...I have no beef with Grant or any of the other chassis builders in this whole discussion, it is the others who are posting with no real knowledge of the situation that piss me off. People who have not actually built a race car should keep their mouths shut.
Roo, you and I go back quite a long time so please understand that I am not attacking you personally. The thing is, I strongly believe that the mindset indicated in the above statement is largely responsible for the crisis we're in right now.
Why would anyone shun or refuse to listen to the testimony of educated people who are truly the experts in the area of metallurgy, construction, and engineering standards?
As you know, I haven't spent that much time around fuel cars and am much more familiar with Pro Stock construction. The fabrication (tubing, welds, and braces) is essentially the same and thereby arises an issue that has bothered me for a long time.
There are a very few builders who have engineering degrees or other education which allowed them to plot out the necessary layout for a competitive, safe frame. The others have looked at those works, made changes that "looked right" and gone other directions. This is true for fuel, alcohol, and gasoline applications.
My point is that we should be long past the point that someone is designing race chassis on the basis of "feel", gut instinct" or "this worked before".
We require educated, degreed, certified indivuals to draw up plans for skyscrapers or other structures where strength is required to avoid deaths and chaos. The same has been true for airplanes almost since their invention. That we don't for race cars is absolutely astounding to me.
While there has never been a race car designed to withstand a 200 mph t-bone accident, I was surprised that there wasn't more interest after the Korestky / Allen crash. I suppose the spotlight dimmed since neither driver was seriously injured.
I uinderstand your respect for those that have built chassis and therefore been there, done that. But to my way of thinking, a bunch of those guys have no idea as to WHY it's been working and we've been really lucky that the "a bar right there is what I need" approach hasn't caused more loss of life.
So when engineers and metallurgists tell us we have a problem - we have a problem. And it's time to listen to the best minds on earth and engineer the safest cars possible.
