What is the point of....

by **jimbo** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:33 pm

.....the London Car Vue!

Spectacular it may be, but why not just put the 3 circular areas on the ground?????
Anyone think of other 'Anderson Follies'

by **Kinggodzillak** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:34 pm

Oh, yes, that's a ridiculously unsafe idea. As is the K-14 observatory...it's clinging to the side of a mountain, there aren't even any roads to get to it...

by **shaqui** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:36 pm

The ramp for lifting cars in 'Manhunt' which doesn't have gaps to allow you to inspect the underside - the whole point surely - and can crush a car against the ceiling some 15-20 odd feet up!

:shock:

by **zero-x** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 6:16 pm

jimbo wrote: why not just put the 3 circular areas on the ground?????

Wouldn't get much of a view.

by **Kinggodzillak** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:10 pm

jimbo wrote:
Spectacular it may be, but why not just put the 3 circular areas on the ground?????

Well, they're there now. That's what counts.

by **Marion** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:45 pm

jimbo said:

why not just put the 3 circular areas on the ground?????

I suspect that a cut knee and a few bruises would not have had the necessary impact to release Captain Scarlet from Mysteron control; a fall of 800 feet must have seemed like a better bet? :wink:

.

by **DartBrat701** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:13 pm

Judging from it's appearance, the Car Vu does have some rather serious flaws. The ramp going to the parking area does not seem to have guard rails of any kind.......one would have to do very accurate pinpoint steering, to avoid plummeting down to the ground!!

Here's another oddity; If the SPVs are heavily armoured and have a thick, collapsable bumper in front, why does the driver still have to sit backwards and steer by video monitors?

I can't really say that any of the military tanks, (past or present) required the drivers to be seated backwards!

by **chrisbishop** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:40 pm

Well, as the series is set in the future, the 'rear-facing seat' for the SPV might be considered like an innovation of the time. Incidentally, it's the same process of thought - concerning security, that gave us TODAY the rear-facing seat for children.

From the SPV page, on this website:

"[...] The SPV is manouvered by the driver sitting backwards in aircraft type, bucket-seats (facing the rear of the vehicle for safety reasons [...]"

With a seat facing backwards, the force of the impact, instead of sending the driver into the steering wheel, or the dashboard, will to the contrary, push him into his seat.

It is mostly recognised that the safest seat in a craft, is the one facing backwards - A quick search of internet will give you many results on THAT subject. So... why not apply the concept to - in this case - a vehicle that can reach speeds of 200 MPH? EVEN if the nose is reinforced and is collapsable - the more security, the more the chances for the driver to survive a collision.

by **Mary** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:50 pm

What I've always wondered is, if those tracks at the rear of the SPV are supposed to enable the craft to climb steep inclines, ON END (see the comics), what IS the point of rear-facing seats? Think about it: if the "yak tracks" really did function that way, the guys inside would be hanging from their seat belts! Ouch! :cry:

by **hazel** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:47 pm

As far as I recall, the SPV's rear tracks were never used onscreen. According to Mike Trim, they were supposed to flip down to provide extra traction (he told me this his own self, over a cosy cup of coffee once, shameless name-dropper that I am). It was, I believe, TV21 that got it slightly wrong, but it did make quite a spiffy panel for whatever story it was in. I've got the issue somewhere, just not immediately to hand.

by **Marion** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:42 pm

In the 1990s I bought my young daughter ( :-;)

) a large plastic SPV for her collection of little jointed Spectrum dollies to ride in. It had rear traction tracks that flipped down ( in fact they fell off if I remember rightly...) I sort of always assumed they were meant to flip down... otherwise, as Mary says - Ouch!

I was disappointed that it only had seats for two dollies at a time - the TV SPVs have seats for at least one passenger... it seems odd that something that big should be a two-seater.