
A Test Drive of the Death-Trap Car Designed by Buckminster Fuller - ColinWright
http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-test-drive-of-the-death-trap-car-designed-by-buckminster-fuller-1429890152
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chrisbennet
I suppose a lot of "great men" are well known because they self promote. I
have a lot less respect for Fuller after I read how he stole the "transegrity"
idea from one of his students.

 _" Bucky's warm and uplifting letter arrived about six months after I first
showed him my small sculpture. In that it was dated three days before
Christmas, I suppose he was in a festive, generous, mood. A year later,
January 1951 he published a picture of the structure in Architectural Forum
magazine and, surprisingly, I was not mentioned. When I posed the question
some years later why he accredited me, as he said, in his public lectures and
never in print, he replied, "Ken, old man, you can afford to remain anonymous
for a while.""_

[http://www.grunch.net/snelson/rmoto.html](http://www.grunch.net/snelson/rmoto.html)

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upofadown
Vehicle dynamics are hard to get right particularly if you want some sort of
suspension. Mr Fuller would likely of gotten things seriously wrong with any
number of wheels. Having 4 wheels is not some sort of magic design spec as the
article strongly implies. There is a lot of really subtle design that we
depend upon in our day to day life that we don't even suspect the existence
of...

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fishercs
Reminds me of the Robin Reliant, here's a video by a popular overseas motoring
show that gives you a glimpse of the problems incurred when a high center of
gravity is met with 3 wheels.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQh56geU0X8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQh56geU0X8)

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chrisbennet
1 wheel in back with 2 wheels in front (like the Bucky car has) is actually
pretty stable. 2 wheels in the back with one in front (like the Robin) is not.

