Crash – The Unmuffled Auto News

July 2, 2016July 2, 2016 zoomvroom Car Culture, Tech Talk, World News

The First Recorded Crash Involving Tesla’s Autopilot Feature and Why It Is So Important

While I know that this crash has been highly publicized in the past few days, I find it only fitting that I should publish a blog post on this.

On May 7, in Williston, Florida, a fatal accident occurred. While this shouldn’t come as a surprise to many, it should It doesn’t matter that the deceased driver of a Tesla Model S became one of the 3,287 daily deaths from automotive crashes every day. It certainly doesn’t make it any easier to digest.

This incident was the first self-driving car death on record. Between Tesla’s extensive testing of the semi-autonomous Autopilot feature, and owners’ use of the feature, there are 130 million miles of Autopilot being used.

The fatal accident occurred when a tractor-trailer made a left turn at an intersection without a traffic light in front of the Tesla. The driver, Joshua Brown, died of injuries sustained in the wreck.

Tesla published a blog post saying that the Model S was travelling on a divided highway with Autopilot engaged when the tractor-trailer crossed its path.

“Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S. Had the Model S impacted the front or rear of the trailer, even at high speed, its advanced crash safety system would likely have prevented serious injury as it has in numerous other similar incidents.”

Tesla went onto say that they were saddened by the loss of Brown, who was a “friend to Tesla and the broader EV community,” as well as stating that the risk of injury will decrease as Autopilot gets better over time, as it is currently in a public beta stage. Whenever Autopilot is engaged, a warning is displayed to remind the driver that the technology is in public beta and that the driver should have both hands on the wheel at all times, in the event of an emergency such as this.

Per company policy, Tesla notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration when they heard of the incident. NHTSA has since launched an investigation into the crash and Autopilot.

The AP (Associated Press) reports that the driver of the truck, Frank Baressi, says that he heard a “Harry Potter” movie playing in the Tesla following the crash, however he was not able to see where it was coming from. NHTSA investigators do not believe it was playing on the massive infotainment screen in the Tesla (which would require hacking into the operating system of the car). However, the report does state that a portable DVD player was found in the car following the crash, but it is unclear whether it was playing at the time of the crash.

Baressi could face charges for making an unsafe maneuver, but he claims that he was unable to see the Model S, as it was travelling at a high rate of speed. It appears that Baressi failed to yield to the right-of-way when making a left turn, especially in something large and heavy enough that he could not accelerate quickly enough to get out of the way.

It is understandable to me why Tesla, ever the perfectionist, would not want to release Autopilot as a final product just yet. To me, Tesla should not have named Autopilot as such. It implies that the car can fully drive itself without ANY control from the driver (it can do about 75% of that).

The co-developer of the Autopilot technology used in the Model S, Mobileye, said that the technology was not designed for such circumstances. The automatic emergency braking feature built into Autopilot is specifically designed to avoid rear-end collisions, and the incident was one that it could not have prevented. Mobileye went onto say that by 2018, there will be a Lateral Turn Across Path detection capability in it’s systems, and said feature will be included as part of the Euro NCAP safety ratings in 2020.

While we will have to wait for the official NHTSA report to come out, we can only speculate. Here’s my two cents:

This was a clear case of user error. Whether Brown was watching Harry Potter at the time of the crash or not, he obviously did not see Baressi’s tractor-trailer pulling out in front of him. It doesn’t matter how fast he was going – the crash would have likely happened regardless. That’s not to say that speed wasn’t a factor in the crash. If Brown had been going slower (the speed he was travelling is not currently released to the public), he might be alive. Baressi clearly did not see the Model S, or he would not have made the turn.

April 29, 2015 zoomvroom Car Culture, Random, The auto dictionary. Look it up here!

The Evolution of Crazy

Pro Street is a popular form of hot rodding nowadays. It’s also incredibly easy to define, unlike rat rods or Pro Touring. Pro Street is classic cars with the rear wheeltubs dramatically enlarged for insanely wide tires. However, defining Pro Street gets a bit more difficult from there. Is it a fairgrounds car with big dirt tires? A street-optimized race car? A race-optimized street car? Or is it a full-on race car? It can be any and all of those. Pro Street has evolved throughout the years from essentially fairgrounds cars to street-optimized race cars. I’ve taken the pleasure of outlining important years and cars in the evolution of Pro Street. While your idea of Pro Street might differ, or not be there, I hope this helps.

1972: Grumpy Jenkins Pro Stock Vega: Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins essentially ushered in Pro Street with the advent of his groundbreaking NHRA Pro Stock tube-chassis Chevy Vega in 1972. Nobody had ever seen massive tires tucked under a production body before. Yes, the extreme Funny Cars had been using the look for a few years prior, but they had fiberglass body shells, so let’s not count those. Grumpy went all-out groundbreaking by using a completely tubular frame, which allowed him to run those massive 14-inch-wide and 32-inch-tall drag slicks previously reserved for Top Fuel. Every single Pro Stock car borrows heavily from that groundbreaking Vega in 1972.

1979: Scott Sullivan’s 1967 Chevy Nova: No, this beautiful 1967 Chevy Nova was not the first Pro Street car. Not by a long shot. However, it was the first car to get massive attention past a small magazine feature on it. It thundered onto the scene in 1979, just a year after the Car Craft Street Machine Nationals were launched to tire-burning success. It created the perfect test-and-tune environment for Pro Street. Sullivan has been known for setting hot rodding trends with just about every car that he builds. His 1967 Nova was no exception. It may not have been as innovative as his other cars, but it doesn’t make it any less beautiful, thanks to it’s highlight stripe and color-matched bumpers. It even had the perfect stance. Sullivan sold the car in 1984 to Pro Mod racer Ron Iannotti.

1980: Some Tubbed Street Machines: Many street rod builders of the late 1970s became brainwashed by Scott Sullivan’s beautiful 1967 Chevy Nova (see above), and completely redid their cars. Just about every car from this era had the back half of their chassis tubbed, and many builders simply moved the leaf springs far inside the chassis to fit the massive drag slicks. Seeing a car with a Roots blower sticking out of the hood was a must well into the 1990s.

1985: Fully Tubbed Street Rods: The cover of the July 1985 ‘Hot Rod’ magazine announced the “Fat Attack” of fully tubbed street rods. One of the cars on the cover was “Fat Jack” Robinson’s 1946 Ford coupe, painted in a vivid Coast Guard orange. The car was tubbed like a true Pro Street car, but it was intended to thunder down the drag strips of America. His car was the result of the first round of the nostalgia drag racing scene of the time. His car inspired several other pre-1948 fully-tubbed cars. Those cars on the cover of ‘Hot Rod’ showed how the Pro Street look merging into the vast world of street rods. It wasn’t long before you’d look around at a hot rod show and see a bunch of 1940s Ford coupes sporting massive rubber. Unfortunately for Fat Jack Robinson, his car ended up being totaled in a crash at Fremont Drag Strip.

1992: Trailer/Fairgrounds Queens: Dick Dobbertin’s nutso Pontiac J2000 Pro Street car arrived on the scene in 1986. You’re probably wondering why I said 1992. That’s because the trend of taking a lowly late-model FWD car being converted to a fully-tubbed, RWD car started then. It made it OK to build an over-the-top Pro Street car that only looked good, which have now been dubbed Pro Fairgrounds. Why Pro Fairgrounds? The show venue was the only place where these cars could really shine. I mean, who would really want to drive a car with more than 1,000 horsepower and a short wheelbase down a dragstrip? If you want that kind of crazy, buy a vintage Fuel Altered car. This radical Pontiac J2000 started the Dare to be Different movement in the automotive world, by starting battles to see who was able to build a bonkers Pro Fairgrounds car that nobody else had built yet. Soon thereafter, builders came to their senses and started the Dare to be the Same movement, which leads us to our next section.

1992: C.A.R.S. Camaro: Many of the builders of Pro Fairgrounds resented building cars they couldn’t drive. They wanted truly functional rides, not simple street rods with a big block, but cars that had gigantic rubber, big wheelies, and low drag strip times. Detroit and Ohio even started a large movement to build cars that were all-steel-bodied, fully tubbed, go eight seconds in the quarter mile, dress them up with bumpers and various trim pieces, cruise them up and down the iconic Woodward Avenue in Detroit with license plates, and then race them head-to-head all weekend. One of the first cars featured in magazines was the C.A.R.S. Inc.-sponsored Chevy Camaro of Rick Dyer and Danny Scott. That iconic Camaro served as the main inspiration for the ‘Hot Rod’ 1992 Fastest Street Car Shootout.

1993: Mark Tate’s Chevy Camaro: That little Fastest Street Car Shootout gained so much popularity so quickly that it couldn’t sustain itself. The heavyweight champs, the Pro Street cars, were losing to flat-out Pro Stock-chassis cars. Those Pro Stock chassis cars were never meant to be driven on the street, unlike the Pro Street cars. Mark Tate joined the fray in 1993 with his stock-bodied Pro Stock-chassis 1967 Chevy Camaro. Then it was Tony Christian’s 1957 Chevy 210. After Christian, it was Bob Reiger and his radical Pro Stock Chevy S-10. Appeal for Pro Stock/Pro Street cars started to wane. These weren’t cars you could build in the garage for $10,000 anymore. These were cars racking up bills well over $100,000. People wanted fast cars that they could drive on the street for not much money.

2011: “Modern Pro Street:” This is a total niche created in the Pro Street world by those wanting a fast car with all of the modern mechanicals. Cars of this look have a Pro Fairgrounds look, street machine behavior, and sometimes a late-model body. These cars usually have the newest engines, turbos, EFI, and the wheels are usually gigantic with incredible tread. The beautiful Mustang shown here is the 2007 Ford Mustang from Fastlane Motorsports. It has a 2010 5.4-liter V-8 with an old-school Weiand 6-71 blower showing out of the hood.

2012: Larry Larson’s Chevy Nova: This is where Pro Street is now. Larry Larson owns a stunning 1966 Chevrolet Nova that has truly incredible performance. He’s run 6.90 seconds at well over 200 mph in the quarter mile after driving 80 mph on the highway all day. How does he do it? Modern technology. He’s got a bored and stroked Chevy big-block motor with twin turbochargers, EFI, and lots of other amazing technology. He’s able to drive it all day to a drag strip, run incredible times, turn around and go home without killing his car. He’s had a LOT of experience in the drag racing world, so he only uses the best parts. If Grumpy Jenkins were alive today, his mind would be absolutely blown. Mine is.

That’s where Pro Street is, and where it’s come from. These cars have state-of-the-art technology, and they are actually quite streetable cars.

March 24, 2015 zoomvroom Car Culture, Random, World News

A Real Life Mario Kart Crash!

This crash is the definition of insane. It happened fairly recently too.

The Derek Bell Cup at the 73rd Goodwood Member’s Meeting, which is essentially a place where really rich car guys get together and race their vintage race cars for a trophy. It sounds like a whole lot of fun. There was one moment that I still can’t get over. It was one of those “Oh my G-d HOW the hell did that happen?” moments.

For the record, the Derek Bell Cup is for Formula 3 cars. It is not for every other class of car!

This bonkers crash happened on the second flat-out lap of the qualifying session. Paul Waine’s beautiful red De Sanctis-Ford hit Michael Scott’s equally beautiful 1969 Brabham-Ford BT28 at the legendary Madwick corner.

Waine’s airborne #10 Ford was credited with a still-impressive 17th place for qualifying, but had to retire from the rest of the event. Scott’s Ford somehow got through another six laps before qualifying in 20th place. Scott then went on to finish 13th in the actual race.

The De Sanctis-Ford was an Italian effort that took much inspiration from the Brabham cars of the late 1960s, and was powered by a Ford engine. What seems illogical to me is the fact that the De Sanctis family ran a Fiat dealership. Nonetheless, 1969 was a disappointing year for them.

The Brabham-Ford cars were extremely successful F3 (Formula 3) cars throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Here’s a link to the video of the crash. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWVPL8oEFJs

Another saddening crash was Jochen Mass, who slammed a priceless Mercedes-Benz 300 SLS into a Lister. Both cars were racing in the Salvadori Cup, and from footage I’ve seen, it looked like the Lister wanted to enter the pits when Mass tried to help. It looks like Mass locked up the brakes in the 300 SLS, and by the time he let up on the brakes, it was simply too late. Cars of that era aren’t known for their braking prowess (they were in the day), so it is a sad surprise. Like any race car worth it’s racing slicks, I’m sure that both cars will be repaired and racing again in no time at all.

Jochen Mass Took Out A Lister With A Mercedes 300 SLS

Here’s an action shot:

August 16, 2014 zoomvroom Car Culture, The auto dictionary. Look it up here!, World News

What Makes Last Week’s Sprint Car Tragedy So Special?

There’s no denying that last week’s tragedy at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in upstate New York is horrific. For those of you who don’t know, Tony Stewart, a very good sprint car and NASCAR driver, had an on-track collision with a fellow sprint car driver, Kevin Ward, Jr. Ward’s car spun out, hit the wall, and suffered a flat tire. Ward then proceeded to climb out of his car and stride down the track pointing his finger at Stewart. As Stewart’s car went by, Ward was struck by the rear right wheel of Stewart’s car, sending him flying a good 20 feet down the track. Health officials said that Ward was killed on impact. The result? A massive internet phenomenon where just about every internet user has become an “expert” on sprint cars overnight. While I’m not a sprint car expert either, I do find them fascinating. The reason for this post being almost a week behind the tragedy is that I wanted to put some time behind the incident to gather more information and let everybody cool off.

Here’s what happened – Tony Stewart grew up driving sprint cars until his mid-20’s, when he became heavily involved in NASCAR and IndyCar. He still drove sprint cars for fun. After he got out of IndyCar around 2005, Stewart went full-time into NASCAR. He went into NASCAR’s prestigious Sprint Cup Series, where he won three Cups. He has won many, many races in NASCAR, sprint cars, and IndyCar. He may have a reputation for having a temper, but he’s calmed down in the last few years. According to those who know him and have interviewed him, the man has a heart of gold, but can act impulsively. When Danica Patrick came to Stewart-Haas racing, Tony personally started coaching her. He’s been a driving force in sprint car safety measures ever since he suffered a severely broken leg last year in a sprint car race in Iowa. His broken leg was so bad that it forced him to go around in a mobility scooter for a good 4 months. He had to miss the rest of the NASCAR season, making him ineligible for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

This year, Tony’s been back with an eye on the prize. He’s already gotten one pole at a race, and started in the Top 5 4 times. But, the death of Kevin Ward, Jr. last weekend shook him. He was scheduled to race the next day at Watkins Glen International Raceway for the Cheez-it 355, but decided not to race after the tragedy the night before. On Thursday, he released a statement saying that he will not be racing at Michigan International Speedway, and that Jeff Burton will continue to drive his No. 14 Chevrolet SS for the indefinite future.

Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle both grew up driving sprint cars on dirt tracks. Many drivers like Stewart have humble beginnings on short tracks, or start off in go-karts. Mostly in NASCAR, it’s the former. For Tony Stewart, driving sprint cars is just a fun hobby that he does for fun occasionally. However, he does have a couple of drivers driving sprint cars under his direction from Stewart-Haas Racing. It’s like Ivan “Ironman” Stewart (no relation to Tony Stewart), who is still an off-road motorsports legend. Ivan grew up riding motorcycles, and he enjoys riding them across the country with friends when he’s not helping Toyota Racing Development (TRD) with new off-road race trucks. Back to Tony Stewart. The tragedy obviously shook him to his core, and I think that he just needs to take a break from racing all together for a while to reorient himself. I don’t think that he will ever recover from accidentally killing a fellow driver, especially a 20-year-old. I don’t think that anybody can.

In the aftermath of the tragedy at Canandaigua Motorsports Park, NASCAR has released new on-track protocols for drivers following a wreck. In a nutshell, drivers are not supposed to exit their car after a wreck unless instructed to by a safety official. Drivers are prohibited from going onto the track or towards other cars under all circumstances unless it is a safety vehicle. The reason for this is that some NASCAR superspeedways like Daytona, Talladega, Michigan, Charlotte, Texas, and Homestead-Miami are big enough for cars to reach speeds in excess of 200 mph. When a caution happens in NASCAR, drivers are only supposed to let off the gas and coast until the pace car comes on the track. If a driver exited their car at Daytona and started striding towards another car, the result could be disastrous. Drivers are safer inside of their cars. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars are built to withstand multiple impacts of 200 mph or greater, and still allow the driver to live. The driver might have an injury like a broken leg or arm, but they will be far better off than dead. These rules might seem foolish, but they are really only common sense. There is no logical reason for a driver to approach another car on foot.

Now, let’s talk about sprint cars. These little things that look like they belong on a WWII fighter plane are tricky and super cool. Sprint car racing is different than midget car racing. Midget cars are essentially go-karts with semi-powerful engines (usually a Ford flathead V8 or a GMC “Jimmy” inline-six-cylinder) and dirt or asphalt tires. They are freakishly fast and unsafe. Sprint cars are the next step up from that. These cars define insanity.

There are a couple of different classes of sprint cars: The craziest class is World of Outlaws, started in 1978. These cars use a 410 cubic-inch naturally-aspirated V8 (6.7 liters) that can produce anywhere from 900-1,100 horsepower. These cars do not have a starter, transmission, clutch, or battery. This means that these cars must get a push from a start truck to get going. They simply use a driveshaft directly from the engine to the rear axle. Their left rear tire is 335 millimeters wide (that’s as wide as the rear tires on a SRT Viper!), and their massive right rear tire is 380 millimeters wide. The class that Tony Stewart races in is called the United Racing Company. These sprint cars use a 360 cubic-inch V8 (5.9 liters) that is based off of a Dodge/Plymouth design. That’s where the similarities to the Big 3 end. These engines are capable of producing anywhere from 700-900 horsepower. Again, these cars don’t use transmissions, clutches, batteries, or starters.

In recent years, sprint car safety has greatly increased. Roll cages are now mandatory, as well as fully tubbed chassis’. Fuel tank bladders prevent fuel leakages, and alcohol-infused fuel is now used. Six or seven-point safety harnesses are now standard, and drivers are now required to wear a 2-layer fire suit and Nomex gloves. Full helmets, arm restraint devices, right headrests, and a 1/8 inch-thick rock/debris screen on the front of the roll cage. Plus, World of Outlaws and United Racing Company require head and neck restraints (HANS devices).

Winged sprint cars are much safer than non-winged sprint cars, due to the fact that the aluminum wings are capable of absorbing a good deal of impact. When crashes happen, they are often violent, and debilitating injuries in non-winged sprint cars are commonplace. The safety of winged sprint cars was shown in 2013 when Tony Stewart’s sprint car flipped and hit a safety fence before hitting the ground upside down. Tony was able to walk away from the crash with only a severely broken leg (okay, maybe hop away).

Any sprint car is capable of reaching speeds of 140 mph or more. With winged sprint cars, the wings add hundreds of pounds of downforce at speed, making the car easier to control. Surprisingly, sprint cars are easier to control at higher speeds, thanks to the added downforce. Sprint cars are mainly steered with the throttle, which is why they are almost always sideways. They are built to turn left 99% of the time, and side visibility is almost nothing. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Greg Biffle also grew up driving sprint cars, and he has said multiple times in interviews that sprint cars need to have better side visibility. The wings on the sides go down to about head level of the driver, and shorter drivers have no problem with visibility. What needs to happen with sprint cars is simple:

Drivers should NOT exit their car unless it’s on fire. This would alleviate any repeats of the Ward/Stewart tragedy. When a car spins out or hits the wall, a caution is called. Drivers let off the gas, but they still are travelling pretty fast. Tony Stewart was going about 40 mph when he hit Kevin Ward, Jr. Even if he was in a street car, Ward would still be dead. Safety officials can be anywhere on a track like Canandaigua in seconds. Watch the video, and you’ll see that the safety truck was at the site where Ward was killed in under 10 seconds. The truck was heading out to help Ward’s car get back to the pits when the accident happened.
The wings on the side NEED to be raised about 6-10 inches higher for better visibility. It won’t make the cars more unstable. Look at Can-Am McLaren’s of the 1960’s and 1970’s – their wings got higher and higher. It actually HELPED the car’s stability and downforce! Sprint cars could benefit from that. Plus, it will make the cars safer, as there will be more space between the wall/catch fence/ground and the driver.
Drivers need to wait until after a caution to talk to race officials about who was at fault in the accident. It was clear in the Ward/Stewart incident the lap before Ward was killed that Ward bumped Stewart’s car and hit the wall as a result. Ward was clearly at fault in the accident, but Stewart also used his car to shove Ward’s away from his so that both cars didn’t spin. It’s a simple maneuver, yet it proved to be ultimately fatal. Race officials know who did what when, and they will assign points and/or penalties accordingly. I know that drivers become furious when their car is wrecked, but walking towards the car that wrecked yours is simply not a smart or good way to take your anger out.

I think that in the coming months, many sanctioning bodies of various motorsports will enact rules telling drivers to not exit their vehicles until told to do so by safety officials. Let me be perfectly clear: Crew chiefs and spotters are NOT safety officials. They are there to make sure that you stay out of accidents and win a race. They are not a track safety official telling you to get out of the car. I know that humans make mistakes, but Kevin Ward, Jr.’s mistake proved fatal. There’s no taking back what happened that night, but we can prevent it from happening again. It’s sad, and my thoughts go out to Kevin Ward, Jr.’s family and to Tony Stewart. I can’t even begin to fathom how sad Tony Stewart must feel about what happened that night.

I have attached the video of Tony Stewart killing Kevin Ward, Jr. Please do not watch this video if you felt at all uncomfortable reading this post. I had trouble watching the video, but I feel that it is important for you to see it. Viewer discretion is advised when watching this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5JNNXXdqM4