Car responded as expected says Briscoe crash team.

More than a week on from Ryan Briscoe's fiery Chicagoland accident and with the young Australian driver still recovering in hospital from his injuries, investigations have already begun as to how his equipment stood up to the impact and what can be learnt from the wreckage.

While shards of carbon fibre fell on the Chicagoland Speedway racing surface like confetti after the #33 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz-Toyota disintegrated upon impact with the SAFER Barrier and retaining fence between turns 3 and 4 early in the PEAK Antifreeze Indy 300, his machinery actually responded as it had been designed to.

Contact between the IndyCar Series rookie's right-front tyre and the left-rear of the #51 Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara-Toyota driven by Alex Barron triggered the fierce and fiery crash that left the car in pieces and Briscoe with two broken clavicles, a fractured bone in his foot, concussion and a bruised lung.

But the integrity of the cockpit, an aluminium honeycomb reinforced on both sides by carbon fibre, remained intact, which essentially protected Briscoe like a cocoon. His broken clavicles, according to Indy Racing League track safety coordinator Dave Brown were the result of the high G forces working against the HANS (Head And Neck Safety) device. Untethered feet led to the foot fracture.

"Judging by the ferocity of the accident, everything that we had anticipated the car to do did exactly as we expected," said Les Mactaggert, IRL senior technical director. "The chassis stood up well to the impact. There was some minor damage to the lower left-hand corner, which I think was caused by the top edge of the SAFER Barrier as the chassis came down, and some damage to the rear when it hit the track. But the inside of the chassis was completely intact, and from our perspective that's the important aspect because it's where the driver is sitting."

Brown, responding to the scene in Command 1, said the Delphi IRL Safety Team simultaneously attended to the driver and remains of the fire.

"Everything stayed intact, and he rode it out," Brown said. "All the energy-absorbing materials took most of the energy away, and did what it was supposed to. It was a pretty good methanol fire, which we don't normally have. The fuel pump, which is mounted inside the bladder (a flexible Kevlar bag that can hold up to 30 gallons of methanol) was pulled clear out and created a rather large hole in the bladder. The oil fire was fed by the methanol."

Briscoe was alert as the safety team extracted him from the tub and placed him on a stretcher to be evaluated at the infield care centre. He was later airlifted to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois and was transferred to Methodist Hospital to be evaluated and treated by IRL medical personnel.

Mactaggert said reviews of the incident already have begun.

"As a general course, we take all the data from every accident, physically examine the cars, overlay the data of the damage the car sustained to see if we can understand how the structures reacted in specific circumstances," he said. "We'll improve the car (design) some more because it's an ongoing process. We'll spend as much time and effort as we possibly can to make sure that we move forward in making the safety of the cars one of our major priorities."