Posted on 06/27/2020 4:59:03 AM PDT by tlozo
You'll be forgiven for stifling a yawn as we delve into the details of yet another Cannonball record. And although the overall New York City-to-Redondo Beach, California record has allegedly been broken again by some folks who have not yet emerged from the shadowy world of hearsay and conjecture, that's not the one we're going to tell you about today. What we're here to talk about is a record that's so stupid it's brilliant, and so crazy it's just about what we've come to expect as the elapsed times on these ill-advised adventures have crept ever closer to the 24-hour mark.
We're talking about a solo run. One man, one car, a whole lot of gasoline, and an alleged 25-hour, 55-minute elapsed time. That’s an average speed of nearly 108 miles per hour.
If you've been following our coverage, you'll know that a lot of people got excited last November when Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, and Berkeley Chadwick destroyed a coast-to-coast time that had stood since 2013, behind the wheel of a superbly prepared, blisteringly fast 2015 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG sedan that carried them across this nation in 27 hours and 25 minutes...
Fred Ashmore, 44, of Hancock, Maine, rented a Mustang GT, removed its passenger seats and other interior accessories, strapped in enough extra fuel tanks to bump the car's capacity to around 130 gallons, and made the trip from the Red Ball garage in Manhattan to the Portofino Hotel & Marina in Redondo Beach with only one stop for fuel.
"The Mustang GT will not go any faster than 159 miles per hour," he told Road & Track. "Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying."...
(Excerpt) Read more at roadandtrack.com ...
And IIRC there are some mountains involved.
“Weight is a factor in acceleration (F= m x a) but not in top speed.”
Mechanical engineers know otherwise.
Weight affects bearings, suspension loading and vehicle aerodynamics, tire drag, etc.
Besides f=1/2mV^2 is the more accurate equation to worry about.
I WANT to believe this story, except for a few little factors; police and speed traps, for openers. To average 107 one would have to hold speeds of 125 and more for much of the time, to make up for only doing 85 in a 35mph zone. I can see the willingness and desire. But I cannot see conditions allowing it. I’ve had too many experiences of trying to make up lost time by going a measley 20 or 30 over the posted limit, but being hampered by other traffic, etc. Nope. Can’t see it.
It is a cool, exciting concept, right up to the moment when you kill some completely innocent person.
If you are driving 100 mph, that will be First Degree Manslaughter, and you will do serious hard time.
Mass is a factor in acceleration (not weight). Weight will increase the rolling resistance at the tire. Power (a unit of work delivered in a shorter period of time) is what sustains the car’s speed by overcoming resistance (aero included). Work is force x displacement (distance). If you move something 20ft using 10 lb. of force, you are doing 200 lb-ft of work. If you apply the 10lb of force but cannot move it you are not doing any work. If you can displace 20 ft in a shorter period of time with the same 10 lb. of force, you either have more power or there is less resistance.
In the rotating world like an engine, torque is work. If you apply 10 lb of force through a 2 ft wrench that is 20 lb-ft. Even if you did not move the bolt because the force is already displace through the length of the wrench. Hence the units for torque are the same as the units doe work (lb-ft). If you can maintain the torque while increasing the speed (rpm) you get more power. Power is work x speed.
“Figuring 2,600 miles he’d have to average 96MPH without stopping for a *single* second. “
That is the easy part. You just need to be lucky with the cops.
I did not bother to mention minor effects such as bearing friction, etc. A one line comment is not intended to be a scientific treatise.
To repeat or clarify: The predominant top speed factor for a given power is aerodynamic drag, not weight. The power required to overcome drag increases with the CUBE of velocity (while the weight remains the same). The rest is insignificant in relation to that.
(And kinetic energy is irrelevant to this topic.)
” to make up for only doing 85 in a 35mph zone”
Where would he be in a 35 zone?
Gumball.
I expressed my doubts on another thread. But another reason I doubt it is because once the first LEO radio bulletin went out about 120+ mph pursuit across county and state lines, he’d have the entire LEO world on alert. He’d be a marked man from coast to coast. There’d be bears in the air like flocks of locusts. Naaah! I can’t buy it. Show us the video.
Correct. Hence my quote of F = m x a. For a given gravitational force, weight is of course proportional to mass. This is conversational usage, not textbook rigor.
“If you apply 10 lb of force through a 2 ft wrench that is 20 lb-ft. Even if you did not move the bolt because the force is already displace through the length of the wrench. Hence the units for torque are the same as the units doe work (lb-ft).”
If you don’t move the bolt you don’t do work. You. need to take a basic course in physics.
If you are using torque then the displacement is an angle.
I prefer The Gumball Rally. What’s behind you doesn’t matter.
Was the guys name Kowalski by chance?
“If you are driving 100 mph, that will be First Degree Manslaughter, and you will do serious hard time.”
About 10 years ago cruising about 100 in west Texas and getting passed by most others.
“There’d be bears in the air like flocks of locusts.”
Which movie?
“That is the easy part.”
Easy? Roads in the US, to include freeways, are not designed for those speeds. There are on ramps, towns, curves, mountains, that extreme speeds could not be maintained. There is a chance of driving that fast for a while, but not for 2600 miles.
For the driver to blaze through a small town in the sticks with a speed limit of 25, and not have the cop with the mirrored glass on both sides not call him boy and put him in with Bubba for a while, is a lot more realistic. Makes good ink.
rwood
Is it primary or secondary? Secondary insurance causes the hassle Pearls Before Swine described. Primary is only offered by a few credit card issuers.
“For the driver to blaze through a small town in the sticks with a speed limit of 25, “
He did not go through small towns.
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