Speed with Guy Martin - new series
Discussion
Bravo.
I thought the final episode was brilliant. I didn't think they could top the Pikes Peak episode but I think they did.
The only downside for me, was the contrived all-female team, in particular, the push-start thing which was highlighted to be really important.... ....and then they go on to select who'll do it for the record attempt from the 3 design/engineering lasses. If the challenge had to be kept female (for whatever reason it was that was never revealed), why not use the bob girls (or similar)?
Scuffers said:
imagine in the guys doing Bloodhound were this tardy?
I could be wrong, and I wouldn't classify myself as an engineer by any stretch of the imagination, but trying to break the sound barrier on land is a couple of steps up the ladder from trying to break a downhill karting record.I would hope that somebody somewhere is filming the Bloodhound effort, so we can see it's not a bloke from Grimsby with big chops and the thought process behind meets with PH approval......
motorizer said:
Maybe it was contrived, but they proved they were the right people for the job by succeeding. Good stuff, best one of the series.
Defaintely one of the best of the series, but I'm not sure that proves anything when the bloke you you're competing against was one man in a shed running on a public road....the only way you could 'prove' they were the right team for the job would be to give another team access to the same tech, funding and workshops and see who went fastest..Have to agree with the people questioning the carbon though - no, you don't want weight high up, but then the weight was negligable compared to the car running at over a quarter ton with ballast....and that money would have been far better spent on the wheels and 'suspension', given the car could have run lower anyway. It's pretty alarming they put that sort of force through a spoked pushbike wheel to be honest, they're not something that tends to like lateral loadings, as they're not designed to take much of it.
Edited by PhillipM on Monday 17th November 11:35
Kitchski said:
Only on PH could a few comments made about a program on Ch4 be spun into assumptions about people's entire lives!
No, not individuals, but what I wrote is correct. Some people do and some people don't ask "why?".if people who are interested want to discuss it and maybe learn something why shouldn't they? Why would other people be so bothered as to complain about it?
The programme is prompting debate about engineering. That is a good thing.
Kitchski said:
Only on PH could a few comments made about a program on Ch4 be spun into assumptions about people's entire lives!
No, not individuals, but what I wrote is correct. Some people do and some people don't ask "why?".if people who are interested want to discuss it and maybe learn something why shouldn't they? Why would other people be so bothered as to complain about it?
The programme is prompting debate about engineering. That is a good thing.
PhillipM said:
...but I'm not sure that proves anything when the bloke you you're competing against was one man in a shed running on a public road....the only way you could 'prove' they were the right team for the job would be to give another team access to the same tech, funding and workshops and see who went fastest..
It doesn't matter how a world record is broken. Just if it is or not. Edited by PhillipM on Monday 17th November 11:35
It not supposed to be a back to back competition. I doubt the land speed records have ever had similar resources at their disposal. You just make the best of what you've got.
If you really wanted to smash this record I have absolutely no doubt that it could be done to a much greater degree. 85mph doesn't sound like much.
Personally I agree with the earlier post; if the American guy ran his car down the same bit road, I think it would be somewhat higher than 85mph.
PhillipM said:
Defaintely one of the best of the series, but I'm not sure that proves anything when the bloke you you're competing against was one man in a shed running on a public road....the only way you could 'prove' they were the right team for the job would be to give another team access to the same tech, funding and workshops and see who went fastest..
To be fair it was a pretty impressive bloke in a shed they were trying to beat.Edited by PhillipM on Monday 17th November 11:35
Thing is, they could have got an F1 team to build the cart, and the british male bobsled team to push it, etc...etc.. but would it still have been the best one of the series?
Correctly tensioned, decent mountain bike wheels can take a lot of abuse in all directions, not only in hanging all of the weight from the spokes.
I did wonder if some more camber might have been a good idea, though.
In the event, the non-optimally-aero wheels seemed to cope with the (non-crashing) use.
I did wonder if some more camber might have been a good idea, though.
In the event, the non-optimally-aero wheels seemed to cope with the (non-crashing) use.
motorizer said:
To be fair it was a pretty impressive bloke in a shed they were trying to beat.
Thing is, they could have got an F1 team to build the cart, and the british male bobsled team to push it, etc...etc.. but would it still have been the best one of the series?
Maybe not, but the problem is, it didn't need that, the team, the location, the anciallary stories....all that was fine (apart from the technical explination about braking distances, that was just wrong).Thing is, they could have got an F1 team to build the cart, and the british male bobsled team to push it, etc...etc.. but would it still have been the best one of the series?
What I don't understand is spending the kind of money that seamless carbon shell would cost instead of just doing it in fibreglass, and then using the extra money to fair in the suspension. At the least some disc covers for the wheels (and they could have done a run with and without then for the TV) and preferably some spats. I would imagine the vast majority of the aero drag on that machine came not from the body but from the rotating wheels and all the linkages stuck out into the airflow.
Edited by PhillipM on Monday 17th November 12:05
PhillipM said:
Correct, but that doesn't necessarily prove the team or design was the best for the job, just that the entire package and location was better than someone elses at the time
I didn't say the best people for the job, I said the right people for the the job, as in capable of achieving the goal while making an entertaining program and looking like ordinary people, not a huge money win at all costs attempt.
Well, if a huge money attempt doesn't count time on the universities computer system for the CFD, or the composite department for the tub...and a few trips to France and a road shut, maybe 
Regardless, as someone else mentioned, it doesn't give a good impression of Shef Hallam's engineering team to anyone but a casual viewer.
Regardless, as someone else mentioned, it doesn't give a good impression of Shef Hallam's engineering team to anyone but a casual viewer.
PhillipM said:
corporalsparrow said:
It doesn't matter how a world record is broken. Just if it is or not.
Correct, but that doesn't necessarily prove the team or design was the best for the job, just that the entire package and location was better than someone elses at the timeMC Bodge said:
Correctly tensioned, decent mountain bike wheels can take a lot of abuse in all directions, not only in hanging all of the weight from the spokes.
mountain bike wheels do not see side-loads.a 3/4 wheel 'car' that does not lean round corners will side-load the wheels, and with the kind of weight that thing was, it's going to be significant.
if you look at what happened when he lost it, the wheels were being deformed with side load, at which point any directional stability is out the window (think shopping-trolley casters).
as others have also said, open spoked wheels/brakes/wishbones all add up to a shed load of drag.
As a side-thought, if you got a Honda Insight, pump the tyres up to 60 Psi, and let that roll from the top, I suspect you would have gone faster.
Antony Moxey said:
ou could probably say that about every single world record though. Well it kind of does, doesn't it? It got a world best - if there's better out there then they can go ahead and prove it. But even so, doesn't your statement pretty much apply to every world record set - there's always something that can be improved upon.
Yep, but when it's quite basic things that are overlooked while they spend the cash on a sexy carbon tub, I'm not sure how anyone can come on here and say they were the best people for the job. It's a engineering course at a university, you're telling me there weren't people there that could have done that better if it is true that, as some alluded, it was only a team to meet diversity targets for C4, rather than one picked purely on merit?I'll tell you this, the tutors there won't be sat saying 'you got the record so the rest doesn't matter' - they'll be sat questioning the exact things we're questioning here.
Edited by PhillipM on Monday 17th November 12:21
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