If you have an internet connection and haven’t yet seen Elon Musk’s “flying car” promo, then you are very much in a minority I’d think.
If you are in that demographic, a quick search on Google will fill you in, but if you can’t be bothered, in essence the stunt – and I use that word purposely – was to show a new Tesla Roadster drive up a curving road to the point it was upside, let’s go, flips over, fires some on-board jets, land on its wheels, and then accelerates at huge speed exit stage left in a blast of white smoke.
Impressive? Yup! Practical? Nope.
How Was It Done?
There have been many guesses online as to how the trick was performed, from people as diverse as electrical engineers to physics experts, and the general consensus is that high powered fans kept the car glued to the road in the upside down orientation, and when they were turned off, gas canisters inside the car were fired to make the car flip and land before further propulsion was effected by more compressed gas.
I’d also like to put forward that high powered magnets might have been used. But that’s just a guess.
Interestingly, in Australia the night before, an episode of Mythbusters was shown, trying to emulate Roger Moore’s (aka James Bond) trick with a speedboat hitting a ramp, rolling and passing over a police car whilst airborne, before landing back on the water and careening off to escape..
Now they failed due to a controller failure which made the boat hit the ramp at slightly the wrong angle, and therefore when after successfully passing over the cop’s car, it hit the water and that’s where it stayed – on its side.
But in the actual film, we saw the trick done!
Hmmmm!
Rocket Science? Nope.
Musk did his stunt at night it appeared, or at least on a large movie set with all lights out. I’d therefore venture any half competent special effects expert could create the same stunt very easily using video and tools from companies such as BorisFX, Red Giant and so on to create the illusion.
Musk’s SpaceX may well be rocket science, but sorry I don’t buy it – this stunt was not.
I’d venture if say, the Mythbuster’s crew had a look at it, or such masters of illusion as Penn and Teller or David Copperfield, they could rip it apart in minutes.
But it’ll probably sell a few more Teslas, and whilst, as a newish EV owner myself, albeit with a BYD Atto2 Premium not a Tesla (and never will be a Tesla), I applaud that promotion to move from internal combustion powered vehicles (whilst probably hypocritically still owning a 5.7l V8 powered Holden Monaro).
But I also find it a little distasteful that Musk can spend an inordinate amount of money to flog his overgrown Hot Wheels, whilst kids are starving around the world and people are dying in needless wars (and genocide let’s face it).
Conclusion.
I read today the United Nations has said that as a maximum, USD$267 billion per annum would end the issue of hunger in the world. That is, according to their figures 0.3% of the global GDP, or looked at another way, USD$160 / person.
Or if you like, around 25% of what Musk is worth. And if you add in Jeff Bezos from Amazon, the guys from Google, Zuckerberg from Facebook …
Bill Gates already does hand over most of his cash before you chip in there.
Food for thought? Let me know in the comments below.