Thomas (aka 'Pork Pie') and Louise made the point that the cockpit on
Spirit of America is strong in modern materials. My point was that without
a tubular roll cage construction in sight (or a letter from the Contest
Board) the SCTA rule book had not been met and a tech official might have
objected - or walked away scratching his/her head. Thrust SSC had no full
cage either as I recall. But it may be academic as jets are not included
in the SCTA rule book now!
It is common practice in single seater and GT car racing to have full
composite chassis and roll over protection and these are immensley strong
and drivers have walked away from major crashes (sadly some have not). How
could such chassis stand up to the long and continuous crashes that can
occur on the salt?
Does anyone know what 'testing' could be done to show if such materials
work as well as or better than steel tube?
My interest is with a few UK racers (and one custom car builder) who are
talking of/ thinking of making trips to the salt flats. Bluebird Electric
have now got Thrust SSC systems engineer Jeremy Bliss as their Technical
Director in the Automotive Group. Jerry also worked on the MGF project and
was working in the Wendover Airport hanger in '98 putting bits of it
together. Watch out for Bluebird Electric III in 2003 perhaps, neither of
the earlier cars could be made SCTA Tech compliant in my view. (But what
do I know, I just organise record attempts!?)
Malcolm Pittwood, Derby, England.
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