I like the way they tweak the idiots who watch the show and complain that they didn't do something right. After doing their baseline tests with the car, they added 1000 lbs of undimpled clay and did the same runs and, unsurprisingly, the mileage didn't change even with all that extra weight. Why? Well, they only measured the mileage at a constant speed on a level track. They specifically did not measure the mileage under acceleration/deceleration. Naturally weight would make a difference there. OK, all well and good.
Then, after cutting out the dimples, just prior to doing the test run Jamie or Adam (can't remember which) says (paraphrasing) "And to preemptively answer those who will insist the dimples reduced the weight of the vehicle and any fuel savings is due to that only, here are all those dimples we lovingly saved and in they go!", loading them into the back seat.
Even though they already made it clear that the weight difference has no real effect due to the way they were measuring, they had to do this for THE IDIOTS OUT THERE!
Oh... they used clay?
Well they still blew up the car at the end, right?
Location: Blacker than the blackest black, times infinity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thud
Oh... they used clay?
Well they still blew up the car at the end, right?
Well, yes, sometimes their scientific method is crapulent beyond belief but in this case they did it quite well. They used an electronic fuel switch to switch from the main tank to a small precisely-weighed tank as the car crossed over the start/finish line. The track itself was straight and level, and they did multiple passes in each direction at a constant speed and averaged the fuel consumption. That they got such a noticable difference between the smooth clay/dimpled clay was a pretty good indicator that their methodology was sound.
Since when should Mythbusters start using proper scientific testing?
I haven't seen the show, but I imagine it went something like this:
1) They found one car and measured the fuel economy
2) They dented the heck out of the surface and measured it again
3) Finally, they packed 100lbs of C4 into the car and blew it up
Despite how precise and scientific the testing might have been, the improvement was large enough to prove that there is an effect. I think they did an excellent job testing this myth and the methodology and theory are sound.
What about the other half of the show!?!?! Watching Tori and Grant getting drunk was freakin hilarious. I loved it when Tori jumped fro mten feet up onto his bed lol
Dimpling a car is kinda intriguing; It's a nifty look...I bet the dimpled panels, with those creases, are a bit stiffer. I wonder if they could be made thinner, and still retain their original stiffness.
Dimpling a car is kinda intriguing; It's a nifty look...I bet the dimpled panels, with those creases, are a bit stiffer. I wonder if they could be made thinner, and still retain their original stiffness.
Heard about that, don't expect it to catch on with cars, if I remember right it was way to expensive to do. May be something they can make more cost effective in the future.
Heard about that, don't expect it to catch on with cars, if I remember right it was way to expensive to do. May be something they can make more cost effective in the future.
I wish I could remember where, but I read something about semi-trucks looking into dimpled trailers.
Since when should Mythbusters start using proper scientific testing?
I haven't seen the show, but I imagine it went something like this:
1) They found one car and measured the fuel economy
2) They dented the heck out of the surface and measured it again
3) Finally, they packed 100lbs of C4 into the car and blew it up
Very true. Mythbusters used to be very good at their testing in season 1 - 3. Around season 4 when they started bringing in second cast - it went down hill into an explosive fest.
They used to explain how they were testing the myths exactly, but they got away from that. They just mention "we are building blah".
try shark skin next. i recall reading that some America's Cup boats years ago tried something similar to reduce drag.
the shorter the rule book, the more interesting the racing.
It was actually a thick vinyl with thousands of little holes about 3/16 of an inch around, we tried it under the car and we actually covered a car completely whole body and underneath, that one was unbelievable, it would have been 10mph faster at Talladega with the reduced drag
