Its almost an airplane

[Exhaustgases]

The F-104 Star fighter / modified car that Jessi Combs was piloting and was killed in. RIP to a cool woman.
Why Why wasn't the ejection seat a workable unit. She may have had a chance then.

[Race5]

Re: Its almost an airplane

The F-104 Star fighter / modified car that Jessi Combs was piloting and was killed in. RIP to a cool woman.
Why Why wasn't the ejection seat a workable unit. She may have had a chance then.

When thrust SSC was doing their design study, they looked into ejection seats. It was concluded there was about a zero percent chance an ejection seat would save the driver. If anything happens on the ground at those speeds, the car will most likely be rolling, tumbling, or breaking up. The chances of being ejected upward, or directly into the ground, are about the same. The real question should be why they used an F-104 fuselage with no real added structure, no roll cage, ect. Even a very low speed accident in that thing could have easily been fatal.

[Bigger Al]

Re: Its almost an airplane

Could also be that they had an early model F-104, which ejected downwards. Still not much of a chance of getting out at those speeds on the ground.

[supercub]

Re: Its almost an airplane

When thrust SSC was doing their design study, they looked into ejection seats. It was concluded there was about a zero percent chance an ejection seat would save the driver. If anything happens on the ground at those speeds, the car will most likely be rolling, tumbling, or breaking up. The chances of being ejected upward, or directly into the ground, are about the same. The real question should be why they used an F-104 fuselage with no real added structure, no roll cage, ect. Even a very low speed accident in that thing could have easily been fatal.

I thought the same thing about the structural integrity of the F-104. I was watching a you tube video a few weeks ago and I don't remember which car it was, but it rolled up on it's side at an extreme speed, due to the structural strength designed into the cockpit area, the driver was not injured. No matter what, it's a shame and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved with the team and her family.

[Fence Sence]

Re: Its almost an airplane

^^^That was Craig Breedlove in the Spirit of America. Boomtown and I were there when he “tipped it over”. The only reason he didn’t die is he cause the car didn’t roll. At 600+, it should have.

[Leo]

Re: Its almost an airplane

If you ever get a chance to see Art Arfon's crash in "Green Monster" it is extremely violent and he was only in the 300+ range.

[Colbourne]

Re: Its almost an airplane

The Aussie's are currently trying for the water speed record (runs happening 31 August to 1 September 2019) at Blowering Dam N.S.W Australia with a speed to beat of 511km/h (317.60MPH), set by his father in 1978.

http://warbymotorsport.com/

[Exhaustgases]

Re: Its almost an airplane

My thoughts on any kind of fast ground vehicle, wheeled or watered, they should be required to have stabilizing wings and piloted control surfaces. If you have to have wheel contact then there should be instrumentation that proves it.
Most crashes are from loss of control at speed or a suspension problem I would think. With stub wings and controls you have a chance to trim it better if a wheeled suspension can't be controlled, just like she talks about in one of her previous runs.
How come there are no pictures of the vehicle? Whats the secret?
There are many low altitude seat ejections, and they were originally proven on high speed sleds on rails.

[Jukka]

Re: Its almost an airplane

Is the Oregon track long enough ?

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/nation-and-world/speed-racer-jessi-combs-dies-in-oregon-jet-car-crash-1836247/

[Fence Sence]

Re: Its almost an airplane

Is the Oregon track long enough ?

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/n...crash-1836247/

Maybe for 500 but not much more. The Black Rock was the only real good place. Was.

[Exhaustgases]

Re: Its almost an airplane

I just read an article that said she couldn't slow it down? If so an ejection seat would have saved her.

[Bigger Al]

Re: Its almost an airplane

An ejection seat might have gotten her out of the car. Might. Whether or not it would have saved her is purely guesswork.

[Fence Sence]

Re: Its almost an airplane

No brakes + no runout = no bueno. I blame Burning Man.

[Airrace7]

Re: Its almost an airplane

Did the chutes deploy to stop her? I am thinking they may have caught fire and burned from the exhaust thus making them useless. I remember that Thrust had that problem at Black rock. They even broke the sound barrier in one direction but couldn’t get the new chutes stuffed back in again and the vehicle turned around in less than an hour. I think it was a turn around time of 1 hour 2 minutes.”

[Exhaustgases]

Re: Its almost an airplane

An ejection seat might have gotten her out of the car. Might. Whether or not it would have saved her is purely guesswork.

If it was a normal fighter plane they save the pilots all the time at ground level. I think there have been some from carrier landings too. If the plane is upside down 200 ft in the air they eject and make a u turn up to deploy the chute. So why wouldn't it have?