A crash recently happened in Australia where a drag racer lost control at around 500kph!!!:eek: The car burst into flames and rolled 3-4 times!!!
The driver escaped with only minor injuries!!! Thats 1 lucky man!!!:shock:
Check it out at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_-q_Bed3UF0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.leblogauto.com%2F2 007%2F09%2Fle-miracule-du-jour-un-crash-en-dragster-a-500-kmh.html

nasty crash indeed. Engine was even powering up after landing. Scary.....

Damn, that is scary, but it's really good to know that we are able to build cars,especially dragsters that if crashed at 500kph, the driver can walk away from it.

try walking away from 300mph crash in a road car.

322mph? dawm thats what i call a crash test! lol

That's the COOLEST thing ever..!!
BAAAAH BOOOOOMMM
WOOOOOSSSSSHH

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRE EEEEERRRRRRR
DAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKA BOOOOM!!!!!!
hahaha stupid guy..

he had a nasty hole in his fuel map, he needs to tweek the injectors and tune the nos timers

he'll run 9's...

Oh y33ah

And... you guys don't strap your blowers down over there I see...

That's not an uncommon occurrence.

Seems like the front end, or the front wing, failed mid-run, and then the front just went up as a result.

'It's a bit scary, isn't it?', hahaha, I loved it when he said that.

That's not that bad of a crash for that class of racng. At least he stayed inside the barriers.

How many of you guys know why the engine in a Top Fuel (and Top Alcohol) rail is behind the driver?


Back in 1970 don Garlitts Swamp Rat dragster blew the clutch and took off part of his foot. He came back the next season with a new rear engine Swamp Rat and spent the entire year proving everyone wrong that said it would never work. He revolutionized drag racing.

Here's a shot of that crash...

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/3703/garlitslionsuh6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^Bloody hell that looks nasty!

And about tha crash, that's a seriously seriously nasty accident, it's a miracle how someone could ever survive that. Motorsport cars are the safest in the world, pretty much.

The new cockpits for the NHRA Pro Classes are the safest cages in auto racing...

That's not that bad of a crash for that class of racng. At least he stayed inside the barriers.

Too be honest I have seen worse (or what looked worse anyway), and like you said, he did stay within the barriers. It's just the way he said though, made me lol :p.

How many of you guys know why the engine in a Top Fuel (and Top Alcohol) rail is behind the driver?

Wow, I assumed it was more of a vehicle dynamics thing, but know that I think about it, from a safety perspective, putting the engine in front is suicide if it fails (like it did there).

He came back not only with an unconventional setup, but also part of his foot gone, and still prooved it could work. That's amazing.

The new cockpits for the NHRA Pro Classes are the safest cages in auto racing...

What makes them work so well? I'm curious as to how it is that makes crashing at 500km/h survivable.

The entire drag racing community thought he was crazy. lol...


What makes them work so well? I'm curious as to how it is that makes crashing at 500km/h survivable.It's kind of like the cockpits you see on race boats. They're so well contained and the material used to make them is both strong and pliable to the point that it absorbs the impact without deforming.

I seem to remember seeing this on Sports Tonight a while ago...

I didn't realize that they raced Top Fuelers at any other track apart from WSID or Calder...

pretty bad, but really not so bad.

there's alot of things that can fail when your running a rag racer. Any part of the engine, the blower belt, the transmission, the axle, there's alot that can happen, and all of them do sometime or another. YOu never want it to but it happens

but no matter what, all those things are allowable failures. They may cost money, a race, and time, but the one thing you dont want to fail is any part of your safty system. It's a large conglomeration of systems, the chassis is designed to break into pieces, to the roll cage is designed to take incredible forces, the suit is designed to be highly flame retardant, helemt to keep your head in one place, all sorts of things, the entire saftey sytem is likly as complicated as the engine, but allowing that to fail isn't allowable. They certainly don't slack there, no matter how much it may cost, or how often accidents don't happen. it's all there, just in case. They guy owes his life to that system. so do many others.

and I believe the technologies created by the drag racing way made their way into production vehicles. crumple technology, absorbing the impact? I'm not 100% sure, but I think i read it came from drag racing.

the car just ripped in half in the middle of the track and the guy left with only a cut on his finger!!!!

the car just ripped in half in the middle of the track and the guy left with only a cut on his finger!!!!Tony Schumacher once went through the traps at over 340 (he won the race), his blower snapped, he hit the wall before his chutes deployed and when the car shattered it left pieces of it scattered all over the tower side field at the end of the Indy track. The car came apart so hard that his lower legs were hanging out of the cockpit cage. He walked away... Not only did he walk away but he was back in the next round in their back-up car and went on to win the Finals...

That's safety my friends... 340 - 0 in less than 100 feet and was on the track again and hour later...

^^^ Goddamn

thats just insane. absolutly amazing