The Dukes of Kazzard Buggy Jump Challenge!

[Yakky]

As a little kid I always loved the TV car jumps on shows like Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider. So this challenge is to transform Bob and Jeb (or whichever Kerbals you like) into the Dukes of Kazzard and jump them in a rover as far as you can!

Build a buggy or rover, catch some air by driving it off the terrain feature of your choice, and then land safely again. The prize is for longest jump and there will be separate categories for each celestial body. There will also be a subjectively graded "freestyle" category for the most awesome jumps that are not necessarily the longest (e.g. highest, cool twists and tricks, etc).

Here's the fine print: Update: Modded wheels now allowed in a separate category. See Rule 13

1. Stock parts only for the main category. Modded wheels are now allowed in a separate division-- see Rule 13 below. You may use Mechjeb, FAR, and Kerbal Engineer if you like, and other mods like scenery and kerbal alarm clock that don't affect parts or physics.

2. Updated! Now with rocket acceleration! You may accelerate with rockets or jets ahead of your launch, but all sources of thrust must be clearly OFF well before you leave the ground and at all points during your jump. No thrusting or explosive parts may be active on your rover while in the air, and no thrust-assisted deceleration or landing assistance. (Also see Rule 4 - no ejecting parts.)

3. Similarly, no wings, parachutes, balloons, or aerodynamic surfaces. These are rovers, not fliers.

4. You must land with the vehicle in good enough condition that the jump could be repeated with the vehicle as-is (except for depleted rocket fuel), and all parts that were on the vehicle at the start of the run still have to be attached at the end. So flat tires are OK but broken chassis or parts are probably not, unless they were not critical to begin with. And no ejecting parts halfway through the jump to boost your altitude.

5. Vehicles must be driven by at least one Kerbal and he must stay in control through landing (i.e. not be ejected from the car). Multiple Kerbals in the vehicle are OK.

6. Jump is measured as the horizontal distance from takeoff point to landing point. Entries that have a material vertical component to them, e.g. driving off a cliff or jumping downhill, will be penalized or disqualified at the judge's discretion. As a rule of thumb, a line drawn between your takeoff and landing points should be within approximately ten degrees of horizontal. A downhill run to gain speed before the jump is OK.

7. Record your jump as a movie. Part of the fun is seeing your awesome run! This also allows us to establish that you actually performed the intended jump.

8. Measurement: (If someone has a better idea, please let me know...) Plant a flag or object at the takeoff point and then after landing, drive or walk up to the touchdown point and show the distance to the takeoff marker. Honor system here... no fudging on where your markers or positioning are! The movie should be clear enough to make it obvious where the takeoff and landing points actually were so there is no confusion afterward.

9. Scoring: Purely a function of horizontal distance. There will also be a subjective "Freestyle" category judged on overally awesomeness of your jump. This is the category where high jumps, trick jumps, cool-looking vehicle jumps, and oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-you-actually-landed-that jumps will go. Vehicles that violate Rules 4 and 6 may be eligible for "Freestyle" ranking based solely at the judge's discretion. E.g. if you drive off a huge cliff, do a couple somersaults, and land smoothly 1000 meters below without exploding, there's a good chance you will get a respectable Freestyle ranking. Reader comments and votes about which jumps are good "Freestyle" candidates are welcome, but final selection is at judge's discretion.

10. Separate standings for each celestial body for obvious reasons. If you do a non-Kerbin jump, you have to actually get the vehicle there on a spacecraft. (The transport/delivery spacecraft may of course use rockets etc, but the dropped off vehicle has to fully comply with the rules.) No hyper editing vehicles into existence on other bodies.

11. You have to actually land. No points for ejecting a vehicle into an escape trajectory from a low-gravity celestial body, although a takeoff that does most of an orbit before landing would be really impressive!. (Super bonus freestyle points if you eject from one body and successfully land on another!)

12. User-built jumping and landing ramps are OK but they must be completely passive (i.e. no active boosting mechanisms). It's OK to make wheeled, movable ramps for set-up convenience but they must not be used in any way that violates the spirit of the competition.

13. Modded Wheel Rules: By request, I've created a separate modded wheel division. Modded wheel distance jumps will apply to Kerbin Only, but there will also be a modded wheel "Freestyle" category where you can use any celestial body you like. To adjust for the wide range of possible top speeds and impact tolerances of modded wheels, the modded wheel scoring system adjusts for the advantages they may convey. Your modded wheel scoring system will be Corrected Distance = (actual distance)/(a*a), where a = (modded wheel impact resistance in meters/sec)/150. All other parts must still be stock and all other rules apply. Please be sure to describe what modded wheels you used and what their top speed and max impact resistance are.

Standings:

Full Stock - Kerbin (jump distance in parentheses):

1. Zhollett (194.7 m) - an improvement over his earlier effort, and impressive use of a landing ramp and Evel Kerbnievel-style airplanes as objects to jump over! Entry post here.

2. Zhollett (106.8 m) - great effort with nice video! See post here.

3.

4.

5.

Full Stock - Freestyle (comments in parentheses are judge's notes on why the entry was selected):

1. MrOverfloater (as nominated by Zhollett) -- some very cool drifting tricks result when you stick a bunch of torque modules in a small rover. Video here. Note he remapped some of his keyboard controls so that wheel spin and rotational torque were mapped to separate key blocks. Smart!

2. Roflcopterkklol - Nice vault of his trimaran boat craft into the air en route to the water. Post here.

3.

4.

5.

Full Stock - Other Celestial Bodies

To be added as qualified entries are received.

Minmus:

1. Zhollett - a whopping 4.9 km! Very nice video complete with Apollo lunar rover sound dubs (and the jump vehicle looks quite a bit like the lunar rovers too). The landing blew out all four tires, but nothing that wasn't easily repairable. Post here.

Modded Wheel Division - Distance (Kerbin Only) (adjusted distance; raw distance)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Modded Wheel Division - Freestyle (any celestial body as long as you can get your rover there!)

1. Darren9 - First one to post a jump movie. Distance undetermined.

2. Darren9 - Some nice jumps with a trailer attached (** non-stock KAS used **)

3.

4.

5.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Yakky
Allowed modded wheels (in separate class)

[Darren9]

It's a shame it's stock only, those stock wheels are um, not so good. You may get more entries if you allowed (reasonable) mod parts in a separate class, I never go driving these days without articulated axles and adjustable suspension.

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[Yakky]

OK, modded class added! Note that in order to keep the playing field level, the scoring system penalizes ultra high performance wheels proportionately to their ability to improve jump distance. Would love your thoughts.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Yakky
modded wheel section added!

[Yakky]

I added the ability to accelerate with rockets ahead of the jump after discovering how truly lame the top speeds of all the stock wheels are.

[manni01]

I will give the fully stock kerbin challenge a go

[Darren9]

Thanks, with rocket powered landing gear cars in the stock category I don't think mod wheels will be a threat, those landing gears are beasts. Anyway, I made a test jump before the rules changed, around 180m. Unfortunately that wheel comes with 3000 impact tolerance

[Yakky]

Very nice (and well controlled) jump! Since you're using an artificial jump, you could pan around to show the exact distance when you touch down... otherwise I can't give you a score. But honorable mention for being the first to post a jump in any case.

Darren9 added to "Freestyle" (mod wheels) standings for being first one to post a jump!

[Darren9]

I'm not sure you'll see the distance on a Youtube 720p but it finished rolling at 180m, the buggy just lost a headlight and was good to go again (maybe needed to hook up a new caravan)

[cantab]

I did a bit of messing around for this. My attempt to jump in my existing rover on Eve got me a score of zero - never even got it off the ground.

I also found the stock wheels are basically always traction-limited, even on Kerbin. Increasing the weight per wheel increases top speed, as does adding rocket downthrust. It'll never be as fast as simply using rocket thrust forward, but I reckon 30 m/s out of the stock ruggedised wheels is possible.

[zhollett]

My apologies for the late entry here. But Here is my entry in all its glory

(also, sorry for my crappy movie making skills)

Note: Bone stock 0.25

I have no idea of the distance 106.8m !!!!

Note about the video entry. I hit the jump several times to get all the shots.

Edited October 31, 2014 by zhollett

[zhollett]

Another entry, this one went a bit farther, not much, still fun.

Distance 194.7m

[zhollett]

Ok, here's the full video of the Minmus Jump. (Ive added audio to it so its not boring being that its 4:23 long, take a listen/watch)

Coles notes for the TL;DW crowd.

Total distance traveled: 4.9km (I don't know the exact distance because KSP rounds up)

Take off height: 1600m

Landing height: 1700m <- I noted this so it doesn't have that "jumping down a cliff" rule applied)

Craft built on Kerbin and flown to Minmus

Enjoy, Thanks again Yakky

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Edited November 2, 2014 by zhollett
Added additional content

[Slam_Jones]

Awesome challenge!

I have a, well, Munbase that I've been roving around the Mun and jumping craters with. I'll find a good spot and get a vid for the challenge!

And because I didn't see anything about it in the rules, I might as well ask: is there anything against using rovers that are attached to things with docking ports? I.E. my Munbase is basically a MunTrain. Can I use this?

Edit: Another question while I'm thinking of it... My MunBase is already on the Mun, so I can't really show how the whole thing got there (being done over 7 or so launches). Would it be acceptable to send another pod out (with screenshots) to meet up with it as a showing of how the whole thing got there?

Edited November 3, 2014 by Slam_Jones

[zhollett]

I cant wait to see the vid, I am the only one right now that's gone extra-kerbin

[zhollett]

I am submitting this video on in the category of freestyle just because it deserves so much Kudos!!!!

It's not my video but it most deservedly requires a watch.

Fantastic, give the creator of this 100% Kudos if you ever interact with her/him

Edited November 4, 2014 by zhollett
Spelling

[Roflcopterkklol]

There is this, the aerodynamic surfaces are not for flight, they are for stability, they create down force actually reducing my jump distance if anything (without the down force it is incapable of going over 120m/s)

all 100% stock parts, was not for this challenge, but if it fits ill take it.

[Yakky]

I like the boat, and the jump, but rules require that the engines not be thrusting at takeoff or during the jump. But I'll give you a spot on the "freestyle" standings for innovative contribution to the sport of Kerbal jumping.

[Pouicpouic]

Hi, Stock 6,3km jump on Minmus :

 

[ralanboyle]

So, did I completely misunderstand this challenge or did I just score 2.2km at KSC? Video Here. 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by ralanboyle
Edit

[sturmhauke]

This thread is 6 years old, and the OP hasn't been around for like a year and a half.