Tuesday, November 14, 2017

are the rules too open to allow safe drag racing for kids? An 8 year old just died crashing into the far end concrete barrier while racing in Jr Dragster in Perth Australia


The Junior Dragster Eliminator class, for 8yr olds, restricts racers to a minimum 11.90 second run in the 1/8 mile with a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour.

But can an 8 yr old deal with catastrophic failure of brakes? Steering? Tires?

Does it depend on the kid, and are rules unneccessary when kids and parents are willing to risk it all, or, are rules needed to prevent the statistics that doom a sport by possibly making a perception of anything goes lack of safety?

http://www.thedrive.com/start-finish/16074/eight-year-old-drag-racer-dies-in-australia

5 comments:

  1. An 8 year old racer is not a good idea. There's real physics involved here, not just video game crash and burn. You don't generally get a reset button in real life. Let them be kids and thrash some bikes and get hit with a softball or two first.

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    1. yeah... it's a damn tragedy when, in this case, things went wrong and the kid had no back up plan... and evidently, there was no safety net at that strip. That should be rectified pronto. In this instance the kid had no way to stop... is what the news said, so, either no brakes, or panic. 8 years old... and not many people would not panic, and think to engage the motor to slow it down, downshift maybe, rub up on the wall, or worst case, try for a barrel roll. I'd prefer all of those to head first into a concrete wall

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    2. Even a gravel run off area would do a lot to slow the racer down. You know, like you see at road courses. So sorry for this loss, and the family.

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  2. It would be a very difficult day to lose your child. Kids die every day, skateboarding, bike riding, and swimming pools are the biggest killer. Without knowing all of the facts on the accident, my only comment is to do everything possible to keep your child safe, multiple safety checks, try to think of as many what if's as possible. We cannot continue to bubble wrap our kids and keep them in the world of virtual reality. My heart goes out to the family.

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