From: Michael M. Butler (mmb@spies.com)
Date: Sun Jan 12 2003 - 15:43:40 MST
>>That's OK, most of the fools out there accessorizing their cars with carbon fiber
>>'cause it looks baaad have no clue how it behaves in a crash, let alone a car fire.
>
> Graphite/epoxy doesn't do too badly on impact, if designed for impacts
> (Formula 1). It doesn't burn very well, and by the time it ignites you're
> burned already to cinders by the hydrocarbon conflagration which managed
> to ignite the graphite honeycomb chassis.
You're talking about team-maintained race cars. I'm talking about "trick" cars (out here,
a lot of them are either Hondas or lowriders) "accesssorized" (I used the word right there)--
with carbon fiber applique slapped on by bozos, for example on hoods ("bonnets") and other
parts of the exterior, and interior locations such as dashboard and front door kick panels.
Such thin layers splinter in compression, and can ignite easily if, for example, you have
a fuel leak in your tricky engine compartment with the purple fluorescent accent lights
running while you are cruising or competing to see how high you can make the hydraulics
bounce it.
As I said, most of those fools have no clue. Evolution in action...
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