homeWelcome, sign in or click here to subscribe.login
     


 

 

Weekend


Subscriber content preview

June 20, 2008

Strange But True!

Q. If steel + gas + rubber are made to equal race car speed, what goes into making the car safer? How do drivers today survive some really spectacular crashes?

A. At Daytona 2003, when Ryan Newman's car pirouetted twice, then slid across the infield and landed upside down, his major complaint was dirt in his teeth, says Diandra Leslie-Pelecky in “The Physics of NASCAR.” “However, we aren't that far removed from the days when drivers didn't joke about crashes.” A race car at 180 mph has 16 times the motion energy as at 45 mph. If you used that same energy to shoot a 150-pound person from a cannon, it would propel the ejectee 5 miles straight up!


 
. . .


To read this story in full login or purchase a subscription.



Previous columns:



Email or user name:
Password:
 
Forgot password? Click here.