MythBusters - Drafting a Semi

[JohnNeiferd]

Nice to see somebody found the video I posted. I don't know why I never thought of posting it up on here. Sorry about the quality, I saw this on once before church so I threw a DVD into the recorder right before I left, and the transfer from DVD to computer didn't go so smoothly.

Mythbusters seem to get pretty good results. I assume they used cruise control, they never actually say if they did or not. I've never had the oppurtunitie to draft semi's regularly. When I start college soon I'll draft them as much as I can and see which results I get.

[Jay2TheRescue]

No, they didn't use cruise because they were trying to maintain a specific following distance.

-Jay

[JohnNeiferd]

Oh alright, I suppose that makes sense. If you were able to find a semi that was cruising at a constant speed and you were able to use cruise control while drafting him, it should be possible to obtain results better than Mythbusters. Thats what I'm hoping to try out, but I have to install cruise control in the Civic first.

[Jay2TheRescue]

In my experience that's nearly impossible as big diesels and passenger vehicles have different torque curves so their cruise controls behave differently. I remember once on our old Bonneville dad picked up a junkyard cruise to replace the broken one. The junkyard cruise came out of a diesel and it was really accelerator happy. It took forever to get it adjusted so it would hold speed properly, but it was still jerky, not nice and smooth like a cruise should be. We ended up taking it back and exchanging it for a non-diesel cruise.

-Jay

[JanGeo]

Some of the newer expensive cars have smart cruize with sensing in front which slows the car down when it is going to hit something and even applies the brakes if needed - gets a little tricky on turns with guard rails!

[COMP]

Originally Posted by JanGeo

Some of the newer expensive cars have smart cruize with sensing in front which slows the car down when it is goign to hit something and even applies the brakes if needed - gets a little tricky on turns with guard rails!

smarter than drivers

[GasSavers_Hal9000]

Originally Posted by JohnNeiferd

Mythbusters seem to get pretty good results. I assume they used cruise control, they never actually say if they did or not. I've never had the oppurtunitie to draft semi's regularly. When I start college soon I'll draft them as much as I can and see which results I get.

Uhh, a bit off topic I know but... Really? I'm the least techie member of a very techie family and I end up yelling at the TV every time I watch Mythbusters... My brother has the same problem with the mistakes they make. Please don't think that their results are even the least bit scientific or applicable to the world at large. They are usually not good analogs for the question at hand, not repeated to any number that is statistically valid, and only test a very narrowly defined set of conditions. Then they take the results and make blanket statements about broadly defined problems.... The show is entertaining, but please don't think of it as anything but that. (That being said, I LOVED watching them blow the cement truck all to hell! )

[COMP]

ya i like the "show" but many things they do isn't thought out

[getnpsi]

my scangauge confirms in my neon that fuel consumption at 75-80 drafting is the same or less than 65 all on my own. catch up and 'hang on.' if i drive 55 im sure it would be much different data, but i take advantage of what i can where i can.

[Curly1]

This whole thread proves that aerodynamics is very important. I have drafted Semis before to test and it does make a huge difference. My mileage on my DIC went up from 30 to 48 and stayed there for until I pulled out from behind him and then it went immediatly back to 30.

Once about 10 years ago on a winter day here in Texas it was about 80* when I took off for a ride to watch a friend race about 80 miles from home. The race ran way late and a bad cold front came in dropping the temps in the 40*s or even high 30*s. My leather jacket and gloves were not enough and I froze my tail off trying to get home. I got in and drafted a semi for about 20 miles to get out of the wind, I know it was stupid but it was much warmer out of the wind. Generally I am prepared for such emergencies but that was more extreme than I was prepared for. It was a very strange feeling because when you get up close the wind just stops even though you are still going 70 MPH. That also makes me think of how important aerodynamics is. Curly