NASCAR to examine McDowell’s car
The significant number is the change in velocity, which Darby said was “substantial" with McDowell’s car.
Huh? In each race every vehicle goes from zero velocity to its maximum velocity, and the majority of the time there are no dangerous consequences from it. Not only did McDowell's car experience its maximum change in velocity, but so did every NASCAR car at TMS.
G-force or acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. The rate of change of velocity (G-force) is what's dangerous, not a simple "change in velocity."
04/12/08 G-force readings from Michael McDowell’s grinding crash at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend were lower than other major wrecks in NASCAR, but Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby said the nature of severe crashes in the new car has changed so much that G-force readings don’t mean as much as they once did.
NASCAR has begun the process of thoroughly examining McDowell’s battered Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota in its Research & Development Center, Darby said, adding that the G-force numbers were “pretty low."
But that wasn’t totally unexpected, because the design of the new car and the SAFER barrier has changed crash dynamics.
“G-forces overall have been reduced," Darby said. “But when you look at the big picture, the G-force is the least significant number anyway."
The significant number is the change in velocity, which Darby said was “substantial" with McDowell’s car.
“They weren’t the worst we’ve ever seen by any means," Darby said. “But part of the process of building a safer race car is to reduce all those numbers as best we can. Even when we understand completely the final numbers – which ultimately will be lower than what we’ve seen in the past – that’s what we’re looking for." Scenedaily.com
04/06/08 Before Michael McDowell's totaled #00 Toyota winds up in the salvage yard, NASCAR's research and development team wants a chance to inspect the damage. McDowell was able to walk away from an accident in Friday's qualifying session that later took Texas Motor Speedway crews three hours to replace a 28-foot section of the SAFER barrier that was severely bowed by the impact. The battered hulk of what remained of McDowell's machine was placed under a tarp and will be on its way to the R&D facility in Concord, N.C., next week. NASCAR vice president for competition Robin Pemberton said it's standard procedure for NASCAR to evaluate how its safety initiatives hold up in severe crashes, particularly the advancements that have been made in the new car. Pemberton said NASCAR engineers may be particularly interested in this crash, because it should provide some valuable telemetry to show forces and loads on the car when it impacted the SAFER barrier and then tumbled at least eight times. An initial inspection of the car by NASCAR officials following the accident seemed to indicate that all of the safety features on the car performed as expected, according to Pemberton. NASCAR.com