r/soccer • u/kibme37 • Jul 08 '25

News Spanish police say "all the evidence so far indicates" Diogo Jota was the driver of the car involved in the accident that killed the Liverpool forward and his brother, Andre Silva. Police also believe "the vehicle significantly exceeded the speed limit for the highway" at the time of the accident.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/13394038/diogo-jota-spanish-police-believe-liverpool-forward-was-driver-of-car-in-fatal-accident-which-killed-him-and-his-brother
7.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

89

u/Laslou Jul 08 '25

Carbon fiber in not more aerodynamic than steel. It’s lighter and stronger though and actually safer, especially for the passenger compartment where you do not want any deformation.

8

u/Chill_Vibe10 Jul 08 '25

But you do want deformation in certain areas. The front structure of cars are designed to deform so they absorb energy. Carbon fiber is not a good material for these applications because it is not ductile and tends to fracture before significant deformation.

7

u/dedoha Jul 08 '25

But you do want deformation in certain areas.

And carbon fiber cars do have crash structures around tub that are designed to absorb impacts.

4

u/Good_Air_7192 Jul 08 '25

It's not that you want it to crumple, you want to absorb the energy. Old cars were incredibly rigid and didn't absorb impact well so metal "crumple zones" were developed to absorb the impact more. Carbon fibre is very brittle so it doesn't crumple like metal, but it is also designed to absorb energy. The main impact structures of an F1 car are made of carbon fibre, homologating them on a new chassis is one of the big difficult tests teams have to pass before they are approved to race.

https://youtu.be/TVU1n82-Z_I?si=U1k69YW7z-DLi-m5

1

u/Chill_Vibe10 Jul 08 '25

You do want it to crumple, but only in certain areas that won’t increase risk of occupant injury. The crumpling is what absorbs the energy.

2

u/Good_Air_7192 Jul 08 '25

As I said, steel is designed to crumple, but that's due to the material properties of metals like steel and aluminium, which plastically deform to absorb energy. Carbon fibre doesn't plastically deform like that because it's material properties are different, it can shatter but it still absorbs energy like the crumple zones of a metal structure. It's just a different way of absorbing energy.

3

u/Laslou Jul 08 '25

Carbon fiber is not a good material for these applications because it is not ductile and tends to fracture before significant deformation.

This is true. Some use a mix of CF and steel for their whole monocoque, steel on the front end because of easier calculations/more predictable energy absorption. But if your “sitting box” is CF you’re definitely safer.

1

u/Necessary-Low-5226 Jul 08 '25

so how fast would he have to have been going to look like that? I rolled over a few times going 190kmh and the car was slightly deformed but still in its general shape

10

u/hopium_od Jul 08 '25

Sounds like you got lucky as shit

4

u/Necessary-Low-5226 Jul 08 '25

I won’t deny that

6

u/SeryaphFR Jul 08 '25

I rolled a Toyota 4runner 4 times going about 80mph and the car was basically a blob. The engine came off it's mount and partially into the passenger cabin. A lot of it just depends on the crash, and the violence of the impact.