Off-Topic: Lexus - Who needs gravity?

Han · Post by **Han** » February 26th, 2007, 9:42 am

So, christie and I are watching TV on the couch, and all of a sudden this Lexus ad comes on. It involves a claim that a car is defying gravity. If you have not seen it, here is a link:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... mmercialGo watch it, and then read my commentary.I have several problems with this advertisement. First of all, the car that is supposedly accelerating faster than gravity has a HEAD START. We have no idea how fast the car is already moving when they drop the lexus from the helicopter... For all we know, it could be going 100 mph and in that case, a god damn Geo Metro could do this.For all the folks that do not know me, I am really into cars, specifically, fast cars. I own one, and I always have, hopefully I always will. I have ridden in a car that has 1g of straight line acceleration (this means it accelerates as fast as gravity), and it will blow your mind. Its fast, scary fast. But this lexus obviously does not have that kind of acceleration, since it requires a head start.Lets do some math on this to try and determine the 1/4 mile time of a car that could acheive 1g of straight line acceleration.1/4 mile = 1320 feetS=1/2 a t^2S=1320fta=32ft/sec^2Working this out gives a t of 9.08 seconds. Thus, the lexus (if it started from a rest) would have to be capable of running a 1/4 mile in 9 seconds. A 2007 Bugatti Veyron (considered the fastest production car in the world) can do a quarter mile in 10.2 seconds, and it has 1001 horsepower. By contrast, the Lexus IS350 puts out a max of 306 horsepower. Triple that and you still wouldn't beat old man gravity. Sorry Lexus, it just doesn't impress me.At the very end of the commercial, their smooth talkin spokesman says "Lexus. So much for gravity" Riiiiiight. So much for your bogus and misleading ad, jerks.-Scotty

TIggerstYle · Post by **TIggerstYle** » February 26th, 2007, 10:32 am

Scotty what does this have to do with warcraft

KIDDING Nice to know theres another car buff in the guild, i havent seen the commercial but will watch it when i get some time. Not sure about the numbers on that Bugatti though, my stang used to run the quarter mile in low 10's and it has half the horse power of the Bugatti, i know guys running 9's on their stangs and find it hard ot believe a car with 1000 hp cant do better then 10.2 . Im an Anti Tuner guy ( hate imports) but i have seen a few 1000hp tuners turbo'd to the nuts that can run in the low 7's.

late1 · Post by **late1** » February 27th, 2007, 9:18 am

Two Words: Terminal Velocity - noting drag coefficient.http://www.answers.com/topic/terminal-velocity-2The Lexus dropped isn't traveling nearly as fast as one might think. Standing up without extra gear the average sky diver falls at 120mph. Imagine putting a 20x7 ft platform underneath said sky diver and record his rate of decent. We're talking some HUGE drag here. "So much for gravity"? Apparently someone at Lexus failed physics. Gravity only pulls everything equally in a vaccum Lexus!! Geez!! I'd love to see that test done again in a huge vaccum. I'm in the "tuner turbo'd to the nuts" group.

draven · Post by **draven** » February 27th, 2007, 12:20 pm

the bugatti 1/4 mile time is indeed in the 10s from what i've read, prolly cause it's built for maximum top speed (253ish mph) not drag racing...saw a video of someone taking it to top speed on a test track in germany. pretty nutz.

Han · Post by **Han** » March 1st, 2007, 11:15 pm

I am also into imports, mainly because of the all wheel drive. I currently drive an 02 WRX... Haven't been to the track with it yet

Fargol · Post by **Fargol** » March 2nd, 2007, 6:42 am

Just wait until someone attempts the same stunt, but ends up getting squished by the falling car, and their family sues. :-p

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