PlatinumZealot wrote:countersteer wrote:PlatinumZealot wrote:Just out curiosity, do the Indy car noses have locking pins? And why didn't the nose crumple up? The flying nose looked pretty solid there.
They are held in place by four locking pins. There is a single fastener, accessed through the top that captures the pins with a turn. Can't find a decent pic...
When in the paddock, they'll mount the nose mating the lower pins on the nose to the upper pins on the monocoque.
But why didnt the pins hold? Never seen a formula one nose get dislodged like that befrore.. Thats what intrigues me.. How did those pins fail? Just a question not directed at anyone.
I feel it is time for covered cockpits now. The foreogn body accidents are far more frequent than capsized accidents so the open cockpit saftey advantage in a capsision is not so strong anymore.
It was the crash structure box within the nose that hit him, which it goes without saying is very sturdy and designed specifically not to disintegrate.
As for why it was dislodged, Karam's car went nose first into the safer barrier at 150+mph. Whilst Indycar & Dallara work to the highest safety standards, just like they do in F1, sometimes accidents happen that generate forces and circumstances that cannot be replicated in laboratories.
The fact that Karam walked away from such a hefty crash with no injuries other than a winding shows that the car and it's safety structures did exactly what they were designed to do.
Just a desperately unfortunate accident that Wilson was quite literally in the wrong place at the split second wrong time.
