Check this out. Ever say: " The car will protect me." ?

http://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/1584624.phtml

 

WOW! I have never seen anything like that. Trees are strong.

Andy K

 

Is that even possible?

I've seen cars wadded up into a ball, but cut in half? Ouchie

 

I saw a Mazda 323 (aka GLC) cut into two lobes from the front ... many years ago, lots of blood involved. Car had left the road on a long curve, apparently sleeping driver. Telephone pole had sliced through the engine block; through the firewall, through the gearbox and had lodged between the rear footwells. The body of the car was not in the least distorted. Very very scary.

 

I've seen Volvos split in half like that..

 

That's why I have been curious about the strength of the 928.

I've seen a lot of them with the front smashed, but never seen a 928 ripped apart.

http://www.wreckedexotics.com/928/

I'm sure if you hit something like a big tree, or anything solid, at 100+ MPH, it could happen, but still, I wonder if anyone knows how strong the 928 body is.

 

http://www.wreckedexotics.com/newphotos/bad/

 

I have a clue.

My neibor has one that was hit at 45-55 mph by a 1 ton truck.

The frame was still straight, but the passanger side door was destoryed.

Driver walk away w/o a scratch.

 

I worked my way through college as a AAA tow driver. I've only picked up one wreck where the car was cut in half like that, but I've seen several. Very sobering to spend your nights scraping people's cars up off of the road, out of ditches, and yes, unwrapping them from trees. No, I haven't seen it all, not by a long shot, but I've seen enough.

 

I am not the least surprised to see that Audi A3 ripped into pieces. Trees are more sturdy than most of us think - they might look thin and fragile, but they aren't. Hell, even nowadays they build frames for cars out of wood (Morgan, England)!

And yes, this could happen to a 928 at any time. I've seen pictures of one ripped apart in Germany. 18 year old boy got it brand new from his daddy for his B'day (as a first car) - a few days later four people were dead.

Most people underestimate the forces on the car and people's bodies in an accident. Few realize that hitting a wall at 35mph (city speed) is about the same as jumping from a 33 feet roof - they would not jump from the roof, but at the same time they don't think it's necessary to buckle up...

Remember that when the car hits something, your body keeps travelling at the same speed, in the same direction, until something stops it. That "something" could be a safety belt or airbag. It could also be a steering wheel, dash board, or the truck or tree in front of your car. In most cases, the safety belt and airbag is the better choice.

It's my choice, anyway. If it wasn't, I would not be here to write these lines...

 

Don't forget, this was a convertible, so it was probably a lot easier to 'cut' it in half.

Its kind of werid that the ground doesn't seem to be disturbed that much, but the car might have been in the air when both halves came to a rest at trees.

YIKES.

 

Er... No it wasn't. Sorry.

 

Assuming this was in Europe, the impact speed was somewhere around 100 kph - the speedo and tach appear to be stuck at the moment of impact:

 

There is a huge discussion on that Audi board about the spedo.
People were commenting that they may have been airborne, or perhaps braking, or spinning the car, or the engine could have revved as they hit, etc... The rate of speed could have been much higher, and then lost some of that speed when they went through a guardrail, spun out, etc... It's just not entirely sure that someone would have their foot on the gas, or maintain the exact same road speed, up until the moment of impact. Unless they were asleep at the wheel, and just kept up the same speed until they hit the tree... But most people are doing "something", and that could affect the speed readings.

 

It wasn't initially - it became one!