Member Peter Brennan alerted some of us to the phenomenon of  modern carbon fibre cars falling apart. This has now appeared in print. The following is a quote from the October 2004 “New Look” Motor Sport Magazine p111. A photo accompanies their report, and should have been titled “Driver sitting on his A*SE with two legs protruding from one of his two Ferraris.”

The article begs the question as to if we have reached the point of a throw away car. With finite stress analysis and every part lifed to time or kms those spare packages coming with the cars now being sold on the open market may not look so cheap or good value.

Composite Safety Called Into Question

The use of ‘historic’ carbon-fibre cars came under the spotlight when a Corse Clienti Ferrari F1 broke up in an accident at Laguna Seca meet in August. The front of the 1999 machine snapped clean off, but its driver miraculously escaped unharmed.

The F399 has been sent to Ferrari for analysis.

“Composites are very durable, but the big problem is that damage is not always visible,” said Andy Smith, technical manager at B3 Technologies, the company headed by carbonfibre pioneer John Barnard. “If composites fail, it can be a catastrophic failure as they tend to shatter. There are ways of testing them, as the aerospace industry does. If a car has been in a shunt, you have to check everything very carefully.”

Get a copy of October Motor Sport for the photo.

                                                                           
                                                                                                                                 [Back]