This Forum has 102,000 members, and nobody has ever claimed 1337 for their username. What a bunch of n00bs.
Amasing pic!
The Twin Towers on a crystal clear September morning, before the attacks of 9/11.
This very-long-lens (telephoto) view of the Twin Towers, with the Statue of Liberty in the foreground,
was taken from the New Jersey shore of Upper Bay, looking northeast.
The camera was about 2 miles (3¼ km) from Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty,
and about 4½ miles (7¼ km) from the Twin Towers.
For a gallery of photographs taken after the attacks on 9/11, click here —
They Were There: 9/11 Photographers - Photo Gallery - LIFE
911 Photos of 9/11: Gallery 1 - Photo Gallery - LIFE
Images of September 11 | Video | Reuters.com
We’ve made a good beginning in tracking down and killing the barbarians who perpetrated these attacks.
We must not rest until we have exterminated the last trace of this menace.
How to incinerate a planet…
Recent solar flare image captured by amateur astronomer. Earth included for size comparison.
Who’s awsome…
I’ve watched a lot of auto racing.
I’ve never seen a crash that was scarier than the one that killed Dan Wheldon in Las Vegas today.
Dan Wheldon was the 2011 Indianapolis 500 winner just 5 months ago.
Here’s one of the first articles to appear on the internet. No doubt there will be many more.
Indy 500 winner Wheldon dies in massive wreck - Motor sports- NBC Sports
OPEN-WHEEL/OPEN-C0CKPIT racing at 225 mph on high-banked oval tracks is about as risky as auto racing gets.
More photos (in slide-show format) —
Motor - IndyCar crash in Las Vegas - FOX Sports Photo Gallery | FOX Sports on MSN
Yes, horrible, as soon as I saw the crash unfold I feared someone might not make it out. Dark day. I met him, years ago, at a test day - very nice guy, sad day today.
To me the amazing thing is that this sort of tragedy is so rare in a sport that combines speed, combustion engines and highly explosive fuel.
They certainly do a good job security-wise, but even so accidents/tragedies cannot be entirely prevented. I still remember when Ayrton Senna died so tragically many years ago.
I think Sunday’s tragedy represented a number of unique issues, all coming together in a “perfect storm”.
The long-standing issue of the unprotected rear wheels of the current Dallara chassis has been addressed in the new chassis design, scheduled for introduction in 2012. More on the new design in a moment.
The current design makes front-to-rear contact between two cars (at speed) especially risky. When any part of the nose, front wing, or front wheel assembly of one car (call it Car A) hits the back of the exposed rear tire of another car (Car B), then Car A is likely to override the rear tire of Car B, and go airborne. Part of the reason that Dan Wheldon was killed, while several other drivers walked away unscathed, is that Dan’s car went airborne, and was hurled completely over the “safer barrier”, and was thrown top-side-first into the “catch fence” above the barrier wall.
The head of Dallara calls IndyCars, using the current chassis design, “open coffins”.
Dallara IndyCar: Dallara says IndyCar race cars are ‘open coffins’ - fox59.com
But, there were other serious issues in Sunday’s race. The high-banked oval track at Las Vegas is designed for Nascar, not for IndyCar. Nascar racecars, with their enclosed “sedan type” body-work, racing at 180-190 mph, are a different breed of cat, altogether, from lighter, faster, open-wheel IndyCars, in which drivers’ heads are exposed to top-side impact.
Several drivers expressed concerns, before the race, about the speeds being driven in qualifying runs (225+ mph, 362 km/h), and about running an actual race at those speeds. At least one IndyCar driver refused to race on the Las Vegas track.
Then, there’s the issue of the number of cars in the race — 34 cars running mostly in a bunch, sometimes 4 wide (four-abreast across the width of the track). Many drivers said that was a recipe for disaster.
In the redesign of the IndyCar chassis, four manufacturers competed by submitting “concept car” designs to the IndyCar organization. Late last year, Dallara, the designer of the current chassis, was selected as the winner.
As part of a total redesign of the car, the new Dallara chassis puts body-work behind the exposed rear tires of 2012 Indy Cars, in an attempt to make front-to-rear impacts less likely to launch either car into the air.
Prototypes of the winning design were rolled out soon after the announcement.
2012 Dallara Indycar Chassis Prototype - YouTube
Okay, can the music, we get the idea — from above, the new chassis looks like a manta ray.
I guess, in motion, out on the track, it will look like a manta ray [I]swimming backward.[/I]
Gaming nostalgia
Thank you for all that, Clint, interesting stuff. Thank you, particularly, for the link to the 2012 Dallara. As you say, that rear bodywork looks as though it would offer some protection against the rear-end impact you describe.
I follow F1 more than IndyCar (the races are usually during the night or at odd hours for us!) but we have the same issue - Mark Webber had an accident along the lines you describe last season, he touched rear tyre of a car that braked harder than he anticipated, and was launched into the air at 150mph or so - he did a loop the loop, a full 360, and was lucky in that he came down on his wheels - the chassis was trashed but he got out unscathed. Had he landed the other way up it might have been quite nasty.
So I expect that following this we will get a similar change in F1. About time - we have had many examples of cars launching into the air in similar circumstances, particularly off the start.
ST
Thanks for your comments about Formula One, ST. I don’t follow F1 to nearly the extent that you do — but, I was a Michael Schumacher fan during his career with Ferrari.
I just noticed that Fox (the American t.v. network), whose Fox Sports article I linked to, has [B]sanitized[/B] the article. When I posted previously, the quote from de Ponti was, “IndyCar race cars are open coffins”.
Now the article is headlined: Dallara says IndyCar race cars are ‘0PEN C0CK PIT’. Well, duh. I think we knew that.
I’m not the only one who caught the sanitizing. In the [B]current[/B] version of the article, there’s one comment, from a poster named GuySnyderIV, which I have copied and pasted here (before Fox sanitizes it, as well):
GuySnyderIV at 5:36 PM October 18, 2011
Why does your Google link say "Dallara says IndyCar race cars are “open coffins”? That needs to be addressed.
Regarding the new Dallara chassis, I’m sure it’s safer. And I don’t dispute the fact that safety is paramount. But, before the rear wrap-around “bumper” became a non-negotiable requirement, Dallara submitted a couple of “concepts cars” that I liked better.
Here’s a previous post from just before the 2010 Indianapolis 500 — 301 Moved Permanently
Click on the [B]Dallara Concept Cars for 2012[/B] YouTube video link, and see whether you agree with me. I like the [I]first[/I] red one (Car #1). The music is better in this video, too.
To my eye, there’s something really sexy about those (dangerous) exposed rear wheels. Kinda like a topless woman — just makes your pulse speed up.
I guess Car #3 kinda morphed into the “Manta Ray” prototype that won the competition.
Hi Clint,
Thank you for the links. Although must be a fault with mine - I’m sure I clicked on the video of the concept cars, but it fired up the Danica video. I watched to the end, just to be sure that it was not the right one, I’m thorough like that.
Did you upload the concept cars video? I ask as I notice that the poster agrees with you that number one is the nicest.
I agree, too - I get the safety aspect of shielding the rear tyres, but for me bodywork belongs on sports cars. And single seater stuff will never be completely safe, each time they change something it just affects other areas. Senna was killed by his steering column piercing his helmet, so they changed those, now we have the HANS device to protect necks, it keeps changing but we still get injuries and heavy crashes. Goes with the territory.
I like car number 1 a lot more than the other two, shame that they did not run with it. Nice low bodywork line between the front tyres, nice side profile. Really didn’t like the overhead view of car 3, and that’s the one they’re using?
I race historic single seaters, so am with you on this stuff - I basically sit in a large cigar tube with four mid-sixties profile tyres at the corners and an engine behind my head and a tiny roll hoop. Easy to drift and fun to drive, but I know there’s an element of risk. Likewise my main road car is 40-odd years old, passes modern regs but isn’t big on airbags, side impact protection, all of that - but then people get killed in their own bed, so legislation can only go so far. As long as we all know the risks and are not hurting others…
Yes, my wife and I are pretty big F1 fans, and Schumacher fans (we both took German as part of our Uni course, so perhaps that helped!) - we go to an international race each year, have since we married in '99, as well as the British GP. At one point, during the Ferrari years, we attend seven straight races where Schumi won. Happy days!
ST
It’s amazing how those links are able to switch places like that! When that happens, it’s very important to be thorough.
No, when it comes to videos, I’m a complete illiterate. I’ve never uploaded a video to anywhere.
But, the guy (or gal) who uploaded it picked the right car IMO.
It is indeed. I might have to try it again, just so I can understand what went on there.
You and me both!
