Typically, Take Your Child to Work Day is like a free day for your kid. They dress up in natty little mini-person business clothes, get the day off from school, and everyone gets a dose of adorableness. At Ford’s take your kid to work day, however, the air was decidedly more . . . competitive, thanks to a father-son duo that took the opportunity to try for a new world record Hot Wheels loop-the-loop height right in the atrium of the company’s Research and Innovation Center.
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Apparently, the idea hit Ford dynamometer engineer Matt West and his son Blade (yes, you read that right—this kid is destined for Hollywood) a while ago, and they’ve been at work ever since prepping to beat the current world record for a Hot Wheels loop height of 9 feet, 9 inches (while also teaching Blade a thing or two about aerodynamics, physics, and Hot Wheels). Pulling together other Ford engineers, as well as membership-based, Detroit-area DIY fabrication studio TechShop Detroit, the whole gang assembled a colossal plywood structure consisting of a 33-foot-tall ramp and a 12 foot, 6-inch-high loop. (We were told that this height was chosen largely for its tenuous tie-in to the Ford F-150, as 12.5 feet converts to 150 inches.) To this plywood construction, of course, orange Hot Wheels track was fitted. Confident after a series of successful test runs where stock, fresh-from-the-package Hot Wheels cars made their way down the ramp and fully around the loop, the team was ready for Take Your Child To Work Day.
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Because we can’t resist absurd challenges and Hot Wheels cars—how did you think half of this staff got hooked on cars in the first place?—we made the quick drive from our Ann Arbor offices to Ford HQ in Dearborn to witness the feat firsthand. After a rocky first run that saw a Hot Wheels car shoot off the track just before reaching the loop, the second run was a success.
-We then fought through a throng of Ford employees’ children (sorry) to experience the launch process for ourselves. Our test car? A sort of modified Mercury Cougar—or at least that’s what it looked like—chosen for its heft and obvious whiff of speed. It made it only halfway around the loop, and we will never forgive ourselves for not adding Car and Driver to the annals of Hot Wheels history. Our grief still raw, a six-year-old girl shoved past and launched her Hot Wheels car to greater success. So, parents, the gauntlet has been thrown down—better step it up for your next Take Your Child to Work Day.
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from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1GmssRb
via Agya
