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Racecar hood flips open midrace.
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Previously:
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...091#post157376
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...437#post139020
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...6845#post84468
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...832#post144235
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...396#post158363
I have that car. My hood latch works though.
Had that happen to me in 1977 in my 67' MGB. Nothing prepares for that...
A few decades ago, I was driving at 70 mph on a freeway in Portland, Or., and had to change lanes in a hurry after I came around a curve, and spotted a guy that had stopped his truck in the left lane. He was trying to pry the hood of his truck off the windshield. Fortunately, it was Sunday, so there was little traffic. I didn't stop to help him.
73 Mustang for me. Borrowed it from a friend and I was going 60 MPH when it happened. He apologized and told me he was having problems with that happening but he was going slow when it happened. Haven't spoken to him since! I never cleaned the stain off of the seat either!
Saw it happen to a pick up truck driving the opposite direction on a 2 lane country road. Scared me to see it happen, glad I was not the driver! I saw in the mirror, he got stopped with no further damage.
Happened to me in my 66 VW Baja doing 45 on a two lane road (the one in my avatar). Fortunately, there was no other traffic and I had the window down. It happened the same place that I was returning another company's 22' trailer with a worn out hitch and it popped off the ball...no traffic at that moment either, lol.
Air brake deployment.
I was thinking about buying my first wife a new Chrysler Conquest TSI in 1987. The sales man took me out for a test drive so we drove out to a little used section of a newly opened freeway, on the way back he said go ahead open it up and feel how it responds. For a little 2.6l turbocharged engine I will say it was mildly on the peppy side but once I hit 8MPH the hood sailed right over our heads I don't think I slowed down until we were back at the dealership, my knuckles were sill making impressions in the steering wheel. Wound up buying a loaded to the max 5th avenue for a lot less than the little 4 banger was going to cost me. I think it was to keep me from suing them. I mean come on no one gets to buy a $25,000.00 sticker price car for 13 grand. The wife thought I had lost my mind for buying such an expensive car when saw it, after it was delivered. Don't think I ever did tell here how much I paid for it or how I came about buying it instead of the car she wanted.
I've had hoods fly up on old bomber cars at the track, but while doing 20 miles over the posted speed it is a whole different experience you never want to have.
Try it at 128 mph!
Who would have thought a FRONT mounted, yes, . . . a front hinged hood would fly open! Austin Healy’s of the 50’s have the hood hinged at the front and open upward at the base of the windshield. Why worry about a secure latch, after all, the force from the wind would keep it slammed shut right? Wrong! While approaching the lights at Baylands (a drag strip in Fremont Ca) an explosive force suddenly thrust my hood straight up into 128 mph air. Evidently the air coming through the grill pressurized the engine compartment enough to blow the latch. I could see the edge of the track, and knowing it was straight, the only worry was the other guy crossing over in front of me to get to the exit. At that speed you had to brake hard at Baylands to make the 1st exit. The last exit was the fence at the end. I almost didn’t make it due to a delayed braking response caused by incredulous neurons. Applying the brakes was almost instinctive and immediate. However, not knowing what happened, if I had blown and engine and oiled the tires, I delayed applying serious braking force. At 187 ft/sec, mili seconds count! The hood dropped back down just as I neared the end of the track. Clear memory 58 years later.
BTW, an aluminum, 2020lb car, with a modified SBC can definitely do that speed in the quarter.
That is genuinely interesting. I would have figured Mr. Bernoulli would pop it up a little bit, like 15 or 20 degrees or something. Very interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Saltfever
I agree it seems logical to only crack open a little bit. However, I think it is aerodynamics at play. There is probably some kind of bow-wave coming over the front end and the wave is quite high with a low pressure are directly above the hood area. That low pressure area may be a few feet high. It also could be due to a ratio between the front grill area vs. the hood area. A large volume of pressurized air coming through the grill acting on a rather small hood. It was an extremely strange phenomena because I don't remember the hood dropping down when I slowed significantly. But maybe serious deceleration was holding it open at some point!
As we all know, bit of air moving over/under a large surface can lift things of significant size...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGCnZn2_QGs