Okay, so I am writing a book that has elements of both fantasy and science fiction in it. The section I am writing at the moment involves a team of guys who are going to attempt a very high risk break in into a skyscraper but instead of going in via the floor or the roof they are going to do so in a slightly more far fetched yet fun to read way. What I need is someone with a knowledge of physics to give me some distances and speed of various elements so that I can write it in a way that makes it possible. Insanely crazy, but possible.

 

The break in is going to occur with one guy on a high powered motorcycle racing along the floor of a still under construction building next door to the one they are trying to get into. He will then hit a slight ramp at the edge and will jump over to the skyscraper on his motorcycle. Someone on his team will have a high powered rifle and will shoot holes in the window that the guy will crash through on his bike. The bike will be trailing a wire that he can attach to the wall on the other side so that the rest of his team can zipline over to the building.

 

This is not actually going to be attempted in real life so I do not need the angle of the ramp or anything that detailed. What I need to know is, at what speed would the bike have to travel to jump over two pavements and four lanes of traffic? How many floors below his original take off point would he land? And finally, how far apart can the buildings be before it becomes stupidly unrealistic?

Motorcycle jump records seem to be over 400 feet at a speed of more than 100 mph.

http://xgames.espn.com/rally-moto-x/article/8181746/alex-harvill-sets-motorcycle-jump-record

 

The problem would be getting to that speed in a short distance on top of a roof.

Suppose the roof is 100 m long and the bike can do 0-100 km/h in 3 s, which means an acceleration of 33 m/s2. He could the accelerate for

[Math] t=\sqrt {100/16} s \approx 2.5 s [/math]

Which means he can get to about 80 km/h, or roughly 20 m/s.

[Math] x=v^2 / g=40 m[/math]

 

So 40 m is definitely realistic if you have a decent ramp. The ramp has to be pretty high, to limit the force.

 

Other variables include landing lower, which gets you a bit further, or a smaller ramp, which gets you less far.

Edited April 21, 20178 yr by Bender

Okay, so I am writing a book that has elements of both fantasy and science fiction in it. The section I am writing at the moment involves a team of guys who are going to attempt a very high risk break in into a skyscraper but instead of going in via the floor or the roof they are going to do so in a slightly more far fetched yet fun to read way. What I need is someone with a knowledge of physics to give me some distances and speed of various elements so that I can write it in a way that makes it possible. Insanely crazy, but possible.

 

The break in is going to occur with one guy on a high powered motorcycle racing along the floor of a still under construction building next door to the one they are trying to get into. He will then hit a slight ramp at the edge and will jump over to the skyscraper on his motorcycle. Someone on his team will have a high powered rifle and will shoot holes in the window that the guy will crash through on his bike. The bike will be trailing a wire that he can attach to the wall on the other side so that the rest of his team can zipline over to the building.

 

This is not actually going to be attempted in real life so I do not need the angle of the ramp or anything that detailed. What I need to know is, at what speed would the bike have to travel to jump over two pavements and four lanes of traffic? How many floors below his original take off point would he land? And finally, how far apart can the buildings be before it becomes stupidly unrealistic?

Sounds like good fun. Just one question: how would the guy on the bike stop once he'd gone through the window and was still airborne and couldn't use his brakes? The room he crashed into would have to be very wide or he would go straight into the opposite wall - maybe right through it and out the other side.But that would be good fun too.

That is a good point.

A solution could be to use a quad with some kind of autopilot.

That is a good point.

A solution could be to use a quad with some kind of autopilot.

Ha, Ha! Nice one. That would be brilliant in a film-sequence. It would be hilarious,too ,to see the bike go through one window and then go straight out again through another window on the opposite wall! What do you think, Deseoso? ( You can use the Idea if you think it's any good and fits your book - i'm not copyrighting the idea!)

Well the book is set in the year 2072. The guy on the motorcycle has quite a few cybernetic enhancements so I am not that worried about the other side. He is going to crash into the desks and filing cabinets but he is pretty much built like a rhino.

Ha,Ha!......... 55 years and a cybernetic rhino make all the difference! Brilliant.Good luck.

In that case, he could eject from the bike midair to increase his range, dumping the bike. A higher acceleration of the bike would also increase the range.

Inertia reel on the wire he is pulling so that once the distance is crossed he is pulled to a stop steadily by the wire

Airbags built into his jump suit...

Which book is proper for pre reading in collage?

Well the book is set in the year 2072. The guy on the motorcycle has quite a few cybernetic enhancements so I am not that worried about the other side. He is going to crash into the desks and filing cabinets but he is pretty much built like a rhino.

He could aim to stop by hitting the stronger central part of the building - i.e. where the lifts are.

 

Maybe there'd be some secondary benefit or peril - damage to lifts holds off security? Or removes an escape route?