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How Fast

Goofuss

Goofuss

Active Member
So here is my question. How fast would a motorcycle (say a Road King) need to be going to spin a car 180 after it hit it? It was in a 35 mph zone. The reason I ask is my daughter was in the car that got hit. The rider ended up about 15-20 feet away from the car. My thought is he was going at a high rate of speed. Does anybody know how to figure this out? I should note that the car is about 3335 lbs
 
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cant answer your question - I just hope both your daughter and the person on the bike are OK!!!
 
Goofuss69 said:
So here is my question. How fast would a motorcycle (say a Road King) need to be going to spin a car 180 after it hit it? It was in a 35 mph zone. The reason I ask is my daughter was in the car that got hit. The rider ended up about 15-20 feet away from the car. My thought is he was going at a high rate of speed. Does anybody know how to figure this out? I should note that the car is about 3335 lbs
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Like R.Lewis said - I hope those individuals involved in the accident are ok and not injured.

As to the force needed to spin a car 180 - that's an applied maths marathon!
So many factors involved: mass of the bike/rider, mass of the car/contents, velocities of both, angle of incidence/impact, distance of impact from centre of mass/rotation of the car, bike impact - head on/side on/angle. frictional factors involving the tyres - temperature, inflation, rubber type, road surface, inclination/cant/camber of road - that's probably just scratching the surface! Maybe a crash site investigator could give an approximation or a range. I suppose what you want to establish is that for all other parameters - the bike must have had a speed in excess of 35mph to do this.:bigsmiley30: Hope your daughter's ok.
 
If you were on a bike, any bike, and hit a stationary object that was 4 times your weight while going 35 mph, you would continue to travel WAY more than 20 feet. I can promise you that.

The rest, like it was already said, would be an applied mathematical marathon.
 
I agree with the above post of everything you would need to know. He did leave out that where the cars tires were aimed would affect things as well. The car continued forward after the impact, and if the wheel was turned hard it would spin much easier. They should be able to tell something from how much damage was caused to the car, and how far the rider went after impact. 20-30 feet does not sound like a long way to fly after impact unless the rider got tangled up in the bike at impact.

Any way you look at it a couple of people had a very bad day. Hope everyone turns out fine, and that the insurance companies make everyone whole. Just remember, any accident you can walk away from is an upgrade opportunity. Sorry to out a joke in a serious post, but it just seemed like it needed some lightening up.
 
I always try to find a lighter side to things. I will post an update when I hear from the police.
 
He hit her in the rear passenger tire. It looks to me like he swerved to miss her. I don’t think he hit her square on. He also broke the rear axle and tore the rear tire off the car.
 
Add to the list of factors; if the car was in a turn, depending on the speed... the rear inside wheel is already unweighted. Wouldn't take much of a hit by a 1000 lbs of motorcycle to spin it around.

I hope everyone is OK and insurance doesn't cause you all too much grief.
 
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