's estimate of speed by the time he hit it was about 140 km/h (a bit under 90mph). The bottom front corner of one wishbone is torn away from the chassis but the car was straight enough to be towed back to the pits and we were able to push it around to get it the tow truck. It will be interesting to see how much more damage (if any) is found once the skin is off.

Oh, and the driver (who was wearing a harness) walked away uninjured (other than his bank account ).

Dominic

Is that dirt in the close up pic or is it rust? If it was rust he's lucky it didn't fail before.

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

That's dirt. The car was immaculate before the crash and it's less than 12 months old. It picked up a lot of dirt and gravel on it's way into the wall

Dominic

Snuff shot in action

http://minicountryman1961.polaroidstudi ... me=album03

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

Look carefully. Arm restraints! and make sure that harness is pulled down tight. You can see how far up and to the side he goes. The harness should be tight enough to be just short of hurting. It never fails that as I am pulling on to the track, I always choose to pull down more on my shoulder straps. I don't really like the arm restraints,they were not required when I was driving seriously on the track. That series of pictures really brings the point home though...

I'm trying to work out a slightly more reclined position for the driver. Pictures like this sort of reinforce that idea, especially for track use.

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.

One thing I learned early on was to tuck your arms in to your body in a crash. Legs too if feasible in the car you are in (Wise in a Mini, probably not possible in a locost).

Basically, once you ascertain that you are nothing more than a passenger, try to reduce chances of flailing as much as possible. DO NOT hold on to the steering wheel for a roll landing or tyrewall impact. The steering can whip round pretty quick when hitting things.

Also, as Horizenjob says, buckle up tight. I was at a race and it was swealtering hot. I couldn't open the door while lining up for the race as we happened to be in a bug-swarm. So I loosened my harness a little bit for comfort, cos well, i'm hardly going to crash am I! Heh, well I clipped an apex-from-hell and went into a triple barrel roll. I was moving all over the place. I tried to brace myself by holding the roll bar above the window. I didn't get hurt, but noticed after the race that where I landed on the roof had squashed the bodywork down on to the cage. If I had my hand a bit further to the right, it would have been crushed in there.

So yeah, that was my lesson. Harnesses tight, no excuses. Arms in for impact.

I find it kinda hard to believe that arm restraints are not required for racing an open car like a Seven. If that driver escaped with no broken arm, shoulder, wrist bones, he's a very lucky guy.

I didn't like 'em much when I first started having to use them in the MGB, but I got used to them, to the point I'd use 'em in Solo2 when they weren't needed just because it "felt funny" without them.

I also notice in one shot that his head appears to be above the cage. Granted, he's getting lots of G-forces in that rollo, but it would appear his harness wasn't all that tight during the crash. Again, I hope he wasn't injured as a result.

Like you, Marcus, I always yank on the straps "one more time" before going on-track, no matter how tight they already are. It can't hurt...

Regards-
JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
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