Juice The Blog » Blog Archive » Unbelievable waterslide

Posted by kyle on August 4th, 2009

Bruno Kammerl built the biggest waterslide on earth and the test run was more than successful.

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18 Responses to “Unbelievable waterslide”

August 4th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
choof says:

Looks sick but fakeeeee
August 4th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Chris says:

That was pretty cool, but definitely fake.

-Chris
August 4th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
kyle says:

;-p
August 4th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
rob says:

My first impression was that it had to be fake.

I figure that it would take some serious engineering chops to calculate the estimation of where the landing pool should be located…

But then again his site (megawoosh.com) makes this seem kinda legit.

Plus, check this out:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.projektbuero-kammerl.com%2F&sl=de&tl=en&history_state0=

That seems to be the main project site for this (translated from German, thx Google). If it’s a pretty elaborate hoax, it sure is odd that he’s doing load testing on what seems to be the yellow material for the slide itself.

Maybe Adam or Brian or someone with some Engineering skizzills can comment further on this.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
rob says:

Plus, check out the guys credentials:

Bruno Kammerl
(Master of Materials Science and Engineering) (Master of Materials Science and Engineering)

* geboren am 12. Born on 12 Februar 1975 in Penzberg February 1975 in Penzberg
* Abitur 1995 (Gymnasium Penzberg) Baccalaureate 1995 (Gymnasium Penzberg)
* 1996 – 1998 Zivildienst und Reisen 1996 – 1998 Civilian & Travel
* 1999 – 2002 Studium Material- und Verfahrenstechnik (FH Winterthur) 1999 – 2002 Study Material and Process Engineering (University of Applied Sciences Winterthur)
* 2002 – 2004 Master-Studiengang „Materials Science and Engineering“ (MSE) (Uni Bayreuth) 2002 – 2004 Master’s program in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) (Uni Bayreuth)
* 2003 Stipendium BaCaTeC (Bavaria California Technology Center) an der UCSB (Santa Barbara) 2003 Scholarship BaCaTeC (Bavaria California Technology Center) at the UCSB (Santa Barbara)
* 2004 – 2008 Assistent am Lehrstuhl für Ingenieurgeologie (TU München) 2004 – 2008 Assistant at the Department of Engineering Geology (TU Munich)
Forschungsprojekt über die Beschichtung von Oberflächen gegen Reibungsverluste Research project on the coating of surfaces against friction losses
* 2008 bis heute: Gründung und Leitung von „Kammerl Projekt und Planungsbüro“ 2008 to present: Founded and led by “Kammerl Project and Planning”

That’s pulled from: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.projektbuero-kammerl.com%2F&sl=de&tl=en&history_state0=
August 4th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
kyle says:

I have analyzed this clip quite a bit myself. This would be easy to fake, however, there is some evidence of it being real.

If you carefully watch the action of the water as Bruno crashes into the pool you will notice that the sound of the water splashes match the visuals perfectly. This could have been faked, however, the attention to detail that would be required to even think of implementing that is beyond a normal video ruse.

Just something to chew on…
August 4th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
rob says:

I’m doing entirely too much investigation on this…

I also found this schematic on Bruno’s site (megawoosh.com):
http://www.megawoosh.com/images/content/megawoosh_screenshot_wirkungsweise_kl.gif

A bit of translating introduces what I would call a revelation:

In German:

gewicht, schwung, reibung, partielle umwandlung in, magnetische, abstoßung

In English:

weight, momentum, friction, partial conversion in, magnetic, rejection

That middle graphic is the most fascinating, as it’s suggesting that due to both the positive charge of the “special” neoprene body suit and the “special” plane that the rider is sliding on, there’s some sort of magnetic repulsion between the rider and the surface. If one were to combine that with the lowered friction due to water, they’d have to assume (once again, I’m not an Engineer) the rider would be FLYING down that slide.

It doesn’t explain how he was able to stay on the slide entirely without veering off to the side, but I do find it fascinating.
August 4th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Chris says:

I don’t believe for a second that this is real.

A few millimeters off the mark when you left that ramp and you’d be dead or at the very least severely injured. Going that fast and hitting water wouldn’t feel very good on the dude’s legs either, especially in a shallow little pool like that. My aunt has the same one, they sell them at walmart ( http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10715080 ). Not exactly the sturdiest things on the planet.

If the two buckets of water that the guys tossed on the slide actually did anything, there wouldn’t have been enough water to coat the whole thing evenly. And if it wasn’t coated evenly, you would have small variations in the friction and would go slightly faster or slower each time. If there was too much water, it would pool at the nadir, so when he hit it he would probably decelerate.

The “schematic” looks like it thrown together by a monkey. Arrows, clip art, hand drawn “water” and a bunch of buzzwords don’t make a very compelling case.

As far as the water sounds, they probably dropped something into the pool at the right time (maybe the guy himself jumping off a platform). The water probably isn’t CG, it’s just decently edited together.

The guy might have a legit invention (the surface itself) on his hands, I don’t really know, but the water slide thing is most likely more viral marketing than anything. Reminds me of the old Ratchet and Clank commercials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxhUOU9zY2E

-Chris
August 4th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
adam says:

a couple of things:

its not too difficult to calculate where a body would end up after getting shot off a ramp like this. all you need to know is the net height difference between the start of the ramp and the tip, the angle of the ramp. its just conservation of energy and 2d kinematics. preventing yourself from cartwheeling into the ground after you hit the water because of all your tangental velocity is scary

friction and wind complicate things a bit. it looks like hes figured out the friction thing pretty well, and from the grass there seems to be no wind to speak of.

if it were me i’d drop a crash test dummy down that bad boy atleast a dozen times first to get an idea of how wind resistance plays in, as this is prohibitively hard to calculate. also i’ve seen so many youtube videos of kids on giant slip and slides careening off the side and slamming into the ramp! risky stuff.

my vote is that its feasible. i think the fact that its feasible make it that much harder to tell if its fake. there are some things that cast doubt:

hes got some serious horizontal velocity when he hits that water and the splash goes more or less straight up.

the sound of the splash seems like its closer than it is.

it reminds me of that video of the kid engineers that make that loop for the train.

anyway im still not sure!
August 4th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
adam says:

Also,

theres that part of the video where you dont see him. i feel like you could f with the video at that point.

also its just so dangerous making sure you get the side to side position right. i would never try it in a million years
August 4th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
choof says:

I have to agree with Adam regarding the splash. The angle he’s coming in at makes me believe the water should be shot out the back side of the pool, much higher in the air to boot.

Another thing that makes me think it’s fake is the actual slip and slide material. If you notice about half way down the hill, there’s a bump, or ‘hill’ of the material that is not completely flat. If a grown man is flying down that thing and comes across a little fold, that thing should move. That doesn’t happen in the video.

I’m also with Chris with that pool not moving an inch. He’s going so fast, he’s either breaking his legs or that pool is moving at least a little bit.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
rob says:

This is why I should stick to what I know:

whois on megawoosh.com:

domain: megawoosh.com
created: 20-May-2009
last-changed: 16-Jul-2009
registration-expiration: 20-May-2010

nserver: ns65.1und1.de
nserver: ns66.1und1.de

status: CLIENT-TRANSFER-PROHIBITED

registrant-firstname: Thorsten
registrant-lastname: Stark
registrant-street1: Gronsdorfer Str. 1
registrant-pcode: 85540
registrant-city: Haar
registrant-ccode: DE
registrant-phone: +49.1789355364
registrant-email: t.stark@gmx.net

admin-c-firstname: Thorsten
admin-c-lastname: Stark
admin-c-street1: Gronsdorfer Str. 1
admin-c-pcode: 85540
admin-c-city: Haar
admin-c-ccode: DE
admin-c-phone: +49.1789355364
admin-c-email: t.stark@gmx.net

whois on projekt-kammerl.com:

domain: projektbuero-kammerl.com
created: 20-May-2009
last-changed: 16-Jul-2009
registration-expiration: 20-May-2010

nserver: ns65.1und1.de
nserver: ns66.1und1.de

status: CLIENT-TRANSFER-PROHIBITED

registrant-firstname: Thorsten
registrant-lastname: Stark
registrant-street1: Gronsdorfer Str. 1
registrant-pcode: 85540
registrant-city: Haar
registrant-ccode: DE
registrant-phone: +49.1789355364
registrant-email: t.stark@gmx.net

admin-c-firstname: Thorsten
admin-c-lastname: Stark
admin-c-street1: Gronsdorfer Str. 1
admin-c-pcode: 85540
admin-c-city: Haar
admin-c-ccode: DE
admin-c-phone: +49.1789355364
admin-c-email: t.stark@gmx.net

Now, gmx.net is a fairly popular free email service in Germany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMX_Mail), akin to hotmail and/or GMail here.

Further searching on the owner of the site, Thorsten Stark, leads me to a LinkedIn profile with the following job titles:
Current

* Client Service Director at
MRM Worldwide
* Group Account Director / Management Supervisor at
MRM Worldwide (McCann Worldgroup)

With specialties of:
Online Marketing, CRM, Internet, Advertising, Branding

There were a number of German youtube comments on the video of the supposed “load balancing” with regards to a “McCann Worldgroup”

Who are they?
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCann_Erickson:

McCann Erickson is a global advertising agency network, with offices in over 130 countries and almost eight decades of multinational experience[citation needed]. McCann is a subsidiary of the Interpublic Group of Companies, one of the four holding corporations that make up the advertising industry.

McCann Erickson was named “Global Agency of the Year” by Adweek in 1998, 1999, and 2000. [1] McCann Erickson is part of McCann Worldgroup, which also includes planning and buying agency Universal McCann, direct/interactive web marketing agency MRM Worldwide, experiential marketing agency Momentum Worldwide, healthcare marketing group McCann Healthcare Worldwide, branding firm FutureBrand, and, public relations and strategic communications agency Weber Shandwick.

McCann Erickson was directly responsible for the success of The Hillside Singers’ “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” in 1972. McCann Erickson was also the company that developed the “Army Strong” campaign for the United States Army. The company also developed the Mastercard commercial saying “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.”

So I think that does it. Case closed. Myth Busted. I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed, as the fake “credentials” gave this some credibility in my eyes for a while.

When in doubt, always look for the domain owner. Bah
August 4th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
rob says:

Further nail in the coffin:
I wasn’t sure that the Mr. Stark who owned the domain registration was the same as the Mr. Stark in the LinkedIn profile I found…

Till I found this:
http://thorstenstark.net/images/DSC_2348.JPG
LinkedIn in question: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/thorsten-stark/2/29b/1a7

On the root page:
Barbara, Thorsten
Marla, Ella und Yanik Stark
Gronsdorfer Strasse 1

Domain Registrar’s record of owner’s address:
admin-c-street1: Gronsdorfer Str. 1
admin-c-pcode: 85540
admin-c-city: Haar
admin-c-ccode: DE

Booyah.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
rob says:

And for the record, in case anyone was curious:

whois on juicetheblog.com

Domain Name: juicetheblog.com

Registrant Contact:
juicetheblog.com Private Registrant juicetheblog.com@proxy.dreamhost.com
A Happy DreamHost Customer
417 Associated Rd #324
Brea, CA 92821
US
+1.2139471032

Good on you, Dreamhost, good on you.
August 5th, 2009 at 10:54 am
kyle says:

The comments here are pure JUICE! Excellent research and debate guys. Juice da BLOOOOOOOOOOG!
August 5th, 2009 at 11:15 am
choof says:

Dreamhost gives you the option as to who is listed, it’s one of my favorite parts about their service.
August 6th, 2009 at 7:29 am
jason says:

i think u all need to get a life, its obviously real
August 6th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
rob says:

Further closure-

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http://www.mach-es-machbar.de/&sl=de&tl=en&history_state0=
It’s a German viral marketing campaign for MS Office 2k7.