Wow - l like the way this is going, but there's a simpler solution. We made a day trip to Marlborough, MA (3 hour drive) on business last Wednesday, and got a first hand refresher course on life among commuters. Call us hicks, but the 5 of us from work had a great time watching and counting cell phones passing us. As it soon became obvious that nearly every car we looked into had a cell phone in use, we turned to seeing who was doing the most multitasking. The winner was a young lady who was keeping a butt up to the 1" crack in her window, talking on the phone, and passing us while holding a beverage. We figured tilt wheels must be an important commuter option, since it appeared her knees where doing the driving. Conversation degraded for a few moments as a couple of my colleagues explored the technical difficulties of using the turn signal with such a driving configuration. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
I know, I know - I said butt & crack in the same sentence - let it go, Beavis
As traffic got a little heavier and the observed driving behavior degraded proportionally, ensuing conversations naturally turned to armament. Our solution to the debris field problem was to leave the vehicle intact. This would either allow it to exit the travelled way, or present a single obstacle to avoid. Following such logic, we held a brainstorming session to determine proper weaponry, including a side discussion about the practicality of the sunroof, which generated another side discussion of the technical issues involved in duck hunting from a moving vehicle, including the proper lead, speed, and elevation for flocks approaching and departing, and crossing the vehicle path at various angles. This type of calculation being common in aeronautics, we all decided to shelve the waterfowl conversation pending further research into current flight path determination technology, and got back to the original topic.
As with the debris field problem, we again arrived at the simple solution: small arms fire will keep the vehicle intact. Initially, the right rear tire was thought to be the best target, as it would encourage leaving the road in that direction. But the difficulty of target aquisition and proximity to the fuel tank led us to "aim higher" in our discussion. Aquiring the rear window could be easily accomplished, and would allow the use of the outside rearview mirror as a barrel rest for one handed firing on a level plane. We also believe tracer rounds would allow the driver to maintain control of the vehicle while walking disabling fire onto the target.
One issue not mentioned here, but related to the debris field conversation, was the rapid deceleration of traffic flow in the immediate area surrounding the target vehicle. This would also result in decreased vehicle spacing, and undoubtedly spread for a significant distance behind the target vehicle. This could easily engulf the attack vehicle and lead to undesireable results, especially if the target vehicle was not travelling alone, and if the ammunition supply was not sufficient.
It became immediately obvious to most of the group in the rented minivan that the deceleration phenomenon would also produce a short term attenuation in the area beside and ahead of the target vehicle. Efforts then focused on determining how to navigate into those gaps, and as with both debris field and armament, the solution was simple: aim the attack vehicle for the target's location immediately before window disintegration. Using the target vehicle's natural merging trajectory will bring it into the line of fire and move it out of the attack vehicle's path. A slight acceleration should move the attack team into the position immediately vacated by the target, ahead of slowing traffic, and into the resulting attenuation gap immediately ahead of the target.
We have yet to apply a suitable name to the manouever, but we entertained ideas like the "495 Fork" or "Audi roll". Assuming the recounting of this conversation doesn't cause us to be detained and questioned by whomever may be performing surveillance on the world wide web, we plan to revisit the naming convention in future meetings, and again consider the waterfowl problem. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
