Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Awesome.  Now there will be a tether for the poorly designed front axle tethers.

I think this highlights a lot of the "drivers" concerns over the introduction of this mandatory device.  Some that do not race in this thread seem to not understand as they are looking at it solely from a fans point of view.  Cleary, utilizing a device that will prevent parts from harming fans is in everyones best interest.  And, I'm sure there is not a racer in the country that would not comply.  But, to put a device on a race car that will keep a wheel, hub, part of a knife sharp broken axle, and a tie rod "spear" randomly bouncing around the cockpit area of a race car is redicolous.

The current design is poor ... "rope" (literally) the exact length of the attachment point on the chassis to the drivers head.  Even the manufactuer of it seems to be hiding it on their website as there is no information available on it there.  Yet it's mandated. 

I think what the objecting racers are tyring to communicate is ... lets get a better design in place "before" it is mandated.  One that serves the purpose of protecting fans, but "not" at the expense of further endangering the racers themselves.

Not sure why some on this thread are hating on them for that.

so, it's only 18" from the attachment point to the driver's head??

One of the approved tethers is only 18" long, the other is 24".  From the photo provided by dirtdevil, the attachment point is in FRONT of the engine.  I'm pretty sure that is a lot farther than 24" from the driver's head.

Like I stated before.  Is the tether the 100% this the answer??  Maybe, but maybe not.  But 100% this is NOT THE ANSWER is to do nothing.

Assuming all the parts will be constrained 24" from the anchor point because the teather is 24" long illustrates that you do not understand the issue or design.  Add the length of the axle (from where the current teather attaches to the kingpin), the length of the spindle, and the radius of the wheel/tire ... and yes ... the wheel is right beside the cockpit.  Most of which are wide open.

How would you like a 20 pound wheel/tire smashing into the side of your sprint car cockpit as you are flipping down the straight away?  Think a 1/8" thick piece of fiberglass will protect you?

No one on this thread appears to be advocating "do nothing" as you seem to imply for some unknown reason.  Moreso, that a poor design is not the answer.  You need to fully understand and think through all the consequences, otherwise you may be responsible for hurting a driver (or worse).

thanks Fasterin3, i was hoping some of you were trying to understand the drivers concern here, there is several good ideas and again the current (apparently mandated) desighn is pretty shy of promice.. i belive it will contain the axle to the destroyed chassis, again achieving its primary concern of the fams-and drivers in some instances, that being said, there is a HUGE margin for updates that of which World Racing Group has clarified in thier 2014 rules, the "airbox" radiator portion of the chassis commonly stays intact with a destroyed chassis this portion of the chassis is forward more that of the front radius mounting spuds (front motorplare uprights) my request is the teathers be mouted in a fassion to the X braxing commonly on a typical sprint chassis, the (wheel) ancor point would be on the spindle/kingpin location,  the avalibility to contain the wheel assembly is greater, these funky brakets clamped to the axle are kinda bulky and location is aft the common sheer point of a front axle, quite honesly the clap provedes a wall thickness that will increase possibly causing the axle to sheer there possibly, its all speculation, the teathers will be a difficult addition to safety ,over time all the ideas of driver safety have been hashed out and corrected to something with a comfortable degree of compromize, before i get highjacked by Buzz again, I am by no means trying to start a rant or bash on anyone or thier products, im simply a concerned driver, and if you speek to other drivers the word in the pits will be a intresting one, several different directions will be faced and debated, were on the right path, just choosen a little premature (manditation) in my opinion.. i will almost guarentee the design of these teathers will be changed within this season. Thus, this post was started from a rumor abourt Dietrich's opinion on the matter.. hes not alone..  why would he be concerned over a tracks rules 16hrs from where he races frequently, he knows WoO will mandate also and doesnt comply with the begining stages of a problem thier trying to(mildly) address.

intresting note, alot of folks are concerned about the axle going somewhere, well,  if a chassis is disrupted enuff for a complete front axle to be detatched from a chassis, doesnt that validate the possibity of other debris/projectiles from becoming detached from the chassis,  I was in Knoxville for the Dingus event several years ago, I believe it was Nate Mosers wreck down the front streach that catipulted the torsion assembly over hwy 14, there was a pic of the cars roof that was hit from the assembly, this is a bit over thought, but, other items rather than the axle will become more frequent to dislodge from a chassis ,  but thats not anyones concern, just the front axle , facts are facts, Mosers torsion assembly did the damage, not the front axle,   Maybe "choke" the axle teathers in a fassion to contain the front end possibly?  I dunno, just food for thought.. how about complete cars, Knoxvill has has record wrecks that the entire car is out of the ballpark not once, not twice, several times, we see it on videos ect a car leaving the racing surface, Moster trucks! OMG moster trucks running over fans, we continue to go.. they continue to promote,, kids are half the audiance.. motorsports are dangerous, for everyone,  just try be alert at all times, and enjoy yourself..

there are quite a few on here (and some drivers) that are indeed advocating "doing nothing" as they do not see it as an issue of any sort.

Like I stated a couple times: Is this tether 100% the answer?? Maybe, Maybe Not - the fact is that right now, it is the best option available as the other option is to do nothing.

IMO, stronger tubing at the front of the car would be a good change, however, that means the car has less "crush zone" and a stiffer chassis will mean the driver feels more of the impact instead of the car dissipating that energy.

You obviously have no concept of inertia.  When flipping or turning over in a circular motion, the parts and pieces are moving OUTWARD away from teh cockpit, even barrell rolling loose items are "thrown" away from the object (that's why people that don't wear their seatbelt are "thrown" from the vehicle when they roll a car.

If you (or anyone else) has a better design idea, why aren't you working with manufacturers to have the design tested and approved?  Only reason I can think of is because you either don't have any ideas or you feel that it is not needed (ie: you see not problems).

The local racers @ Knoxville aren't paying for these tethers (the KRCO bought them), but last I'd heard, none of them have been pushing back on the rule, so they obviously see them as a good idea and don't feel they endanger their safety.

Is there anything at a race track that would stop the outward inertia of a portion of the front end teathered to a car, swinging around wildy during a crash, that would cause it to hit the driver.  Hmmmmm ... tough one.  Lets see ... oh yeah.  The track?  Another car?  The wall?  Maybe you can't see those from the stands.

Let's see if I can make this simpler for you to comprehend ...

Teathering = Good

Teathering with a piece of rope that makes the teathered parts endanger the driver = Bad

Therefore, a decent teather needs to be developed before it is made mandatory.

as long as you have these tethers mounted as directed there is no rule that you can not add other tether points.  The nylon ropes weigh almost nothing, and if you have a better idea add them to your car and bring it to tracks attention as a possible improvement.

Quit bringing logic into the conversation.   This was brought up two pages ago, but the naysayers were too busy saying NAY.

From the posts they are making, they have no ideas, they are just complaining about this being mandated. 

They owe it to THEMSELVES to be pro-active and asking themselves how to make it better and giving that feedback to the manufacturer, series and tracks so the tether (or something new) can be further developed, tested, and implemented. 

But, they'd rather come on a message board and complain about it instead of working on solutions and working WITH the tracks, series and manufacturers instead of against them.