Nascar 2012

[Craiger]

JPM's in-car audio right before he left the pits...

http://youtu.be/OIe1KtfpDzw

[xtop20A]

Boogity

[zenjen]

Originally Posted by wxwax

To be fair, the advent of fuel cells makes firehoses unnecessary. Usually the handheld extinguishers on the crash trucks are enough. Fire engines aren't accustomed to racing to a scene of a crash, are they?

Originally Posted by airborndad

+1
200 gallons is not the norm for a vehicle accident either

You're both correct, there was obviously no need whatsoever for fire fighting equipment to be on the scene of a 200 gal. jet fuel fire.

[Velociraptor]

What a crash fest.......

[wxwax]

Took a long time to get there, but good finish. The earlier wrecking was predictable. Nice to see the last two laps were clean.

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by zenjen

You're both correct, there was obviously no need whatsoever for fire fighting equipment to be on the scene of a 200 gal. jet fuel fire.

Nobody said that. C'mon, we're reasonable folks up here in racing. We're saying the delay in getting the big fire truck out there is understandable.

[wxwax]

Overheating was a problem all night. A cool, spring night.

How bad is it going to be at Talladega on a hot summer's day?

[xtop20A]

Originally Posted by wxwax

Overheating was a problem all night. A cool, spring night.

How bad is it going to be at Talladega on a hot summer's day?

maybe nacsar will give 'em mo grill
they need it

[RedRocket]

Originally Posted by Craiger

JPM's in-car audio right before he left the pits...

http://youtu.be/OIe1KtfpDzw

How was he running at the end? His car looked like toast after he plowed the truck.

[Jurgen]

Originally Posted by zenjen

It's hard to believe that a multi-million dollar enterprise would take that long to get some real firefighters to the scene.

I believe the crash trucks carry a CAFS system. (Compressed Air Foam System) -- Really huge fire extinguisher, but it is limited. Jet Fuel puts out a bunch of BTU's and there was a lot of it, overwhelmed what they had. Generally they don't need that much suppression on a race track.



There are many full sized Fire Engines with CAFS, but on the Crash truck it is probably a small water tank and an SCBA bottle or two to power it. As you can see in the videos the fireload simply overwhelmed this handy little system.

If I were designing a crash truck from scratch it would have two of these systems, double the size of the one pictured (single SCBA/30gallons H2O iirc) That would easily handle most raceway wrecks.

[Jurgen]

Originally Posted by wxwax

Monday, Noon Eastern, on Fox. I'm setting the DVR for 6 hours, just in case.

I think you needed a bit more.

[Jurgen]

Here is the best vid of the firefighting I've seen.



Looks like the Crash Fire truck (Red Quad Cab pickup) has a bigger system than what I described. Looks more like a "Brush Truck" or "Type 6" CAFS system... Should be about perfect for most Raceway Crashes-- quick to deploy and sufficient. But then they were dealing with a fair amount of burning aviation fuel-- not in a fuel cell. Watch how when they have two handlines advanced the fire just laughs at them initially. (about 1:47)

[lemieuxmc]

I find it interesting that the media described Danica's race as overcoming crashes that "weren't her fault" to fight back and finish 38th. They don't mention that she finished behind 7 cars that didn't finish the race.

So is it safe to say that second place is the first loser, but second to last is the new winner?

I hear that Robby Gordon wants Danica to step into the slot Nasser left open for Dakar next year...

[Valleyrider]

Originally Posted by Jurgen

I believe the crash trucks carry a CAFS system. (Compressed Air Foam System) -- Really huge fire extinguisher, but it is limited. Jet Fuel puts out a bunch of BTU's and there was a lot of it, overwhelmed what they had. Generally they don't need that much suppression on a race track.

There are many full sized Fire Engines with CAFS, but on the Crash truck it is probably a small water tank and an SCBA bottle or two to power it. As you can see in the videos the fireload simply overwhelmed this handy little system.

If I were designing a crash truck from scratch it would have two of these systems, double the size of the one pictured (single SCBA/50gallons H2O iirc) That would easily handle most raceway wrecks.

Agreed... Back in the dark ages, during my time with the fire department, I spent 10 of my 19 on the Crash/Fire/Rescue equipment at the Palm Springs airport.
The main problem with the fire that JPM started is that is was almost what you could call a three dimensional fire (fuel spilling from the tank). Even if they had a fire vehicle equipped with AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam), which forms a vapor barrier of foam over the top of a petro-based fire, the fuel running from the tank would have been able to continue burning. The fire appeared to be fought with dry chem and CO2 extinguishers and with little effect. When the big trucks got there, they seemed to be better equipped or the shear volume of water from larger pump/hoses did the job.
A lot has changed equipment-wise since I retired.

[Jurgen]

Originally Posted by lemieuxmc

I hear that Robby Gordon wants Danica to step into the slot Nasser left open for Dakar next year...

That would make for some, um interesting, desert negotiations.