Off Topic- Boys Toys

[Richie]

Very very light ground pressure on the CVRT... Carriers are similar but running a carrier on steel tracks is ...well...scary ! Akin to driving an HGV over a road made of marbles.


CVRT I have literally stood on its nose..... And have been in the turret when my pal (instructor) has done the same... Problem usually does not come from clouting cars in front but more crushing cars that have been behind... Scenario being car follows close behind tank does emergency stop and standing on its nose... Car cannot slow at the same rate... Tank rocks back to level itself and crushes the car in the process.


I have to ask what you do sbt as you clearly know a bit about these things

[sbt]

I have to ask what you do sbt as you clearly know a bit about these things

I'm a Scientist (Operational Analyst to be precise) with DSTL, the Science and Technology part of the MOD.

And yes, ramming the back of AFVs is a common road accident. Normal drivers don't have a clue around them. In my youth I did an attachment to a Challenger I unit in Germany, the way drivers would pop in and out of a road convoy, tucking themselves in at the rear of the tank so closely that neither Driver nor, more importantly, Commander, could see them was frightening. I have also been in Taxis (I don't drive and a road I often take a taxi down is used on AFV Driver Training) that followed AFVs to closely - they get a short lecture on exactly how much damage running into the back of one will do to the AFV.

An unusual AFV specific problem is the Gun. With Stabilisation the gun, which tries to stay horizontal, can get close to the road when the hull of the tank tilts upward to start up a hill. The opposite applies for long guns on vehicles without stabilisation, the gun get close to the road at the bottom of downhill stretches. This is one reason why guns are clamped over the back deck on long moves[1]. There was a tragic case a decade or so ago when a unit was crossing a road at night. The road was on a bank above the surrounding land and as a tank climbed on to it the gun was at drivers head height. The wife of the Regimental CO was passing that way, drove into it and was killed.

I can imagine the skidding on tarmac without rubber inserts. Part of the issue is that on a hard surface tracks basically don't work as tracks, the only points at which pressure is being exerted is under the wheels. This is because tracks rely on a bit of 'sink' into the ground to tension the stretches of track between the road wheels. This means less grip and more damage to the surface and also means that surfaces designed to support AFVs have to be able to handle greater point ground pressures than you might think.

Jumping back to the MOT issue: There is an MOT testing station in Afghanistan. All UK vehicles returning from theatre are given an MOT before leaving so they are OK to drive on UK roads as soon as they leave the Ship or Aircraft.

[1] Its a bad idea to switch off the Stabilisation when on the move without the gun properly clamped as the inertia of the long and heavy barrel will over-stress the gun mounting and the gun itself.

A series of videos that may interest you:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... 4klDGi421D

Also the rest of the stuff published under the guys name:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheChieftai ... ture=watch

[Richie]

Awesome stuff

[rob565uk]

Not quite a Boy's toy, but a fascinating vehicle. I wonder if they will appear in the UK?





CHINA'S NEW "LITTLE CAR" aka "THE HIGHWAY SUPPOSITORY"
This is not a joke, they do sell for $600.00 and they won’t be able to make them fast enough.
Here's a one seater car that will get you back and forth to work on the cheap.
This $600 Volkswagen's car gets 258 mpg, 109.687 km/l or 0,9 liter per 100 km!

This $600 car is not a toy; it is ready to be released in China next year.

The single seater aero car totes VW (Volkswagen) branding.
Volkswagen did a lot of very highly protected testing of this car in Germany; it was not announced until now where the car would make its first appearance. The car was introduced at the VW stockholders meeting as the most economical car in the world! The initial objective of the prototype was to prove that 1 liter of fuel could deliver 100 kilometers of travel.




Its Spartan interior does not sacrifice safety; the impact and roll-over protection is comparable to a GT racing cars.

The aero design proved essential to getting the desired result.
The body is 3.47 meters long and just 1.25 meters wide, and a little over a meter high.The prototype was made completely of carbon fiber and is not painted to save weight.

The power plant is a one cylinder diesel, positioned ahead of the rear axle and combined with an automatic shift controlled by a knob in the interior.

The Most Economic Car in the World will be on sale next year:

Better than Electric Car – 258 miles/gallon: IPO 2010 in Shanghai
This is a single-seat car
From conception to production: 3 years and the company is headquartered in Hamburg , Germany .
Will be selling for 4000 Yuan, equivalent to US $600..
Gas tank capacity = 1.7 gallons
Speed = 62 – 74.6 Miles/hour
Fuel efficiency = 258 miles/gallon
Travel distance with a full tank = 404 miles or 646 km !!!

[Renegadenemo]

Not quite a Boy's toy, but a fascinating vehicle. I wonder if they will appear in the UK?

I hope not - cars are getting worse, not better. The wife has a new car that switches itself off every time it stops and takes the air-con with it so unless you override the thing, which fortunately you can though you can't switch it off, it takes a month of Sundays to settle to a comfy temperature. You can even get one with a rear-facing camera for people who can't operate a mirror or their own neck! I hope I die of old age before being propelled by a one-cylinder diesel engine becomes a good idea. Last time I did that I was ten years old driving a dumper truck around my dad's builder's yard propelled by an air-cooled Lister and it was crap then. I can't imagine it's improved any.

[rob565uk]

I wouldn't want one either, but I can see it appealing to many purely on the grounds of economy.

Mind you, I do have a single-cylinder air-cooled vehicle ... but it only has two wheels , displaces 535cc and is lots of fun