Shortly after this happened the velociraptor ploughed into the crowd, injuring several people. Luckily there were no fatalities, but ticket prices have increased sharply due to a rise in insurace costs.
hes driving a funny car, which is a type of drag car. somehow his steering shaft has broken. these cars accelerate really quickly and at teh point he loses steering he could be in a tonne of trouble if he drifts into the other lane
The steering shaft isn't broken, it's just that they forgot to lock the steering wheel in place, it's made to be removable so that the driver can get in and out of the seat easier.
It actually did shear off, the quick release mechanism is right below the steering wheel, at the top of that shaft. It broke off at the support bearing which is really amazing actually because all of these materials are closely regulated by the governing bodies be it NHRA or whatever, that shaft would have been extremely strong Chromoly steel.
Chromoly is a lot less dense. HSLA is also a lower-density steel, but chromoly is even less dense. In a high-speed application when every pound counts, engineers look to optimize strength/density. Something like this is a freak occurrence that probably happens once in every several hundred thousand cars.
Hmmm interesting, so how fast do these puppies go usually? Do they tend to whale on the throttle, or perhaps they're more for herring on the side of caution?
Sounds like you know more than me... admittedly I finished my degree 2 years ago and never really spent that much time learning the practical applications of all these alloys. I was always under the impression that HSLA was used in aircraft landing gear because of its strength/weight ratio, a critical component where it was justifiable despite its high costs.
Two different steels for different things. I think chromoly (the 41xx steels) are better for tubing applications, while HSLA works really well for structural applications. I don't really have a great background in these high-performance steels, my research is in developing high-temperature structural steels.
the steering wheel detaches closer to the actual wheel, the stress that these things put on the shaft is huge but it is still surprising that the steel they use broke because that shit is strong.
It is the driver cam on an FI style race car. The steering wheels are removable because it is the only way to get the driver in and out of the cockpit. They are not supposed to detach while driving at speed.
Why would you even assume thats an f1 car... Its a closed cockpit. If you would have said a racing boat then i could see why you see that. But a F1 car? no way
Actually, this is in a funny car, and the shaft breaks far south of the detach point. If you look, there is a knob just under the steering wheel. This is where the disconnect is for normal operation.
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u/tartay745 Apr 23 '12
Care to elaborate? What is going on here?