Why Alabama didn't compete.

[BamaJeff]

First, I would like to say congrats to Wisconsin and all of the top cars this year.

Joel McKay (Crimson Racing Team Captain) and I have been meaning to post on here about our accident last Thursday (5-10-07). Not to get sympathy, but to make other teams aware that accidents like this DO happen and can be a lot worse than ours. We discussed our accident with several officials and various teams in Detroit...all with the same "Are you serious!?!?" reaction.

For those who aren't aware, the 2007 Crimson Racing Formula SAE was burned to the ground in a refueling accident. I wasn't at the accident (I was taking a final) but majority of the team was there. The car was out at a testing session (tuning the suspension, etc) Thursday morning and had already logged about 2 hours of time that morning. The car ran out of gas and the driver brought it back in for refueling. All safety procedures were taken (shut all power off, driver out of car, etc). The team member refueling the tank must not have been paying 100% attention and didn't see the gas reach the sight-tube and gasoline was spilled out...some reaching the exhaust header. As it was explained to me, the gas didn't ignite immediately, but a few seconds later the vapors ignited in the face of the refueler. In reaction, he dropped the gas jug...which sealed the fate of the 2007 car. A fireball then engulfed the car, strong enough that not even a fire extinguisher could dent. They had to wait for the fire department to put it out and by then, the car was a total loss. Luckily, noone was seriously injured. The refueler received a "sunburn" like burn on his right hand, which was attended to at the university health center.

Here are a few photos from testing the day before the accident.
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/1871/dsc02730ll9.jpg

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/9689/dsc02727lk2.jpg

Here's a few photos of our body work that we got back from paint the morning of the accident. We're still deciding what we want to do with the unharmed body work.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/8899/dsc02751av1.jpg

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7668/dsc02755ab1.jpg

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4223/dsc02752ib0.jpg

Photos of the car post-accident. (these still make my stomach hurt)

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8871/dsc02767jb4.jpg

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/4482/dsc02757ki2.jpg

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/5282/dsc02763hz0.jpg

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/910/dsc02766cs4.jpg


Yea, it sucks...but all we can do is take our momentum from 2007 into 2008. We have an extremely driven team with a lot of youth. Sure, we lost our car...but we didn't lose what we designed or what we learned.

I'm sure we're going to get flamed for "Why did you do this..." or "Why didn't you do this..." Hindsight is 20/20 and we're taking what we've learned and moving on. We just decided to post this as a warning to other teams to be careful. Our accident could've been much worse. I hope by posting this, we can prevent any other team from having the same misfortune as us.

We thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Detroit this year (minus the crappy weather on Thursday). It was great talking with all the teams we met, most notably Colorado State, Helsinki Polytechnic, Lawrence Tech, LSU, Kansas, and Auburn. Those are the teams I can think of off the top of my head that we spoke the most with.

[BamaJeff]

First, I would like to say congrats to Wisconsin and all of the top cars this year.

Joel McKay (Crimson Racing Team Captain) and I have been meaning to post on here about our accident last Thursday (5-10-07). Not to get sympathy, but to make other teams aware that accidents like this DO happen and can be a lot worse than ours. We discussed our accident with several officials and various teams in Detroit...all with the same "Are you serious!?!?" reaction.

For those who aren't aware, the 2007 Crimson Racing Formula SAE was burned to the ground in a refueling accident. I wasn't at the accident (I was taking a final) but majority of the team was there. The car was out at a testing session (tuning the suspension, etc) Thursday morning and had already logged about 2 hours of time that morning. The car ran out of gas and the driver brought it back in for refueling. All safety procedures were taken (shut all power off, driver out of car, etc). The team member refueling the tank must not have been paying 100% attention and didn't see the gas reach the sight-tube and gasoline was spilled out...some reaching the exhaust header. As it was explained to me, the gas didn't ignite immediately, but a few seconds later the vapors ignited in the face of the refueler. In reaction, he dropped the gas jug...which sealed the fate of the 2007 car. A fireball then engulfed the car, strong enough that not even a fire extinguisher could dent. They had to wait for the fire department to put it out and by then, the car was a total loss. Luckily, noone was seriously injured. The refueler received a "sunburn" like burn on his right hand, which was attended to at the university health center.

Here are a few photos from testing the day before the accident.
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/1871/dsc02730ll9.jpg

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/9689/dsc02727lk2.jpg

Here's a few photos of our body work that we got back from paint the morning of the accident. We're still deciding what we want to do with the unharmed body work.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/8899/dsc02751av1.jpg

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/7668/dsc02755ab1.jpg

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4223/dsc02752ib0.jpg

Photos of the car post-accident. (these still make my stomach hurt)

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8871/dsc02767jb4.jpg

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/4482/dsc02757ki2.jpg

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/5282/dsc02763hz0.jpg

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/910/dsc02766cs4.jpg


Yea, it sucks...but all we can do is take our momentum from 2007 into 2008. We have an extremely driven team with a lot of youth. Sure, we lost our car...but we didn't lose what we designed or what we learned.

I'm sure we're going to get flamed for "Why did you do this..." or "Why didn't you do this..." Hindsight is 20/20 and we're taking what we've learned and moving on. We just decided to post this as a warning to other teams to be careful. Our accident could've been much worse. I hope by posting this, we can prevent any other team from having the same misfortune as us.

We thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Detroit this year (minus the crappy weather on Thursday). It was great talking with all the teams we met, most notably Colorado State, Helsinki Polytechnic, Lawrence Tech, LSU, Kansas, and Auburn. Those are the teams I can think of off the top of my head that we spoke the most with.

[Charlie]

Really sorry to see that. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

I have to ask though, no fire extinguisher? Or it just couldn't handle all that fuel?

[Mike Flitcraft]

Jeff, glad to hear that nobody got hurt. The body work looks great though.

I've gotta know where that guy got the shirt with the engineer's motto on it though.

[BamaJeff]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Charlie:
Really sorry to see that. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

I have to ask though, no fire extinguisher? Or it just couldn't handle all that fuel? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

As I said, they used a fire extinguisher on it...but it barely put a dent in the fire. Just too much fuel for the extinguisher. I think if the refueler hadn't accidently dropped the gas can, the extinguisher might've been able to handle it. You can't fault the refueler though, I probably would've dropped the gas can too if the vapors blew up in my face.

[BStoney]

BamaJeff:

I have to ask, why don't you wear firesuits while testing??? I noticed there are a lot of schools who don't wear full driver protection/safety gear during testing...that being said, we never even start a car with a driver in it without full gear on, especially for fear of those "freak" accidents that happened to you guys...

Not flaming you, just curious...

I am really sorry to hear about the accident. I am relieved to hear everyone is ok.

[BamaJeff]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mike Flitcraft:
Jeff, glad to hear that nobody got hurt. The body work looks great though.

I've gotta know where that guy got the shirt with the engineer's motto on it though. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks. The body is what I was mostly responsible for this year. For those teams who do their own body work I HIGHLY recommend The West System "Micro-Lite" body filler. That stuff is amazing.

I'll ask him about his shirt...haha.

[BamaJeff]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BStoney:
BamaJeff:

I have to ask, why don't you wear firesuits while testing??? I noticed there are a lot of schools who don't wear full driver protection/safety gear during testing...that being said, we never even start a car with a driver in it without full gear on, especially for fear of those "freak" accidents that happened to you guys...

Not flaming you, just curious...

I am really sorry to hear about the accident. I am relieved to hear everyone is ok. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's one of our new "policies". Driver and refueler must wear fire jacket for testing.

[BStoney]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BamaJeff:
That's one of our new "policies". Driver and refueler must wear fire jacket for testing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ah, I see, good idea. Hopefully other teams take note, and never again set foot in one of these cars without full safety gear. Sorry that your experience has to be the thing that drives home how important fire resistant clothing is for racing.

[fade]

you might also consider locating the fuel filler neck and exhaust collector on opposite sides of the car

[BamaJeff]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BStoney:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BamaJeff:
That's one of our new "policies". Driver and refueler must wear fire jacket for testing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ah, I see, good idea. Hopefully other teams take note, and never again set foot in one of these cars without full safety gear. Sorry that your experience has to be the thing that drives home how important fire resistant clothing is for racing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Exactly. We could've just tucked our tails, lowered our heads, and never mentioned it again...but we want other teams to be aware of safety.

Be on the lookout for Alabama in 2008. We've got a lot to prove now and work on the 2008 car starts tomorrow.

[BamaJeff]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by fade:
you might also consider locating the fuel filler neck and exhaust collector on opposite sides of the car </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That was the first thing considered.

[Charlie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BamaJeff:

That's one of our new "policies". Driver and refueler must wear fire jacket for testing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good policies, but another thing to consider is to use a 1 or 2 gallon fuel jug for refueling, at least when the car is hot. No need to be holding more fuel than the car can hold.

[BamaJeff]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Charlie:

Good policies, but another thing to consider is to use a 1 or 2 gallon fuel jug for refueling, at least when the car is hot. No need to be holding more fuel than the car can hold. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That too has been considered. We've had countless discussions. 26 total hours on the road gives you plenty of time to discuss stuff like that.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

[Crimson Racing]

I'm glad Jeff Got this post up. Like he mentioned, we'd been meaning to do this since it happened. We apreciate all the kind words and it was really nice talking to other teams at competetion. Most people don't understand the time we put into the program so it's nice talking to people who can relate.

As Jeff mentioned, all we can do is focus on the knowledge we gained from building this year's car. I was nervous that this may cause younger members to become discouraged with the program but luckily everyone is even more motivated than before.

Larger precautions will obviously be taken next year to ensure this doesn't happen again. We look forward to seeing everyone in '08.

Joel

[KU_Racing]

Sorry to see that guys, but the most important thing is that no one was seriously hurt. Thank you for that!! No flaming here- accidents do happen, no matter how good the preperation. Congrats on your awesome attitude- I would have a hard time getting re-motivated after something like this. Good luck with the new car, and we will see you in 2008!!

[Pete M]

Ouch, that really sucks guys. I can't imagine what it'd be like to put as much work into one of these cars as we all do only to have it go up in smoke in minutes. You've got my condolences. Good to hear you're still enthusiastic about next year, don't let it stop you!

As for fire safety, we've always designed our cars such that the exhaust and fuel filler are on opposite sides of the car. We always drive with full fire suits on: gloves, shoes, the whole comp spec deal. We try to have two people with fire extinguishers stand at opposite sides of the track while we're testing. Finally, whenever we refuel, we have a person manning a fire extinguisher pointed at the car, especially when the car is hot. As you tragically discovered, you've only got a very short window to stop the fire before it is too big to fight.

One other thing i'd like to mention, fire extinguishers are pretty useless unless you know how to use them, especially those really little ones. There's probably no point having a fire extinguisher at the track unless someone is instructed on its proper use. I admit i'd probably be pretty useless at putting out a serious fire with one.

Again, really feel sorry for you guys. At least it'll be a lesson for everyone.

[Jersey Tom]

Holy hell that's awful. Honestly really sorry to hear that, think that may change the way we do testing..

Best of luck in 08.

[BamaJeff]

So apparently one of our freshmen made a video collage of the accident. These are the first photos I've seen of the actual fire and all I can say is "HOLY CRAP".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugI_LmNAky8


Geez I'm glad noone was hurt.

[karter]

Most everyone has ABC extinguishers, A is flamible materials like wood, paper, B is flamible liquids, gas, oil grease ,,,, C is electrical. BC extinguishers work much better on gasoline that ABC, better yet is Purple K but, thats hard to find. 10lbs is good from 15 feet, has enough agent to do some good. The 2.5lbs are useless unless you have a bunch of them. 5lbs (most likley what you find in the hallways of your campus) might knock it down but, have a second one ready. I don't know what to recomend for E85,,, water is great for streight methanol ,,,,

Method ,,, PAS ,,,pull the pin, aim at the base of the fire ,,, sweep back and forth. Waste one some time to see what it will do, use a metal bucket with a bit of water in the bottom, add some gas and light.... after you put it out, tap the bucket lightly and you can light it right back up!

I have no idea what the rest of the world uses, seems like our old Amerex where you have to charge the agent with a CO2 cartrige?

[RotoryHeaven7]

Glad to hear everyone is alright. The car looked very well built. It is to bad we did not get to go head to head. Best of luck next year.

[Scott Borg]

So sorry to hear about that, but it's good that nobody was seriously injured. Thanks for the heads up: the next time I see our drivers, I'm going to suggest they wear their full gear when testing.


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