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Post by robmarsh on Aug 27, 2019 17:33:56 GMT
René please go see a doctor if you have not already done so to make sure you don't have whiplash. The effects can be very dangerous. A nasty experience having a car crash.
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Post by Carl on Aug 27, 2019 21:25:00 GMT
John Fitch was an American race car driver who was successful in European sports car events, but whose greatest achievements are his well-designed pioneering energy absorbing safety barriers, the basic principles still followed on road and race track. Quoted from Wikipedia: [ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fitch_(racing_driver) ] "In the aftermath of the Le Mans disaster of 1955, Fitch devoted a great deal of effort to the task of increasing the safety of motorsports and driving in general, resulting in his company, Impact Attenuation Inc. His innovations were characterized not only by their effectiveness, but also by their real-world practicality, as affordable and easily installed and maintained solutions. Inspired by sand-filled fuel cans which he used to protect his tent from strafing during the war, he devised the Fitch Barrier system, now ubiquitous on American highways, for installation around fixed objects on racetracks and highways to absorb impact. Typically, Fitch insisted on testing the system himself. Since first being used in the late 1960s, it is estimated that they have saved as many as 17,000 lives. Other impact absorbing systems designed by Fitch are the Fitch Compression Barrier, suited for oval tracks and other such high speed situations with little runoff area, which comprises a set of strong, thick-walled resilient elastomer cylinders about a yard in diameter placed between the guardrail and the wall, gently absorbing the vehicle's energy without bouncing it back onto the track, and the Fitch Displaceable Guardrail where more room is available, a guardrail mounted on skids so that it can slide backwards on impact, gradually capturing the car. This reduces the mechanical forces and redirects the car parallel to the wall. As vehicular modifications for racing safety, Fitch also engineered the Fitch Driver Capsule, an easy to install seat incorporating a seatback which pivots integral with the seatbelt in order to reduce the inertial force experienced by the driver. He later extended the principle with the Fitch Full Driver Capsule, by anchoring the helmet to the seatback to prevent basilar skull fracture and hyperextension of the neck, in a manner similar to the function of the HANS device." An early highway Fitch Barrier 
Fitch won the 1952 SCCA Seneca Cup on the streets of Watkins Glen in a Jaguar XK 120C (the permanent racetrack was not built until 1956)
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Post by chrisb on Aug 28, 2019 5:07:48 GMT
Rene, that sounded dreadful mate, but am so pleased to hear that physically everyone walked away from what could have been a far worse accident, I do feel that psychologically anything like this has an impact on our lives and makes us more aware of the fragility of safety, whether we like it or not something like this a trauma and to be involved in any form of incident as Carl rightly says and making sense of what and why isn't easy to always comprehend, but the most important part is that you walked away from it -
all the best
Chris
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Post by René on Aug 28, 2019 13:54:53 GMT
Thanks again guys, much appreciated.
Jim, sorry for hijacking your wonderful thread. That was not my intention so let's get back on topic!
What about tyres? Tyre technology has also come a long way and the experience from racing must have (had) a huge impact on this.
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Post by chrisb on Aug 28, 2019 18:40:39 GMT
and suspension, especially when it was so electronic in the early 90's -
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2019 8:32:15 GMT
What about safety? Have crash technologies and structures trickled down from racing to road cars or the other way around? I was involved in quite a hefty car crash this weekend (luckely no injuries) and my 5 year old Lexus looked a lot better after the crash then the 25 year old Daimler I hit! Ok, I hit the Daimler in the side but still, the difference was huge and I was glad and lucky to sit in such a safe car! Safety has come a long way and there must be knowledge and technology from racing that has ended up in our road cars I guess.
I'm so sorry i hadnt really been paying attention to teh thread.
So sorry about the accident but very very grateful no one was hurt.
All the Best
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Post by mikael on Aug 29, 2019 13:23:14 GMT
René, just want to join in to say that it is very relieving to read that no one was hurt. When driving on the road for a number of years, it's probably impossible not to get few dents along the way.
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Post by mikael on Aug 29, 2019 13:42:48 GMT
Some very useful technology transfers from motor sports to road vehicles are the electronic ignition system and electronic fuel injection. Then there's the valve train: a double overhead cam system with four valves per cylinder came also directly from the racetracks, as did variable cam timing. There's really a lot if you start to think about it. There might be even more in relation to motorcycles. Bikes with two-stroke engines have become rare, but the development of the exhaust expansion chamber (by Walter Kaaden of MZ's road racing (motorcycle GP) department in the late 50's - early 60's) certainly had a huge impact on the two-stroke engine's popularity in the small-capacity motorcycle market in the 60's and 70's. (It's quite a story, of course, involving undercover sale of stolen intellectual property, treason on several levels, personal tragedy, ...) The whole two stroke development through the 70, and into the early 80's was phenominal. I went from a GT185 Suzuki, to a YDS250 Yamaha, and finally (nearly fatally) to a LC350 Yamaha - the power and delivery improved so much in just a few short years. I'd like to know more about the tale of the how the eastern european secrets made their way to Japan - a man called Degner I seem to recall. Please fill in the details!
Jim, sorry for the much belated response. Yes, it was the East-German driver Ernst Degner who decided to defect to the West in 1961. At the time he took that decision he was en route to win the '61 World Championship (in the 125cc class, I believe) on MZ. The defection cost him that World Champioship as well as his MZ factory ride; so in order to be able to continue his racing career he decided to trade his two-stroke specialist knowledge with a Suzuki factory ride. He actually became World Champion with Suzuki, so initially the deal brought him the fame and happiness he had dreamed about. But, as I understand it, the plan backfired in the sense that bad consciousness eventually started to haunt him, and later in life he became an embittered and lonely man. Motor Sport Magazine journalist Mat Oxley has written a nice book called "Stealing Speed" that gives a detailed account of the story.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2019 7:11:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2019 7:19:57 GMT
The whole two stroke development through the 70, and into the early 80's was phenominal. I went from a GT185 Suzuki, to a YDS250 Yamaha, and finally (nearly fatally) to a LC350 Yamaha - the power and delivery improved so much in just a few short years. I'd like to know more about the tale of the how the eastern european secrets made their way to Japan - a man called Degner I seem to recall. Please fill in the details!
Jim, sorry for the much belated response. Yes, it was the East-German driver Ernst Degner who decided to defect to the West in 1961. At the time he took that decision he was en route to win the '61 World Championship (in the 125cc class, I believe) on MZ. The defection cost him that World Champioship as well as his MZ factory ride; so in order to be able to continue his racing career he decided to trade his two-stroke specialist knowledge with a Suzuki factory ride. He actually became World Champion with Suzuki, so initially the deal brought him the fame and happiness he had dreamed about. But, as I understand it, the plan backfired in the sense that bad consciousness eventually started to haunt him, and later in life he became an embittered and lonely man. Motor Sport Magazine journalist Mat Oxley has written a nice book called "Stealing Speed" that gives a detailed account of the story.
Thanks Mikael, There you go, I thought I'd heard/read that Degner's defection was pre-arranged around him talking his knowledge of two-stroke technology to Suzuki. Your version sounds more credible. It is a shame that he wasn't able to find long term happiness. I'll have a look in the Motorsport archive for some more information Cheers! |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2019 7:34:39 GMT
and suspension, especially when it was so electronic in the early 90's - I remember reading the CAR magazine feature on Lotus's application of active suspension from F1 to road vehicles. I think that must have been 1980's. The test car was a Esprit, and Mel Smith (I think) was raving about the limosine ride and adjustable handling that could be programmed into the car. There was a big weight penalty, and the suspension system, Moog valves, and computing power required to run the system were big and heavy in those days - power hungry too. There was also mention of a double decker bus with an active suspension system, that handled brilliantly. A quick interweb search finds that the active Esprit prototype was up for sale earlier this year - can't believe I missed that oportunity... |
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Post by René on Sept 6, 2019 14:48:34 GMT
Interesting read, thanks for sharing. Williams engineering has always been of the highest standard. I think their flywheel technology was very interesting. It didn't make it in F1 in the end but the technology is still widely used. A new client of ours I've been working for the last few months makes Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Systems. They use the dynamic flywheel technology instead of batteries.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2019 23:51:21 GMT
Interesting read, thanks for sharing. Williams engineering has always been of the highest standard. I think their flywheel technology was very interesting. It didn't make it in F1 in the end but the technology is still widely used. A new client of ours I've been working for the last few months makes Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Systems. They use the dynamic flywheel technology instead of batteries.
Great information and link thanks Rene. I guess those uninterruptable power supplies only have to fill in a gap of seconds, or at most minutes, until a back up supply kicks in? A lot of our plant control systems have electric battery UPS, and they can provide power for up to 24 hours. I'm not sure what the criteria are, I'll have to ask some of the Electrical engineers. The YouTube clip on the Williams flywheel energy store is really interesting, and led to another link to a 'Chain Bear' video on the same topic. Turning the flywheel into an electrical motor generator seems to be the genius move that makes the flywheel system more versatile, and easier to package. I've never seen details of a gear driven flywheel energy store, but that would have to be a very difficult system to engineer and control. I'll have to find out a bit more about the Williams system, I wonder why it hasn't made its way into any road cars, when battery hybrids are becoming so common? I expect cost will be a factor. I'm also reminded of the Chrysler Patriot project from the late 1980's (? I think) which was trying to develop a gas turbine powered Le mans racers with a fly wheel energy recovery system - with the fly wheel being a carbon fibre disc spinning at very high speed. I might have a dig to find more information on that project. |
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Post by René on Sept 7, 2019 9:27:46 GMT
Interesting read, thanks for sharing. Williams engineering has always been of the highest standard. I think their flywheel technology was very interesting. It didn't make it in F1 in the end but the technology is still widely used. A new client of ours I've been working for the last few months makes Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Systems. They use the dynamic flywheel technology instead of batteries. Great information and link thanks Rene. I guess those uninterruptable power supplies only have to fill in a gap of seconds, or at most minutes, until a back up supply kicks in? A lot of our plant control systems have electric battery UPS, and they can provide power for up to 24 hours. I'm not sure what the criteria are, I'll have to ask some of the Electrical engineers. Jim, I am not an engineer but here's a link to our client's website where the system is described: kinolt.com/why-dynamic-ups |
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Post by mikael on Sept 7, 2019 11:02:39 GMT
Another thing that might have come directly from F1 is the paddle (semi-automatic gear) shift.
At the time it first appeared I recall a friend saying, "once you've tried it you'd newer want to use anything else". But I'm really not so sure ... Honestly, I love the good, old-fashioned manual gear shift. |
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