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Ceiling Racing
Very high speed races where cars are pinned to upside down tracks by airfoils | |
Very high speed cars are fitted with airfoils that are designed to impart enough downward force when the car gets going 200 or so miles per hour that it can actually drive upside down on an inverted track.
1- This would be quite a sight to see and
2- You'd have extra incentive to not go below your
minimum "pinned to the ceiling" speed lest you fall off the underside of the track.
You'd start on a conventional track of course. Then, when the cars got up to speed the track would flip over.
I'll leave it to others to figure out the HP to weight ratio that would make this work. Keep in mind, the track is completely horizontal, only air pressure is pinning the car up to the track.
To make it interesting, you could even have turns where the car tended to be thrown off the track relying on the foils to keep it in place.
Here's the deal: I can't picture this actually working, but in theory you could do this yes?
Old variation on the theme
Ultimate_20Race_20Tracks
You do have to reach the ceiling somehow.... [Vernon, Feb 04 2016]
Gumpert Apollo
https://en.wikipedi...wiki/Gumpert_Apollo
Existing car that can do this [notexactly, Feb 04 2016]
[link]
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[+] you mean actual racing ? I pictured a racetrack on the ceiling of the kids' room; out of the way but instantly useable at any time. |
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You know for that matter, this could just be a little toy that
kids run across the ceiling. |
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Spider Man's anti gravity car or something. |
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The theory is certainly sound. On a long straightaway the
track could have a half spiral ramp to roll and thus invert the
vehicle. Two hurdles: oil and fuel starvation. Dry sump
lubrication, and a weighted fuel pickup might be solutions.
Bun [+] |
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I'm sure an inverted fuel and lube system could be
arranged. |
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Actually, just have the entire engine/fuel/lube
system mounted on a gimbal so that it can rotate
freely around the long axis of the car. |
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No, wait, I see a problem with that. |
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As long as there's some kind of reverse ejection seat in case of engine failure or collision. |
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Perfectly practicable. It's just an aircraft. The whole fuel feed and oil scavenge problem has long since been solved. |
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A light aircraft can support its own weight plus crew at 80 KIAS and up. Add suitably profiled aifoils (in effect, upside-down wings) to a road car and it could be driven upside-down. |
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Well, when the car reaches "inversion" speed in normal attitude, the load on the suspension will be more than double the force when it's at rest, as when it inverts the "lift" needs to cancel the weight, plus enough downforce to maintain traction. |
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Humans do not function well when inverted for prolonged periods. |
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Stopping is not an option - there will be a Vmin value to sustain minimum effective down (up) force. |
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A delta-wing design with elevons might assist cornering. As speed increases, because the attitude of the airfoil is fixed, there needs to be a drag-free way of shedding some lift, or the suspension will bottom. |
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Suicidally stupid, expensive, ludicrously dangerous and inadvisable. [+] |
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//Humans do not function well when inverted for prolonged periods.// [citation needed] |
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<throws rope over stout tree branch, beckons to [hippo]> |
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//with wheels on top as well as bottom, would this
count?// |
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That sounds like a well advised safety measure so...
no. |
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The Gumpert Apollo [link] is said to be able to drive on the
ceiling of a tunnel by aerodynamics. This has never been
tested. For some reason, Wikipedia no longer mentions this. |
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