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.'"

Comments

I'm confused?

[edwardpickman]

What's hokey about a male model and a talking car that fight crime?

Science Fiction vs outright fantasy

[stox]

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.

Impossible Tech

[AKAImBatman]

this virtual Stang comes tricked out with a supercomputer that can hack almost any system; a very capable weapons system; and a body--thanks to nanotechnology--that's able to shape-shift and change color at will.

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? :P), eves dropping tech, weapons technology, and computer control, KITT could be pretty damn cool without crossing the line into unbelievable territory. Which would, of course, force the writers to write rather than relying on the gadget of the moment. ;-)

Re:Hasslehoff

[snl2587]

Only if the glove compartment is replaced with an open bar.

Re:Unoriginal made-for-TV movies...

[darkhitman]

Actually, it falls under ",".

Assuming constant acceleration

[aepervius]

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.

Re:Assuming constant acceleration

[Fuji Kitakyusho]

300 miles / hour x 5280 ft / mile x hour / 3600 s = 440 ft / s a=(Vf^2-Vi^2)/2d a=(0^2-440^2)/(2*12) a=8066.67 ft/s^2 standard gravity = 32.174 ft/s^2 therefore, 8066.67 / 32.174 =~ 250 g. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest g-force endured was 82.6g for 0.04 seconds on a water-braked rocket sled by Eli L. Beeding, Jr., at Holloman Air Force Base on May 16, 1958. He was hospitalized for three days. Using that number, this still means that the new KITT is capable of stopping three times faster than the maximum rate within survivability limits supported by evidence.

Re:Assuming constant acceleration

[Anonymous Coward]

Why you gotta make everything so complicated?

Assuming constant deceleration, you'd average 150 mph over the 12 feet. Do the calculation: 250 g.

Another way to think about it: if you were to run that car into a solid wall at 300mph, the front might crumple 6 feet. Going from 300mph to 0 in 12 feet is about half as severe as just driving into a wall.

Or a little worse than driving straight into a wall at 200mph. Whee.

Re:OOps forogt a factor 2

[MichaelSmith]

Red-meat-mash ex-driver is still dead as dead can be. even at 125g

I was going to debunk you by quoting John Stapp but found what I wanted at David Purley

He survived 179 gravities.

A Mustang? awwww...

[xx01dk]

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.

Re:OMG! G-Forces!

[xx01dk]

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...

Here ya go, Anglophile car geeks :) 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.

All aboard the failboat

[Atario]

"The goal was to make it look more aggressive without being hokey or garish," Belker says.

Then I think your even-more-ridiculous-than-usual double spoiler has induced massive goal-fail.

Re:All aboard the failboat

[Alsee]

They need to drop the KITT name and call it BRICK. They lost the original concept of lean sleek smart stealthy and replaced it with a brick. They may as well replace Hasselhoff with a steroid injected pro-wrestler.

My knee-jerk reaction is to say the designer should be fired, but according to the article it is admitted this was "because of the Ford connection" and apparently the designer was specifically ordered to use this model car and that "Maintaining as much of [this model] as possible was important". Whoever handed down the order to shoehorn this model car in as KITT needs to be fired. But no... he probably got a big cash bonus instead for bringing in big bucks from Ford Marketing to turn this onto a MOVIE-LENGTH-COMMERCIAL for the Next New Product. This goes beyond even the most grotesque level of product placement. This is one big two hour hypefomercial.

P.S.
According to Google I appear to have coined a new word.
Hypefomercial: noun. Etymology: hype+infomercial.
A television program that is an extended advertisement designed to manufacture "coolness" and social buzz for a product, in contrast to infomercials which are usually built around product discussion and demonstration.

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