Err, actually the tracks move at the same rate in track inches per time unit; they -seem- to move at different rates because the segment sizes are different. (In the extreme case of a round cylinder, which is the limiting case of the series shown, the size of a a segment is actually zero or, alternatively, infinitessimally small.)
It’s too bad she won’t live! But then again, who does?
Fantastic engineering. Yes, I’m biased.
Damn, hope the driver is okay.
Yeah, not very cool as a post otherwise. But I must say it looked like he had no intention of taking that curve at all. Brakes at the last second, but no turn? Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?
Gaff, the original Brony.
Ha! That’s awesome - I know where that originates from, the pizza toss, but what show was he on and what was the story behind that?
LOL - found it - and it’s worth watching the entire thing.
To be fair, the only reason he came ahead of the car he was neck-and-neck with is that the other driver saw him lose control and slowed the hell down to avoid being hit.
Conventional basic principles of racing is that you brake then turn. Braking first brings the weight forward to both front tyres, making as much grip as possible available for the turn - overall the car ends up more evenly balanced and predictable, with more available contact surface, which means you can corner faster. Braking while turning concentrates the weight on the outside wheel, which can overcome available grip there, resulting in a locked wheel. Locked wheels don’t help the car turn at all - and they don’t help you brake much either.
Looks like he just shanked his line keeping the car under control out of the previous corner, consequently missing his braking point, came down too hard and locked both front wheels which resulted in the head on with the barricade.
The other driver was in the exact same car, so Balasarius’ engineering was on for third either way. The same car also won, sandwiching a Mustang inbetween in second place. This was the Sports Car Club of America championship runoffs and the bulk of the drivers are running their own cars, so when you have an accident like that you feel it in the wallet as well as the neck.
It was a really fun race to close out a first day that had already seen some great racing - the opener took place in a rain storm, with a Lotus Exige and an MX5 repeatedly changing the lead between them (four times in a half lap in one instance), as the Exige was better through the corners, while the Mazda had a significant power advantage. Then later in the day they had a Spec Miata race that had sixty-eight Mazdas on the track at the same time.
The Friday morning replay is here.
The Friday afternoon replay, (featuring the race from the gif), is here.
They have the Sunday replay too, but not Saturday for some reason, which is a shame because Saturday featured the slightly crazy Spec Racer Fords.
err… gif!
Oh sure, slowing down before turning makes all the sense in the world, even without the weight-change thing you mention, which also makes sense to me. I meant in an emergency situation locking the wheels is not a good idea, especially if what you really want to do is turn. I suppose it wouldn’t have made any difference either way by then, though, as any attempt to turn at that last second would just have changed the angle at which he hit the wall.
Animals are dicks.
-Tom
I love gifs like this that get funnier the more you watch it.
Yeah, I watched Scott Zolak break a dudes fingers throwing a ball like that.The person who’s fingers broke was talking shit about Zo’s QB ability and that ‘he could catch anything’. NFL QB’s throw really fricking hard.