RIP: Andrew Kessel

[Opie]

Pretty sure Andrew was a member here before he sold the BRZ for the Rush....

[GrandSport]

Man, that's awful and scary.
I've been looking at those cars. Makes me really think about the safety of them...

[RT-BRZ]

Originally Posted by GrandSport

Man, that's awful and scary.
I've been looking at those cars. Makes me really think about the safety of them...

First, this is a tragedy. Losing our lives in this sport isn't worth it. I know this was accidental but it definitely makes you think.

That being said, I honestly didn't pick up on the car model he was driving until you said that.

I'm not a structural engineer by trade but the fact that this just happened and looking at the cage construction makes me agree with you.

It would be very interesting to see the crashed vehicle to see where it failed. Looking at the chassis, it sure seems like there isn't a lot of lateral protection for the driver.

[RedReplicant]

We've had a fair number of Rush out here (SoCal and Arizona) and I've driven one in a DE session as a demo. I don't think that I'd personally run one of them in a mixed ST group, unfortunately.

This is pretty unfortunate.

[GrandSport]

Originally Posted by RT-BRZ

First, this is a tragedy. Losing our lives in this sport isn't worth it. I know this was accidental but it definitely makes you think.

That being said, I honestly didn't pick up on the car model he was driving until you said that.

I'm not a structural engineer by trade but the fact that this just happened and looking at the cage construction makes me agree with you.

It would be very interesting to see the crashed vehicle to see where it failed. Looking at the chassis, it sure seems like there isn't a lot of lateral protection for the driver.

Given its weight, you'd think its plenty, honestly. I get a Colision with a sports car would be a problem, given it's 1/2 the weight of a Miata,


from their website:
Safety: Small doesn’t mean unsafe. In fact, quite the opposite. Safety is a top priority at RAW. Our chassis features a front and rear crash structure, a triple roll bar (optional F1-style halo), deep sidepod nerf bars, anti-intrusion panels, optional integrated fire suppression, and seat with six-point harness. You won’t get this level of side-impact and anti-intrusion protection from most GT cars!

Of course, they're a small company. Who knows how much testing they did on that. Crash testing isn't cheap. But who knows how he crashed. He could have had a 100mph impact speed, and you can hardly blame the car for that. It could have been a defect in installing the seat, seat harness, Hans problem, etc. Who knows what happened since it rolled and then hit a wall. Must have been pretty crazy to roll and open wheel.

[RT-BRZ]

Originally Posted by GrandSport

Given its weight, you'd think its plenty, honestly. I get a Colision with a sports car would be a problem, given it's 1/2 the weight of a Miata,


from their website:
Safety: Small doesn’t mean unsafe. In fact, quite the opposite. Safety is a top priority at RAW. Our chassis features a front and rear crash structure, a triple roll bar (optional F1-style halo), deep sidepod nerf bars, anti-intrusion panels, optional integrated fire suppression, and seat with six-point harness. You won’t get this level of side-impact and anti-intrusion protection from most GT cars!

Of course, they're a small company. Who knows how much testing they did on that. Crash testing isn't cheap. But who knows how he crashed. He could have had a 100mph impact speed, and you can hardly blame the car for that. It could have been a defect in installing the seat, seat harness, Hans problem, etc. Who knows what happened since it rolled and then hit a wall. Must have been pretty crazy to roll and open wheel.

This is by no means any slam or negative commentary on their car or their company. I think what they've built looks amazing. I would love to try one out.

However, using this pic from their website, I see areas that seem like they could be weaknesses in the protection scheme. Edited to say, again, I'm not a structural engineer. Without seeing the crashed vehicle it's just a guess as to what happened. If it hadn't taken Andrew's life I don't think we would even talk much about it.

Poor guy. It just sucks.

[NoHaveMSG]

Me either but those front down tubes look awfully suspect.

[pope]

No expert either, but the tube selection and layout sure gives the appearance the cockpit is the crush structure instead of the nose and tail.