200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal - Gizmodo Comments

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Sublimenaltouches — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:48:20 EDT

you people are fucking idiots, the video is not fake. the "bird" everyone has been referring to is actually a fly(yes it is, it's science). also the flag is blowing slightly faster because the wind starts to pick up( yes it does, go watch a flag for a while, it will sit there kind of lame for a while untill the wind picks up) there are even times when the flag sits still when it is suposedly sped up.

this is not a fake, the car does 200 mph and is 100% real.

you people however are a large group of morons.

THANKS!

Sublimenaltouches

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

munan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:05:48 EDT

@OMG! Ponies!:
You and your Simpsons references are no match for my cat launcher, as invented by me, Adam West.

munan

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

SneakerFiend — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:08:38 EDT

Maybe cuz those things weren't birds. They were close enough to be infront of the wood. Those were probably flies or some kind of fast flying insect.
IDK it looked cool and at first i thought that doesnt sound like bees at all till it got to 200mph.
And the wind the rc was making made the flag go that fast or it breaking the air around it. have you ever been passed by a car at 20mph compared to one going at 60mph compared to one going at 100mph+ big difference in the wind.

SneakerFiend

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

riqgeez — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:04:56 EDT

The Mazda Furai still sounds better!

riqgeez

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

uberfu — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:25:26 EDT

Is that an "unbreakable diamond filament tether" they're using?

uberfu

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Scorpeus — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:16:05 EDT

I don't think it would slice his leg off, but he better have a pair of wirecutters in his pocket because it would continue winding tighter and tighter until it hit him, and that would sting a little.

Scorpeus

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Koryo — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:05:08 EDT

a. Its called "Tethered Car Racing".

b. The current record is 210.6mph.

c. Its not R/C. (radio controlled)

d. All the videos look like this.

e. [amrca.com]

Koryo

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Set to evil — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:35:58 EDT

If the guy in the middle slipped. It would slice his legs right off!

Set to evil

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

yablunk — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:32:29 EDT

anyone else think about what would have happened had that guy's foot slipped down? that would have been pretty gruesome. (only if it is real)

yablunk

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

jbhitter24 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:22:54 EDT

@reddingofish: its natural for a giz commenter to spend all time not spent sleeping in front of a computer, so its quite easy to lose touch from things like the wind and the birds.

jbhitter24

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

keehun — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:53:50 EDT

I think its real because if you observe the lap-counter's fade in between each of the numbers, its consistent throughout the whole video. Also note the flag, it doesn't speed up, and even if it does it doesn't speed up in proportion with the video (if it even speeds up). I think its a butterfly, and I think this is legit.

keehun

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

shenanigans61 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:24:48 EDT

Not RC. Control line.
If your car is on a set track, 3 feet wide, at 200 mph, with a cable attached to guide it around the track, is there REALLY any controlling to do? No.

shenanigans61

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Dook_In_The_Urinal — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:33:22 EDT

LOL@The conspiracy theorists. I can only imagine the sorrow you felt once it was discovered Godzilla was not involved in the cable cut fiasco.

Dook_In_The_Urinal

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

devianaut — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:43:34 EDT

this is definitely a fake. i'm usually against everyone calling a supposed-real video false, but i did see the birds, and they're going berserk! they just sped the video up 20%...

devianaut

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Koryo — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:43:33 EDT

a. as @dragonphyre: said, its called "Tether Car Racing".

b. They are not R/C. (radio controlled)

c. This video is old.

d. The current record is 210.6 mph.

e. This sport is old. They did this for kicks before there was R/C.

f. [amrca.com]

g. All the videos look like this.

Koryo

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

yelraf — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:41:20 EDT

Did anyone else think it sounded like something that Beck may have sampled before? I swear, it sounds like something in one of his songs.

yelraf

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

islandhopper — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:45:56 EDT

@desimal: would that be a prostitute on a leash?

islandhopper

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

islandhopper — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:45:27 EDT

hahaha this has turned out to be quite entertaining. Apparently the sarcasm was lost.... sigh.

I bet you I'm the only one here drinking a beer while sitting at their desk at work, in a "real" office too! God I love advertising... hahaha

islandhopper

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

SonicFury — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:44:21 EDT

Wow, I literally saw this video 3 years ago.

SonicFury

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

desimal — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:36:45 EDT

@OMG! Ponies!: YES!

lets have these guys run this on an open track, none of this teathered pussy crap.

desimal

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

wayno007 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:35:53 EDT

Nothing new here, old school stuff. A fun hobby, but not sure why you're featuring it here.

wayno007

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

totoro — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:52:47 EDT

"American "'MUGEN Particle Accelerator' one step closer to discovering the big bang'yall"

totoro

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

nystreetfilms — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:48:37 EDT

sounds like bad robot porn

nystreetfilms

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Kharnellius — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:48:02 EDT

@islandhopper:
Those would be butterflies/moths you are talking about. The flag doesn't change it's movement speed but the "birds" do? Doesn't make sense. If you look close they are butterflies/moths that are flying only a few feet in front of the camera.

Kharnellius

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

trrosen — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:47:49 EDT

Dude nitro is so last century...and so is tethered anything.

Todays RC (note this is not RC its just a motor on a wire..dumb) with brushless motors can break 65MPH right out of the box. The present Record is 134 MPH but that will be broken easily this summer. And this is a real RC steering and everything on an open road. Some of todays super brushless motors can output over 8 HP from a motor smaller than a can of pop. Go to youtube and search for speed-t to see Losi's screaming fast RC truck do 65 MPH with a lowend motor and 3 cell (11v) lipo pack and no aerodynamics.

trrosen

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

loslosbaby — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:30:05 EDT

"With this great weapon of genetically-engineered apiary warfare, we will defeat the [redacted] and bring this [redacted] to a [redacted]. I thank you."

loslosbaby

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

jnriga — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:18:27 EDT

@DCGaymer: Uhhh... we've HAD nitro-powered RC cars for a very long time. These aren't new. I had one over 16 years ago!

jnriga

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

jnriga — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:16:26 EDT

Oh man. I just sent that fake video to all my friends. I'm an idiot. I didn't see the birds till the 2nd viewing.

jnriga

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Scott — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:02:20 EDT

@I_Like_Pie:

Oh snap!

Scott

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

techwriter7 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:59:04 EDT

Yeah, I'd have to concur that this is real. The shadows and clouds don't move either. And the UFO looks more like a butterfly to me. Nothing obviously fake - although maybe extremely well done. I believe.

techwriter7

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Scott — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:58:29 EDT

@aelver:

Only they are making a right turn.

Scott

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

I_Like_Pie — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:45:12 EDT

I don't get you guys.

Everyone here is in a stupid debate on if this video is fake or not and I'll bet not one of you dingbats have done the math to see if it is even feasible. You call yourselves geeks....more like a bunch of head lazy skeptics.
--------------
That thing looks to have a 4" wheel (give or take some). That would give it approx. a 12" distance before it made a full revolution.
--------------
200 Miles per hour = 3.33 miles per minute
--------------
3.33 miles per minute = 17,582 feet per minute.
--------------
If that thing had a 4 inch wheel and was direct drive...the engine would have to be turning somewhere around 17,000 rpm to go 200 miles per hour. It makes sense that it is direct drive because those engines have little torque and he had to get it moving at a good clip before it could pull its own weight.
--------------

Looking at the Cox Engine website the standard .49cc engine turns from 14,000 - to 17,000 rpm.

If the thing is designed just right and the engine can generate enough power to overcome the aerodynamic drag (can't calculate unless I have a reasonable drag coefficient and weight) this is a by no means unreasonable.

I_Like_Pie

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

xint — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:38:54 EDT

...uumm, this is real.

And extremely cool... and do want to see the thing explode or crash or something at that speed...

LOL!!

xint

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

phimuskapsi — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:23:20 EDT

- Flag moving at normal speed
- Definitely a butterfly.

;-)

phimuskapsi

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

ripfire — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:19:26 EDT

And they couldn't attach a mini camera to the car? Too bad.

ripfire

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

SonOfMagicFact — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:15:44 EDT

Silly Michael Caine. I TOLD you to stop taunting the beez. But did you listen? No. And this is what you get. A dubious "R/C" vehicle tied to a pole. And beez. Don't you give me that pout!

SonOfMagicFact

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Fierock — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:02:04 EDT

1. I don't care if its fake because, 2. I watched this clip 6 years ago in college and when I read the blog title was hoping to see an even faster one that this.

I guess there has been no progress in these tether cars in the last decade.

Fierock

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

phimuskapsi — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:56:08 EDT

When I was a kid I had one of those Ghostbuster plastic wagons. After awhile I got old enough that it just started sitting around. So me and my Dad hooked up a R/C airplane engine to the back of it and we attached a steel wire cable. We then took a 5" long bolt and put it in the concrete floor of the garage, we used to just sit there watching it spin round and round, then one day the cable snapped, no more Ghostbuster car.

We hit maybe 40-50mph, 200 is just ridiculous.

phimuskapsi

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

DirtySocks — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:49:43 EDT

I was waiting for a time space portal to actually open up and send the guy in the middle BACK TO THE FUTURE

DirtySocks

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:41:25 EDT

@mumin: Why/How is this not RC? While it may not be RADIO controlled, it is REMOTE controlled.

Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

reddingofish — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:32:52 EDT

The film wasn't sped up it was the wind. Haven't you ever see the wind blow the birds around? You guys are so skeptical.

reddingofish

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

strider_mt2k — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:31:33 EDT

CALL IN QUINCY!!!

strider_mt2k

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

zenodaddy — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:19:54 EDT

Yeah, I was totally waiting on the crash factor -- need to do this is super slow mo... who wants to call the mythbusters?

zenodaddy

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

DCGaymer — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:15:14 EDT

pfft...super collider, schmuper collider....we've got nitro powered RC cars now.

DCGaymer

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

riqgeez — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:14:06 EDT

everybody is a fucking critic! IT WAS REAL DAMMIT!

riqgeez

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Saboth — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:07:18 EDT

I love how cop shows and cynicism has made everyone a video "expert". There are no birds in the video. There are some bugs. The flags move according to...wind. The wind is never constant, but varies. Geeze, its like Ebaums over here with all the "Fake!" talk.

Saboth

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

joe.kelley — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:56:54 EDT

How did they make the Flux Capacitor so small?

joe.kelley

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

bandit — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:56:03 EDT

The simple answer to the question of "is this fake" is to find additional videos. These cars aren't custom jobs built from scratch -- if one person did it, so did someone else.

bandit

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

bandit — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:53:45 EDT

What is the line made of that holds this thing to the post? Gotta be pretty strong, even if the car is lightweight.

bandit

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

scaught78 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:42:20 EDT

Wait a fucking minute.....Michael Caine?!

scaught78

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

aelver — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:35:45 EDT

Just like NASCAR.

"These cars just keep going round and round and round, it's so f*n boring."

aelver

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

kevman90 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:30:03 EDT

i wana see the version when the dude in the middle falls onto the cheese wiregoing around him at 200mph. AHHAAH

kevman90

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

dragonphyre — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:28:08 EDT

Not fake. These are called tether/track racers and they are basically a tiny two-stroke engine that runs off of a mixture of Nitromethane and Alcohol that is ignited by a glow plug similar to those used in Diesel engines.

With no weight, they gain speed rapidly and the streamlined bodies let them go very, very fast. Quite a treat to watch, actually. You woulden't think that watching a little car zip around a 20' circle would be that entertaining--but it is amazing to see something move so fast that is that small. Plus, they sometimes blow up--always entertaining.

They use similar fuel in the Nitro RC cars that I am currently trying to make my hobby. A much lower content of Nitromethane in my cars though--but I can easily get up to 45MPH in my buggy. Following a little car in a big car down the highway was a riot, let me tell you. :P

I haven't seen the video (Work filters them) but I have seen these things in person. They are fast. They are nothing more than wheels, a body, and the engine. Less than a pound most of the time.

dragonphyre

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Jasontrainer — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:22:37 EDT

How the heck does it slow down?

Jasontrainer

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Shawn_K — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:22:08 EDT

@TheCyberBob: I agree

Shawn_K

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Y2KGTP — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:20:57 EDT

This is a tether car from the early 80's....

Y2KGTP

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

DaOtter — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:20:32 EDT

Wow. This, AND the post about the German maths wannabe back to back? I'm actually disappointed in the Giz! Why would you post obviously false "news"? I'm guessing that there's not time to check into all of them properly, which makes sense.

DaOtter

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:59:30 EDT

Nothing like a group of Giz readers debunking footage based artifacts in a YouTube video.

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

TheCyberBob — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:58:14 EDT

I dunno guys. The flag actually looks like its waving naturally to me. Plus the birds just look like they're diving for bugs, Swallows used to do the same thing when I was mowing 2 acres of land and they did move like that.

Hell even Snopes doesn't have somethin on it. Just sayin.

TheCyberBob

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

SwatLax — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:56:25 EDT

@TommyImages: If you think that bug/butterfly is a bird, I'm not going to trust your judgment as to whether the flag's moving naturally in the wind.

SwatLax

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Lester56 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:55:38 EDT

I disagree on the fakeness. What you say are birds is really an insect flying close to the camera and the flag doesn't seem (to me) to be jumping around but more acting upon a pick up in wind, maybe coming from the damn RC car wizzing by.

Lester56

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

stinkyboy — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:49:48 EDT

#1 This is old as the internet #2 Fake, as it's been said before :)

stinkyboy

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

citizen.lambda — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:48:57 EDT

Yep good eye. Also once you see that you can see that the car is at the same position on screen each time, meaning that the first frame of one run is the same as the first frame of the next etc... And then there's the sound, which sounds a bit off to me...

citizen.lambda

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

bms — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:45:04 EDT

Nitro-powered birds.

bms

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

strider_mt2k — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:44:53 EDT

I want to see a a failure at speed.
Sorry, it's a thing with me.

THIS is Me and my RC:

No, not really.

strider_mt2k

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

weatherman — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:41:18 EDT

@TommyImages: good eye.

weatherman

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Joseph — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:40:28 EDT

@TommyImages: LOL I just saw that... this is fake lol.

Joseph

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

islandhopper — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:27:25 EDT

@TommyImages: yeah man, I call BULLSHIT! The birds are flying soooooo fast it's ridiculous, and the flag also starts flapping faster as the car "speeds up"....

WEAK

islandhopper

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

riccpro — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:21:19 EDT

These cars ain't radio controlled.... that's basically just an engine connected to a rope, going round and round....

riccpro

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

mumin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:21:14 EDT

not RC!

mumin

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

citizen024 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:20:19 EDT

no fair, it got help from the guy at the start. i want to see this without it being attached to anything.

citizen024

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

TommyImages — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:17:51 EDT

Amazing, somehow it made the birds in the background fly around faster too:/

TommyImages

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

B1663R — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:15:34 EDT

i was hoping that there would be something tragic involved somewhere in the video. (car breaking of tether, hitting someone. or tether slicing off fingers of the guy in the center. or a fiery crash of sorts)

but nothing.

B1663R

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

lilkeith7 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:14:55 EDT

Yay they got it up to 200 mph!! Now lets see what a crash looks like at that speed.

lilkeith7

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

Elliuotatar — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:13:08 EDT

Damn!

Elliuotatar

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

BigViper — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:10:01 EDT

Freshies!

BigViper

200MPH Nitro-Powered RC Car Opens Time-Space Portal

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:07:41 EDT

What are you going to do? Release the hounds? Or the bees? Or the hounds with bees in their mouths so that when they bark, they shoot bees at you?!

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more