Auto racing has been in vogue from the time automobiles were
first built. With the dawn of modern cars came higher engine
capacities; the speeds involved in these races and crashes
increased as well. However, the advent of passive restraint systems
such as the helmet, HANS (Head and Neck Support device),
multi-point harness system, roll cage, side and frontal crush
zones, racing seats, fire retardant suits, and soft-wall
technology, have greatly improved the survivability of the drivers
in high-speed racing crashes.
Three left lateral crashes from Begeman and Melvin (2002), Case
#LAS12, #IND14 and #99TX were used as inputs to the Wayne State
Human Body Model (WSHBM) in a simulated racing buck. Twelve
simulations with delta-v, six-point harness and shoulder pad as
design variables were analyzed for the average maximum principal
strain (AMPS) in the aorta. The average AMPS for the high-speed
crashes were 0.1551±0.0172 while the average maximum pressure was
110.50±4.25 kPa. The average AMPS reported was significantly less
than those reported in real-world accident reconstructions Belwadi
et al., 2011 and Siegel et al., 2010, bi-axial material testing
(Shah et al., 2006), and in whole body cadavers impacts (Hardy et
al., 2008). The seat and shoulder support pads plays a crucial role
in injury mitigation to the thorax in high-speed racing
crashes.