Formula One racing car driver David Purley survived an estimated 179.8 g in 1977 when he decelerated from 173 km/h (108 mph) to rest over a distance of 66 cm (26 inches) after his throttle got stuck wide open and he hit a wall.


Indy Car driver Kenny Brack crashed on lap 188 of the 2003 race at Texas Motor Speedway. Bräck and TomasScheckter touched wheels, sending Bräck into the air at 200+ mph, hitting a steel support beam for the catch fencing. According to Bräck's site his car recorded 214 g. - thats a good use of datalogging.

 

so how did they survive?

 

musta been there lucky day!!

 

Thats crazy, I would have thought their brains would have turned to pulp against their skulls.

 

David Purley was a legend, iirc he received the VC for his attempt at rescuing Roger Williamson from his burning wreckage at I think the Nurburgring.

 

Me too.

I fell off a dirt bike on sat morn and hit my head. Only probably 20-30 mph impact but it was enough to give me concusion bad enough that it screwed up my weekend.

 

nearly right it was the 1973 dutch grand prix when he tried to save roger. the car which he crashed at silverstone in the big accident is on display at the donington museum,in it's as crashed state along with the next car he used it was sponsored by lec the fridge makers at the time.
He was killed in 1985 when he crashed his aerobatic plane into the sea off bognor IIRC

I visited the doningtom museum last year and I have to say it really is fantastic, I could have spent all day in there shame the wife wouldn't! lol

steve

 

Its mad to think about how much force the human body can stand in certain circumstances, yet, sometimes the lightest of knocks kill folks....

 

Big difference when you actually hit your head though, although you arent scrubbing off masses of momentum, the change in direction can involve ludicrous amounts of g too.

If you have a 5mph change, and it happens in half an inch, its huge numbers of g.

 

Ralf Shumacher hit the wall in Montreal a few years back and did something like 166g.

What amazes me about this is, your helmet even if only say 300grams would be like having a 50kg helmet on and braking as hard as you could in your every day car.

 

And in the weight of your head, and do the maths again to see what your neck would have to take, and you soon see why you need a 'hans' device or similar!

 

Very true. Hate to think what state i would have been in if i didn't have a crash hat on.

My missus has told me i'm now to old for dirt bikes.

 

Im of the opinion dirt bikes are a great hobby, the odds of actually dieing is almost none, breaking your back is highly unlikely, braking bones is relatively common but at least those heal anyway, so I figure its a good way to get your thrills without massive risk of a serious lifelong injury or death.

 

Exactly not really weighed my head for a while But your neck would be taking 800kg's or something.

 

In my case, even more than most

 

biggest one that I saw was Mark Blundell in his indycar days, was something like 180mph into the oval wall, pretty much head on after brake failure.

 

Its also amazing that Zanardi survived his crash, losing almost all his blood and then to come back racing and win. The guy is a Hero.

 

Amazing, I've pulled 6g in a plane doing aerobatics, Fuck knows what 200g is like

 

Blundell one @ 2:30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8kH2de1Oqg