Date:         Wed, 18 Oct 95 17:30:48 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         CECIL_TURNER@HP-Roseville-om1.om.hp.com
Subject:      Re: /f acceleration

     Reminds me of an article I read in the paper a few months back.  Seems 
     the highway patrol happened up on a smoldering glob of molten metal in 
     the New Mexico desert, but noticed the reminants of automobile wheels. 
      Curious, the patrolman be gan to investigate the scene, or what he 
     could reach of it, since this pile of metal was embedded in the rock 
     wall of a curve in the road.  And as he was inspecting what he thought 
     to be a wreck of some space ship, commandered by an alien life form, 
     he discovered the emblem of a '65 Mercury.  Further, as he looked 
     under this narley mess of twisted metal and rocket motors, he noticed 
     the brake drums had been ground completely down thru the metal in a 
     futile attempt to stop what ever this was.
     
     Well, the patrolman and a few of his buddies concluded that this WAS 
     in fact a 1965 Mercury Meteor which had been outfitted with surplus 
     STOA (Short Take Off Assist) solid fuel rockets from a C140.  Problem 
     was that once the rockets were ignited, they couldn't be turner off, 
     they had to burn out completely.  They estimated the poor fool tried 
     to stop after about two and a half miles, or once he passed thru the 
     300 mile per hour, and ground his brakes compeletly off in the 
     process.  He hit the wall in the curve at between 280 and 340 the 
     patrolman estimated.
     
     Go figure what was on this idiots mind.
     
     Cecil 


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: /f acceleration
Author:  Non-HP-vanagon (vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu) at HP-Roseville,unixgw2
Date:    10/18/95 12:38 PM


                      RE>/f acceleration                           10/18/95
     
     
The place I'm temping has a business unit that manufactures the turbine 
engines for the Navy's Harpoon missile, and it looks like an IDEAL size 
to strap/weld onto the sides of a Transporter for vastly improved freeway 
acceleration.
     
The only drawback might be the $80,000 apiece price tag...
     
===================
Yeah, but think about the original intended application - it's probably 
guarnteed to work  ONCE!