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From: tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT FACTS (Magnesium case)
Message-ID: <8739@spl1.UUCP>
Date: 29 Oct 88 22:32:28 GMT
References: <23336@sri-unix.SRI.COM> <1988Oct25.190655.10391@utzoo.uucp> <607@optilink.UUCP> <3446@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Sender: news@spl1.UUCP
Reply-To: tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney)
Organization: Eclectic Software, San Francisco
Lines: 15

In article <3446@pt.cs.cmu.edu> ns@cat.cmu.edu (Nicholas Spies) writes:
>Mercedes pulled out of auto racing in the 1950's after a magnesium-bodied
>car crashed and sent burning debris into the crowd (at Le Mans?). Either
>68 or 168 people died (sorry I don't have a reference handy). Definitely more
>flame than your average power supply fire would yeild, however...

The fatality number I recall is in the eighties; horrible accident.
However, please note that a car crash tends to make lots of small metal
fragments, which (in the case of magnesium) would be trivial to light
from a burning gasoline tank, or just from sparks.  Now, if the Next
box happens to get involved in an explosion which shatters the case, it
might be worse, but probably not otherwise.
-- 
Tim Maroney, Consultant, Eclectic Software, sun!hoptoad!tim
"Mere opinion without supporting argument is no more than the American
Bandstand school of literary evaluation."  -- Tom Maddox