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[TimMc333]

The whole point of wild mouse curves was the lateral G's. Just because laterals kill a good coaster in RCT, doesn't mean they do in real life!

So what sort of lateral Gs would you actually pull on SDSC?

[SuperYoshi]

Thanks for the explanation AlexB and Reanimated35

i nearly once came to a complete stop on those breaks before you start the drops (4 adults in the car and i think the one in front was 2 kids)

I have, it was really busy though. Everyone ending up stopping at each break and then continuing at slow speeds. Edited January 18, 2010 by SuperYoshi

[Reanimated35]

It kind of ruins the ride when that happens

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

So what sort of lateral Gs would you actually pull on SDSC?

I guess you'd have to take an accelerometer on board and see for yourself! My guess would be, considering the max speed of 44km/h, go for a drive through a carpark, and throw the car into a 180 at 40 k's, and you'll get a similar g force. Of course, it won't feel nearly as bad because you aren't so high, or so exposed, as you are in a scooby car. (and the turning circle isn't as tight)

[Scott.]

That's got to be the worst comparison ever. 1) A car going 40km will have a turning circle of at least 15m 2) A car is not on rails so I would bet $10 you would spin everytime 3) A car will lose alot more speed while turning then scooby does

Edited January 19, 2010 by Scott.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I was just trying for an everyday comparison that most people would be familiar with. I did say the turning circle would be different - compensate perhaps with a higher speed? It wouldn't matter if it went into a spin because this would simply increase the lateral Gs as the turn would be tighter. Do you have a better "everyday" example that would give an appropriate comparison?

[Scott.]

I'm guessing your not a very good driver. When a car spins the odds are you will slide away from the centre point of the turn so no the turning circle isn't made smaller. As soon as you start to slide the gs decrease and going faster won't make that any better because speed and turning circle size go hand in hand. There is no everyday comparison because to get any amount of lateral gs it needs to be mounted on a rail. I'm sure most people here have been on scooby so we all know how it feels.

[Reanimated35]

My god you people just cant get along can you. Would you be happy with a handbrake turn in a go-kart at 40kmh? (if karts dont normally have handbrakes, we are all going to pretend we're in magical ones that do)

Edited January 20, 2010 by reanimated35

[Scott.]

You don't get it either. When you go around a corner any lateral gs that you get your car/vehicle also gets so in anything that isn't held in path by rails is forced outwards by the gs too making your car skid away, so anything that isn't on a fixed track will never pull anywhere near the same gs as a coaster simply because as soon as the g force is greater then the cars grip it's going sideways. And a hand brake will only make you go sideways faster.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Scott.

[Reanimated35]

You don't get it either. When you go around a corner any lateral gs that you get your car/vehicle also gets so in anything that isn't held in path by rails is forced outwards by the gs too making your car skid away, so anything that isn't on a fixed track will never pull anywhere near the same gs as a coaster simply because as soon as the g force is greater then the cars grip it's going sideways. And a hand brake will only make you go sideways faster.

And going sideways faster was what we wanted to do was it not?

[Gazza]

Why don't we just break out some physics? a = v^2/r r is 2.6m (Taken from measuring the turn on a wild mouse in google earth) v ill just take a stab at...Obviously can't be 45 km/h since it only would reach that on the drops, so lets try 10, 20 and 30 km/h (2.7, 5.5, 8.3 m/s) So for the lateral g's at 10 km/h its 0.28g at 20 km/h its 1.1g at 30 km/h its 2.7g So the car probably isn't going 30km/h at least since that would be dangerous. Hmm, but i could be a bit more accurate couldn't I? POVs on youtube makes it appear a car takes about 2 seconds to traverse the straight bit of track between each turn. These sections are 10m long according to my measurements. so its going at 5m/s (or 18 km/h) So the lateral g's would be around 0.97g...Sound about right since ~1g is the upper limit of comfort.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Gazza

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Nice work Gazza. As always, we can rely on you to bring us slamming back to earth. (and as an aside, if the car is skidding sideways - the turning circle COULD be smaller - take a look at HWSD - while drifting, cars can have their inside front wheel almost turning on it's own spot, rather than the outer circumference of a controlled 360. So yes, it is possible to decrease the turning circle by skidding. If it were to spin fast enough, then the g's would also increase, as the car is moving sideways (laterally) and accelerating.

Edited January 20, 2010 by AlexB

[Gazza]

I thought the way it worked was that using the handbrake would slow down the car, which means you can make a tighter turn than otherwise possible.

[Scott.]

Sitting in one spot doing a doughie and driving into a uturn at speed are two different things. You can rotate a car around it's nose doing a doughie quite easily but that's only due to your back wheels have no traction. I'm guessing none of you have done a hand brakie though, in hwsd when they drive in at speed and park the cars against the right wall that's all done with the handbrake. Pulling the handbrake at speed will make your car spin so you've got that right but because you no longer have traction inertia does the rest keeping you car going in the path it was when you pulled the handbrake. I was never saying anything about what the gs were because it's easy enough to work out I was just saying your everday comparison would be about as accurate as using a plane to figure out the gs you can pull in a heli, it's not a comparison because the two things move in completely different ways.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Scott.

[Reanimated35]

Dont most smartphones have accelerometers built in? I know I had an app on my htc magic at one stage that recorded it. I assume the iphone would have one too. Why not just check it on the ride?

[TimMc333]

Dont most smartphones have accelerometers built in? I know I had an app on my htc magic at one stage that recorded it. I assume the iphone would have one too. Why not just check it on the ride?

Now that's a good idea! Will do next time I visit...

[TimMc333]

Ok, I took my iPhone on Scooby today, here are the accelerometer results: Scooby.tiff Basically what you see here is the lateral G's, I started recording just as the car is spun around after the backwards drop.

[Reanimated35]

2.1+ and -2.2 as an estimate I'd say. might head there tomorrow

[Gazza]

When you look at the chart, particularly the first half you can see moments where +/-1g is sustained for a couple of seconds. It is a bit risky to assume that the actual G's would reach 2 or more because if the device gets bumped then that can easily create an impulse that causes the graph to spike....Notice how at these points it only occurs for a split second, which doesn't reflect the time it would take to negotiate a turn.

[Reanimated35]

True, so maybe 1.5max but thats your whole body basically starting at your butt, so would the head and hands receive stronger forces?

[TimMc333]

When you look at the chart, particularly the first half you can see moments where +/-1g is sustained for a couple of seconds. It is a bit risky to assume that the actual G's would reach 2 or more because if the device gets bumped then that can easily create an impulse that causes the graph to spike....Notice how at these points it only occurs for a split second, which doesn't reflect the time it would take to negotiate a turn.

I agree with what you are saying, but I was holding that phone pretty still... But yes the peaks don't look right do they.... Taking away the peaks, the results are in the +/-1 Lateral G force (which seems about right).