Baja 1000 Trophy Trucks

[Ogre]

Watching this, I have to wonder a bit about 4 wheel steering and handling at speed. If you are getting sideways, which direction are those back tires pointed?

With a non steered wheels, the driver knows at any given moment which direction the “thrust” is pushing the truck. If your truck gets sideways enough you have to counter steer, WTF is happening back there? Which way are those wheels pushing?

I can see this being a significant issue any time you have loss of traction at speed.

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[Dids]

Watching this, I have to wonder a bit about 4 wheel steering and handling at speed. If you are getting sideways, which direction are those back tires pointed?

With a non steered wheels, the driver knows at any given moment which direction the “thrust” is pushing the truck. If your truck gets sideways enough you have to counter steer, WTF is happening back there? Which way are those wheels pushing?

I can see this being a significant issue any time you have loss of traction at speed.

Back wheels don't steer that much and if paired with speed sensative steering should be pretty awesome at keeping the wheels tracking on same track which is great for better traction and not clipping corners.

 

[Crissa]

At speed, the usual thing is for the rear wheels to steer inside the direction of the turn instead of outside. There will probably be a speed map which makes the rear wheels turn the most while stopped and then go to zero as speed increases (probably around 40-50) and then start turning in at 50-60+.

That way the wheels turn the way most advantageous. The car also has a compass and multiple axis inertial sensors so over the air updates can make the traction control smarter to have the wheels turn into the inertia of the turn to recover traction more quickly.

(See also those videos back when the rear-wheel-steering evangelists were showing how computer-control could counter sway and fix the moose test).



-Crissa

 

[Dave Lyon]

So now I'm curious... Is EM saying that CT is supposed to be competitive with the Trophy Trucks? If so, all I have to say is:

Holy Expletive, Batman!!!!!! This is serious!!​

I don't know much about Trophy Trucks, but I do a fair bit of rock crawling. The CT just wouldn't do very well at the real nasty stuff. It doesn't have enough suspension travel, no roll cage, poor visibility, the wheelbase is too long, tires are too small, batteries are susceptible to catastrophic damage, and it's too heavy.

But, it's unfair to compare a vehicle designed for a specific purpose to one that is not. My purpose built, rock crawling, side by side can only tow 2000 lbs. It's suspension is too soft for high speed cornering. The soft tires would melt on asphalt. It doesn't have air conditioning or heat. It only seats two. It's loud and it's geared too low. It would make a terrible work truck or street vehicle.

 

[Sirfun]

I was watching this a while back, and thought No Way a Cybertruck is doing that shit. These are highly specialized machines. They sure are fun to watch!

 

[FutureBoy]

@Dave Lyon and @Sirfun

I have no idea if the Cybertruck is going to be competitive with a trophy truck or if it will make an excellent rock crawler. One thing I do know though is that it will be far superior in both categories as compared to what this old geezer is comfortable experiencing while being in the cab. So for me, the Cybertruck is going to be just as good as a competition trophy truck and just as capable as the best rock crawlers. If I was driving a trophy truck there is nothing I would do that I wouldn't also be able to do in a Cybertruck.

Now, I get that I am not the typical yardstick against which these things get measured. But in my life, that is the standard that needs to be met. For others, there may be some activities they want to enjoy that will require some specialized equipment. Cool thing is that the Cybertruck will be fully capable of towing said specialized equipment to most any destination so they can still enjoy their activity and keep a CT for all the other activities they are interested in.

 

[John K]

Why doing this in your CT is a terrible idea. No repair parts with production Lines ramping up.

Mute your volume to simulate CT’s noise flying by.

 

[FutureBoy]

Mute your volume to simulate CT’s noise flying by.

LOL!!

 

[Crissa]

It doesn't have enough suspension travel, no roll cage, poor visibility, the wheelbase is too long, tires are too small, batteries are susceptible to catastrophic damage, and it's too heavy.

But, it's unfair to compare a vehicle designed for a specific purpose to one that is not. My purpose built, rock crawling, side by side can only tow 2000 lbs. It's suspension is too soft for high speed cornering. The soft tires would melt on asphalt. It doesn't have air conditioning or heat. It only seats two. It's loud and it's geared too low. It would make a terrible work truck or street vehicle.

Is it tho? Or have the expectations exceeded reality?

It has more travel than the trucks we climbed rocks with when I was a kid... The jeep with more spent half the time being welded back together.

Poor visibility? Compared to what? Isn't that what cameras are for now?

Roll cage? Teslas can roll all day without collapsing. Why do they need an additional roll cage?

Tires too small? They're bigger than anything in the '4x4 club' from my University.

Have you ever seen what happens to an ICE vehicle when its oil or fuel tank spills over its hot components? Not to mention the road or path...

Your purpose-built vehicle is more purpose-built than anything we had when I was in college, and we had to drive hundreds of miles on the highway to get to our locations...

It just... I hear this stuff 'it will be bad at' and the vast majority of this stuff isn't done with a garage baby they tow to the rocks for a short excursion. (Which now that I describe it, that's the perfect case for an EV, short specialized excursions.)

-Crissa

 

[4jamorgan]

I was watching this a while back, and thought No Way a Cybertruck is doing that shit. These are highly specialized machines. They sure are fun to watch!

Watching this video gives me an adrenaline rush. I have so much fun watching the video, that was so cool!

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