Crash Test: N4 vs. NR2002s Part 1, Frontal Impact
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- SimAutoRacer.net
Recently the staff here at SimAutoRacer.net sat down and tried to come up with an interesting idea that would allow us to wreck a couple of cars in the name of science. While we were unable to find anything really useful senior editor Dan Riffero came up with the idea of a crash test, pitting Papyrus' NASCAR simulator 'NASCAR Racing 4' against 'NASCAR Racing 2002 Season'.
The next question was where could we wreck two perfectly good race cars in the name of science without having to go through a bunch of insurance paperwork? After a lot of thought we determined that Watkins Glen would provide the perfect controlled environment. The test ended up being a complete reproduction of Jimmy Johnson's 2000 BGN crash.
The next challenge was to find someone dumb enough to intentionally crash not one, but two cars into the same wall on the same day [ed: we are on a budget here you know]. We contacted Virtual Racing World pace car driver Beedy McBlindo and he jumped at the opportunity to wreck more racecars. Seems he has not been getting enough chances to drag the VRW competitors around the track using the 'freak' N4 pace car 'lock and hold' technique (see VRW Dover 300).
N4 Frontal Crash Test
Anyway, back to the test. Beedy seemed rather excited about the opportunity to drive the cars backwards at the Glen, until we told him there would be no other cars on the track. He also seemed rather reluctant to try to "do the same stupid thing twice in a row" so we had to bump up his pay to two Cracker Jack boxes and a gallon on milk. After the pay raise McBlindo climbed into the #13 SimAutoRacer.net N4 car for the first test.
McBlindo pulled the #13 to the beginning of the front straight complaining about a 'loose' condition. We told him that we would fix it during his next stop and to just drive the car and stop complaining so much. After 15 minutes of discussion BM hit the gas and the #13 flew down the front straight.
McBlindo must have been studying Jimmie Johnson's 2000 Busch wreck because he hit the turn perfectly. At 161 mph he flew from the track. The front end dug deep into the sandtrap as the car jumped the banking of turn 1.
The impact was violent (as expected) and the entire front end was destroyed, including the motor. The car remained upright but somehow sustained roof damage in the crash. Beedy climbed from the car unhurt and then stood on the roof of his car arms raised to the sky in defiance of the laws of physics.
Not wanting to have to pay Beedy anything more than we needed to we pushed him into the #13 SimAutoRacer.net NR2002s car and told him to repeat.
NR2002 Frontal Crash Test
Again McBlindo complained about pay so we threw in an official VRW wallpaper we found on Ebay. That seemed to get him in the mood to drive so he slowing rolled the #13 down to the start of the front straight again. This time, without any warning, McBlindo jammed down the gas and flew down the front straight towards the turn 1 wall. One photographer was almost run over by the crazed VRW pace car driver.
The car left the racing surface at the exact same speed as the N4 test: 161 mph. This time the wreck was slightly different in the fact that the car literally flew from the racing surface to wall without ever touching the sand trap. The result caused the car to dig into the wall nose first. The damage was very similar to the N4 test, with the engine being killed and the nose piece flying into the air.
The impact caused the rear-end of the #13 SimAutoRacer.net car to lift off the ground and the car did a virtual nose-stand against the foam barrier before spinning around after the rebound.
Overall the damage between the two impacts was the same, but there were a few difference that a worth noting:
First, the roof of the N4 car was damaged in it's impact despite the fact that the roof never touched anything. Many leagues have a 'no roof damage' rule that calls for drivers to leave the event should the car's roof become damaged.
Second, the NR2002 car cleared the sand trap and then the rear-end of the car rebounded twice into the air, making for a very non realistic simulation.
Third, the NR2002 car came to rest upon the the foam barrier, making damage difficult to gauge.
All in all however the tests showed that little has changed for high speed impacts between N4 and NR2002. Once we find someone brave (or stupid) enough we will try some tests with rear end damage and roof damage.
A special thanks goes to VRW pace car driver Bleedy McBlindo. We hope he recovers from his injuries and promise that in future test he will wear his harness when intentionally wrecking cars.