Posted on 01 June 2011 at 12:34h

I used to have hotwheels when  was a child, little cars that rolled down a plastic track. You could arrange the track so that they'd do jumps and loop the loops etc. I've always thought that it would be great to have a class set of cars and track. Could do some cool experiments. More visually appealing than a pasco track and cart at least. Maybe one day.

The photo is not a toy car but a real one. Take a look at the video of it doing a world record jump. The strange thing is just how flat the jump is, hardly parabolic, well if it is then it's the very top of the curve. The car seems to be flying rather than jumping. The car doesn't really look like a wing profile (maybe slightly) so it's all to do with the angle of attack I guess. Notice how the car revs up in the middle of the jump, is this to keep the front of the car raised? If it is then it's a nice example of conservation of Inertia, pity that's not on the syllabus any more.