By June Campbell You are designing a racetrack for automobiles. At one point, the track goes up a steep hill, then goes over top of the hill to come down the other side. You must establish the vertical profile of the hill. The change in grading must be very subtle, or the cars will leave the ground as they go over the top. In this case, R is the radius.
V is the anticipated speed of the car at the time it reaches the hilltop.
K is a constant. When you calculate the formula, R will give you the minimum radius in metres that you can safely use. Once you calculate R, your next step is to survey the grade. If is it less than R, you will have to move some earth. You estimate that the cars will be going 160 kilometres per hour by the time they reach the top of the hill.