The Energon Pub

I was watching the episode "Make Tracks" and something made me think (watch out!) a little. Ok, so he is somewhat unique in that in car mode, he can fly. Now, I am no aerospace engineer here, so you nerdy physics types need to enlighten me...

In order for him to fly, obviously with no propellers or turbo engines and whatnot, how would that be possible? He didn't have any kind of obvious propulsion mechanism (here I am trying to sound like I have any inkling of what I'm talking about) and he was maybe going 60 or 70 at most. Could you just stick wings on a side of a car, go really fast, and expect it to lift off like that? I don't think so. Basically he was a car with wings, not a jet-car with wings.

And if you get on here saying it's a cartoon and just go along with it, I am. I'm just wondering is all. And finally, if he is a jet-car, doesn't that give him some sort of triple-changer status?

Sounds like a job for the mythbusters

He's an advanced alien robot. He doesn't need to justify why he can fly!

As for his triple changer status, no. Because his "jet" mode isn't distinctive.

Look at the six triple-changers and you can tell what each alt mode is, Tracks, he's just a car with wings. Much like the Omnibots who were simply "the next stage in Cybertronian evolution"

It's a cartoon.

Theoretically, it is possible. You just need "lift". However, sustained flight will be next to impossible without a jet engine. You have to maintain a minimum speed to stay in the air. Gravity's a B!tch and all.

However, if you notice in that episode or any episode where Tacks flies, he also has rudders and the back wheels are still down during flight. So it's not really like the toy.

Pixitron dust.


Or for a more serious answer, I'm gonna say his anti-matter cannon, which clips to the underside of the car in this mode, produces a constant bedding of antimatter, seperating the veichle from the floor during this mode.

Antimatter releases a huge amount of energy on annhialates, which could theoretically be used to power thrusters on Track's underside.

Well, looking at this picture of him flying, he's definitely got two rudders he didn't have before, and he is now basically a "jet", even though he resembles a car, so a triple-changer status is definitely arguable. I'm not saying he is, but it's up for speculation. You have robot mode, car mode, and flight mode.

Also, that seems to be a weird place to have wings, near the rear of the car. I mean, it may have just been this particualar picture, but I doubt I've ever seen a plane like that. Also, it appears that air or exhaust is streaming from the back of the car, so perhaps some sort of propulsion is happening from there. I shouldn't try to think so hard about stuff I really don't understand, huh? Maybe he did get ahold of some Pixitron dust and was just having a happy thought.

I always imagined that the arm "things" in front of the wings were the engines. That in combination with alien technology and you're in business.

Let's not get too technical when it comes to alien robots from another planet.

I know, I know. It's still fun to theorize. I'm not the first and not the last to look too far into these types of things.

The decepticons all fly and hover in robot modes, which makes even less sense. I can't believe Tracks out-flew Starscream though. That episode was silly (but also my favourite ever).

The animators got lazy that week and just ripped off a bunch of footage from an episode of MASK. Mystery solved.

I'm really starting to think that his flight mode is its own mode (even if it resembles his car) and therefore he is a triplechanger. If it is flying, technically it is not a car; it is a flying craft and is a third mode.

Moonbase2 wrote:I'm really starting to think that his flight mode is its own mode (even if it resembles his car) and therefore he is a triplechanger. If it is flying, technically it is not a car; it is a flying craft and is a third mode.

The can of worms has been opened...

Personally I always took his flight in car mode to be like the Decepticons flight in robot mode, not very well thought out.

I'm into the realm of pure guessing now, you could say that his exhaust becomes the catalyst for his flying abilities..the picture you gave us on this thread certainly looks like he is being propelled by an rear exhaust.

Tracks is not a Triple changer, just as Sideswipe is not a triple changer because of his jetpack, they a small additions/alterations to an already existing mode, not an entirely altogether new mode, like what the true triple changers have.

Sideswipe's jet pack only works for short periods of time (like a couple of minutes), and while I don't know if it is built into his body or if it's something he slaps on, it isn't quite like Tracks. Tracks sprouts wings and rudders, so it could qualify as a third mode, because it has a completely different function as a whole. He's not just a car anymore.

He is a flying car... He does not have a clearly defined 3rd mode, he does not change into another mode to fill a different purpose, he merely flips his little wings out.

And he doesn't sprout the wings either, they are already there in car mode, just like Ironhide's multi-liquid shooting wrists.

If you wanted to use that line of logic to say Tracks is a triple changer, then so too are all the car alt moded Autobots who can glide over water, due to either aquafoils:
http://www.seibertron.com/cartoons/image.php?image_id=11484
Or some other 'unseen' reasons:
http://www.seibertron.com/cartoons/image.php?image_id=8635

Triple changers have three distinguished alt modes.

Slapping wings and rudders onto a car does NOT make a distinguished alt mode.

That would make sense, and I see where you're coming from. However, those cars could be water gliders using the car's regular engine to propel it. I would think that for flight a different engine must be used. Perhaps those protrusions sticking out of his sides are his jet engines, or maybe they exist in the back of the car (which by the picture, is probably the case). So if he uses a different engine for flight mode, would that not make him a triple-changer?

Using a jet engine would mean that in that mode, he is essentually a jet. He's not a car with wings. He is now a jet that resembles a car. So he is a robot, a car, and a jet....just a unique one.

It isn't a jet. It's a flying car. Quoth Dead End- A flying car, how droll. Do we count as gas heaters since we produce gas? Didn't think so.

If he requires a jet engine for flight, then yes, he is a jet. Even if he looks like a car. When he is in car mode, if he is using a car engine, then he is a car. But NOT while in flight mode. He just has a body of a car with a car engine on board at that point.

Well, what do I have here? THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR TRACKS' TOY. Hmmm.. Car Mode, Robot Mode... FLYING CAR MODE.

There is nothing shown in any episode or comic that suggests that Tracks in anything more than a car who can gain flight capabilities when he deploys his tiny little wings.

There is also never a single mention of a jet engine, thus he must not require it for flight.

Thus nothing. He is a flying car, that is obvious, but the engine would make all the difference. A jet engine, mentioned or not, would logically be required for him to fly. You don't just stick wings on a car and expect it to fly.

Damolisher wrote:Well, what do I have here? THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR TRACKS' TOY. Hmmm.. Car Mode, Robot Mode... FLYING CAR MODE.

Hmm...three different modes....triple-changer!

Well, on the toy, the black block with lasers that goes on the tail end of his car, which becomes the armour on the back of his head in robot mode is described as an engine block, but even if it is a jet engine, he's still a car. A Crow can have a duck's wings, but it's still a crow.