trukn1

I saw the video. With the correct speed, proper angle of launch, and skill of the driver,,what was done in the video actually IS possible. Downforce, created by the cars' speed along with the laws of Centrifugal motion (a body set in motion WILL stay in motion until it meets an stationary object) will allow this to be properly done. If you notice carefully at 2:14 there is a ramp designed to give the car the necessary twist onto the wall of the tunnel. At 2:12, when he wings the car to the left and towards the ramp, that motion actually accelerated his forward momentum, in a semi straight line towards the ramp. With the right amount of prep, safeguards, calculations, etc., you can even do this with your lexus(BY NO MEANS TRY TO DO SO THO. THESE GUYS WERE ON A CLOSED COURSE AND DEALING WITH TRAINED PROFESSIONALS) Notice that they did the twist, between light sections in the tunnel as well. There was nothing there to stop/interrupt the forward momentum of the car at all; thus keeping the laws of centrifugal motion in effect.
Am not saying that the commercial was not computer altered, or if the Mercedes is even capable of this stunt. It may very well be, WITH the CAREFUL amount of calculations, planning and of course nerve. Actually, you can do this with just about any car(tho I would not recommend it) as long as all of the necessary calculations/computations/ figures/nerve is set into place. Is pretty much the same of just about ANY stunt that a professional pulls. Rule of thumb here is calculate/measure/calculate/measure and then do it again.

Sorry for bowing down to the "nerd" side of me for a minute. Used to be a Physics major in college and stuff like this still interests me a little. I just can't do all of the MANY computations anymore.

RX_330

Anybody remember the Top Gear episode? Same idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3P03xqsTyQ

balutsc300

iTrader: (1)

i think Mercedes did a great job on the sls it looks amazing to me when i saw it on the la auto show and the sound of the v8 is killer!

trukn1

I remember that episode, and there were 2 things wrong with it.

1. Tunnel was too small to FULLY allow the car to do a full, clean rotation. If you look carefully, you will see the car actually fall back down to it's wheels about 3/4 of the way thru the flip.

2. His speed was too slow as well. His math was a little off 17.5 m/s is = 39.15 mph. He needed to be above this speed to sucessfully pull off the stunt.


I was thinking of this link that you posted tho when I posted my response. It just goes to prove that you can do that stunt with ANY car.

Goodness,, I need to get back in school and finish off my physics degree. Never really realized how much I eenjoy that stuff until about now. Still wayyy rusty on my computations tho. LOL!!

ivanz

The commercial was filmed in the BC interior in a normal road tunnel...some guy posted pics of the shoot back in Sept on a local forum:
http://www.revscene.net/forums/my-re...1-t590203.html
The effect is obviously CG in those case...

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

It's not much of a looker up in front, but damn it the engine sounds beautiful!!

bnizzle87

the car itself didnt look too appealing, although i do like the rims and the doors swinging upwards. as for the video itself, i always thought it was possible, just on closed roads and with nothing but professionals on scene. to make it more true to the eyes, they should've kept one shot on the car moving in a panoramic setting (one shot throughout the tunnel driving). i kinda felt that because the screen switched right as the car motioned sideways and then switched again to it finishing its drive (side of tunnel onto road), it seemed a little altered. just my opinion. one shot wouldve proved otherwise, but pretty fun video to watch.