[Land-speed] Ford's Hydrogen 999 racer shooting for fuel cell land speed record > Hybrid News

[drmayf]

Jon, sounds like you have volunteered to inspect the car! Great!  I am 
sure that you will do a good job. Not me, I have a pretty extensive 
engineering background and I don't know squat about fuel cells, except 
that one blew the side out of one of the lunar missions and the mission 
had to be scrubbed (or was that Skylab?).  Now I gotta tell you, that 
that vehicle received more inspections and safety reviews than anything 
that has ever run on the salt or ever will, and it still failed 
disasterously. Now the point of the fire is good but when do you use the 
broom? After you have burned the dookey out of yourself? Are you 
qualified to inspect pressure relief valves? Do you know how they are 
certified? And what happens inside a cell when the flow of electricity 
is cut off? Does the reaction continue? Does it get hot (you bet it 
does!).   If there is a possiblity of explosion after an upset, how long 
does the fire crew wait to get the driver out?  With turbines and 
gasoline and electricity from batteries, these are common things to 
react to. Fuel cells are not. And on the flip side they may be as safe 
as anyhing we ever use. BUt there is no experience with them.

Now another odd part to this and actually any corporate program car 
entered. The rules say the owner and the driver must both be BNI 
members. Now Rick, in this case is for sure a member, but who signs for 
the owner? Not Rick, he is not culpable in any lawsuit. So who is? Is 
the owner a lawyer from the law staff? Did Mr. JCB sign for the Diesel 
Max? How about the GM cars? No, I don't really care, this is just the 
odd question..   I would think that if FOrd is gonna claim 
respponsibility for the "record" then Mmaybe my Boein compatriot Allan 
Mullaly should sign as th eresponsibel owner... Yeah, that ain't ever 
gonna happen is it... It would be interesting to trace the ownership of 
the vehicle.... just to see who is accountable.

mayf
Jon Amo wrote:

>"And this is not a race vehicle. It is a PR vehicle."
>
>Really... I guess the full roll cage, the lowering of the vehicle, the
>extensive wind tunnel work, the fire systems, the tires etc etc are all for
>show and were just done for appearance looks to the consumer, doubt it...
>Just as much a race vehicle as your sunbeam. I guess Im ready to go head to
>head with the good Dr. to argue this one... All in good fun Dr. Mayf...
>
>"The point is that none of us really know how to inspect the car except for
>the normal IC engine stuff."
>
>Really... So the SCTA inspectors have never inspected a turbine powered
>vehicle, an electric vehicle and a hydrogen powered vehicle before... Not
>true...
>
>"What about fire safety? Who is going to know how to fight that battle if it
>gets on fire?"
>
>Make sure the safety pressure valves work, in event of fire you must have to
>see it first, keep a straw broom handy since it burns pale blue and may by
>hard to detect, have an outside source for turning off hydrogen valve to
>stop flow of gas, keep storage tank cool by spraying water on it, and do not
>put the fire out they say let it burn out. IF it needs to be out NOW, any
>type of firefighting agent will work, dry powder suggested.
>
>Sure maybe not all your questions are answered, and maybe not to your
>liking, but the answers are out there, and im sure somebody has done their
>homework. It could be the Fire and Ambulance emergency crews already know
>about what is being run on the salt and have done their homework.. I guess
>we could test them and ask them if they have a broom...
>
>Jon