Don't crash into a tree

BrianD3

Id say most here know this but a tree is one of the worst things you can crash into when driving. Big stout trees will not budge when hit by a car. Smaller trees can be incredibly strong and even more deadly than big trees as their narrower girth means the impact is concentrated on a small area of the car. Here are pics of a typical tree crash.
http://langlovagok.hu/kepek2006/siofok/061028_bfoldvarcitroen.shtml

Id guess that the speed here was ~40 mph or maybe less yet look at the amount of damage.

There are countless trees similar to this one lining Irish roads, esp. national secondary and regional roads. Often they are in locations where a driver just has to make a small mistake to collide with one. Even if he doing under the speed limit a crash into a tree is often fatal.

peasant

...especially not side-on. Cars have been ripped in half by trees :eek:

Here's a tree growing out of a sun roof:

Rabies

Yup, at least a standard wall will give some bit and break apart. A tree won't

mikemac

This thread reminds me of the motor racing in the Phoenix Park earlier this year.
It looked incredibly dangerous and I was suprised it was allowed to go ahead

Seth Brundle

Racing in the park has been on for decades. Whilst the trees are dangerous and some drivers have met them at speed (Des Cahill IIRC) they are generally far enough back or else separated from the driver by skips, round bales, armco, etc.
Rescue units are also readily available unlike a RTA

Beekay

kbannon wrote:

Racing in the park has been on for decades. Whilst the trees are dangerous and some drivers have met them at speed (Des Cahill IIRC) they are generally far enough back or else separated from the driver by skips, round bales, armco, etc.
Rescue units are also readily available unlike a RTA

Well this year in one of the quaili sessions a formula ford single seater spun into the infield in front of me, and i was convinced he was gonna hit a tree...it was close and i'd say there was sh*t in his underwear!!!


Also the protection from the trees and lamp posts wouldn't be much help, in 97 Fergus Dalton was badly injured in the formula vee...nasty crash.and it was all caught by a photographer

Seth Brundle

I saw the recording of that as part of marshal training for the park.
He hit a concrete gas lamp stump and flipped over and over, literally bouncing off the ground each time. He didn't hit any trees. His car was twisted on its X, Y and Z axes and he suffered multiple fractures.
It was amusing (if thats the word!) to hear the RTE commentators discussing the rescue operation wondering why they basically didn't just pull him out of the wreckage instead of taking their time by doing things carefully.

I was marshaling at the chicane when Des Cahill met a large tree. The worst part of it IIRC was his wife who came down afterwards!

There have been other years when I marshalled at the park and there were no driver incidents. Once when marshaling at the Ordnance Survey, a call came through that an ambulance was on its way down even though I hadn't requested it. It turned out that crowd control came across a spectator who leaned too far over the barrier and ended up face down on the ground!

The park is more dangerous than circuit driving but it is not as bad as it is percieved. Rally driving is probably worse!

BrianD3

Talking of trees and motor racing - poor Jeff Krosnoff died in a CART race in Toronto when his car went up over the barriers and hit a tree and pole with the top of the cockpit, very nasty crash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA_bh7Q_JOo

BrianD3

This is OT but while browsing youtube I found this crash test which was done by 5th gear. Mitsubishi Pajero crashes into the side of a Honda Civic at 60 mph. This test shows how vulnerable a normal car is when side impacted by an SUV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_86RuYXoJA

PS the Civic would also have been very badly damaged if hit by a noarml car at 60 mph.

Beekay

kbannon wrote:

I saw the recording of that as part of marshal training for the park.
He hit a concrete gas lamp stump and flipped over and over, literally bouncing off the ground each time. He didn't hit any trees. His car was twisted on its X, Y and Z axes and he suffered multiple fractures.
It was amusing (if thats the word!) to hear the RTE commentators discussing the rescue operation wondering why they basically didn't just pull him out of the wreckage instead of taking their time by doing things carefully.

I was marshaling at the chicane when Des Cahill met a large tree. The worst part of it IIRC was his wife who came down afterwards!

There have been other years when I marshalled at the park and there were no driver incidents. Once when marshaling at the Ordnance Survey, a call came through that an ambulance was on its way down even though I hadn't requested it. It turned out that crowd control came across a spectator who leaned too far over the barrier and ended up face down on the ground!

The park is more dangerous than circuit driving but it is not as bad as it is percieved. Rally driving is probably worse!

Another one that i just remembered,in 2001 IIRC, Enda o'Connor crashed into a park bench in a formula vee.....