Evolution Dynamics Pikes Peak EVO

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Race Day – the Evo was tearing up Pike's Peak. Spectators before the crash noticed how hard they were pushing it. The story goes that there may have been a little discrepancy over what corner they were approaching and speeds were somewhere around 70mph, a little dicey for the turn.  Driver Jeremy Foley and navigator Yuri Kouznetsov ran out of road. The roof camera records the last words “Oh Shit!” before it goes dark and the Evo tumbles off the cliff into what Yuri later described as “a washing machine of pain.”  

While Jeremy and Yuri have been the main men in front of the media to discuss this event we felt there was a side left untold. The owner and brains BEHIND the car that hurtled down the mountain seems to be missing so let's correct that right now. Owner and Operator of Evolution Dynamics Kevin Dubois sponsored this project; he put together the car and built this roll cage. While most people will agree you never want to see your design tested, there's a sense of relief you feel once it is and both passengers survive. The pillars are bent like Gumby and the body is distorted beyond recognition, but the roll cage and passenger compartment remain mostly intact. 

The purpose of a good roll cage is to absorb and deflect energy from the passenger compartment. Tubes will be bent or twisted but passengers will live.  And in this case, the only real injury was a dislocated shoulder suffered by Yuri.  That two people survived this crash is incredible enough, but that they survived with so few injuries is a credit to the execution of a solid design in the roll cage from Evolution Dynamics and the effective safety equipment from seats to helmets to Hans devices. 

While covering the GTA and XDC events near Dallas, Texas in September, we had an opportunity to stop by the Evolution Dynamics shop and take pictures of the Evo, now available in pocket sized…

 

The car flipped in the air and the first impact with the ground was directly on the passenger side roof line. The Evo had a NASA spec cage with a little additional gusseting in the halo to meet all requirements.  Rally cages have a little more support in that same spot though the NASA cage did an adequate job protecting the passengers.

 

Kevin's roll cage design faced a lot of criticism on forums after the crash, with “e-experts”; SPE's, and FFF's dissecting every tube and weld on the car.  Having viewed this car in person, it's not just luck that two people walked away from this crash. Sure, luck plays into the whole situation but without that cage – and even that design – the outcome could have been far worse.  In any design there's always room for improvement.  Whatever design flaws Kevin recognizes such as additional gusseting to keep the B pillars from protruding in to the passenger compartment, will be taken as a well-earned lesson and used in future designs. Also in discussion for the future are the door bar design and the use of an uninterrputed X brace with separate impact attenuation provisions. 

WD: I personally want to state that if you are reading this and feel compelled to post negative criticism about the cage etc… Please refrain… The damn car went through hell and back and the two drivers walked away; if that is not a testament to that fact that it WORKED then I don't know what is. 

 

The OEM B pillar buckled into the passenger compartment and hit the seat so hard that this impact coupled with the floor seam failure from the initial impact, caused the seat mounting points to fail. The seat had been attached with an 1/8″ steel plate welded to the OEM floor board.  This is probably the impact that caused Yuri's injury.  If the seat had stayed fixed in place, Yuri may have suffered further injuries.  

 

The diagonal tube from the passenger side roll hoop to the drivers side rear strut tower kept the passenger side from completely collapsing.  There is also a diagonal from the passenger side roll hoop to the drivers side front halo, meant to triangulate the halo to keep the square from failing.  This is not required in the rules but probably is a big reason the passenger compartment held up.

 

The engine compartment survived fairly unscathed.  In fact, I think the only thing lost was the blow off valve. The oil pan had a dent on the front edge (but no leak).  Ultimately, it was the tow up the hill and the tow truck that finally punctured it.

 

Kevin said his biggest regret with the design was using windows rather than window nets.  While it provided more visibility, once the doors ripped off, the passengers arms were exposed and helmets left to fly dangerously close to the mountainside.  After Yuri suffered his shoulder injury, he grabbed a hold of the shoulder harness and started praying! 

 

When the rear driver's side door was ripped off, it pulled the fire extinguisher cord releasing the halon liquid. A small fire actually broke out once the Evo settled on its boulder bed so the suppression system going off was probably a good thing.

 

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