rec.autos.simulators

Seems that Sky Movies (in the UK) has a contest going for the best
movie stunt ever.  I'm asking for your vote for "The Man With
The Golden Gun" and the Spiral Jump.  The contest is advertized here:
  <http://www.racesimcentral.net/,,1065490,00.html>

or linked from here:
  <http://www.racesimcentral.net/;

Seems that they only want votes from the UK...

Here is why this is "on topic":
The stunt was a spinoff from correlation testing for one of the first
really comprehensive vehicle "physics" models, HVOSM, built with
sponsorship from the US Dept of Transportation.  Inventor/modeler Ray
McHenry worked in my father's department at CAL at the time it was
developed.  As a kid, I got out of school a few times to watch some of the
practice jumps before they went public (big fun, exciting crashes too!).
Here are a couple of links if you want to read more about this project:

   <http://www.racesimcentral.net/#The Astro-Spiral Jump>

We also put a section on Ray McHenry in Race Car Vehicle Dynamics, Chap 13.

JM Productions run thrill shows and they actually set up the jump in the
movie,  Jay Milligan is a great guy and a good friend.  They are here:
   <http://www.racesimcentral.net/;

So, please Go Vote!

-- Doug Milliken
   www.millikenresearch.com

mikkel

I've forgotten the color, but the car from the movie is in Jay Milligan's
museum (front office of the JM Productions building, about an hour's drive
from here), so I guess I could check sometime.  In the movie, the takeoff
ramp looks like a collapsed bridge or barn or something.  The jump is over
a canal/river, the bad guys are on the other side and Bond (Roger Moore)
takes the "shortcut"<grin> to try and catch them.

The "Astro Spiral" was actually part of a thrill show, and they did the
stunt for several years all over the USA.  It was the finale to their "hell
driving" show -- usually at local ovals (short tracks) and county fairs.

--
__________   ____---____       Marco Antonio  Checa  Funcke
\_________D /-/---_----'      Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru
       _H__/_/                      http://machf.tripod.com
      '-_____|(    

remove the "no_me_j." and "sons.of." parts before replying

That's pretty funny - I thought of that stunt when I read the title, before I
even read your message. :-)

Eldred
--
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
GPLRank:+6.19
N2002 Rank:+18.91

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

A bit of info, cut and pasted from
http://www.carenthusiast.com/news0910/bond_3.htm

The idea came from the stunt show of a New Yorker named
Jay Milligan, who suggested it to Cubby Broccoli for the next Bond film.

During the filming, Milligan supervised the scene. His driver, stunt man Loren ?Bumps" Willert,
took Bonds place in the car. Six cameras recorded the moment. For safetys sake, there were two
frogmen in the water and an emergency vehicle and a crane were ready on site but everything
went off like clockwork.

A computer in the aeronautical laboratory at the local Cornell University (CAL) was fed with the
data prior to the stunt. The institute works for the U.S. public roads authority and has all
kinds of data on car crashes, road routes, flooring materials, and cornering techniques. Using
the data submitted, the computer calculated the dimensions of the ramp, specified teak wood,
determined the ideal car an AMC Hornet hatchback special (AMC stands for the U.S. car model
American Motors Cassini Coup) and specified the weight, since the car and the driver together
had to weigh exactly 1460.06 kg. The distance between the ramps was equally inflexible and had to
be exactly 15.86 meters. The jump-off speed was established at 64.36 km/h. Seven tests were
performed in advance.

Close but no cigar...The actual idea for the spiral jump came from our
friend who designed the stunt, Ray McHenry.  See the description on
<www.mchenrysoftware.com>

Jay Milligan lives near here and he was the promoter who went on the road
with the Astro Spiral -- the stunt was performed many times around the
country before it was done for the Bond movie.  

The original ramps were made of normal construction lumber and plywood --
the extra set of ramps used in the Bond movie were made in Thailand (where
the movie was filmed) and were teak wood because that is cheap in Thailand.

Also, AMC stands for American Motors Corporation, a car company that was
eventually bought out by Chrysler (long before Chrysler was bought by
Daimler-Benz).  The actual spiral jump car was built like a tube frame race
car, with a full roll cage.  The AMC Hornet sheet metal was attached to
make it look like a normal car (like NASCAR).

-- Doug Milliken