Daredevil Robbie Maddison completes Vegas jump

[LowlyPion]

Here's a little physics in action to bring in the new year.

Daredevil Robbie Maddison completes Vegas jump

January 1, 2009

Most Aussies celebrate New Year's Eve with a backyard barbecue and one too many beers.

Robbie Maddison said hello to 2009 by climbing on his Yamaha motocross bike, speeding down the Las Vegas strip outside the Paris Casino at 90kmh, launching up a giant ramp and flying 37 metres in the air and landing on top of a replica of France's iconic monument, the Arc de Triomphe.

The stunt was equivalent to jumping on a 10-storey apartment building.

After landing safely, the 27-year-old showman from the Kiama in NSW performed one last death-defying stunt, dropping off the Arc de Triomphe and free-falling to a landing ramp below.

It was a flawless stunt watched by tens of million TV and internet viewers around the world.

"It's definitely a milestone in my life to overcome the fear I had," a jubilant Maddison, whose left hand was dripping with blood after the freefall impact, said.

"The hand kills. I think I broke it."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/robbie-maddison-completes-vegas-jump/2009/01/01/1230681649061.html

His runway speed was 54 mph. About 24 m/s. Figuring that V² = 2gh that translates to about 97.5 feet of potential energy. The Vegas Arc de T is 96 feet high. Physics pays dividends.

The descent from the roof however was a bit more harrowing. He apparently hit the ramp a little far down and experienced slightly more deceleration over a shorter distance than he would have wanted. That would seem to have resulted in a broken hand. Ouch.

Kids don't try this at home.

 

[berkeman]

Pretty cool. Do you have a link to the video? I didn't see one at the news story page, but could have missed it.

Pretty good comment by Robbie Maddison about Robbie Knievel -- I've heard that same comment from most of the distance jumpers.

 

[berkeman]

Holy Cow! Here's the video that was linked to via Thumpertalk.com



I'm still shaking. Pretty funny that one of the announcers lost it and used the f-word in his commentary right after the jump. Can't blame him, though. Wow.

 

[david90]

it didn't look all that impressive me when comparing to other stunts.

 

[LowlyPion]

I'd have a lot more confidence in the upward trip. Gravity is something you can count on to slow you on the way up. In fact his landing in relative terms was pretty light.

Unfortunately on the way down gravity is something you can count on to get out of hand quickly. His window for error was pretty small, and his slight overshoot was nearly a 911.

The jumping the football field looked a bit more difficult skill-wise from last year because of the opportunity to rotate about one axis or another. That jump was definitely not the time to be doing a Can Can or a Superman Seat grab or a Dead Body.

 

[binzing]

My friend was literally just down the street when he did this.

 

[berkeman]

it didn't look all that impressive me when comparing to other stunts.

Have you ever personally done what I'm doing in my avatar?

The challenge in all of these bigger jumps is to have good pitch control over the bike, even with weird pitch ranges like the step-up or step-down. You have some control over your pitch by spinning up or stopping the drive train and back wheel, but if you don't have it close to right at takeoff, you won't have enough adjustment range in the air.

Fun variation on jumping, IMO. I was shaking watching him circle around and around before doing the step-down takeoff. Crap, I'm shaking just typing this.

My longest straight-line MX jumps are around 55-60'. My longest step-down is probably 45-50', and my longest step-up was probably 45'. Not real long in terms of the big MX tracks, but still gets your adrenaline going, and still requires some skills built up over the years.

 

[russ_watters]

it didn't look all that impressive me when comparing to other stunts.

Me neither. There is very little danger in the ascent because the bike is only really jumping about 10' and the landing is soft - the entire rest of stunt is just a straight run up a ramp.

With a more normal jump, you spend a lot more time in the air, are moving faster, and hit the ground harder.

 

[david90]

Have you ever personally done what I'm doing in my avatar?

The challenge in all of these bigger jumps is to have good pitch control over the bike, even with weird pitch ranges like the step-up or step-down. You have some control over your pitch by spinning up or stopping the drive train and back wheel, but if you don't have it close to right at takeoff, you won't have enough adjustment range in the air.

Fun variation on jumping, IMO. I was shaking watching him circle around and around before doing the step-down takeoff. Crap, I'm shaking just typing this.

My longest straight-line MX jumps are around 55-60'. My longest step-down is probably 45-50', and my longest step-up was probably 45'. Not real long in terms of the big MX tracks, but still gets your adrenaline going, and still requires some skills built up over the years.

No I haven't and I don't think this stunt is easy. I'm just saying that comparing to other stunts that he has done in the past this one didn't look impressive.

 

[berkeman]

No I haven't and I don't think this stunt is easy. I'm just saying that comparing to other stunts that he has done in the past this one didn't look impressive.

I guess I should acknowledge your point. Especially with Russ agreeing with you. Fair enough.

Just speaking as somebody who spends a lot of time in the air, working your way out on tables is a bit more comfortable (a realative term of course) than working your way up on step-ups. And that step-down cliff ... okay, I'll find something SMALL to play on like that to see what it's like. MotoBark can do it...

http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/member.php?u=20583


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