Why We Call It The James Bond Spiral Jump by McHenry

[MSI]

I've had some folks asks why we call it the 'McHenry James Bond Spiral Jump'

• Back in the 70's Raymond R. McHenry came up with the idea for the stunt as a test of the validation of the HVOSM 3D vehicle simulation program
  • HVOSM is included in the McHenry Software msmac3D program
• Ray invented and designed the stunt (see patent and papers below).
• For the 2018 Jaguar e-pace Rollout stunt we had fun revisiting the earlier stunt and modifying things to accommodate the 2018 Jaguar e-Pace.
  
  For Additional Information:
  • 1969: IME paper on hvosm (he won the IME Safety Award) paper:
    • An Analysis of the Dynamics of Automobiles During Simultaneous Cornering and Ride Motions
  • 1971: First public performance of the Astro Spiral Jump at the Houston Astrodome on Jan. 15,1971

    

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  • 1974: SPIRAL JUMP STUNT APPARATUS Patent 3801021 Inventor: Raymond R. McHenry
  • 1974: James Bond Movie: The Man with the Golden Gun is released
    • Having seen/heard about the traveling American Thrill Show Stunt the Bond folks had Ray redesign the stunt so an AMC Hornet could be used as a REAL STUNT in a Bond movie. In the movie Bond jumps a Hornet over a creek in Thailand
  • 1976 Ray wrote the paper: The Astro Spiral Jump-An Automobile Stunt Designed via Simulation
    • which included a description of Ray's concept and invention of the stunt:
      
      • "As a part of the HVOSM development process, Calspan employed the services of professional stunt drivers in 1968 to perform maneuvers and stunts with an instrumented vehicle and, thereby, to generate vehicle response data in violent maneuvers for use in investigating the validity of the computer simulation.
        
        One of the included stunts was a fifty foot jump from a take-off to a receiving ramp. The degree of achieved correlation between analytical predictions and experimental measurements was found to be remarkably good in all of the included maneuvers and stunts.
        
        At the time, it was jokingly pointed out that Calspan had unintentionally developed a capability for the design and staging (i.e., via animated perspective displays on motion picture film) of auto thrill shows. A related, "far out" suggestion was the design of ramps to produce a combination of jump and rollover (i.e., a "spiral" jump), such that the stunt car would land on its wheels after passing over an obstacle in an inverted condition.
        
        Subsequent to completion of development and validation of the HVOSM simulation in 1970, the thrill show ideas were given somewhat more serious consideration. Such an application would constitute both a challenging dynamics problem, similar in nature to a particularly violent single vehicle accident, and an attention-getting demonstration of Calspan capabilities. It also had the appeal of a "fun" project to relieve a steady diet of crash protection studies.
        
        In November of 1970 the author contacted Mr. W. J. Milligan, Jr., President, J. M. Productions, Inc., of Hamburg, New York, regarding his possible interest in the design of a new auto thrill show stunt and/or the establishment of speed and dimensional tolerances for existing stunts . The occasion of the contact was a newspaper item about Mr. Milligan's organization of a new national auto thrill show. As a result of subsequent discussions , J. M. Productions gave Calspan a purchase order to support an analytical study of the spiral jump stunt concept."
  • 2012 Brian wrote a paper for Collision Magazine with background materials on the McHenrys, Computers & Highway Safety:
    • A Short History of Everything (...About McHenry and Computers in Highway Safety)
  • 2017: The McHenry's designed the 2018 Jaguar E-Pace Rollout Stunt
    • Some Background on the Spiral Jump
    • For information on the msmac3D simulation collision reconstruction program we used to design the stunt:
      • McHenry Software website
      • msmac3D News Group includes detailed additional information

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2018 Jaguar E-Pace Rollout Stunt designed by McHenry

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[MSI]

March 2024: Interesting coincidence.
Earlier this year we were contacted by Chris Distin who's written a book on the movie with the stunt
And the interesting coincidence:
From the book a few items:

• The jump was filmed on the 1st of June 1974, the 31st day of movie production.
• The patent had been applied for and granted for the spiral jump, Patent #3,814,021 to Ray McHenry on June 4, 1974
• Ray’s employer, Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (CAL) (it later became Calspan Corporation) granted the performance rights to JM Productions
  Guess they were paranoid about liability! (JM Productions toured with the stunt for years before the Bond Franchise picked up on it)

Here's information on the new book: (no links for book yet)

JAMES BOND - Goldon Gun on Location

• A photo book with pictures from the collection of Hervé Villechaize, who always had his camera at the ready during the shooting of the James Bond film "The Man with the Golden Gun" (1974) published for the first time.
  Only 118 cm or 3 foot 11 inches tall, Hervé Villechaize played Francisco Scaramanga's sidekick Nick Nick and achieved cult status through his role of "Tattoo" in the US television series "Fantasy Island" with his characteristic cry of "De Plane, De Plane".
  He was a man of many talents in front of and behind the camera, including painting and photography. These never-before-seen photos were taken by Villechaize while working on "The Man with the Golden Gun" and show the filming locations in Thailand, Hong Kong and Bangkok, as well as at Pinewood Studios in the UK.
  In addition to photos of the world-famous spiral jump in Bond's car and Lazar's armoury, there are also snapshots of cast and crew members as well as images of people in everyday situations in and around the locations. All of the photos were taken in Hervé’s perspective which gives the book a personal touch that show’s you the world through his eyes.
  This unique multimedia publication, which uses augmented reality, makes it possible to watch interviews from Maud Adams, who played Francisco Scaramanga’s lover Andrea Anders, Joie Vejjajiva who played Lt Hip’s Niece Cha, and Master Toddy, one of the Karate students, who tell us about their work on the film while reading the book. In addition to other exciting information from the film.
  Golden Gun on Location takes you on a journey through the making of "The Man with the Golden Gun" and gives the reader the opportunity to accompany Hervé Villechaize in the most exciting moments of his life more than thirty years after his death.