Canberra's a car-tipping kind of town

Tetranitrate said :

Deadlifting the back end of a car is very very different to flipping it over. Once you’re at the point where you’re locked out you simply cant get higher, and in no case is that going to be high enough to tip the car over. It’s not like they’re going to be power-cleaning cars.

Yeah but with a power clean the weight stays the same through the lift (even though momentum is used at various points to raise the weight). Contrary to what has been said above, I don’t think the “tipping point” or the point at which the car is evenly balanced on two side tires is actually that high. After hitting the tipping point, the effective weight would start to reduce very quickly. Of course, this depends on the centre of gravity of the car. Tipping a lancer with soft suspension, for example, would be way easier than (say) a 200sx of equivalent weight.

Tetranitrate said :

The 7 or so number zeitel gives sounds plausible though.

Mythbusters!

While we’re at it, it would also be fantastic to finally figure out once and for all who wins in the 40 midgets vs tiger conjecture.

devils_advocate said :

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).

Well they’re not actually lifting the entire weight of the car, they’re just slipping it on its shortest axis. One of Schwarzenegger’s famous party tricks at the peak of his career was deadlifting the back end of a buik (much heavier car on its longest axis). It would probably also be possible to “cheat” by generating some momentum using the suspension (i.e. rocking it back and forth and just tip it over at the end).

So they could be looking for one massive dude or 4 or 5 moderately strong adult males.

Deadlifting the back end of a car is very very different to flipping it over. Once you’re at the point where you’re locked out you simply cant get higher, and in no case is that going to be high enough to tip the car over. It’s not like they’re going to be power-cleaning cars.

engines aren’t all totally fond of being tipped upside down, maybe someone with a motor on their last legs would consider using this flipping spree as a cover for some insurance fraud..

I doubt with dented panels and a bent roof an insurance inspector would bother starting the engine to see if it had issues before the tipping.

AAMC said :

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).

It’s a simple dead lift (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadlift) movement, 5 or 6 people can flip a car; they aren’t actually lifting the whole car. I would guess that the amount of lift required to flip a car is probably less than 50% of the total car weight. i.e. 1000kg car requires 500kg of lift divided by 5 people =100kg dead lift each………well within the ability of you average 17-55 year old male. but each car is likely covered with finger, palm, forearm, face(cheek) prints all which can be used to identify these people…….

Yeah I know what a deadlift is, but actually flipping a car requires lifting it much higher. An average young man off the street can certainly deadlift 100kg, but he can’t lift that any higher, can’t bench 100kg (unless he actually trains), and sure as hell can’t lift 100kg over-head.

Moving a small car around with a group of people would indeed be fairly easy, but actually lifting one side up all the way past the tipping point would not be, IMO.
The 7 or so number zeitel gives sounds plausible though.

devils_advocate said :

Jivrashia said :

Check popular social media. I think the answers will be there.

I think all the answers are here now.

Most importantly, we have set out in detail several plausible methodologies on how bored teenagers might successfully engage in a spate of car tipping without exposing themselves to debilitating back injury.

Next week: How to circumvent engine immobilisation devices.

LOL! This made my day

Time for a good ol’ fashioned lynch mob. Find the culprits, get some bikies to hold em upside down – see how they like it. No canberra teen will dare tip cars after that

A car was tipped over in my street about 2 weeks ago, a person down the street saw about 7 people and it was a small car. Dumb pricks have no idea how there ‘fun’ affects the people who they do that stuff too, its really sad to think about.

Jivrashia said :

Check popular social media. I think the answers will be there.

I think all the answers are here now.

Most importantly, we have set out in detail several plausible methodologies on how bored teenagers might successfully engage in a spate of car tipping without exposing themselves to debilitating back injury.

Next week: How to circumvent engine immobilisation devices.

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton.

With a concerted effort.
My guess is that the group would have to be around ten to lift some of the cars.

I’d be looking at groups of bored teenagers from reasonably well-off families.
And I wouldn’t be surprise if they are doing it with a sense of justice.

(why that particular car out of many others in the car park?)
(why aren’t there further damage to the car, like thugs would do?)

Check popular social media. I think the answers will be there.

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place?

They must be students of physics

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).

It’s a simple dead lift (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadlift) movement, 5 or 6 people can flip a car; they aren’t actually lifting the whole car. I would guess that the amount of lift required to flip a car is probably less than 50% of the total car weight. i.e. 1000kg car requires 500kg of lift divided by 5 people =100kg dead lift each………well within the ability of you average 17-55 year old male. but each car is likely covered with finger, palm, forearm, face(cheek) prints all which can be used to identify these people…….

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).

Well they’re not actually lifting the entire weight of the car, they’re just slipping it on its shortest axis. One of Schwarzenegger’s famous party tricks at the peak of his career was deadlifting the back end of a buik (much heavier car on its longest axis). It would probably also be possible to “cheat” by generating some momentum using the suspension (i.e. rocking it back and forth and just tip it over at the end).

So they could be looking for one massive dude or 4 or 5 moderately strong adult males.

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).

I used to drive a ford laser and my jerk friends at the time decided that it was fun to pick the car up and rotate it 90 degrees. It was paraell parked on a street at the time. It only took 6 of the guys in the early 20’s.
I guess if you got 5 or 6 people all lifting one side it wouldn’t be that hard.

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).

They’re not lifting the full ton, if there were 4 or 5 of them they would only be lifting 100 – 150kg each…. Definitely not hard.

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).

Easier than you think would be my guess. Just takes a 6 or 8 people. I remember stories of the Marist rugby team moving teachers’ cars around the carpark, or into places they couldn’t drive out of.

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).

5 people could do it with some effort, maybe even 4 if they were strong enough. They would only be lifting around half the weight as the opposite wheels would act as a fulcrum.

I remember reading about vandals in Amsterdam that were picking up smart cars and tossing them into canals.

Cars aren’t hard to tip if you have a few people.

When they tip a B-double I’ll be officially impressed.

What a bunch of bullys picking on the small cars.

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place?

Many hands make light work.

Tetranitrate said :

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).

It wouldn’t be that difficult with the right personnel. In 1993 I was collecting shopping trolleys at Coolo and there was a gang of local kids who hung around the centre who used to do that sort of thing. Two members of the gang were massive Pacific Islanders and they used to do the heavy lifting (quite literally).

How would they actually do this in the first place? Most of those cars are smallish, but apart for the KA will still weigh more than a ton. (1.25 on new Corollas according to Toyota and I’d guess the early-mid 90s models that are still floating around would be higher).

It would be more ‘upsetting’ if the owners were in the vehicles at the time…

p1 said :

I won’t be impressed until they can flip a cop car.

With pics

I won’t be impressed until they can flip a cop car.