MythBusters (2003–…): Season 8, Episode 3 - Spy Car Escape - full transcript

Do not try
any of the experiments

you are about to see
at home.

You heard him...
don't do it.

On this high-velocity episode
of "Mythbusters"...

I'm all oiled up
and ready to go.

...Adam and Jamie wreak
highway havoc in spy-car escape.

You're not
gonna catch me!

Just how difficult is it
to give your pursuer the slip...

I got to say,
that's pretty effective.

...with in-car weapons

that always seem to work
so well in the movies?



There it goes!
It's deployed!

Then Tory, Grant, and Kari
play hardball

with the myth of momentum...

We're gonna see that ball drop.

...as they aim to find out

if an object shot backwards
while traveling forwards...

I feel like a gladiator
ready to be slaughtered.

...would really drop
straight to the ground.

That was
a pretty good shot.

Who are the Mythbusters?

Adam Savage...

You need to bring
some more power.

...and Jamie Hyneman.

Relax.
This won't hurt a bit.



Between them, more than 30 years
of special-effects experience.

We've got to keep her
afloat!

Joining them...
Tory Belleci...

...Grant Imahara...

Burn!

...and Kari Byron.

Busting out of here,
see.

They don't just tell
the myths.

They put them to the test.

Check it out... you know
we love our movie myths.

And specifically, we love
our super-spy-movie myths.

This next one
involves devices

that a spy puts into their car
to instantly stop someone

from following them
in a car-chase scenario.

Ah.
Like a smoke screen.

Exactly.

And I'm thinking
we test all the classics...

smoke screen, and I'm thinking
releasing a bunch of tacks,

and oil slick.

Fast cars, dangerous gadgets...
I'm up for it.

I thought you would be.

The concept is almost as old
as the automobile itself...

arming a car
with the right kind of gadgets

to ensure a slick getaway.

Turn on the oil!

The boys are revved up to test
three of the all-time classics

in a series
of equally classic car chases.

Uh, this is Adam.
Could someone get me a car?

This is Jamie.
Make it sporty.

Isn't that nice?

That's cute.
Drive it on in.

Okay.

This is Spy Car One.

Right now it's a normal car,
but when we're finished with it,

it's gonna have all
the little tricks and gadgets

that any self-respecting spy car
would have.

This ought to do.

So, it's straight down
to business,

and the key word right now
is "deployment. "

Welcome to Jamie's chop shop.

All movie fans know

that most weapons
are launched from the trunk,

and a hole in the floor
with a sliding trapdoor

should fit the bill.

Jamie's simple release

can be sprung
from a cord to the cockpit.

It's not fancy...

That ought to do it.

...but it works.

With the car customized,

it's off to the test track
to load it with weapons.

We're at the Alameda County

Emergency Vehicle
Operations Center,

which is where the police
practice chasing bad guys,

which means it's perfect for us.

Of course, there's
no chase without a chase car

and an experienced
daredevil to drive it.

...Morning, sir.
- Morning.

...How are you?
... I'm good. How are you?

Good.
Good day for a car chase?

Every day's a good day
for a car chase.

What is it that makes Brian
uniquely qualified

to perform this test with us?

I ask you to cast your mind back
to "Driving in the Rain,"

where Brian hydroplaned
over 100 miles per hour

and did a 720-degree turn.

Look at the internal camera.

That impassive face on him
is the face of confidence,

and it is the face
that will lead this test for us.

If we can evade him,
we can evade anybody.

Escaping a driver
who's more skilled than you

means disabling his car.

So, what's the first trick
in Adam's trunk?

They may look friendly,

but these are 1/4-inch pieces
of hot-rolled steel

bent at right angles and welded
into a tetrahedral arrangement

and then sharpened.

These are roadspikes...
always have one point facing up.

I think they're gonna be
highly effective

when I drop them from
the back of the evading spy car.

With over 100 of these
lethal little tire shredders,

he might be right.

But Jamie also has a "point. "

Now, I have no doubt

that these tacks
are gonna stick in the tires,

but will they deflate the tires
quickly enough

to keep our spy happy?

I'm not so sure.

Well, first, a quick check
on the rules of the chase.

So, Brian, what are
the criteria for escaping?

If Adam's able
to get far enough ahead of us

that he actually loops
and gets behind us,

then he's gotten away.

Also, if he makes
a turn on the course

someplace I don't catch
and then we end up taking

a different turn or different route,
then I've lost him.

Okay, then.

The cones are lined up to mark
out a long and winding road.

And they're ready to rumble.

Okay, this is
"Spy Car Evasion Techniques...

the Tacks. "

Eat... my... dust.

Make no mistake...

both drivers are hell-bent
on surviving the chase.

Brian keeps
a respectful distance

of five or six car lengths.

Hey, he's picking up
a little speed.

Eventually,
right before a curve,

Adam decides to drop his load.

There we go.

Despite
his considerable skill,

Brian's going too fast
to avoid all the tacks.

Yeah, they stuck in.
I can hear them.

But at least for the moment,

the chase car shows
no signs of losing momentum.

We must have had
about a half a dozen at least in there,

and we're holding on
just fine.

I wouldn't take corners
too fast in it, but...

Aah!

Okay, we got you.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

So, what happens?
Didn't...

Oh! I got you!

Well, you did,
but then you didn't.

The tacks
went into the tires,

but we were on your tail
for several minutes afterwards.

It didn't slow us down.

I thought that as soon
as you hit the tacks,

you'd be skidding off the road
immediately.

I've got flat tires,
but you still didn't get away.

No,
I didn't get away.

Shoot. I wouldn't
have called that.

The tacks eventually worked,

but they took
their sweet time.

And I'll say
one thing else...

while I'm fagging around on this course,
hell-bent for leather,

it's really disconcerting
to look into my rearview mirror

and see Brian passively driving
after me like it's not...

he's like a lion
playing with his food.

Jamie thinks he knows

why the spikes kind of worked...
And kind of didn't.

The problem with tacks

is that they plug the hole
that they create,

and they don't let the air out
quick enough.

Now, eventually,
sure, your tire's gonna deflate,

but as far as a pursuit goes,

you could hang on
for quite a while.

As a quick-escape option,
the tacks didn't cut it.

So it's on to phase 2
of the myth...

blinding the pursuer
in a cloud of smoke.

Today, the role of smoke
in our little spy-car episode

is gonna be played
by a military smoke grenade.

Now, we were offered the chance
to use a minimum-smoke grenade,

but we said, "Hell no!

Give us 'maximum smoke...
military style. "'

What does that look like?
I don't know.

Let's check it out.

Whoo!

Providing
the wind doesn't pick up,

that should work nicely.

This rig
is about as simple as it gets.

All you do is pull the pin,
you've got smoke.

All I've done is strapped them

to the back
of the inside of the car,

I've hooked them up to cables

that go into
the cockpit of the car,

I pull on the cables...
I'm gone in a puff of smoke.

Well, that's the theory.

Okay, smoke evasion.
You guys ready?

That's affirmative, lawbreaker.
Do your worst.

Yah!

Right from the get-go,

Jamie sets a cracking pace
through the traffic cones.

Brian has no idea
when to expect the smoke,

but he doesn't have long
to wait.

For the first few seconds,

the deployment
looks picture-perfect.

It's right about now
that it all goes horribly wrong,

as Jamie's convertible
starts filling with smoke.

He misses the wall by a whisker,
and the chase is called off

before Jamie
swallows more than his pride.

I think
he has to get out.

Yeah, I think so, too.

You okay?

Can we get some water over here
for Jamie right away?

This smoke
has gone literally everywhere.

It's coming out of every nook
and cranny of this car.

Whoa!

Well, that right there was
a real "Pink Panther" moment.

I mean, we build these things,
and, ideally,

we test them before we take them
out on the road, but...

I kind of regret not doing that.

That was absolutely horrible.

With the rushing air pushed
over and around the windscreen,

the car's interior
became a low-pressure zone,

sucking much of the smoke
back up over the trunk.

That's a rig failure,
not a technique failure.

We're gonna have to reset
and try it again.

Adam's right.

It's unfair to condemn a myth
due to faulty method.

We'll reassess and reload

to hopefully
make the convertible cockpit

a smoke-free zone.

So, what are you
so excited about?

Well, it's our turn
to try a new type of myth...

the physics
thought experiment.

Great... something to get
the ol' gray matter working.

So, here's how
this one goes.

Let's say you're driving along
in a car at "x" miles an hour.

You throw something
out the back

in the opposite direction
at the same speed.

Does it just fall
straight down?

Basically
what you're saying...

does the forward momentum
and the backward momentum

cancel each other out
completely?

Exactly.

Or is there some other factor,
like air resistance,

that makes it
impossible?

And I wonder, if it works
at 6 miles an hour,

will it also work
at 60?

That is
what we're gonna find out.

It makes sense

that an object subjected
to equal and opposite forces,

forwards and backwards,
would drop like a stone.

But unless we can prove it
in real life,

this simple equation's
no more than an untested myth.

So, how are we
gonna test this one?

How about a pickup truck
with a treadmill on the back?

Pickup truck drives forward
at 10 miles an hour,

treadmill goes back
at 10 miles an hour,

and then one of us
jumps on it.

By "one of us,"
you mean Tory?

What?

So this is to see
if I just fall straight down

or get flung
off the back?

That's the idea.

Yeah. Great idea.

Best if they bust out
the gym equipment

before Tory changes his mind.

That seems safe enough.

Normally, treadmills are
pretty straightforward.

You set the speed and go.

That is, of course,
if you haven't been drinking.

As Adam bravely proved,

the treadmill
is not to be trifled with.

And now it's Tory's turn.

My question is, if he jumps
onto a moving treadmill,

will it slow down and actually
throw him off at a slower speed?

To test this,

we're gonna put a 180-pound load
onto the treadmill,

see if it slows down.

If it does,
then we'll turn it up

until it throws it off
at the target speed.

According to the manual,

the maximum speed of the
treadmill is 10 miles per hour.

That's fast enough
to get the stripes strobing.

That looks
a little crazy to me.

It looks a lot crazy.

That looks
so dangerous,

I would not want
to try to jump on that.

And, at least for the moment,
he doesn't.

Ah. That was
kind of a problem.

In fact, it was
just what Grant predicted.

The bag slowed the belt down
to a relative crawl.

It actually recovers
fairly quickly.

Okay.

And it gets back up to...
5.45 miles per hour.

All right. Now the tricky part
is doing it without falling.

I suggest
you tuck and roll.

So, to balance the myth,

the truck
should also move forwards

at 51/2 miles per hour.

All that remains
is to attach one to the other.

You're really gonna run
on this thing, huh?

Oh, not so much run...
more just fly off the back.

Four bolts later,

this traveling treadmill
is primed for a field trip.

They're bound for the
Concord Naval Weapons Station,

where the roads
are long and level.

That's not
going anywhere.

No, that's good.

It should be real safe...
real safe.

That would be the least
of our safety concerns, I think.

Tory straps on
the famous red suit.

Kari still can't understand
why his kneepads are trembling.

You got dragged
by a horse,

and it didn't seem
like a bad idea.

You got buried alive...
didn't seem like a bad idea.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Stop! Stop!

You got in a ring
with a bull.

It didn't seem
like a bad idea.

He was looking
right at me.

This is a bad idea?

I feel like a gladiator
ready to be slaughtered.

We'll chalk that one
up as a "yes. "

Okay, so, here's the setup.

For our control test, our truck
is going to be stationary.

Tory's going to drop
onto the treadmill

and then project off the end
of the truck in a gentle arc.

Okay, so,
this is our control test.

You ready?

I'm ready
as I'm ever gonna be.

Okay.

Famous last words,

as a telephone call
disrupts the filming.

Ahh!
Who is it?

Yeah, look, uh, the
insurance company said, uh...

This is Brian.
He's our director.

You should
know better.

Yeah, I know.

What's going on?

With uncanny timing,
the office has called up

to tell them
that Tory cannot take the fall.

Okay, so, this is unusual.

We're just about to go for it,

and our producer gets
a phone call from the insurers.

Apparently,
this is way too dangerous

for Tory to attempt...
this uncontrollable fall.

So, I think we're gonna have to
go for the next-best thing,

which is... I don't know...
like, sandbags or something.

So, while Tory stands down,

the supply truck is ransacked
for raw materials.

Okay,
what do we got?

They're looking to build
a substitute fall guy,

so coveralls and a blow-up doll
fit the bill.

How's that? Is it getting
into the legs at all?

Oh, it is.
It's getting heavy.

And there's a real bonus to
having a sand-filled stand-in.

They can fill it to just
a fraction of Tory's weight.

So they can run their tests
at 10 miles per hour,

not the planned 5.

Not bad
for a stand-in Tory.

It's only fitting
that the man who missed out

gets to discharge
his stunt double.

All right,
here we go... 10 miles an hour.

In 3... 2... 1.

Ohh!

I am so glad
that that wasn't you, man.

That was an arc.
I wouldn't say a gentle arc.

Nor would we.

And it's probably time to admit

that the safety team
had a fair point.

During our control test,

stand-in Tory was thrown
6 feet away from the treadmill

from a height of 31/2 feet.

What this means is,
he didn't fall straight down.

But that's not a surprise.

Now it's time to move on.

Okay, this is the main test.

I'm going to drive the pickup
at 10 miles an hour

while Tory throws his "sand-in"
onto the treadmill

right in front
of the high-speed cameras.

If the sack of sand
comes even close

to falling
straight to the ground,

we'll finally know
that this myth is on track.

It's a rare case

where the team gets excited
by a lack of spectacle.

Still,
best check the high-speed.

So, watch that point
right there.

Oh, nice timing
on the drop.

Ohh!

It pretty much dropped
straight down!

I mean, compared
to our control test,

it would have been
out there.

Here... psht!...
straight down.

That is really cool.

So there might be some merit
to this myth.

Absolutely.

The morning's testing
was a total success,

and they learned something
along the way.

First of all,

we learned that Tory is
more important than we thought.

We can't just chuck him
off the back of a truck.

Secondly, we learned something
from our 10-mile-an-hour test.

We had the treadmill
going at 10 miles an hour

on a stationary truck.

We dropped our "sand-in" Tory,
and he fell in a little arc.

Then we drove
exactly 10 miles an hour,

dropped our sand-in Tory
in the same position,

and he went straight down.

But this is "Mythbusters,"
and we just can't stop there.

I didn't like
inhaling all that smoke,

so I've done a couple of things.

The first is
that I've put the smoke bombs

out away from the car,

and the second is,
Adam's gonna drive.

So the scene is set

for a smarter
and healthier smoke screen.

All right, Jamie,
are you ready?

We're ready.

Okay.

Eat my smoke!

Adam leads Brian
on a merry chase...

You know,
this is pretty fun.

...till the time comes to pull
the pin on those twin grenades.

Oh, there we go.

I got to say,
that's pretty effective.

The smoke comes thick and fast

as the chase car slows
to a crawl...

Oh.

...and Adam actually
starts to catch up.

With the red car
now in Brian's rearview mirror,

Adam's officially
shaken his tail.

Whoo!

I think that's a win!

Good job.

That was awesome!

At one point,
I looked over,

and Jamie and Brian were
all the way across the course.

At that point,
I figured I had it.

With one crucial adjustment,

the smoke screen worked
big-time.

Now to move on to a test

that should push Brian's skills
to the limit.

We know this is good
for the taste buds

and bad for the waistline.

The question is,

is it good for the escapee
and bad for the pursuer?

I think it will be.

As Adam implied, we are doing
our best to save the planet.

The lubricant of choice
is vegetable oil.

Okay, guys, I'm all oiled up
and ready to go.

Are you ready?

We're ready. Yes.

This should be slick.

Knowing what's coming

won't help Brian
avoid a potential disaster.

The course is too narrow
to skirt around the slick,

and he doesn't know
where or when

Jamie plans
to give him the slip.

And then we see oil
pour out of his back,

and Brian tries to avoid it,

but actually,
because Jamie does it on a turn,

it sort of crosses the whole
road, and we can't avoid it.

The chase car
has clearly lost traction.

It slips and it slides
as Brian struggles

to point the nose forward
and stay on the track.

Definitely
made it slick.

Yes, definitely.

He's lost valuable time
as the car careens sideways,

and Jamie decides to quit
while he's ahead.

At speed,
the rig worked perfectly.

Unfortunately, it didn't
cause us to totally spin out

and lose control of our car.

Jamie did get far ahead,

but Brian was able
to stay on the road.

So, where does that leave us
overall?

Well,
let's tally them up.

...Tacks.
... Busted.

Smoke screen.

Confirmed.

Oil slick.

Somewhere
in the middle.

I agree...
somewhere in the middle.

All right,
let's get out of here,

and, uh,
slowly, please.

That's three classic evasion
techniques done and dusted.

Whoa! Hey!

But they're having
way too much fun to stop here.

Kari, Grant, and Tory
are trying to confirm the myth

that a deadweight
drops straight to the ground

if its forward momentum

is exactly the same
as its backwards propulsion.

So far, a mobile treadmill
seems to have proved the point.

True, but you know the fans
are never gonna be happy

if we stop right there.

We have to test this
at higher speeds.

All right,
why don't we ramp it up?

We'll build
an air cannon,

fire a soccer ball
at 60 miles an hour.

We'll do it again
inside of a moving vehicle

going 60 miles an hour,

see if the energies
cancel each other out

and we get
a vertical drop.

Love it.
Let's do it.

Grant gets the task
of building the cannon,

and he's not one
for half measures.

This is our next step
in testing this myth.

It's the barrel of the largest
air cannon I have ever built.

Okay, here we go.
9 psi

In 3... 2... 1.

Whoo!

Yep, that looked like
60 miles an hour to me.

And a check of the high-speed
confirms the call.

The good news is
that we have our number.

We now know that 9 psi
equals 60 miles an hour

out of the barrel.

...Perfect.
... Great.

That's our target speed.

...All right.
... We're there.

Well, almost.

It's now back to Concord

to see if they've got
the balance just right.

All right.

Time to give this experiment
a shot of steroids.

Logistically, this is going to
be a very difficult experiment.

Everything has to come together

for it to actually
yield the results we want.

I mean,
the small scale was brilliant.

If we can get anywhere
close to that, I would be happy.

But Tory's already anticipating
trouble down the road.

My feeling is, Grant's gonna
prematurely hit that button

and the soccer ball is
not actually gonna make it

in the high-speed shot.

We'll see what happens.

All right,
you guys ready?

Cannon is armed,
and truck is in place.

We're ready
on your "go," Tory.

Hit it.

20...

30...

40...

50...

Come on.
Get to 60.

Come on.

Okay.

And... fire.

Hey!

That was
a pretty good shot.

Let's look
at the high-speed.

Given how hard this is
to get right,

it's a mighty first effort.

But the ball
did bounce backwards.

It's not perfect.

It's not the same results
as the other one.

That's what I'm saying.

This should drop straight down,
not fly backwards.

It's agreed

that either the car was too slow
or the cannon too fast.

The afternoon rolls on
as a series of runs...

The ball did not drop
straight down.

...never quite
seem to hit the mark.

Looking good!

And... he fired it too soon.

But the ball
still bounced backwards.

25 attempts later,
they haven't come close

to seeing the soccer ball
drop like a stone.

Some even bounced forwards,

and it could be the cannon,
the car,

or the myth that's at fault.

We could be out here all day
and not get a result.

This might be the time
to rethink their approach.

After all, no one said
science was meant to be easy.

Pop quiz.

What do you see
here on the table?

You may see a random collection
of plumbing parts.

I see the next evolution
in spy-evasion technology.

Ow!

If you think Adam's
being deliberately obscure,

get a load of Jamie.

You know what they say... "The
best defense is a good offense. "

Well, I figure
I'm gonna make something

that I can take
right to the pursuer's car,

deliver it point-blank,
and take him out.

Ensuring
their secrets remain just that,

a huge curtain
divides the workshop.

While Adam assembles
what looks and sounds like

a prototype
space-shuttle toilet...

...Jamie gets low-down nasty.

Yeah, baby.

That thing starts to dig in,

we got some trouble
on our hands.

It's clear from the outset

this mystery rig
will be heavy-duty,

as gear teeth are cut
into chromoly steel

with a plasma torch.

Whatever he's building,
it's a safe bet

this would get you suspended
from metal shop.

That ought to do it.

After hours
of diligent, diabolical labor,

Jamie's finally
up for some show-and-tell.

I made this relatively
simple-looking little thing

out of chromoly steel,

and it's flat enough
to mount underneath my car,

out of sight and out of mind.

But it's gonna be mounted
in a gun,

and I'm gonna drive up
to the pursuer's car,

fire this from under my car,

right over the ground,
to under their car,

at which point, it changes,
and it goes... like that.

If it works on the day,

that's a bona-fide car crippler.

Yeah.

Adam, meantime,
has taken his show on the road.

In a radical twist,

it looks like he's trying
to slow himself down.

That's promising, right there.

The idea
is to shut down the chase car

with a parachute blindfold

launched from
that strange plumbing project.

He'll cut the rig loose
when it's caught enough air,

the main chute deployed

by a much smaller one,
called a drogue.

I'm gonna try throwing this out
as I drive

and see if that launches
this parachute for me.

Adam takes off,

and short of cutting loose
the big chute,

the test seems to work.

Ohh!

Ow!

Okay.

Ow!

The parachute launched

and immediately ripped this
off the trunk

and sent it into my head.

But I like the drogue chute.

It seems like
a nice, quick deploy.

While Adam untangles,
Jamie just adds to his arsenal.

How this one fits in
is anyone's guess.

It's still smoking.

But his real party piece
is the Auto Stop 3000,

installed in a tube
welded under the chassis.

When I pull this trigger,

the pressurized air
that's in this tank

goes through the valve,
out the bottom of the car,

and out the barrel.

And so the air from the car
has shot this whole assembly

out the bottom of this car,

aimed for the bottom
of the neighboring car.

That would be a successful test.

Adam's also been busy,
uh, customizing his rear end.

Then, just
to rattle Jamie's cage...

Yeah, bring in all the puppies
and all the lead.

On that disturbing note,
it's time to return

to a favorite
"Mythbusters" test track...

this abandoned suburb
at Fort Ord.

Are you ready for this?

I'm ready.

I'm gonna go first,

'cause I don't think
you can handle my technique!

Knock yourself out.

Okay, here's my plan.

Right about here, I'm going to
push the launch switch,

activating the cannon,

setting the drogue chute out
behind my car.

At this point, Brian and Jamie
are likely to wonder

what the hell's going on,

and they're likely
to back off a little bit.

It'll take the drogue chute
a little while

to fully inflate the parachute.

Right about here, in fact.

At that point, Brian and Jamie
are likely to be wondering

what the hell I'm doing slowing
myself down with a parachute.

And this is where I activate
the final part of my plan,

which is to cut the cord that
holds the parachute to my car.

They will either, "A,"
get entangled in the parachute

or, "B," figure that because the
parachute stopped, I've stopped

and they will stop.

Meanwhile...

I will have pulled into
my secret hiding place

out of sight of the road,

sending them
down the wrong road,

looking for me
in the wrong place.

I think
it's a pretty sound plan.

I think it'll work.

Let's remember
that Jamie hasn't a clue

that the plan is to blind him
with billows of nylon.

Nothing to see here, folks.

Are you guys ready?

We're all set.

Okay.

Eat... my... dust.

Adam takes off
like a shell from a shotgun.

Once again,
Brian's steering the chase car.

These streets have never seen
speeds like these.

You're not gonna catch me!

I got a secret weapon
right here on the dash.

Ha haa!

And the chute is
let loose right on the mark.

There it goes!
It's deployed!

Parachute's out!

Oh, and it's away!

Nice try,
but no cigar.

I hope
that wasn't all he had.

Well, it was all he had.

The parachute worked,
but not well enough.

Aah! They caught me!

Adam's been totally tailed
to his secret lair.

Well, shoot!

Well, your device
deployed fine.

It deployed
beautifully.

I was hoping it would either
make you stay too far back

or you'd get entangled
in it.

If it had caught us just right,
it might have worked,

but it didn't.

Grrr!

Adam admits
that it could have gone better.

It might work
under certain circumstances,

but to be a viable
spy-car-evasion technique,

it really has to work
every time.

So I think we've got to...

Relegate the parachute
to the dustbin of failed ideas.

Now it's all up to Jamie
to press his advantage

and take out
this head-to-head challenge.

And if his plan comes off,

Adam's in for
the ride of his life.

Okay, either
this myth is busted

or our methodology's
flawed.

I'm pretty sure
it's the latter.

Okay, well, there's more than
one way to fling a ball.

Let's look into some other
propulsion systems

and figure out which one's
the most reliable.

All right, we could get
a ball-pitching machine.

They actually make them
for soccer balls.

And as far as I know,
they're pretty accurate.

I've got an idea
for another machine

where it actually punches the
ball without imparting any spin.

That may help.

Okay. Let's get started
and have a showdown.

It sounds like a plan...

three machines,
including the air cannon,

competing to see which is
the most consistent shooter.

The soccer-ball launcher
is designed

to reliably fire ball after ball
at the same speed,

and it's working just fine.

Ohh!

I think
you got your aim.

And there's work to be done
on the factory floor.

For machine number 2,

Grant needs to modify
a "Mythbusters" favorite.

The last time you saw it, it had
a plate affixed to the end

and it was
smashing frozen heads.

And I must say
it was a smashing success.

But now it's going to become
a soccer-ball-kicking robot.

Just you wait.

10 out of 10
for lateral thinking.

And you know that when Grant
gets his hands on a robot...

It will "kick balls. "

Okay.

Okay, all of our kicking
contraptions should be complete,

which is perfect,
because it's time

for the "Mythbusters" World Cup,
also known as calibration tests.

We have our official goal
right here.

Back here,
we have the contenders.

First off,
we have the ball chucker.

You're already familiar
with the air cannon.

And, finally,
we have our robot-kicker.

Consistency was a huge problem
when we did our last test,

so that's
what we're testing now...

which one of these contraptions
will be the most consistent

at 60 miles an hour.

In 3... 2... 1.

Wow.

That was a good kick.
How fast did it go?

58 miles an hour.

...Nice!
... Boom!

We're in
the ballpark.

Kicking robot was great.

It was consistent
within 3 miles per hour.

Now moving on
to the ball chucker,

which... well, it was actually
made to chuck balls,

so, hopefully,
this will be consistent.

All right.
We're ready to go.

Tory's already fine-tuned
the speed of the tires,

and from the very first ball,

it looks like
he's right in the zone.

God! 59.

It's an impressive display
from the favorite,

but there's still one to go.

All right,
why don't we do this...

let's test the air cannon
one more time.

I mean, who knows?

Maybe it's more consistent
than the other machine.

All right.

Going up to 9 psi

So, it come down
to these last five shots.

Fire away!

The shootout is finished,

and the result
is a shock to everyone.

You know what...
out of all the machines,

this one looks like
it's the most consistent.

Yeah, I think we all know
who the winner was,

but just for fun, I calculated
the standard deviation.

You and I have
really different ideas on fun.

He said "fun. "

Go ahead.

Okay,
this one's 1.22.

This one is 2.3.

And the winner
and still champion...

air cannon with 0.84.

Oh, my gosh.

After all that, we have to
go back to the air cannon.

Yes.

The ball speed's
as close as we're going to get,

but let's not forget
that's just half the equation.

If the speed going forward
is also in doubt,

we'd be fools not to fix it.

And Kari's no fool.

So, the solution to
our speedometer problem is this.

It's a tachometer.

Now what we're going to do

is we're gonna brace it
with all sorts of clamps

that I've scavenged
from the camera department.

So it's right here
against the wheel.

We have some reflective tape.

It's going to make the laser

able to pick up
every revolution,

and from there,
we can do the math,

find out exactly
how fast our car is going.

This is it.
We have eliminated all the variables.

We have the cannon
shooting at 60 miles an hour,

the car driving
at 60 miles an hour...

just to show that this ball
will drop straight down.

This is it.
It's "go" time.

Go!

Look, this is a classic
physics thought experiment.

I mean,
you've got something moving.

You fire something
off of that moving vehicle

at the same speed,

and, ideally,
it should cancel out.

But this is the real world.

Ah.

And the real world remains

a frustratingly difficult place
to do science.

The cannon was fired
a little too soon.

This is all
a bit finicky.

I think we're gonna
have to try it a lot

until we get it perfect.

More tests only lead
to more disappointment.

Once again, Grant's timing
is just off the mark.

But Kari at least sees a light
at the end of the runway.

I have a feeling
that we are very close

to a perfect demonstration.

We're gonna see that ball drop.

With the forward
and backward momentum

matched as close
as they're going to get it,

the pressure's on Grant
for a perfect release.

I don't know about you guys, but
that looked pretty good to me.

Let's check the high-speed.

It really looked good
to the naked eye.

But the judge in this case
is the high-speed.

Oh, my God!
It's like a cartoon!

It's just in the air.
It stops and it just falls.

Look at that.
It's fantastic.

I mean, look...
it doesn't move at all.

It's going straight down.

...Whoo!
... Amazing!

We did it!
We did it!

...Yeah!
... Yeah!

...Vector edition! Yay!
... Whoo!

Yeah!

We canceled out
velocity!

After three days of suffering,

that single shot
brings the myth to an end.

I can't be happier.

We actually got
the speed of the car

to match the speed
of the soccer ball,

and we got
a perfect straight-down drop.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the laws of physics
are still hard at work.

Adam's attempt
to escape Jamie's spy car

came sadly adrift.

Parachute's out!
Oh, and it's away!

Things might have gone better
with a backup device,

and Jamie will not make
the same mistake.

First up
are my tailgater terminators,

which are gonna deploy out
of the back of my car like so.

Notice that I've placed them
in a narrow area

that the chase car
pretty much has to go through,

and that means that they have to
drive over these things.

Frankly, if they do,
I think they're done.

But...

...if they're still moving,

I go to plan "B,"
which is the side shooter.

Now, this puppy
will be shooting out

from underneath my car
to underneath their car,

where it opens up

and also will prohibit them
from moving forward...

not to mention the fact
that I have a smoke bomb

that is gonna be set off
at the same time

just for... well, fun.

Probably just as well

Adam doesn't know
what's about to hit him.

...Hey, guys?
... Yeah?

See if you can keep up,
okay?

Ha! Roger that,
secret agent code name Walrus.

Go!

Just a few seconds in,

Jamie launches the first
of his deadly barrages.

He's playing the game.

I said "puppies. "
He's throwing puppies out.

Brian heedlessly plows through
the pelting of puppies

and regains lost ground.

But to pull off
his serious double deployment,

Jamie needs
to slow way, way down.

Brian has no choice
but to take on the spikes...

...only to find he's been set up
for the sucker punch.

And then
Jamie's just looking at us.

We hear this "boom!"

...Whoa!
... And he takes off.

Bye!

And, incredibly, Adam and Brian
lurch off right behind him,

hauling enough shrapnel
to sink a battleship.

We are on you!

The car's leaking gas,
and the noise is not healthy.

But they ride Jamie's tail

for a five-minute lap
of the desolate streets...

...till their prey
makes a bolt for his burrow.

We found him!

You guys
are leaking a little bit.

I don't know. What do you think?
Did I get away or didn't I?

Technically,
you didn't get away,

'cause we saw you turn in here
from the road, so we caught you.

If you had went any farther,
we wouldn't have.

This thing wasn't running
much longer.

One of the spikes
is still stuck in the car,

and Jamie can't fathom
how this one turned pear-shaped.

I can't believe
they were able to keep going.

I mean, I thought those spikes
were a deathtrap for that car.

So, how are we gonna
wrap this up?

Well, between the five things
that we tested,

I think
we've definitely proved

that stopping a car
that's chasing you

instantly in its tracks
is actually really hard.

Well, your parachute
might have worked

under
perfect circumstances,

but as it was,
it was pretty much a bust.

And your spikes,

while ultimately, I think,
effective in the long haul,

were far
from instantaneous.

Something tells me you guys are already
cooking up other ideas.

Yeah.

I smell a revisit.

So do I.