Check it out!!!

Kerri

KerriS

This is right out of a Warner Brothers' cartoon...

"Let's put the cafeteria table with the two Dells right here..."

"Don't worry! If ANYTHING goes wrong, push the big red button on the desk, then MOVE AWAY FROM THE FALLING CAR!"

magaphoto

In answer to Retiree, there are several of these in Europe. Most of the F1 teams have a full-size tunnel now, and several regular car manufacturers do too (although they often have a 5-belt system).

As to the use of one of these, the engine does not run - the movement of the belt turns the wheels. The front wheels are locked in position, after carefully setting the toe so that the car runs straight and is not generating lots of side-force on the belt. Side force from sticky racing tires can push the belt off sideways at speed. But the safety systems in these rolling roads can stop it dead amazingly quickly.

chogan

Dubious Returns

backpack09

SteveR

Bumbeck

justabunchofwords

Ed Iskenderian sent you a friggin tip?

SteveR

smokyburnout

Hell, use video cameras and no one even has to be in the building.

Why are people getting all weird here?

br549

With the guywires, they just put it in neutral and move the road past it, the tires will roll right along.

I'm sure the 1mm road belt runs on good rollers that take the weight. The belt is just there to provide a surface to create laminar airflow. It should be a long time before it wears out.

br549

cgarison

But yeah, this looks friggin' dangerous a setup as I've ever seen. It appears that the only thing strapping that car down is a pair of lashings on either side. God forbid OSHA does an inspection....

HDC

Just the same, why waste such an über-awesome piece of hardware on a NASCAR car when you could, say, see if a DAF could theoretically hit 200 mph in reverse?

Tomsk

Thats about 150 lbs of steel spinning around those rollers.

while not as much as I anticipated I still wonder what kind of carnage would ensue in the event of a break. Bandsaw blades just stop dead as they instantly release tension from the drive wheels. In this case youll have a Stocker at full gallop still pushing band.

id call that a ginsu burnout from hell.

Drive-thru

drewheyman

thunder

Ben Wojdyla

GoatBoy

ChasteWhite

PS-We just got done testing a mini model of the Rocketeer in thermal fluids lab (the assignment was print something on the 3d printer, and analyze it in a wind tunnel). Here are some pics:

http://www.totalinsanity.net/rocketeer/

And according to our data, he could actually fly perfectly horizontal, without wings, at only 200 mph... crazy. We couldn't extrapolate any drag data though, so who knows what the rockets need to put out to hold that speed (or even get to that speed...) but it's still interesting.

PPS-We also did the millennium falcon for fun (hey, sometimes it flew in real atmospheres!) Pics at the same url.

Adam

DHeart197

ledwig

Also, they should have made it wider to test the aerodynamic qualities of two cars rubbin' at 180mph.

lascauxcaveman

Retiree - that's definitely pics of the rig in the assembly shop. i'm sure it will be integrated into a proper wind tunnel in good time. I would imagine that the car gets strapped down much like on a dyno but with thin cables instead of nylon straps - better aero signature.

1mm thick - get out a ruler and think about that - now compare it to what's on a band saw and see how effective that is. As far as failure goes there are ways to monitor the harmonics of an active system to check for out of control situations. Plus I'm sure the whole thing would be inspected for cracks/tears/early indications of failure on a regular basis.

wohho

Rabbi Dave

Jonny Lieberman

Based on what I've seen the Toyota people should rent out that rolling road asap.

Haas-CNC is crewed by Booty Barker who appears on SPEED Channel quite often. A degreed Mechanical Engineer and in spite of his handicap (due to a car accident), a very sharp racing mind.

allenparkpete

FЯeeMan is slowly cЯawling out of the new commenting system

why's it, like, 30 feet in the air?
where's all the smooth sided tunnel for the air to flow through?
1mm thick steel? Won't that wear out pretty quick?
what happens if that belt snaps?
is the car actually driven on the belt?
This is really the 1st rolling road wind tunnel in the US?
How many are there in Europe/Japan?
what keeps the car from rolling off - front/back/sides?

that's all for now. my mind can't boggle any more...

FЯeeMan is slowly cЯawling out of the new commenting system

Frost Face

Larry Forney