Yeah, when it finally gets on the pipe and jumps to 35k or so, it's definitely dramatic. During takeoff and the first few laps the engine sounds no more high strung than a sport engine.

I got a real laugh about some of the comments way back when this was first posted, as in "whoopee, it flies real fast in a circle, so what?" and "it's not even flying, it's just centrifugal force" etc etc. I'd like to see those folks build a 208 mph .15 powered C/L aircraft themselves. Besides, I calculated the speed at which centrigual force is sufficient to lift the aircraft off the ground, and it works out to, if I recall correctly, about 115-118 mph. That aircraft was in the air long before it got to that speed, so I think it is safe to say it does indeed fly.

There is a video worth checking out for giggles on YouTube, showing a 200 mph tether car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1YYfwaiQBA

Same deal, whipping to get moving, a few laps to accelerate then all hell breaks loose.

Also - for an example of how low in the genetic cesspool the majority of YouTube commenters are, simply scroll through the comments about this video. And I thought Usenet groups were low on the scale - they look like think tanks in comparison.

MJD