HEY Bryan (RedLS1GTO)

[Shrek]

Originally Posted by RedLS1GTO

Man, that is crazy. The fact that she cracked her helmet and gave herself a concussion is honestly terrifying. It takes a hell of a shot to make that happen.

These cars are FAST. No matter how you spin it, they're fast. Things go wrong in a hurry... and often times when you aren't really expecting it (like an out lap).

I don't mean to keep throwing questions at you. I try to learn all I can from things like this, especially when it's a car I am so familiar with. If you don't want to discuss, please just tell me to shut up. How far moved are the seats from where they were? Was there a sub-belt hooked up? I am trying to remember, but even at 6'1", I don't know that I could have gotten even remotely close to hitting that part of the roofline with my head. It seems like a long way to go.

I'll say it again, most importantly, I'm just glad she's ok.

The seat base remained solid, but the upper portion twisted to the right.

The roofline is actually the drip rail/seal portion of the removable roof. Remember that edge you have to duck under when exiting the car? After we figured it out, I sat in the car and realized that the left side of my head is even closer than hers and have now decided that I will not see anymore track time in a C4 Corvette. The greenhouse area is just too small!!!!!

All these years we have focused on the roll bar and never even considered contacting the roof edge. It worries me to the point that I'm not comfortable riding in her street ZR-1. Think about it....no helmet and it's right there by your head!!

Pretty sure we're done as far as tracking a C4. Just waiting for her to sign it in stone. Saturday after it happened, she said she's done for good. Sunday after we finally got it out of the trailer onto the lift, she was ready to fix it and soldier on. Monday morning after not getting any sleep , she says she's done. Said she was awake most of the night trying to remember but just has no memory of why or where it happened.

[JRD77VET]

Good to hear she's pretty much OK

[RedLS1GTO]

Originally Posted by Shrek

The seat base remained solid, but the upper portion twisted to the right.

The roofline is actually the drip rail/seal portion of the removable roof. Remember that edge you have to duck under when exiting the car? After we figured it out, I sat in the car and realized that the left side of my head is even closer than hers and have now decided that I will not see anymore track time in a C4 Corvette. The greenhouse area is just too small!!!!!

All these years we have focused on the roll bar and never even considered contacting the roof edge. It worries me to the point that I'm not comfortable riding in her street ZR-1. Think about it....no helmet and it's right there by your head!!

Pretty sure we're done as far as tracking a C4. Just waiting for her to sign it in stone. Saturday after it happened, she said she's done for good. Sunday after we finally got it out of the trailer onto the lift, she was ready to fix it and soldier on. Monday morning after not getting any sleep , she says she's done. Said she was awake most of the night trying to remember but just has no memory of why or where it happened.

I'm definitely going to have to go sit in the '87 tomorrow and take a good look at where that roof line comes across.

[Shrek]

Originally Posted by RedLS1GTO

I'm definitely going to have to go sit in the '87 tomorrow and take a good look at where that roof line comes across.

One thing I noticed, when riding or driving on the street, I tend to be lower in the seat, almost reclined a bit. But when harnessed in tight, I'm more upright and closer to the roof.

[RedLS1GTO]

Thinking about how she managed to get her head into the roof like she did has been bothering me all day. I spent some time in the '87 today and I do see what you are talking about.

I'm ASSuming due to height differences that you moved the seat for her? I looked at a few pictures, and with the belts tight and the HANS (DefNder) on, I really don't think I could have ever gotten my head over to contact the roof line over the window. It might be possible with the right yoga move that I could make contact with the very top of my helmet, but certainly not with the back of the helmet. A BIG BIG part of that is the HANS. Without it, there's no telling where my head might go with that amount of force. Of course as you know I had the seat all but touching the floorboard and had it about all the way back as well. Much lower than a stock seat could ever get. The only way I think I might get there is if the belts were a bit loose and I could come up as well as over.







Do you have any pictures of how the seat deformed? You still had the Kirkeys in it, right? Were my mounts still in it as well? We modeled those through MANY different impact and angle hit scenarios (with a 200lb driver) to make sure the design was strong enough before we cut them. I don't think there is such a thing as "overboard when it comes to safety"

1 of our "crash" scenarios. I think that was head on @ 80mph if I remember correctly. As you can tell, we only modeled the bottom half of the seat and assumed all of the weight was there. We didn't include the seat back brace so we were looking at a "worst case" for the rails. The seat and mounting angles are VERY close to the Kirkey 17" Intermediate that was in it.

Do you have any pictures of the helmet? What kind was it? I'm wondering if they might do some good if they were able to take a look at it.

I'm an engineer... I can't help but analyze!!

[RedLS1GTO]

I almost forgot... I don't know how hard she was on the gas on the out lap, but data from the '02Z shows me at about 94mph at that left apex... on the OLD pavement. I never collected data on the '96 but I have done frame by frame comparison with the '02 and the C4 was definitely faster through that section.

That was a hell of a hit.


A guy I work with was just talking about running HPDEs in his stock C6Z. ... just a helmet and stock 3 point belts in a 500+ hp car. I honestly can't believe that more people don't get hurt.

[Shrek]

Simpson carbon fiber helmet. I thought about contacting them to see if they wanted to do some analysis.

I can only assume because of her forward seating position, it allows for a lot of harness strap between the bar and her shoulders. Which allowed her momentum (mass in motion) of her upper torso to bend (twist) the upper portion of the seat. No rear brace either. That tubular brace that was there may have helped in a forward/rear impact but not so much in a side impact.

I'll get you some photos.

BTW...I said she OWNS a hans, I never said she was wearing her hans!!!

[Shrek]

I started a new thread updating the status of the car.

Here are the photos of the helmet. A vertical crack on the ridge and two separate horiz cracks on either side of the vert crack.