Roland strapped his helmet on tightly, settled into his seat and connected his 5-point harness and tightened the straps.
He trusted the driver completely, as did the other 43 passengers on the bus.
They had 1,000 miles of mountainous terrain between themselves and the finish line, and 23 other fully laden buses in the race, all mechanically identical.
This was gonna be lit as hell itself!-- UnaBubba, Dec 03 2020 Prior art https://www.youtube...watch?v=CqtWb67AmWUSchool's out! [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 06 2020] In-drive refuelling In-drive_20refuellingRange extension. [8th of 7, Dec 07 2020] Rally Raid Truck Class https://en.wikipedi...s%E2%80%94T4_and_T5 [bs0u0155, Dec 07 2020] Welcome back, Roland.-- pertinax, Dec 03 2020 It took me a minute since we don't have Greyhound service here in the middle of nowhere. Once I got it, I got it. Ha. (Roland has been missed around here.)-- blissmiss, Dec 03 2020 You're welcome, [blissy].-- UnaBubba, Dec 03 2020 + Roland has dangerous ideas…-- xandram, Dec 04 2020 Gets bored easily when there's no fighting to be done.-- wjt, Dec 05 2020 I'm surprised this isn't a thing, seriously. Not necessarily with a bus, but races with some amount of paying passengers riding along? In stock car racing they take out the passenger seats to install rollbars, re-enforcement etc. Put the seats back, strap 3 or 4 passengers in and tell them to hang on.
I'd absolutely do this and so would a lot of other crazy people. This is brilliant. [+]-- doctorremulac3, Dec 06 2020 //1,000 miles of mountainous terrain//
Bathroom breaks?-- pertinax, Dec 06 2020 Some of those Japanese designs might include a 5-point harness and energy recovery.-- wjt, Dec 06 2020 I don't care if there's a pun in the title if it's a good idea like this one.-- Voice, Dec 06 2020 //strap 3 or 4 passengers in and tell them to hang on.//
You would have to be careful of weight and distribution.-- Voice, Dec 06 2020 //Bathroom breaks?//
If it's like the mountain roads of British Columbia or South America, you'll crap yourself on the first curve.-- AusCan531, Dec 07 2020 Heh-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 07 2020 // mountain roads of British Columbia or South America //
There are some ... entertaining ... "roads" on the Costa Brava, north of Barcelona. Hairpin bends to die for (or indeed on). BC is relatively mild by comparison, at least in the summer.
The risks in Latin America are more a function of the other traffic i.e. ancient trucks without brakes.-- 8th of 7, Dec 07 2020 [+] Obviously. Crash protection might be difficult to achieve. The standard roll cage works because it's a relatively strong structure encapsulating a small volume. If you scale that up, the potential forces start to multiply because of reasons outside my engineering lexicon, self- leverage? Should be doable though.
The bathroom breaks could be taken care of by running the race in stages, like the longer rally races. In addition, it would be useful to make sure some of the passengers were mechanically minded.
//There are some ... entertaining ... "roads" on the Costa Brava,//
It's a whole lot better than it was. My dad has photos from the 80's. Half of Spain and Portugal could be mistaken for a Paris-Dakar rally stage back then.-- bs0u0155, Dec 07 2020 // some of the passengers were mechanically minded. //
Actually, the bus could carry its own pit crew, and a selection of spare parts, tools and equipment.
With seats and controls for both driver and co-driver, allowing rolling crew changes, and in-drive refuelling <link>, the bus wouldn't need to stop during the race. Some upmarket coaches have onboard flush toilets. Some downmarket coaches jut have an opening window at the back...-- 8th of 7, Dec 07 2020 //bus could carry its own pit crew, and a selection of spare parts, tools and equipment.//
Practically the same as the Rally Raid support trucks. Always fun when the support truck gets ahead of the car it's supporting. Sometimes because of breakdowns, and sometimes because the terrain suits a great big bruising truck rather than some jumped-up Citroen hatchback.-- bs0u0155, Dec 07 2020 The idea came up because my son was considering getting into motorsport, and then we started thinking about passengers and it grew into paying passengers and then I figured a Greyhound bus would give the highest income yield and...-- UnaBubba, Dec 08 2020 //my son was considering getting into motorsport//
How about a Unabubba's bub's unicycle?-- AusCan531, Dec 08 2020 //the highest income yield // Surely beaten by rail racing? I have never heard of a double-track mainline being cleared and two trains set off simultaneously side by side for a head to head race.-- pocmloc, Dec 08 2020 It's been done on heritage lines, in an informal way - but not on a main line. Legally, it would be a bit of a nightmare in Europe.
There were some "tests" on the L&M and the GWR before they were opened to public traffic. If Mr. Brunel asks you to see how fast your locos will go, it's highly unlikely that any driver would demur.-- 8th of 7, Dec 08 2020 random, halfbakery