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EA S · 02-26-2002, 18:58

Falchoon's post elsewhere about the myth of the jet powered car hitting a cliff reminds me of the US scientist who was experimenting with acceleration and deceleration for the air force or space program around the 1950's. He strapped himself into a
?rocket powered sled on a railway line and accelerated to some ridiculous speed and stopped in a couple of feet. Nobody had any idea what would happen, or even if he'd live. There's documentary film of it I've seen a few times. He eventually stumbles off the sled but is alive. Was blind for a few days and had some other problems I think. Brave, but stupid?

Falchoon · 02-26-2002, 19:02

Yeh I saw that film a while back, what an idiot! I guess it was back in the days B4 crash test dummies and the like but even so you'd reckon they could of found a better (safer) way of collecting data.

Adam W · 02-26-2002, 19:06

My brother once told me a story about some guy in the States that whacked a jet engine in his Cadillac, he proceeded to go out onto a long stretch of highway to check how fast it would go.
All that was left of him and the car was a noticable mark on the side of a mountain. Obviously he got airborne and left the road.

EA S · 02-26-2002, 19:13

Quote:

Originally posted by Falchoon
Yeh I saw that film a while back, what an idiot! I guess it was back in the days B4 crash test dummies and the like but even so you'd reckon they could of found a better (safer) way of collecting data.

I might be confusing it with some other film I've seen, but I think they used sheep and maybe other animals in the preliminary runs. Imagine the poor bloody sheep being shot along the track and stopped dead.

MrPlow2 · 02-26-2002, 19:14

Quote:

Originally posted by Adam W
My brother once told me a story about some guy in the States that whacked a jet engine in his Cadillac, he proceeded to go out onto a long stretch of highway to check how fast it would go.
All that was left of him and the car was a noticable mark on the side of a mountain. Obviously he got airborne and left the road.

yeah, that's what falchoon's thread was about.

apparently, that's been confirmed as an urban myth, but it's funny regardless.

Falchoon · 02-26-2002, 19:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Adam W
My brother once told me a story about some guy in the States that whacked a jet engine in his Cadillac, he proceeded to go out onto a long stretch of highway to check how fast it would go.
All that was left of him and the car was a noticable mark on the side of a mountain. Obviously he got airborne and left the road.

Adam, I think that is the myth I was describing in the other thread Great motoring myths - or are they true?

Go to Automobiles at http://www.snopes2.com/ and read about this and heaps of other motoring myths and urban legends!

EL-Phat · 02-26-2002, 23:25

Quote:

Originally posted by Adam W
My brother once told me a story about some guy in the States that whacked a jet engine in his Cadillac, he proceeded to go out onto a long stretch of highway to check how fast it would go.
All that was left of him and the car was a noticable mark on the side of a mountain. Obviously he got airborne and left the road.

Nah im quite sure that is true. I read it on The Darwin Awards. which is an award/recognition program for the most stupid ways in which people die.

Look up " Darwin Awards " in a search. its a good laugh and they are all true on the official site....

Chaps · 02-27-2002, 15:04

Quote:

Falchoon's post elsewhere about the myth of the jet powered car hitting a cliff reminds me of the US scientist who was experimenting with acceleration and deceleration for the air force or space program around the 1950's. He strapped himself into a

This was really funny because none of the measuring instruments worked, so they had to go out and do it again.. It was testing for the Space program but it eventually branched off to become testing for early development of Ejection seats. Now i can't quite remember if it was this guy or one of the supervising scientists that was Martin Baker, for which ejection seats are now named in most US (and hence Australian) fast jets. (ie fighters and bombers..)

Martin · 02-27-2002, 16:09

Quote:

Originally posted by EL-Phat

Nah im quite sure that is true. I read it on The Darwin Awards. which is an award/recognition program for the most stupid ways in which people die.

Look up " Darwin Awards " in a search. its a good laugh and they are all true on the official site....

Nah its a myth.

Falchoon · 02-27-2002, 18:29

Quote:

Originally posted by EL-Phat

Nah im quite sure that is true. I read it on The Darwin Awards. which is an award/recognition program for the most stupid ways in which people die.

Look up " Darwin Awards " in a search. its a good laugh and they are all true on the official site....

If you go to http://www.darwinawards.com/stupid/ and type in JATO in the search box it will bring up all the details on this Urban Legend (myth). Here is a short blurb.

Quote:

This Darwin Award is the most popular of all time. Considered true for years, it was later confirmed as an Urban Legend by the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The story fooled the judges in 1995, so JATO has been grandfathered in as the 1995 Darwin Award Winner.