rally car hoods

[Chantastic]

Just saw some rally car pics and it reminded me of something I've been trying to make sense of. Why do the hoods on rally cars often fly open and smash the windshield? I've seen this happen in multiple videos, and even last summer I saw a bunch of rally prepped STI's going through Kensington, and the one I was following had to pull over because the hood flew up and the driver couldn't see a thing (his passenger/navigator had to look out the window to make sure it was safe to pull over).

Is this from damage to the hood latch? Or do they use a different type of latch/pin or something?

Thanks.

[RZRSHARP_SVX]

i am going to venture to guess that some of the car dont have hood pins. they usually put to hood pins on to prevent this from happening.

[ercchry]

i would say they all have pins, and someone forgot to put them back in :rofl:

[Chantastic]

This is what we're talking about, if you've never seen it happen before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R178PoHwdkg&feature=related

I'm not sure how hood pins work, I've never used them before. There are two, one per side usually right? Maybe someone did forget...

[BlackArcher101]

They don't often fly open, so not sure why you think it's a common problem. They use pins or latches and they are usually strong enough to keep the hood secure even through a roll over. If it flies up and hits the windshield during driving, then they must have forgot to secure it in the first place.

[Chantastic]

Well, it's happened enough for me to take notice of it.

[GT4rally]

They don't all have pins, mine didn't, and I don't think the rules have changed since then.

Hood latches can get damaged by all sorts of things on a rally stage; from hitting scenery, to just landing hard off jumps... and occasionally forgetting to slam the hood shut properly.

The difference between a rally stage and a race track is that you never know what is around the next bend, and if you damage something, there's no pit stop to fix it.

[Eleanor]

Originally posted by ercchry
i would say they all have pins, and someone forgot to put them back in :rofl: This.

[Chantastic]

Thanks for the input everyone!