IndyCar claims a tether did not fail despite one of Kyle Kirkwood’s wheels flying over the fence in a crash in the Indy 500.
Kirkwood was unable to avoid a spinning Felix Rosenqvist on Lap 184 of the race, clipping the #6 McLaren IndyCar Team entry.
The impact caused the left-rear of the #27 Andretti Autosport entry to shoot into the air and hit a road car parked in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway outfield, although no person was seriously injured.
The incident raised questions about the safety systems built into IndyCar’s Dallara chassis, particularly how/why the tether failed.
According to a statement released by the series to local media, however, it did not.
“As a series known for innovation, for the last 24 years, IndyCar has mandated a wheel-suspension tether, which uses high-performance Zylon material,” read that statement, in part, according to Indianapolis television station WTHR.
“It can withstand a force of over 22,000 pounds [10,000kg]. IndyCar was the first sanctioning body in the United States to require its use.
“IndyCar is in possession of the tire involved in Sunday’s incident and has found that the tether did not fail.
“This is an isolated incident, and the series is reviewing to make sure it does not happen again.”
No explanation was given as to how the wheel parted from the Kirkwood car.
The statement also contradicted comments from IndyCar owner Roger Penske, who surmised that the high level of force must have sheared the tether.
“The good news is we didn’t have real trouble with that tyre going out,” he told reporters at IMS on Monday morning (local time).
“I saw it hit. When it went out, I saw we were okay.
“I talked to the Dallara guys today. We’re going to look at that, but I guess the sheer [force] from when [Rosenqvist’s] car was sitting, [Kirkwood’s car] went over and just that sheer force tore that tether, because we have tethers on there, and I’ve never seen a wheel come off.
“That to me was probably the scariest thing. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to fix that so that doesn’t happen again.”
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