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[ta0]

This is a spintop performance at the circus Los Valentinos. The performers, I am pretty sure, are Colombian, from the style of play and the tops they use. I checked the circus on the web at it seems to be from Venezuela, with roots in a Mexican circus family.

[the Earl of Whirl]

I love it!  It's not Scooby Doo and Shaggy but it is Walter and Shaggy!!!  How terrific to see the syncronized top spinning moves and the two person back and forth top action.  I still think we need some of this at worlds.....maybe Jorge can work up something with Dale to warm up the stage before the freestyles?  And again there is a long wire walker, this time going up in the air.  What a cool finish.  I wonder what is the announcer saying about this?

[Watts' Tops]

Fantastic preformers.  Not a miss.  I loved it.

[ta0]

Fantastic performers.  Not a miss.

Yes, they are really good: that routine includes some risky tricks.

And again there is a long wire walker, this time going up in the air.  What a cool finish.  I wonder what is the announcer saying about this?

The final high-climbing trick is called by the announcer: "el trompo bombero" : the fireman top

[ta0]

The same circus, the same two brothers, but this time with a third guy:

[poptop]

Those huge whip catches blew me away!  Great players for sure.

[Watts' Tops]

About all I can say is "WOW, WOW, WOW"   Do wish it were in English however.   

[cecil]

I love big Trompos. I still want one of there tops with a few strings. We love throwing with the long line and one pound tops.

[jim in paris]

superb show : "ils assurent grave !!"
they "grant" heavy  ... not one mistake ...i can barely imagine the training time ...when one works in a circus , it's most of the time a top level

thanx for the link
jim

[lincolnrick]

What great stuff.  I really want to learn how to do the super long wire walker.  It would be a great trick for my top demos at our juggling jobs.

Any tips or tricks on doing this long wire walker?

[Kirk]

I love the fact that even during set up like getting the string in place for a cork screw or winding they are on the move with the music and still hold my attention.
Kirk

[cecil]

THE BEST IN THE WORLD.

[SpinLynn]

Love the video. Thanks for posting it. I'm ready to go buy a sparky top and white pants, too.

[ta0]

A better resolution video of the incredible climb at the end:



I have been always amazed by how tall these heavy tops can climb.

[ta0]

I did a little calculation. The theoretical maximum height the top can reach is when all its spin energy is converted into potential energy.
The potential energy is:

U = h M g

where h is the height, M the mass and g the acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/s²).

the spin energy is equal to:

E = 1/2 I w²

where I is the moment of inertia and w the spin rate (in radians per second).

Equating these two equations and solving for h:

h = 1/2 1/g I/M w²

Because the moment of inertial is proportional to the mass (for uniform bodies), the maximum height doesn't depend directly on the mass, but just on the shape and size of the top and how fast it's spinning.
For the same starting spin, a larger top will have an advantage as it will have a larger I/M. In addition, for a heavy top the effect of string friction will be less significant relative to it's inertia.

For example, if we consider the top to be a solid cone of base radius r:

I/M = 3/10 r²

If the top has a diameter of 10 cm and is spinning at 2000 RPM, the maximum height it can reach is:

h = 1/2 x 1/(9.8 m/s²) x [3/10 x (0.05 m)²] (2 x 3.1416 x 2000/60 1/s)² = 1.68 meters! Only!

That's very far from what they achieve there!
Mm, could it be a little tricky? I see that the string goes through a pulley a the top. Could it be that the rope is being pulled? 

We have a bigger mystery than what I previously realized . . .