At a practice for a recent automobile race, officials found that the drivers were nearly “blacking out,” which led to cancellation of the race. The cars were traveling at about 240 mi/h, and the track was approximately 1.5 mi long. Find the centripetal acceleration during a turn and compare it with the physiological limit of approximately 8 × g discussed in Problem 12. Assume the track was circular.

Data From Problem 12

When a fighter pilot makes a very quick turn, he experiences a centripetal acceleration. When this acceleration is greater than about 8 × g, the pilot will usually lose consciousness (“black out”). Consider a pilot flying at a speed of 900 m/s (about 2000 mi/h) who wants to make a very sharp turn. What is the minimum radius of curvature he can take without blacking out?