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Specs For the New KITT
An anonymous reader writes "The upcoming made-for-TV Knight Rider movie features an all-new version of the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT). Popular Mechanics has the 'specs' for the original Hasslehoff-mobile, as well as for the digital-effects enhanced version in the 2008 production. 'Designer Harald Belker, who has created the Batmobile for Batman and Robin and a next-gen space shuttle for Armageddon, came onboard to give the new KITT. a unique look. "The goal was to make it look more aggressive without being hokey or garish," Belker says.'"
What's hokey about a male model and a talking car that fight crime?
300MPH to 0 in 12 feet? Sure, let's calculate the G's from that. Somehow I missed the specs for the inertial dampeners. What really peeves me is that this is Science Fiction that is too lazy to try to conform to the realm of possibility rather than exceed those limits to make a really good story.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
I agree. Especially given that we just had a slashdot article on a car that actually matters (the Aptera). Who cares about Knight Rider?
We should start dealing in those black-market beagles.
For the love of all things Holy, can we please stop making shows with impossible (or at least highly improbable) technology? KITT was really fun in the 80's, primarily because of a misconception about AI. It was felt at the time by the public (and to a lesser degree by actual AI researchers) that the only thing holding a computer back from sentience was enough computing power. 20+ years of research has since disavowed us of that notion.
Otherwise the original show was reasonably good about keeping the tech on the level. KITT was powered by Gas Turbines (good!), had laser weaponry (okay), was capable of computer graphics (actually, that's almost amusingly primitive at this point), and had an ultra-strong "Molecular Bonded Shell". (Unlikely, but at least within the realm of possibility.)
The show tried doing the "ridiculous tech-thing of the week" when they brought on the April character, but that didn't go over all that well. Eventually they dropped it and got back to showing solutions that didn't involve Deus-Ex Machina plot devices.
While I understand the need for suspending disbelieve, I just can't help but think that it would make a more enjoyable show if they simply tried to ground and enhance what was already presented in the original show. Updated with modern communications technology, satellite data, reconnaissance methods (could you see KITT launching UAVs?
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I give it 5 minutes before a physics nerd RTFA and then calculates the force of the 0-60MPH and brake times and concludes it would rip out a human aorta.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
Only if the glove compartment is replaced with an open bar.
Actually, it falls under ",".
Tell me something...it's still "We, the people"... right?
It was actually a Saleen S281E. The rights to the cars we're bought by GM so all the cars had to be GM, no Fords or Volkswagons allowed. Why else would Bumblebee be a Camero instead a Beattle. The only exception was Optimus Prime, which was a Peterbuilt, because GM doesn't make Semi-Tractors.
My guess is that the rights for the new Knight Rider were bought by Ford so it had to be a current production model car. It's sad, I really like the old Pontiac Trans-Am. It lent a air of 80's cool, like the Trans-Am in Smokey and the Bandit.
Assuming constant acceleration A, speed increasing linearly A.t (speed=0 at t=0), meaning it reaches a distance X=A.t^2 (t=0 then x=0) transforming mile into furlong (sorry I meant meter) means at 12 foot it has roughly 4 meters, and a speed of roughly 300*1.6=480 km-1. Now I don't want to make complex calculation, so I will assume it will have over the 12 foot an average speed of (480+0)/2=240 km.h-1. Which is 130 meter.second -1 (we go for rough estimate). It will so take it roughly 0.03 second to make that distance of 4m with an average speed of 130 m.s-1. Since we know that X=4meter=A.T^2 and t=0.03 we get A=x/t^2=4225 meter.s-2. For reference g=9 m.s-2 so he will feel a force of 470 g roughly. Naturally I bet there are some errors in the above particularly how I calculate the time it takes.
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But this is just another NBC anti-war propaganda show. Never mind the car, the new "Hoff" is going to be a "Jaded" Iraq war Army Ranger Who lost his entire battalion in Iraq. Funny, I never heard anything on the news about an entire battalion being lost in Iraq at any time during this war. I guess NBC has high hopes eh?
here is the original
http://www.pvponline.com/2007/01/24/turbo-boost/
Well, the Viper already had it's supercar TV commercial... er... show in the 90s, but either way, it's not nearly as ubiquitous as the Mustang design or the Corvette design.
Anyway, in the 90s, also, Ford essentially bought out Knight Rider anyway (after my consultation with Wikipedia). In 1997, a show called Team Knight Rider made a brief appearance with a whole set of Ford vehicles.
After the 1991 flop (which GM was still involved with), the 1997 flop, you'd think Ford/NBC would be able to guess that 10 years later, not much is different.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I was going to debunk you by quoting John Stapp but found what I wanted at David Purley
He survived 179 gravities.
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I mean, I'm sure it will be totally awesome and all, but it's like if they brought back the A-Team and used a Honda Odyssey as the van.
There is simply too much glass..
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Being as how it's still an American car, I expect a lot of straight-away chases with no turns. That'll eliminate the lateral G's at least...
:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQdSVSH-iF0 (YouTube Top Gear Mustang) Live rear axle? Pshht "A whacking great girder with a wheel at each end" is what I'll have, thanks.
Here ya go, Anglophile car geeks
There is simply too much glass..
Well then, it this case it was Ford.
Years ago I read that Ford has a majority stake in the 3rd largest marketing firm in the country (but I can never remember the name of it), which explains why Mustangs appear in everything. Is there any other explanation why a performance car based on a platform that debuted in 1978 could survive the next 26 years on its own merits? (Yes, I know the 1994 Mustang was "all new", which structurally amounted to a new roofline, increased length and width, and crossmembers added between the front seats, not a complete re-enginering.) Before the Probe came out, Ford was seriously considering it as the replacement for the Mustang.
What would have made the most sense is a Pontiac Solstice. GM has left Pontiac in a kind of limbo, the marque could use some positive exposure. Unfortunately, Knight Rider has picked up some cheese factor over the years, and I bet someone high up in GM management (Bob Lutz?) declined for just that reason.
And a Mustang GT500 in I Am Legend too.
Maybe I'm just a little bitter 'cause I'm not a fan of the new Mustang, but it's appearance didn't seem necessary in the film at all.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Presumably because they're only making twenty of them, they're budget-bustingly expensive, and Lamborghini probably wouldn't be too keen on their car being used in a cheesy TV show.
They seem to misunderstand what KITT was. KITT was sleek, and elegant. It had class. And it was something we all imagined we might have some day. Until the producers get what the old show had, they should stop trying to reproduce it with horrible bulky cars.
No kidding! That car isn't even close to being a KITT. Right off the bat, since it is a mustang, it is specifically designed to look like a 1960's car . Then, there doesn't seem to be a red light on the front. The red light on the front was how you knew that KITT was a sentient super car. And the Specs are just stupid. Instead of being a super car, it is now a magic car.
You should watch Jeremy review the F-150 then :)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EZ21P6fFSuoI read the article, but I didn't see any mention of KITT's Cylon "eye". There's a little gap there, but not sure if that's supposed to be the "eye". I am a child of the '80s, I did watch the show (sometimes), and this can't really be Knight Rider if KITT isn't a Cylon.