Hopefully R. Satenhouse’s car fire is going to draw some serious review to determine the cause and enact prevention. I was surprised to see how slow and nonchalant he seemed getting out of the car. He must’ve held his breath with all that smoke in the car.
NASCAR - Fire!
- Thread starter PontiacHO
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I was too. The smoke was so thick he had to be extracting himself by feel. I personally think he underestimated how much danger he could potentially have been in.
Alls well that ends well though.
Alls well that ends well though.
Jackson_Slugger
$50 Site Donor 2022
Oooooff!
Do they not have fresh air systems?
I've heard of NHRA Funny Car drivers say that they take a big breath and then it's time to get out.
I've heard of NHRA Funny Car drivers say that they take a big breath and then it's time to get out.
Glad he got out.
I didn't know Teslas ran in NASCAR. (obligatory burning Tesla joke)
I didn't know Teslas ran in NASCAR. (obligatory burning Tesla joke)
The ultimate crash / fire escape has to be the Romain Grosjean F1 crash in Bahrain a couple of years ago. The video is edited to make his escape look to be longer than it actually was. (26 seconds actual time from impact to out of the car).
Regardless, it's all but unbelievable he not only survived, but did so with minimal burns. I can't post the video here because it contains unedited hot mike cussing on the various team radios. Just punch in "Grosjean's Fireball Crash" on You Tube.
Regardless, it's all but unbelievable he not only survived, but did so with minimal burns. I can't post the video here because it contains unedited hot mike cussing on the various team radios. Just punch in "Grosjean's Fireball Crash" on You Tube.
Yes, I saw that one live and just like everyone in the pits, assumed he was dead already, or going to be very soon... The broadcast I watched didn't stay focused on the car for more than a second or two after the impact and flames, and then only on replay showed him getting out.
Stenhouse was really relaxed though! Do they have a helmet air supply? I guess it is better to just undo the belts like normal if you can't see them.
They do have a fresh air supply but when a car is engulfed like that I’d guess they take a deep breath once they notice the fire and calmly exit the vehicle. I have seen and heard of guys struggling to breathe once the onboard suppression system goes off.
Just my $0.02
Another thing about the Grosjean crash that is easily overlooked due to the fire, is that the HALO saved his life.
If you watch the Youtube video, "Grosjean Fireball Crash", and freeze it at the 1:21 mark, you can see where the HALO cut through the middle piece of ARMCO, and bent the top piece high enough for him to pass harmlessly underneath it.
(The front part of the car punched through the bottom piece). Without the HALO he would have been decapitated almost exactly the same way Francois Cevert was, in practice at the 1973 Watkins Glen Grand Prix.
That race was supposed to be Jackie Stewart's final race before retirement. Cevert was Stewart's teammate, and was scheduled to take over as the lead driver for the Tyrell F1 team after he retired.
But Stewart was so shaken by the horror of that accident, and the damage to Cevert's body, he refused to race. (They left his headless body in the car for several minutes, and many photographers took photos of it).
Those photos are all over the Internet, and that accident is regarded as one of the most violent in open wheel racing. The Gordon Smiley Indianapolis crash possibly being the only worse one.
There was another driver killed in that same manner in 1974. His name was Helmuth Koinigg. (The car slipped underneath the ARMCO decapitating him).
Grosjean's accident proves just how far safety in car design has come in all of that time. If his accident had occurred just a few years earlier, (pre HALO), he would have been killed.
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