Can a car drive onto a trailer while traveling down a highway at high speed?

[bringmagicback]

Say there is one of those double decker car trailers traveling 70 down the interstate and it has its ramps dragging on the pavement behind it.

A car approaches doing 72 mph, could the car drive onto the trailer w/out wrecking?

What would happen when the front tires are on the ramp and the back tires are on the pavement?

 

[CycloneGB]

[video=youtube;dYlstdCWzCY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYlstdCWzCY[/video]

 

[stormchaser2014]

Been playing GTA 5 today?

 

[wartknight]

Better be ready to slam on the brakes as soon as you get up on the ramp. Would quickly reach the front end of the trailer.
Assuming the car is front wheel drive I don't see an issue

 

[bringmagicback]

[video=youtube;dYlstdCWzCY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYlstdCWzCY[/video]

dont ruin my thread with facts.

 

[isutrevman]

The tires would spin out enough once you hit the trailer, that you can avoid flying through it. If you are driving at 70 mph, you aren't going to accelerate to 140 mph (70mph relative to the trailer) instantly. The only momentum that has to be stopped is the spinning of the tires and your speed relative to the trailer, which would be small. I don't think you would really have to brake that hard, as you aren't slowing down from 70mph, you are slowing down from 1-2mph.

 

[ISUCubswin]

Totally possible. It's like when you toss a tennis ball up out of the window, it will land right in your hand if you stay the same speed.

 

[tman24]

I believe they also did this on the fear factor show awhile ago.

 

[BoxsterCy]

I was going to try this on Hwy 55 a couple of years ago with my old 924S but it was just TOO snowy that day. :smile:

 

[kingcy]

The Knight Rider did it all the time.

 

[VTXCyRyD]

Better be ready to slam on the brakes as soon as you get up on the ramp. Would quickly reach the front end of the trailer.
Assuming the car is front wheel drive I don't see an issue

You must have missed that YouTube video

 

[no2cyclones]

While we're on the topic, I have a quick question about airplanes and treadmills...

 

[Acylum]

I believe they also did this on the fear factor show awhile ago.

They did and the driver was blindfolded and was following verbal directions from the passenger.

 

[kentkel]

Been playing GTA 5 today?

I was thinking something along the same lines. BUT my question was, "Been playing Spy Hunter today?" Of course, that would probably tell you how old I am.

 

[jbhtexas]

What I wonder is if that maneuver wreaks havoc with the automatic transmission. I think most torque converters used with automatic transmissions these days have a lock-up mechanism at cruising speeds. It seems like it would be quite a shock to the torque converter if it the lock-up is engaged and the driving wheels experience a nearly instantaneous major speed reduction.

 

[snowcraig2.0]

What I wonder is if that maneuver wreaks havoc with the automatic transmission. I think most torque converters used with automatic transmissions these days have a lock-up mechanism at cruising speeds. It seems like it would be quite a shock to the torque converter if it the lock-up is engaged and the driving wheels experience a nearly instantaneous major speed reduction.

that was my thought as well. I wonder if the best idea would be to approach the trailer at a higher speed and then kick it into neutral right before hitting the ramp?

 

[MeanDean]

Imagine if you were driving a lock-in 4WD vehicle. At some point the front tires would be going 1/2 a MPH and the back ones would be doing 70. Mess up those mechanical pretty good, I'd say.

 

[00clone]

Totally possible. It's like when you toss a tennis ball up out of the window, it will land right in your hand if you stay the same speed.

??? while in theory, that's correct...but of anything, I can't imagine this working with a tennis ball. The fuzz would catch the wind at 70 MPH something fierce. Billiard ball, I could buy it.

 

[cyrocksmypants]

There's only one way to find out for sure. You ready to do this ****?