INDIANAPOLIS -- Growing up in a military family, Tanner Foust -- a three-time X Games gold medalist and professional stunt driver -- would take his Hot Wheels cars from move to move.
"Who doesn't remember as a kid grabbing that car and making a noise while you flew it in the air?" said Foust, who also is a two-time Formula Drift champion, "So today, I guess I took what you could do as a little kid and made it come to life."
Foust, who was a stunt driver for the movies "Dukes of Hazzard" and "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift," on Sunday successfully landed a ramp-to-ramp distance jump of 332 feet in the infield of the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500. That smashed the previous world record by 31 feet.
The four-wheel, Pro2-style truck with an 850-horsepower engine and weighing more than 3,000 pounds took about 7 seconds to go down the orange-painted wooden track replicating the plastic one kids use. The wind was slight, and the track was thankfully dry.
"It was an awesome feeling. As a kid, I could only dream of experiencing something as outrageous as this," said Foust, who went about 104 mph down the ramp. "I always wanted to do something that broke new ground."
Hot Wheels began in 1968 as a kids' toy company producing die-cast vehicles. Today, besides the car line, the company has apparel and now Team Hot Wheels, a real-life race crew of professional drivers performing over-the-top stunts, such as the one before the Indianapolis 500.
"We wanted to come up with something that would engage a whole new audience," said Simon Waldron, vice president for Hot Wheels. "We know we have boys from age 3 to 8. We wanted to get the older audience interested in the brand again."
So, how about a driver doing a real-life corkscrew on a track?
"We have a whole test facility trying out new things," Waldron said. "We're just getting started. We're experimenting with things all the time."
24 Comments
Ti_MothWow. That takes more balls than a game of marbles.
cooolllllwhy is his face blurred in the beginning?
nock*timeshift
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eric3579I want one!
GeeSussFreeKWow, perfect spin at the end too...epic.
Payback>> ^cooolllll:
why is his face blurred in the beginning?
As he's a presenter for Top Gear Americas, I bet his likeness is copyrighted.
fuzzyundiesUpvote for the training video, and this being the result.
Chimelingsays...He had that shit under full control. Impressive.
eric3579Tanner Foust training for the world record jump.
dagComment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)
I don't understand how the brakes can have any effect on the pitch while he's in the air.
>> ^eric3579:
Tanner Foust training for the world record jump.
mizila>> ^dag:
I don't understand how the brakes can have any effect on the pitch while he's in the air.
>> ^eric3579:
Tanner Foust training for the world record jump.
It is momentum and the gyroscopic effect. Throttle brings the nose up, brakes bring the nose down. True story.
solecistwhy did we only get a poorly-angled low-frame slow motion look at the jump? what the fuck?
bareboards2*viral for Hot Wheels toys for kids.
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grinter>> ^eric3579:
video
That was way more interesting than the jump video.. I woulda upvoted that.
aimpointsays...I hate how slow motion takes away from the reality of just how fast the car jumped that distance.
Opus_Moderandisays...Honestly, I was disappointed. I saw "Hot Wheels" and figured it was an actual Hot Wheels car, which, imo, would have been more impressive world record. When I realized it was a full size car, for some reason I figured it would not be a motorized full sized car, as most Hot Wheels cars I ever had were not motorized. And that, imo, would also have been more impressive world record. This is just some dude jumping a regular old car, I've seen it before. yawn.
jmzerosays...I don't understand how the brakes can have any effect on the pitch while he's in the air.
They stop the wheels turning.
Imagine instead that there was just an axle and two wheels. If you hit the brakes, what would happen? The axle would start turning along with the wheels. The axle can't exert a force on the wheels without "feeling" it.
A car won't start spinning (its momentum is larger in proportion to the wheels) but it will get some rotational velocity going. As you see, though, the rotation will dissipate quickly because of other forces at play (there's a lot of aerodynamic silliness going on).
Accelerating is more complicated because it's not just wheels - there's an engine (which could be mounted in different ways) and in some cases a large flywheel involved. In some cases, accelerating could end up rotating your vehicle sideways in the air (probably not good).
smoomansays...>> ^cooolllll:
why is his face blurred in the beginning?
he's so badass it's not safe for us to know who he is
messengerHe's a dickhead.
why is his face blurred in the beginning?
siftbot2 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.
ant*kids *ftw
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