Funny that this should happen while the "red-light camera" thread and the "130 mph car" thread were going on (I've just gotten around to posting it). I have this proof-of-concept prototype of a plug-in series hybrid (called the Zing!) with 40 mile range on electricity, and 100 mpg performance on gasoline. Forget to charge it overnight, no problem, just fire up the engine.
So last Thursday night, I finished some mods, (it now has a $bunch of lithium batteries, and a battery management system that keeps the cells balanced within .01 volt or so) and tested it in the shop briefly to see that everything was more-or-less OK. Friday morning, the guy who runs a small local newspaper came in to do an interview. After talking for a while, we went over to the local courthouse, arts center, etc to get some video and stills. Driving it went fine, and we met several interested and interesting people. So far so good.
I tend to drive this thing as if on eggshells, because it took a lot of popsicle sticks and chewing gum and time to put it together, and unlike the quasi-production cars I will build soon, this one is pretty much a death trap. The central structure is a wood/fiberglass monocoque that is remarkably stiff and light and fairly strong. But the fenders, rear fairing (enclosing the motors and engine), and the wings that connect fenders to fuselage are all very thin (1/8 inch) flimsy plywood.
Around lunchtime, I decided to go to the local pizza joint to eat and talk with the owner about getting the car into their photo calendar, which features the remarkably good-looking and friendly women who work there. I'm in the left turn lane of a four lane road, waiting for traffic to clear. There is an old Cadillac behind me. After sitting there for maybe 20 seconds... Bang. Crunch. Lurch. I'd been rear-ended.
Ya wonder at times like this: Is this guy a sociopath who thought it would be fun to pick on a tiny car? Was he ticked off because we had to wait for traffic to clear to make a left?
So I make the left, and then motion for the guy in the Caddy to follow me into the pizza joint lot. Took a while for him to get a clear spot in traffic, but eventually he made it, and jumped out of the car to apologize. Turns out, he thought the Zing! was really cool, so was trying to take a picture, and was looking through the camera while moving up closer. The car was much closer than it appeared through the viewfinder. I gave him a brochure and said not to worry about it. He didn't look like he was made of money, and the surface finishing has not been done anyway, and the damage (which required some duct taping to make the car drivable) can be fixed in a day. Not a big deal.
But now I can say the the car has been crash tested. And the crash test dummy survived!
Zing! Crash Test Dummy Survives!
Re: Zing! Crash Test Dummy Survives!
