Thursday, October 31, 2013

Vroom!



Wouldn't want that thing hooking up all of a sudden...

16 comments:

Flubnut said...

His front left wheel is locked, which is how he manages to make one perfect circle over and over again. If you watch the end of your typical F1 race, the winner almost always does donuts...but every one has to go forward a bit before they start breaking the rear loose.

Not that I blame him for being safe in that thing, at that height!

Color Me Cynical said...

I think it's not simply that the brake is locked, but pretty likely that it is in fact bolted down somehow. There is ZERO variance in the location, shape, and diameter of the two darkies laid down by the two rear tires, rotation after rotation after rotation. No way that happens with a free-floating front tire, I'm thinking, Coulthard or no.

Evyl Robot Michael said...

I see a lot of stupid $#!+ on the internet that tempts me to give it a try, but I can honestly say that I have no desire whatsoever to do that. Ever.

Montieth said...

Pretty appropriate for Dubai too. Whole lotta flash, lots of money, dangereous as he'll and no real purpose.

libertyman said...

Er, Tam, I can't see you up there peeking over the edge of that, standing upright to get a view of the place. I get sweaty palms just thinking of it.

Tam said...

You can see the car moving in a couple of shots.

Where the trick is is that I think a lot of splicing is going on; I don't think the car does more than one or two 360s per take...

Anonymous said...

I noted that this is the Red Bull 'show' car not a race car. It may be tricked out with a 'line lock' that allows the application of pressure to just one front brake which would make doughnuts easy. Drag racers use a line lock to disconnect the rear brakes via a solenoid valve so they can lock the front brakes while spinning the rear tires to get them warmed up.

Al_in_Ottawa

Anonymous said...

Either that thing is tethered like my old Cox P-51 or that dude is one crazy mofo.

Tam said...

Al,

"I noted that this is the Red Bull 'show' car not a race car. It may be tricked out with a 'line lock' that allows the application of pressure to just one front brake which would make doughnuts easy."

Very likely, I think. :)

Nate said...

I once sat in the grandstands at Brands Hatch raceway and watched Nigell Mansel do burnouts in a Williams turbo F1 car. He had pulled up in front of the stands after a high speed run, facing the stands. Then he stood on the loud pedal, cranked the wheels over and did many circles- till the front staight was cloaked in smoke, while waving. Great stuff.

Will said...

Well, he doesn't have to worry about another racer hitting him while he's burning rubber and making smoke, in THAT location!

Ramp or chopper to move the car?



I lost most of my enjoyment of a post race racer melting rubber, in 1989. I was at Laguna Seca USGP when a frustrated racer stopped part way around the track after the checkered flag and spun up his tire right in the middle. Two racers congratulating each other saw him too late. Eddie Lawson missed, Bubba Shobert hit. Shobert never raced again.

roland said...

Major dickmove on Kevin Magee's part. Seeing Bubba lying there sucked all the joy out of that day.

Phssthpok said...

"Ramp or chopper to move the car?"

The first thing to strike me the very first time I saw an F-1 car IRL was how TINY it was...not much more than a glorified go-cart. Given that he was doing this on the helipad, I'm betting chopper.

I'm also betting there were LOTS of people on the ground wonder just WTH that NOISE was...

Mike Gallo said...

Inertia- if he hooks up he just takes his foot off the gas and stays within a few feet of his point of origin. Sure, the engine and tires are rotating very fast, but they are low mass relative to the car. Same reason Kit could drive into the back of that semi-trailer.

Will said...

Too weird. Took a shower after my post. Grabbed a long sleeve tee, due to the house being open to dry out the carpet. It was my '89 USGP shirt.

SpeakerTweaker said...

Suddenly: traction.