Gallardo goes off road

Oct 27, 2010, 11:37 am

#1

Member

Joined: Jul 26, 2007
Posts: 520

For those of you that haven't seen this:

At the Texas mile, a twin-turbo Lamborghini hit 250 mph. However, the event was run with a very strong crosswind. At the finish line, the driver popped a parachute. The parachute worked just like it's supposed to--except that due to the crosswind, it caused the car to weathervane into the wind:

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20101026/CARNEWS/101029927

Oct 27, 2010, 2:30 pm

#2

Member

Joined: Sep 14, 2007
Posts: 609

Dam

Oct 27, 2010, 2:37 pm

#3

Official Carrera GT Slayer

Joined: Mar 22, 2007
Posts: 5,668

Im sure the ferrari owners watched in horror from the sidelines waxing their cars and discussing how such a thing never would happen to them with their racing heritage

the Sledgehammer

2001 Lamborghini Diablo 6.0 - Baby Huey!!! <3
2004 Porsche Carrera GT -Terrorizing society since Oct 16 '09 - DEAD
2001 Acura NSX -SOLD-

Oct 28, 2010, 4:48 am

#4

Member

Joined: Aug 5, 2007
Posts: 2,352

Hard to believe the driver walked away. That was nasty.

1983 Datsun 280ZXTurbo

Oct 28, 2010, 1:31 pm

#5

Activities Director

Joined: Mar 11, 2007
Posts: 521

I'm amazed the car stayed together. Notice that the car did not break in half nor did it jettison the engine and/or drive train - unlike other exotics (see below). Some days it pays to drive an Audi.

Oct 28, 2010, 2:05 pm

#6

Official Carrera GT Slayer

Joined: Mar 22, 2007
Posts: 5,668

cars like the Enzo and CGT ate desinged to split in half just like F1 cars to absorb the blow. When I had the engine out of the CGT you could clearly see where and how the CGT was suposed to, pretty cool

and that G had a role cage in it.....

Oct 28, 2010, 3:43 pm

#7

Activities Director

Joined: Mar 11, 2007
Posts: 521

Good point. The trajectory of the car resulted in head-on (and "tail-on" ) contact with the ground, so the front end and back end aborbed most of the energy of the impact. If it had landed flat on the roof, I wonder if the roll cage would have held up? Certainly without it the results would have been considerably more grim.

Oct 28, 2010, 4:21 pm

#8

Official Carrera GT Slayer

Joined: Mar 22, 2007
Posts: 5,668

doltmo wrote

Good point. The trajectory of the car resulted in head-on (and "tail-on" ) contact with the ground, so the front end and back end aborbed most of the energy of the impact. If it had landed flat on the roof, I wonder if the roll cage would have held up? Certainly without it the results would have been considerably more grim.

I think if you crashed it that way 9 more times half the time he may have walked away the other half not so much. Probualy more luck of how the car absorbed the impact than anything. Crashes over 150mph cause internal organs to smack around and bleed, the cage might hold up being slammed to the ground over 200mph on the roof, but I doubt the drivers various inside organs would

the Sledgehammer

2001 Lamborghini Diablo 6.0 - Baby Huey!!! <3
2004 Porsche Carrera GT -Terrorizing society since Oct 16 '09 - DEAD
2001 Acura NSX -SOLD-