[urq] audi racing pikes peak - driverless!

[Robert Myers]

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Louis-Alain,

Have you ever been up Pike's peak?  The road, aside from being 
without guard rails, is pretty decent (yes, a little rough in 
places,a little narrow in places, and a little nerve wracking almost 
everywhere).  It's even paved part way.  It is easily passable in 
ordinary passenger vehicles even though shoulders are narrow to 
almost non-existent in places and drop-offs are nearly vertical and a 
long way down there.  Truly high tech suspensions should helpful but 
perhaps not be as much advantage as they would be running, say, the 
Baja or the Paris-Dakar Rally.  A turbo, at 14K feet, would be a 
definite major advantage, though.

Bob

At 10:18 PM 4/11/2010, Louis-Alain Richard wrote:
>*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(r) Pro*
>Well Huw, my question was what type of driverless car would climb Pikes Peak
>the fastest on the actual road, hence the concerns about wheel travel,
>strength and high speed stability...
>
>As an example, Would a 1/5 RC scale model with a nitro-engine be faster than
>a 1:1 300 hp Lotus Seven lookalike shortened to eliminate the cabin and
>fitted with long stoke suspensions ?
>
>Louis-Alain
>
>
>
>-----Message d'origine-----
>
>Considering that safety wouldn't be a concern (until the robots get
>their universal bill of rights!), we could bring back the Killer Bs...
>oh wait, no, they were killing the audience, not the drivers.
>
>The idea of an automated vehicle race bracket is very intriguing.  I
>didn't list the trunk because it's not needed except for homologation
>anyway.  And of course the lack of need for windows does eventually
>imply getting rid of the middle of the car.
>
>I'm thinking go-karts with a CPU running them?
>
>Louis-Alain Richard wrote:
> > Right Huw,
> >
> > Extending that : no roof or cabin or trunk is necessary either...
> >
> > So the next question is : what would the fastest driverless race car be
>like
> > if conceived from the drawing board with that goal in mind ?
> >
> > Would it be much smaller than a normal car ? What would be the main
>problem
> > : suspension travel ? Unibody strength to cope with a 500 hp engine ?
> > Stability at high speeds ?
> >
> >
> > Louis-Alain
> >
> >
> > -----Message d'origine-----
> >
> >> Well, if one day a driverless car can drive Pike's Peak faster than
>Walter
> >> or Michelle, then it will be a very sad day... unless you enjoy being a
> >> copilot !
> >
> > A driverless car can be so much lighter... no human cargo, seat, fire
> > extinguisher, windows, door, control interfaces, gauges, or headlights!
> >
>
>--
>Huw Powell
>
>http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi
>
>http://www.humanthoughts.org/
>
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