Possible, but we will never know because they didn't even talk about it. In the movies, the good or bad guy isn't going to limit themselves to 40MPH, in the movies, they'd floor it. A little bit faster, and it would have made it through the cars.
I don't need everything explained to me, some things I can figure out myself without being told step, by, step every decision they've made. (And this is without having watched the aftershow(s) yet where these type of questions are usually addressed.) When I see a massive industrial truck I know those things aren't exactly built with with jet engines in them made to accelerate them to freeway speeds in a quarter mile. I also know the average length of a runway. So I can easily figure out, without being told, that it's likely they went the fastest they thought they safely could given the limitations of the vehicle and the space they had. Remember they had to have run-up space to get the truck to speed before the impact and they had to run-DOWN space to slow/stop the truck after the impact (if it made it through the line of cars) and/or space to ditch to if they had to abort the test. This isn't even factoring in where they decided to set-up the shot for the best lighting, view, or other limitations the location and equipment and factors of production gave them. Then, as previously mentioned, there's pure safety considerations to factor in when it comes to driving a large vehicle into others at a fast speed, it's an unknown on what could have happened to Jamie and Adam on the inside in the crash. Then, again, not wanting to damage the truck itself and its own mechanical limitations. There's limitless reasons on why they picked the speed they did that an ounce of thought will reveal. I don't think we all need everything explained to us step-by-step on why they made the choices they made. Jamie and Adam have shown time and time again they know what they are doing and they're very much in the "if its worth doing its worth over doing" camp. Something else they've shown time and time again. If they could have gone faster I'm sure they would have.
The burden is on them to test and discuss these things. I think they slacked off on this one, took the lazy way out just to show their build on the truck, and the explosions for the RPG. That seems to be mostly what mythbusters is about now, just showing cool explosions. I want to keep liking it, but my butt can only take so much clenching. I just want to add, I saw both Jamie and Adam at DragonCon last summer, attended their panel, met them in person, great people, I have nothing at all against them.
You're being needlessly, extremely obtuse and extreme. Scratching two brain cells together will tell you why they picked the speed they did without them having to explain it to you. They only have so much time for the episode I'd rather they spend it with the experiment itself rather than telling me things I can figure out on my own. Hell, there's been other times during the series when they've explained the limitations of equipment and safety concerns on why they pick the "low" speeds they do.
But this is supposed to be an educational show, so explaining the reasons for things is kind of the point. At least, that's the way it used to be. They really do seem to have scaled back the science content and the coverage of the details of the planning. And of course the target audience for an educational show is not just the people who already know this stuff. So we should take care to remember that it's not just about us. Again, remember, a lot of the show's viewers are children. Therefore it stands to reason that it gains new viewers all the time, kids who didn't see those earlier episodes.
True, but I doubt many children are going "Why didn't they go faster?!" A child is going to see 40 mph as "pretty fast" and see what happened and likely be satisfied. Adults who watch the show should easily be able to determine, using their own mind, why the "lower" speed. I think the speed they chose is fine for the test. It's fast enough and as fast as or faster than the speeds chosen for crash testing of automobiles. Not much more likely would have been learned from a faster speed, I doubt it would've been enough to get them through the whole line of cars.
Being educational isn't just about answering the questions your audience is already asking. It's about showing them there are questions it didn't even occur to them to ask.
They've been showing explosions from the very first episode 10 years ago. And they've always said half the show about entertaining the audience. The other half is to showcase the responsible experimentation process with an emphasis on safety and obeying the law. Its why they showed their approved moonshine making permit, why the truck only traveled at 40mph. Demanding them to crash the truck at 60mph is demanding them to be irresponsible and they would never do that.
I just watched the "M5 Aftershow" it seems the truck, according to Jamie and Adam, "barely runs" and from the way their talking has other mechanical limitations. Adam even says he had the gas "floored" when hitting the line of cars with the "cow catcher" on the truck at hit them at around 35/40MPH and the truck slowed to 25 about half way through the line cars (at which point it seemed to reach groove where Adam feels he could've gone forever through a line of cars.) In their talk they also talk about uncertainty on what was going to happen during the tests or how the truck was going to react during the impact(s.) I take from that that, as said above, they went as fast as they could given the equipment they had and the level of safety they wanted to go with. Doesn't sound like anything they really would have needed to explain in the show or could do without it being a bit clumsy interjecting the truck's limitations in the show. That or they did and it was simply edited out for time. Maybe they could have said something, but I again don't really see the point. They proved what they set out to prove. That a vehicle couldn't plow through a line of cars as is usually depicted in movies. Going faster may have gotten them a bit further but I doubt it'd help them too much. As I recall the truck lost speed from the initial impacts but eventually the cars just wrecked into one another more and more just causing a pile up. The truck didn't stop necessarily from lack of speed but from trying to push trough too much mass. No amount of speed would have helped once the cars were bunched up enough to provide significant resistance to the power the truck could put out. That's why the cow-catcher was employed as it not only pushed through the cars it also pushed them off to the side and out of the way. resistance to the power the truck could put out. I couldn't find/see the M7 Aftershow if it's on there to see if they addressed some of the problems with their tests.
It was probably just as well that the truck couldn't go much faster, because the last time they used it (while plowing into just one car) the impact on the truck was so hard it was almost painful to watch. I'd hate to think how badly that thing would get shaken up ramming into those cars at 60 or 80. And I think people might be being a bit hard on the other team as well. Even though the RPG was clearly hitting the ground in that Fast Five clip, there have been plenty of other examples (in movies and TV shows) of the missile hitting the grill and then causing the car to flip from the explosion. Although I agree it would have been nice to see them at least try the other way once. Or at least hit the grill from a much higher angle.
Not that I'm doubting you, but I don't suppose you or someone else could cite a specific example, ideally with a clip so I can see what it looks like? It's kind of hard to imagine. Then again, there was a pretty crazy stunt on Sleepy Hollow last night where a bad guy shooting out the front tire of a stationary SUV with a shotgun somehow caused the vehicle to spontaneously flip over a couple of times. That made the myth here seem positively sedate. I just couldn't figure out the intended cause and effect there. But then, the shooter was a harbinger of the Apocalypse, so maybe it was evil magic or something. Yup. Due diligence would've been to explore alternative scenarios.
^ The weirdness in the Sleepy Hallow SUV stunt was more from crappy editing than anything else. The stunt was suppose to be: Shotgun blast to the window, SUV sides sidways bringing our heroine into view, cut to horseman firing again, cut to tire blowing out, cut to SUV summersulting. They blew the edit with the SUV slide/heroine (too long) and the tire being shot & going flat (again, too long, gave one time to notice the wheel not tuning/truck not moving). Just my 2 cents... Q2
Well, when one of the Horseman of the Apocalypse shoots out your tire, of COURSE your cars flips over 90 times!
Car chase myths: Passenger steering the car: No surprise to me that this works, since I remember my driving instructor doing something similar a few times. Probably worth noting that I was not shooting at anything at the time. Dead driver: Ohh, poor Buster! That was macabre. I mean, he's endured far worse, of course, but seeing him dragged like that was kind of harrowing. It's surprising that all these myths turned out to be plausible. Although the guys took some significant risks here. At least they should've been in helmets and pads, though I guess that could've limited their maneuverability. Animal deterrents: Cats: AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was pretty much the only thought in my head as I watched. Except that of course nothing will deter cats from doing whatever they want! Snakes: With the Indiana Jones theme, I'm surprised they didn't bust the myth from Raiders that fire will repel snakes. Of course, the filmmakers found that was a myth themselves -- the snakes were attracted to the heat of the torch, so they needed to coat it with a repellent scent. So maybe that was too easy to bust. Or more likely it was a safety issue, so they didn't risk hurting the snakes. Given that the snakes so determinedly crossed the repellent lines to reach the inviting warmth and darkness, I'd say that maybe the best snake deterrents are bright light and low temperature. Bear: Well, I think "Baloo" has busted the myth of "smarter than the average bear." Interesting to see the precautions they had to take -- have the Mythbusters ever worked with such a dangerous animal? I wasn't clear on what that "hotwire" was. An electric fence? But Grant was waving his hands near it and didn't seem concerned. Maybe the bear had a collar that would shock him if he crossed the wire. I'm not convinced about the plausibility of the cayenne-pepper result, because the bear had already had two meals from the previous tests. Maybe he just wasn't hungry anymore.
^My wife thought the same thing, and I suggested maybe the bear was just getting annoyed at having to do the same thing over and over. And I'm extremely pissed that during the sexiest shot of Kari of the evening, they splashed "NEW MYTHBUSTERS NEXT WEEK!!" right over her face!
Oh - working with bears... I saw a news item maybe a year ago. There was... I'm remembering a private zoo, I think... they had a grizzly they'd let you pose with and take pictures. The video showed the bear standing up on his hind legs, and the guest standing right next to it for a nice two-shot portrait. In the middle of this, the bear very casually looks at the guy, then very casually leans over and rips his throat out. I seem to recall the keeper using a combination of pepper spray and frantic beating with a club to get the bear off the guy.
Seemingly, Kari can deal with snakes, going so far as to have a python (boa, whatever) draped over her shoulders (Woof!) with little to no aversion. But I am confused. One of the snakes Kari placed into the "temple" set she identified as a poisonous variety. I don't know "jack" about snakes. I don't recall the species she named and I wouldn't be able to tell if that was really that particular variety. Surely they would not have placed a truly deadly species in there with Tory and surely Kari would not have handled a really dangerous species. Was she just trying to freak out Tory? It's also a bit weird Kari got saddled with the lion feces. She so easily grossed out by things like the pork flesh they occasionally use; I'd think she's be near the point of gagging. Sincerely, Bill