How crazy is this. To Mike Ryan’s knowledge (driver of the semi) no one has ever jumped a truck and trailer. So, they weren’t 100 percent sure how everything was going to react. “We should see the bottom of the truck and trailer not including the tires dropping out, somewhere around 8 to 10 feet above the ground somewhere around the sweet spot,” said Mike Ryan, the Stunt Driver of the semi truck.
Adding to the uncertainty, they drove a F1 car underneath of the truck and trailer when it was up in the air. This was a one shot deal because the truck was probably going to incur some major damage on impact. Martin Ivanov, the Stunt Driver of the Lotus F1 car said it best, “It was scary.”
So, why jump a truck and tractor?
The simple answer is that it is risky and if they could achieve it, the video would go viral. Greg Gotts, VP of Creative for EMC Corporation said, “It is an epic attempt at a world record. We are proud to be partners with the Lotus F1 team.”
It took about three months from the word go, to get everything ready and built for this epic jump. The team had to calculate how high they needed the truck to be and how long it needed to be in the air. From there, they started calculating how steep the ramps needed to be, how fast everyone needed and a ton of other things to ensure this was as safe as possible (if you call driving under a semi-truck flying in the air safe).
Once the heavy duty ramps were built, they were screwed into the ground to reduce the chance they would move and something might happen. The day before the shoot, it rained. So, they didn’t get much driving time and everyone was a little nervous.
Well, the end result was a record setting 83 feet and 7 inch World Record. What do you think? Would you have driven under the truck?
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