Crash with 2 bar frame

[thunder938]

Everyone should take a few minutes and go to Legendsnation.com and view the pics of a very bad crash.  The cage over the driver failed and came down on the driver.  This car was a “2 bar” frame.  Something to think about..I know that the 2 bars are lighter and for that reason people want to find and use them, but at what cost???

[justfreaky]

I saw the article and pics.
http://www.legendsnation.com/2009_vault/legends/Waterford_Speedbowl_Gray_wreck_photo_4-1.html
A couple of extra bars are not going to add that much weight!
The good news is that Tommy Gray is on the mend.

Be Safe this season.

Steve

[thunder938]

Its not just the 2 more bars, the cage is diff. design and has smaller tubing.  My buddy has a 2 bar and it is way different than my 4 bar..

The main thing, and you can see in the pics you can see the weld fail, is at the top of the b post and the roof bars.  The 2 bar is just gusseted and the 4 bar has a tube / brace triangled of the b post and the roof bar.

[JGRacing]

I saw an asphalt latemodel in this area land on it's roof a few years ago and the roof bars caved in like that.  The roof bars had very little support and the only one that was still upright was the one right behind the driver's seat.  Everything else was almost at the level of the dash.  A little harder hit and he would probably be dead.  The driver walked away, but it really hit home for me why that is not an area that you want to skimp on.   

[jgrimracing]

We had a 2 bar chassis last year that had the tubing between the roof bars and the B pilar.  I am pretty sure it is something that needs to be added for the road course racing.  It would be interesting to know if a 4 bar has taken a similar crash and what the results were.

[thunder938]

It would take 600 or an independent lab, would be better, to do it in a controlled environment.  I don’t know if the 4 bar would do the same thing.  I do know that the 4 bar has bigger tubing and more of it.  We can talk about the cage bending, but it did its job.  The guy walked away and will be fine.  Without a cage or a complete failure he would be dead...