How safe is a Noble in a crash?
Discussion
As above really- how well do they fare in crashes compared to other exottica?
Do they have a strong racing chassis? Or does the fact they are from a smaller company mean there was far less R & D devoted to passenger safety and the light weight means there isn't much care to absorb the impact?
Thanks
Do they have a strong racing chassis? Or does the fact they are from a smaller company mean there was far less R & D devoted to passenger safety and the light weight means there isn't much care to absorb the impact?
Thanks
I think the insurance companies are definately to harsh when writing the cars off as cat 'c' & 'd', I used to work in a car repair body shop and some of the cars I saw compared to pictures of some crashed Nobles are so much worse. Nobles seem to get written off for a clam damage and suspension work whereas I've seen complete front ends or rear (including chassis legs & suspension) and there not registered as cat c or d. Very harsh
That's probably more down to tetchy assessors worried about spiralling costs when chassis damage and large parts are damaged. Easier to write off then get into trouble.
The only heavily crashed one I know of damaged the drivers legs pretty badly, but recovered OK now and the car was destroyed. They aren't too good in side impact apparently, I think they stand up well for the type of car it is.
andygtt said:
The plastic body acts as a crush zone, so does the very front and rear chassis sections.
Any fibre/resin composite is a very effective crash structure according to the Lotus designers on the "How we built the Elise" video that was released at the time of the S1 launch. There is an amazing bit where they just drive the Elise head on into a brick wall at 30mph, unbolt the clam and the carbon fibre crash structure at the front, bolt on a new one, and drive the car away with nothing changed on the structure of the car.Add into that the Noble chassis has a decent amount on triangulation in the front and rear and it does seem to hold up very well. The picture of Jimmy Price's son's crash in South Africa (they never did find one of the wheels...) gives me a decent amount of confidence.
The weak spot is being t-boned through the door opening, but you can say that about a heck of a lot of sports cars.
J
Adrian W said:
TIGERSIX said:
Adrian W said:
I got killed when I crashed mine............................................................................twice
Glad you pointed this out ,I will drink the wine I brought you back from France.
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