AUTOPSY OF AN ACCIDENT:

VANESSA 

For once we'll let the pictures do most of the talking, but here's the damage from that impact, to show you what an XJS does in a high-speed front end side collision.

A split second after the big bang. A front end impact near enough direct into the wheel, at about 80mph.

Delivered back to the paddock for us to enjoy. Instantly clear that she is in real trouble.

Even a brief look confirms substantial chassis damage beneath the cosmetic bodywork.

The rear end is bad, but nothing like as bad as the front end. Damage behind the subframe is only ever cosmetic.

Though it is a LOT of cosmetic damage, that's a destroyed inner arch and a complete rear wing needed.

With the bonnet off the scale of the chassis damage is clear, the upper chassis rails show how far the front end has bent.

The only damage to the cockpit comes from the driver's elbow. Which is why you must have windows/nets.

The bend to the nearside chassis is damage transferred by subframe and braces - the downside to racing modifications.

Wings off and the story becomes clearer still. This car is broken.

Offside chassis took the impact, pushed upwards and over.

Which is what puts this vicious twist into the front end.

And yet the bulkhead is not affected.

The nearside is bent down slightly, and over.

Both chassis legs are bent behind the solidly-mounted subframe.

Even the least affected rail is still about 8" over compared to where it started life - front end bracing adds strength but does transfer damage.

Obviously the site of greatest damage. Various cross braces that so stiffen the shell all served to absorb a lot of energy.

Didn't we used to have a headlight?

Pretty sure there was one in here.

The vac tank didn't enjoy it much either.

Actually split the upper rail forward of the extra brace bar I welded in, but that marks the rearmost point of the damage.

Chassis leg and inner wing very clearly and obviously buggered. That shocker used to be a little straighter too.

Well, that's not right is it!

At least all the welds held. Not one of our welds let go, which is helpful.

The twisting subframe has deformed the bottom end of the reinforced damper "turret."

Because, seen from above, the upper arm has punched through the inner wing. The degree of chassis twist can be easily seen.

Passenger side is less obvious, but the bush impact mark on the inner wing tells the tale.

Oh dear, that's expensive. Exhaust manifold crushed beyond repair. Broken steering column probably saved driver's thumbs!

A lovely template of the exhaust manifolds beaten into the chassis shows how far the car sprang during impact. A road car would be worse.

The cracked paint on the subframe tells a story of far more damage than just cracked paint. The entire leg has tried to break free.

Torn and twisted well beyond any repair. The solid anchorage to the car means it cannot pull free, it has to break.

Verdict? If you're going to get hit, do it in a strong car. Anyone who read the story of the assembly of this car knows that it was built from a complete wreck, well rusted, and that I replaced a huge amount of metal. It was always a bit unclear whether having an untrained welder making big repairs of a structural nature was necessarily a good idea. The design of the car, with the extra pieces slipped in here and there, was untested. We knew it worked from the handling side, but was it a robust, strong car?

Well, yes. Our welds might be uncertified, but they all held. The car itself didn't fail at the site of a single repair. Where metal has torn it was actual metal failure, rather than a weld breaking. In places the extra braces have clearly worked and held fast whilst the original design broke. The downside to the solid-mounted, cross-braced, seam welded shell was that the impact was spread across the car to damage both sides.

But had this been a more conventional car, how would that have differed? That energy has to go somewhere, so presumably more damage to the impact site. Would the subframe have come completely adrift, and the gearbox beat the tunnel inside the cockpit as we saw with Angelina's wreck? The drivers don't like it much when the engine tries to get in the seat with them.

On balance, from a driver survival perspective, we'll take the strong car that writes itself off over the equally-written off car with the injured pilot.

Will this car live again? She shouldn't. But maybe...