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GoPro cameras are resilient devices that offer surprising insights into the mechanics of our vehicles, revealing everything from the inside of a tire to the intake manifold. They also provide a perspective on something most of us would prefer to avoid: being struck by a race car. While a GoPro may come with a hefty price tag, it has a better chance of withstanding an impact than we do and captures the event for sharing.
This experience was documented during a recent short track race by the Facebook page DirtDobber Video. The name sounds like something you’d have had to present ID to view back in the 1990s. The team set a GoPro on the inner edge of a dirt oval during a race (specific details about the event remain unclear) to capture wide-angle shots that are typically only seen from cameras placed at racetrack apexes. However, since there wasn’t an opportunity to bury it, the cameraman exposed the camera to the risk of being hit by a car, and as we all know, Murphy’s Law applies here.
The resulting footage resembles either a deleted scene from Interstellar or what one might imagine during a DMT breakthrough. The camera spins wildly through the air, creating circular trails of light that we can roughly estimate. These patterns suggest that each video frame was exposed while the camera completed at least one full rotation, indicated by the circular light trails from the stationary track lights. Assuming the video was recorded at 30 frames per second, this suggests the camera rotated at a minimum of 1,800 revolutions per minute—about twice the idle speed of most vehicles’ engines.
Although the camera eventually comes to a stop in the middle of the racetrack, miraculously, it avoids being crushed by a car. During a caution period, track personnel retrieve the still-operating camera, likely preventing it from incurring further damage. However, the uploader added the caption “RIP GoPro,” raising questions about whether it could sustain any more punishment. If this camera did indeed succumb in the line of duty, it did so heroically. Let’s give it a 21-shutter salute.
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