Safety first?

[Benton Yoshida <byoshida@zygote.hsc.usc.edu>]

>> Dunno if I'd call them stupid looking but then I've always thought the
>> Renault R5 Turbo (?) looked pretty trick.  One of the major car mags a
>> while ago did a few mods to a Festiva and it was pulling around 0.9g on the
>> skidpad so they can be made to handle.
>
>You know..I can strap a JATO unit to a Yugo, or drop a Formula 1
>V-whatever in a Escort (riding ontop of it), slap on some 350-40-17
>tires on it and yeah it'll pull 3g on the skidpad..but it's STILL a
>deathtrap. There is a limit to power vs practicality/safety, and I too
>would laugh at any attempt to hotrod a Festiva. You're just not safe
>in that kind of a car..oh it has a rollcage though? then it's no longer
>a Ford..it's a musclecar w/ a few body panels made by ford. Thats what
>I like about VW's...in the end it still looks and is as safe as it was
>origionally built by VW.
>
>Ryan


Contentious mode *on*

Just slapping on fat rubbers and monster motor isn't gonna net 3g on the
skidpad without ground effects/vacuum.  And anything that makes the Festiva
handle better, I'd argue enhances its safety.  And why does adding a
rollcage turn the car into a silhouette racer or make it less safe?  And
what level of power would make our beloved Sciroccos impractical/unsafe?

mode *off*


Since safety has been mentioned, just how safe are our A1 cars?  I'd
venture that the lightness which makes them nimble makes them come out
second best in a pileup.  My S1 doesn't have side impact beams and the
doors are pretty flimsy--I have no illusion that they are going to stop a
careening Ford Explorer when it T-bones me.  Were the Scirocco's ever crash
tested, in the U.S. or elsewhere?		benton----





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