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In the first movie, they had the Delorean rev up with the emergency brake turned on and the speedometer revved up close to the magical 88mph. What I'm wondering is why they didn't just have the car do a brakestand to 88mph instead of trying to drive the Delorean to the same speed?

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My guess is that it's related to the velocity of the car, rather than the speed. I always thought that the speed of 88mph had to be accompanied by a direction (Velocity is a Speed and a Direction), that's why Marty always had to drive the Delorean in a straight line. – Jamie Taylor Jul 23 '12 at 8:06

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The car had to reach a velocity of 88 miles per hour. It had nothing to do with the speedometer hitting 88 miles per hour.

In the animated series episode Gone Fishin` Jules Brown (one of Doc Brown's sons) places a spare flux capacitor in a barrel. When the barrel falls over the waterfall and reaches 88 mph, the flux capacitor activites and moves Jules Brown through time (and space) before crashing at the bottom.

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+1, when they push the car with a steam engine in the third movie they don't care of the speedometer at all. – sharptooth Jan 23 at 14:37

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