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Fu Fu Valve
Sergeant
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Lets be honest at that speed it's instant death.... I don't think it would matter what car your driving, airbags and strengthend passenger cell's won't help you in that.
and of course that wall doesn't have a crumple zone. A brick wall would have some 'give' in it thats his a solid sheet of steel. You'd still be a gonner though as a brick came throught the remnants of the windscreen!
It'll be interesting to see what they say about it on 5th Gear on friday
and of course that wall doesn't have a crumple zone. A brick wall would have some 'give' in it thats his a solid sheet of steel. You'd still be a gonner though as a brick came throught the remnants of the windscreen!
It'll be interesting to see what they say about it on 5th Gear on friday
120 Mph into a solid immovable object, real world relevance practically zero. Unless your unlucky enough to hit a bridge pillar or tree at those speeds. A better test would of been a solid immovable object at 60 - 70 which would be about the same as a head on at those speeds. Mythbusters proved that a year or so ago. But that would not as been any where near as shocking.
John Lloyd
Warrant Officer
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I seem to remember Tiff Needell doing something similar with a radio controlled Volvo and a BMW, head on at 70 each. that was frightening. Big cars shredded.
M
MQ-9 Reaper
Guest
Big older cars shredded.
They should do it with two brand spankers with 5 star ratings...... perhaps mpvs and see what happens! wouldnt be as bad as that I bet, but no one willing to fork out the cash.
It's not really a question of cash. You can test things to destruction but you first have to decide what you want from the car. You could build a car to survive a smash into a wall at 200 MPH if you wanted to but it would be huge, expensive and unsellable.
Cars are smashed, fatigued, corroded at great expense to survive the average smash / life time. Any more would be a waste of time and money because you wouldn't be able to sell it.
I see suspension, bridge sections, hip joints, turbo chargers, teeth etc etc tested every day and they are all built for a pre-defined maximum load and a maximum life.
John Lloyd
Warrant Officer
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As many have said,and many people have commented in the vid and associated youtube link. This crash into a solid thick concrete wall is something that would never happen in real life. Hitting a bridge pillar at 120 would produce a similar effect. But hitting another car head on at 60 doesnt create half the amount of damage (as the above vid shows with the BMW and volvo...they both still look pretty car-ish)
Although in the BMW/Volvo instance and in a 120 into a static deformable object it will more than likely be unsurviveable...for now. Volvo say they're looking to improve safety so that noone dies in their cars ina few years time, which isnt too unrealistic considering F1 cars of today can come through some incredibly high speed accidents with just minor bruising to the driver. It's all about absorbing the energy and keeping the driver from experiencing the trauma you get in 120-0 instantly type crashes
Although in the BMW/Volvo instance and in a 120 into a static deformable object it will more than likely be unsurviveable...for now. Volvo say they're looking to improve safety so that noone dies in their cars ina few years time, which isnt too unrealistic considering F1 cars of today can come through some incredibly high speed accidents with just minor bruising to the driver. It's all about absorbing the energy and keeping the driver from experiencing the trauma you get in 120-0 instantly type crashes
tag_lincoln
Corporal
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It was on the first episode of this series a couple of weeks back; science aside (ie 120mph not equal to 2 x 60mph cars) its still scary. Moreinteresting was a couple of years ago when 5th gear (I think) collided an old Volvo estate into a small 5* MPV, the Volvo was trashed but the 5* MPV was damaged but only with minimum damage to the cabin. I'm sure it becomes academic at some point depending on what you hit.
needsabiggerfuse
Flight Sergeant
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I think the scariest bit was the last few seconds from the 'on-board' camera. It just shows how little time there would be to react and if you did, at 60mph, where might you end up.
True, but the occupants wouldn't be able to cope with such rapid deceleration. Arteries and organs would just rupture at that speed.
And if the crumple zone was 10 feet long what then? Speed is largely irrelevant it's the acceleration forces that rip arteries. A set amount of energy is present at the point of imact, I can either wipe it all out in a microsecond but have huge acceleration or I can slowly use it up over say 50 or 100 milliseconds.
The area under a force time curve is the energy consumed, I can have a tall narrow peak with mental forces or I can have a relatively flat curve with the same area / energy underneath and a much much lower peak force.
Testing things to destruction is sometimes part of my job, and there's nothing better than smashing something up!