I’ve seen Nascar crashes where a car going 180 goes sideways into a wall, and then gets t-boned by other cars that were also going 180 mph and yet no rollover and the cars barely look damaged and everyone walks away unscathed. Meanwhile normal passenger cars go sideways doing 50mph and they roll over 6 times, gets demolished, and kills the driver. What is it about Nascar cars that make them so crash resistant/resilient?
In: Engineering
They use very rigid roll cages. Roll cages are only safe though when combined with other safety equipment like a multipoint harness, helmet, and Hans device (neck restraint device). This type of safety equipment is extremely inconvenient to use in day to day driving so regular road going cars trade some safety for a more convenient 3-point seatbelt, airbags, and crumple zones that purposefully deform to absorb energy.
EDIT: Not to say NASCAR and other motorsports can’t incorporate crumple zones too, but they will still have a super rigid crash structure directly surrounding the driver.
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