[Christ]

Even if the bearings were physical bearings, rather than magnetic, would the flywheel really contain enough force to actually flip the car? Probably not.

Considering the amount of horsepower it takes to lift the front tires of a 3000 lb car off the ground, that flywheel would REALLY have to be moving to create anything more than a "goose" to the car.

Also, placing the flywheel somewhere in the center of the car will create an offset " axis" effect, would it not?

IOW - If the flywheel is spinning in one direction, in the center of the car, on mechanical bearings, and contains it's full power capacity, then suddenly the bearings seize, and it just STOPS. Lets say it was spinning clock-wise, as you face the driver's side... so spinning toward the rear of the car.

Obviously, even with 100 HP of force applied instantly, the axis is the center of the flywheel, the contact point is the rear wheels, and the force is attempting to lift the front wheels/front half of the car, creating a bi-axial motion. (The car is trying to spin around the flywheel's axis, but the rear axle is stopping it, creating an axis between those two points.) Now, move the spinning flywheel to the rear of the car, just behind the rear axle, where it will be the least dangerous to passengers in the vehicle:

Still spinning backwards, stops immediately. This places the first axis ahead of the force axis, so that now that same 100 HP is trying to lift the WHOLE car, except the 100 lbs in the trunk area, and whatever weight the flywheel's assembly contained. It's not likely that 100 HP is going to be able to lift 1300 LBS 13 or more feet on an axis, allowing it to flip over, even once, let alone more than once.

Add to that: bearings don't just "seize", at least not to my knowledge. They create friction first, as they heat up, before failing, which would lessen the power storage capacity of the flywheel, and might also aid the theory that it wouldn't just STOP spinning all at once. It would begin slowing (as it would take more power to keep the flywheel spinning than it used to) until the bearings could cool enough to solidify and seize, which would create a less than impressive "jolt", rather than the full rating of the flywheel exploding into an axial force, sending the vehicle endo'ing down the highway.

Since HP can be seen as a property of force and speed, (HP = TQxRPM/5252) the slower it's rotating, the less power it will have, making even the strongest setup not able to do what some contend may happen. (Be reasonable here - Yes, maybe 1000 HP could do it, but that kind of power storage would be far too expensive and large to use for our purposes.)

Good reference to this - Mythbusters did an experiment where "Buster" was riding a motorcycle, and they jabbed a stick/pipe through the front wheel, stopping it instantly. The motorcycle became quite unstable, but did not flip. At speeds where the force was supposedly able to make the bike flip, all it did was drag the wheel. (That part doesn't apply here.)


It doesn't seem likely, as even the lighest street driven cars weigh at least 1300LBS, AFAIK.