Claws homie

Good point. It has zero contact force at the apex, so 14m is an upper bound on possible cat-loops.

True. But if top speed allows for 14 meters, surely a 1.5 to 2 m loop should be possible (especially given a cat’s incredible reflexes and control given a lack of friction or even freefall). I’d guess that a cat, given enough motivation, could keep running under the little friction provided by the centripetal force for a few hundred milliseconds - likely long enough to complete a 1m loop, maybe even 2, given sufficient space for a top-speed run before entering…