Physics: Best Movie Stunt, shameless request for Ballot Box Stuffing

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.skymovies.com/skymovies/article/0,,1065490,00.html> or linked from here: <http://www.skymovies.com/skymovies/home> 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.mchenrysoftware.com/mhvosm1.htm#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://jmp.buffnet.net/astro.htm> So, please Go Vote! -- Doug Milliken www.millikenresearch.com

Funny thing Doug... that actually IS one of my alltime favourites. Orange car right ? mikkel Doug Milliken <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted text (8 lines)

> > 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.skymovies.com/skymovies/article/0,,1065490,00.html> > www.millikenresearch.com >

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. On Wed, 6 Nov 2002, Mikkel Gram-Hansen wrote:

Quoted text (20 lines)

> Funny thing Doug... that actually IS one of my alltime favourites. Orange > car right ? > > mikkel > > > Doug Milliken <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > > > 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.skymovies.com/skymovies/article/0,,1065490,00.html> > > > www.millikenresearch.com > > > > > >

On Wed, 6 Nov 2002 02:31:17 GMT, Doug Milliken <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted text (32 lines)

> >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.skymovies.com/skymovies/article/0,,1065490,00.html> > >or linked from here: > <http://www.skymovies.com/skymovies/home> > >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.mchenrysoftware.com/mhvosm1.htm#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://jmp.buffnet.net/astro.htm> > >So, please Go Vote! > >-- Doug Milliken > www.millikenresearch.com

Well, I remember one stunt that particularly impressed me as a kid, in the early 70's. I don't even know what the movie was called. it involved three cars, the first one braking in the middle of some open space, the second one jumping over a ramp in a trajectory at a right angle with regard to the first one's and then landing right on top of it, then the third one coming full speed from behind the first one and bumping into it, effectively replacing it under the second one... Does anybody have an idea what this movie was called? -- __________ ____---____ 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

In article <[email hidden]>, Doug Milliken <[email hidden]> writes: >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. 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.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted text (10 lines)

> >In article <[email hidden]>, Doug Milliken <[email hidden]> >writes: > >>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. > >That's pretty funny - I thought of that stunt when I read the title, before I >even read your message. :-)

Ha! So did I, the moment I saw the thread title. 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 Bond�s place in the car. Six cameras recorded the moment. For safety�s 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.

On Sat, 9 Nov 2002, GD wrote:

Quoted text (14 lines)

> >>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. > > > >That's pretty funny - I thought of that stunt when I read the title, before I > >even read your message. :-) > > Ha! So did I, the moment I saw the thread title. > > 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.

...<snipped>... 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