racing gravel traps

[melinda1]

how do gravel traps work

[Skids]

They effectively allow the car to dig in.  By doing so they provide a huge amount of resistance to the motion of the car.

Because the trap is deep, and the cars are low, the cars get grounded.  Because the gravel is free to be churned up the tyres cannot get traction to push the car out.

[chazza55]

to add to that, a lot of the kinetic energy of the vehicle is easily absorbed by having to move all the bits of gravel out of the way as the vehicle moves in to the gravel.

therefore it is safer than putting a brick wall there to stop you. A brick wall wouldnt absorb the energy as well, but the vehicle would still stop. So it would be the vehicle and the passenger absorbing the energy = damage!

[brachiopod]

Is this a school project, melinda?

Just wondering, because this question has been asked a few times lately.

There's some good points raised by skids and chazza to get started on.