Hood ripped off

[galderdi]

As I mentioned in another thread I managed to race at Mt Panorama (Bathurst, Australia) over the Easter weekend. It was brilliant. One of our team in a zed had his hood ripped off while travelling at around 150MPH down the main straight (Conrod straight). It was a fiberglass hood and the mounts were terrible but it had pins as well. It peeled back at the nose and just ripped off. The pins at the back just ripped through the fiberglass. All the driver saw was a flash. The driver behind caught it on camera so hopefully we will see it on Youtube. But here are some pics of the repairs we made to get the car back on the track.

 

The point is though, at 150 MPH this proves there is still upward pressure on the front of a z hood.

[260DET]

The build up of under bonnet pressure and how to reduce it drastically has been discussed forever on this forum Greg. As well as eliminating the danger, such measures will reduce drag and so increase speed and high speed handling and stability. I for one have been trying to spread the word within the club but nobody seems to want to know.

 

Perhaps this incident will ram the lesson home. Who's car is that by the way?

Edited April 7, 2010 by 260DET

[galderdi]

The build up of under bonnet pressure and how to reduce it drastically has been discussed forever on this forum Greg. As well as eliminating the danger, such measures will reduce drag and so increase speed and high speed handling and stability. I for one have been trying to spread the word within the club but nobody seems to want to know.

 

Perhaps this incident will ram the lesson home. Who's car is that by the way?

 

That car is run jointly between John Cade and Rob Learmonth. Both are from Lismore. As I mentioned the build of the bonnet was inferior. The aluminium set into the Fiberglass was totally flat and only had about an inch set into the fiberglass. No wonder it ripped off.

[260DET]

I'm not going to get into the individual's responsibility for their own car's safety aspect of this, the fact is that S30's in stock form balloon bonnets at high speed. Its not exactly a secret.

[johnc]

You need hood pin mounts farther forward on the hood. Make two L brackets and bolt them to the inside headlight bucket mounting points. Hood pins at the core support are too far rearward and allow the front of the hood to flutter. Any fiberglass hood also needs internal reinforcement (an inner frame like the stock one or a high strength core like Nomex) to survive on a S30 at speeds over 120mph. Venting the engine compartment to wheel wells helps but the hood does need reinforcement.