There was absolutely nothing that could have been done to prevent that crash once the blow out had occurred. There was clearly no way of getting that car back, it would have been a lot less worse though had the crash occurred on a drag strip with solid walls allowing a heavy high speed glance rather than digging in and rolling, in fact even rolling on a hard surface probably wouldn't have been that bad. Credit to it, however badly it may have been flawed by instability issues, it held up extremely well given the speed of the impact.
Hammond fury at crash blame
- Thread starter TurnerGTX
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There was absolutely nothing that could have been done to prevent that crash once the blow out had occurred. There was clearly no way of getting that car back, it would have been a lot less worse though had the crash occurred on a drag strip with solid walls allowing a heavy high speed glance rather than digging in and rolling, in fact even rolling on a hard surface probably wouldn't have been that bad. Credit to it, however badly it may have been flawed by instability issues, it held up extremely well given the speed of the impact.
AnGuRuSO
Well-Known Member
shouldn't Hammond be the one running around blaming people? This is hilarious.
BurnsRubber
Member
What I want to know is, why does the stupid car owner have slick radial tires for front wheels on a drag car. Here in the states we have drag cars that not only go 300+ MPH, but run the quarter-mile in under 5 seconds, and they do it all day long without front tires blowing.
That guys a complete idiot claiming there was anything Hammond could of done in that situation. John Force would crash hard too.
That guys a complete idiot claiming there was anything Hammond could of done in that situation. John Force would crash hard too.
Peter3hg
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What an idiot, I doubt even Chuck Norris could have kept that the right way up on the black stuff.
The front wheels of a top fuel dragster really do very little due to the fact that even when they are in contact in the ground they take very little of the load due to the rear weight bias. A jet car is very different, as the load isn't shifted to the rear in the same way under acceleration as it is through a rear differential. Due to the loads on all wheels the front drag tires would have been unsuitable and rear drag tires equally so because they have far too much resistance. So imagine you're building a botch job jet car 20 years ago with little money left, and never enough in the first place to do tire R+D, what's the best bet going to be? You need something to take a fair amount of weight, ruling out single seater slicks and front drag wheels whilst rated as fast as you can get, what else was (or is?) there available at a low price that does it better than second hand Nascar tires?
As for the issue of why drag cars don't suffer from blow outs like this, I doubt any dragster would choose (or be allowed) to run in strong enough cross winds to have to be actively compensating for them (and put a huge load on the tires).
Ventura6
Active Member
All I'm saying is, if he had a jet fighter like reflexes, he probably could have steered left and kept it on the black. That's what I would have done. Steer left.
STrRedWolf
Active Member
The crash made MSNBC's Countdown that next Monday. It was shown in it's "Oddball" segment, and Keith Oberman (the host) noted the owner of the Viper had blamed Hammond for the crash -- and said "Lay off the Hamster! He nearly died in your death trap on wheels."
Video link on main Countdown page: Let's play Oddball!
Video link on main Countdown page: Let's play Oddball!
Blythy
Well-Known Member
I like how it appears hammond was trying to break the world land speed record..
and that the crash happened in november apparently...
and that his middle name is hamster - what a coincidence.
and that the crash happened in november apparently...
and that his middle name is hamster - what a coincidence.
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Well watch the videos again you can clearly see he did apply opposite lock, not that it did much in a fundamentally unstable vehicle at nearly 300 mph with limited steering lock. IMO looking at the lateral acceleration of that thing once the tire blew I think there is absolutely no way of holding it. The best thing to do in that circumstance would be to apply opposite lock and some braking to try and reduce the speed at which you hit the grass and most importantly kill the engine, pulling the parachute at that speed in an out of control vehicle (as the guy said) would at best have had no effect, and just added yet more debris to the accident.
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Brakes at that speed are absolutely useless.
There is really nothing he could have done.. except ride it out.
as for skinnies on the front of jet dragsters..
it's pretty much the norm.. not wide tires.
as for opposite lock steering.. the car probably only has 20~30 degrees total steering.. lock to lock.. one of the reasons it's very important to line it up straight before starting the run.. a degree or two off and you get really wayward.. really quick.
There is really nothing he could have done.. except ride it out.
as for skinnies on the front of jet dragsters..
it's pretty much the norm.. not wide tires.
as for opposite lock steering.. the car probably only has 20~30 degrees total steering.. lock to lock.. one of the reasons it's very important to line it up straight before starting the run.. a degree or two off and you get really wayward.. really quick.
Remember the Vampire was designed ages ago (about 20 years IIRC) when the availability of tires that could safely do the job was much more limited than today. Lots of the old rocket/jet dragsters used racing slicks. With modern tire technologies and better thought of weight distribution I'm sure skinny tires could be used. Older jet/rocket cars were very crude (in fact I think the car on the right is an early version of the Vampire).
http://www.the-rocketman.com/rocket_cars/JET-DOUG-CHUTE-OUT_lg.jpg
http://www.the-rocketman.com/rocket_cars/JET-DOUG-CHUTE-OUT_lg.jpg
countvlad
Thread bumper from hell
Ultimatly richard was not well trained enough really to use this car, If you think that most of the time the people who use these cars have been dedicated race drivers then you start to see that Mr hammond was really putting himself at risk.
Well TBH there actually wasn't alot to be done and the risks would have been pretty much the same for anyone. Most people who build those things really don't have a clue what they're doing the first time they get in their cars. Unlike a conventional racing car a drag car really is all hanging on, a jet car even more so you just press the button to start the run and then hang on until it's time to stop.