A Crazy Idea...
Okay, you know there are those big 1/6 engine kits that Tamiya and some other manufacturers make? I'm thinking about devising the "ultimate" amusement park ride. More deadly than any rollercoaster you can think of. It'll make even the best air force pilot puke.
Here's the idea...an amusement park ride of the future:
A powerful engine hooked to a compartment where the rider will sit in, fully buckled and harnessed. The compartment is made of clear plastic to give rider a clear, full view of the outside. The compartment is geared to the engine in such a way so that it'll rotate alone with the engine output shaft, while making the rider feel like he's doing flips in the air.
It's perfectly possible to make the compartment spin as fast as a car wheel on the highway, given the right gear train. But that might be a little extreme. So...let's make it 20 revolutions/second only.
![Evil [}:)]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile_evil.gif)
Imagine spining 20 times per seconds...or even 50, if you really want...
There will also be direction reversal during the ride. The way it does this is through a clutch. However, the rate of speed change is extremely fast, almost as fast as a gear change in cars. This will make the rider feel an acceleration of about 100 m/s^2. More than 3 times the acceleration pilots feel when catapulted on a carrier deck.
Warning: the ride is NOT for the faint of heart.