Beats me. I'm not fully awake yet.
Erin Toronto
(I requested graduation this morning, hurrah!)
Quoting JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx:
It would indeed be "pretty hype". Unfortunately I have only the info the
article disclosed ...not being an engineer... you might ask ...um....Mike?
(Re. installing gas stations across the ocean not only would it be a VERY bad
idea, but I think undoable?
Julie Krueger clueless but interested
========Original Message======== Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: One step closer to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Date: 10/18/2006 7:32:04 A.M. Central Standard Time From: _erin.holder@xxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:erin.holder@xxxxxxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent on: Hm, how far can you go with it? E.g. if we were to install gas stations on the ocean (a very bad idea, I might add), could one drive across an ocean with it? That'd be pretty hype.
Erin Toronto
Quoting JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx:
an
(http://ads.web.aol.com/link/93102604/aol) Okay, how cool is this? And I thought I wanted a Hummer....! (http://www.cnn.com/) (javascript:void(printArticle());) _Aquatic car drives with 'oooomph' - CNN.com_ (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/10/17/amphibious.car.ap/index.html) (javascript:void(printArticle());)
Aquatic car drives with 'oooomph'
RIDGELAND, South Carolina (AP) -- It's not terribly easy to parallel parkquiteautomobile on a lake. Now, John Giljam knows this to be as true as the highway is long, and for good reason: He's tried to park his car on a lake -- and on rivers, ponds, even the Intracoastal Waterway. Giljam, in fact, has practiced not only parking on water; he's becomeadept at turning sharply on it. (He no longer gets drenched in a curtainofallspume when cornering, he'll have you know.) And he's mastered the art of steering clear of critters -- geese, mostly, though gators have a habit of surfacing at inopportune moments. It helps, of course, to learn these aquatic feats behind the wheel of his latest creation, the "Hydra Spyder," an amphibious car that cruises on H2O as easily as it does on blacktop. With its snazzy snout, convertible top, Corvette V8 engine and jet "impeller" -- the stainless-steel cone protruding from the rear that propels it through water -- the Hydra Spyder is poised to become the first, mass-produced amphibious automobile in America. "It's incredibly nimble in the water. The Spyder turns smoothly, docks easily," the 46-year-old inventor boasts. It has one shortcoming, he concedes. On the water, "the parallel parking really sucks." Giljam tingles at the idea of anglers taking their cars out on lakes for a day of fishing; of rush-hour commuters bypassing congestion by taking a river as an alternate route; of water-skiers bouncing along in the wake of a speedboat with four wheels. "I honestly feel I've been born with a gift, and it was for creating mechanical things," he says. "It's what keeps me up at night." Ten years ago, Giljam operated a Jet Ski rental company on Hilton Head Island. Business was brisk, he recalls, but one day two customers crashed into each other. Though they weren't hurt seriously, he shut the business down, he says. "I would not be able to function if something I owned and operated hurt somebody." Which then got him to thinking: Could an aquatic vehicle be designed to be fast and safe? By 39, he had invented -- and patented -- the world's first unsinkable bus and the world's first aquatic, luxury RV. Producing amphibious cars on a grand scale would be, as he sees it, a "logical" new endeavor. Washout His Hydra Spyder is not the first of its kind to crawl ashore. Civilian, amphibious vehicles have been around for more than a century, and European manufacturers have long dominated the trade. Yet, while some models have been able to raise dust on a highway, nearlyhour.have been agonizingly slow in the wet, where wheels create drag. One well-known washout was the "Amphicar," which was mass-produced in Germany from 1961 to 1968. On roadways, the Amphicar got up to 70 miles per hour but disappointed in the water, mustering a dash speed of just 7 miles perdesigners,In the mid-1990s, Alan Gibbs, a New Zealand inventor-entrepreneur, founded Gibbs Technologies, of Nuneaton, England, with the aim of developing the first high-speed amphibious car. (Gibbs had a 194-foot yacht, which he enjoyed outfitting with aquatic "toys" -- meaning anything from a Jet Ski to a submarine.) In 2003, after seven years of work with 70 British engineers andamphibianGibbs launched "Aquada," an amphibious sports car, a la 007, with retractable wheels and a jet drive that propelled it along water at a maximum speed of 32.8 miles per hour. To the acclaim of the British media, it made its test-run at London's Docklands, scene of a high-speed boat chase in the James Bond film "The World Is Not Enough." Not long thereafter, the Aquada made the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest crossing of the English Channel by an amphibious vehicle. (Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, planed across in 1 hour, 40 minutes and 6 seconds.) At the time, Giljam's company, Cool Amphibious Manufacturers International LLC, which he founded with his wife, Julie, in 1999, was turning out amphibious buses, a dozen or so a year, at a factory in Rochester, N.Y. (Tour operators are the Giljams' main clients; eight "Hydra Terras" are currently in operation in New York City.) The Aquada's big splash threw Giljam into creative overdrive. "I suppose," he told a reporter once, "we just wanted to answer the Brits." Thehe envisioned would have to be faster, tougher, and more economical thanthehistoryAquada, which retailed for $300,000. And unsinkable. "Safety," says Giljam, a 12-year veteran of a rescue squad in his native Lakeville, New York, "means everything to me." And so, he took to the drawing board. History in the making Today, the factory doesn't look like much from Interstate 95: a sand-colored, corrugated-roof structure on an 11-acre wedge of property covered in knee-high weeds and hemmed in by overgrown live oaks. On the floor of this 20,000-square-foot building, though, amphibianHydrais in the making. Near the far corner, the lemon-yellow, fiberglass body agleam, sits aandSpyder -- the prototype, actually. It sold last November -- for $175,000. "This gentleman was insistent," says Julie, "and we needed the cash for the new plant." A non-disclosure agreement protects the identity of the buyer, one of the wealthiest men in America -- a "Forbes Top-50 kinda guy," Giljam says --from the West Coast, who took delivery before the Giljams could test itat ainmotor speedway. They did test the prototype in the water. One afternoon, moments after rolling the Hydra Spyder smoothly off a dockfireBluffton, South Carolina, John Giljam remembers how "a lady came running pell-mell down the dock, screaming: 'Don't worry! We've called 911! Thethedepartment is on its way!"' John and Julie tried to explain what an amphibious vehicle was, even took the woman for a spin around the lake. Still, her expression seemed clouded as she walked away from the dock, muttering. The Hydra Spyder "has that effect sometimes," Giljam shrugs. On this day, the mystery tycoon's Hydra Spyder is back in the shop for adjustments: a new, 502 CID Chevy Race Engine that will boost horsepower from 400 to 500 -- one step below dragstrip capability -- and new, heavy-duty mufflers to subdue the motor's roar. "Apparently," Giljam explains, "it was hard to hold a conversation withmarine-grade,engine running." In an adjacent pod, welders and mechanics are handcrafting thealuminum hull of Hydra Spyder No. 2, which will have a racingtransmission,aquatic"super chargers," and other high-performance features. These help provide what Giljam calls "oooomph" -- which is somethinggreaterracers most desire after plowing their cars into a body of water. To switch the Hydra Spyder into "marine mode," the driver simply presses a button, which drops the clutch, disengages the road drive, shifts the transmission into aquatic duty, and retracts the wheels. The jet-drive kicks in then, allowing the Hydra Spyder to plane across water like a speedboat ataddedthan 50 mph. Oooomph does come at a cost: Base price is $155,000 -- to which can beall kinds of extras, including heated seats ($1,000), a customentertainmentsystem for in-Spyder cinema ($5,000), Lamborghini door systems ($2,000),andbrightteak interior trim ($1,500). And though not intended for use on open seas, this amphibian can be fitted with a fishfinder. So, even as Detroit automakers struggle to survive, the future looksmarketfor Cool Amphibious Manufacturers. The Giljams have 6 orders for Hydra Spyders. Within five years, they hope to expand their new factory and produce 75 Hydra Spyders a year. Their top competitor, Gibbs Technologies, for the time being at least, has withdrawn from the amphibian automobile market. Steve Bailey, a Gibbs spokesman, says the company made 50 Aquadas, then stopped in 2005 because the engines used were discontinued when their maker went bankrupt. "We are looking for an alternative engine to bring the Aquada back toagain," Bailey says. Still, he says, Gibbs Technologies doesn't plan togetcompaniesin a dogfight with the Giljams. "We'll be looking to license the technology out this time to otherthat might be interested in producing their own vehicles," he says. "Wearesafety.a technology development company." Which means the Giljams can focus on improvements to performance andgoAs it is now, all cavities in the Hydra Spyder's "hull" are packed with flotation foam, approved by the U.S. Coast Guard. "You could flood the motor, knock a 12-inch hole in the Spyder's bottom, and still it would float." And, for the record, how good is it on gas? On land, somewhere around 16 to 18 miles per gallon of premium gas. (This amphibian can also run on an ethanol mix without modifications.) Not too shabby, Giljam says, for a 3,400-pound vehicle that is 18.6 feet long and a foot wider than the average landlocked car. He adds: "When you put it in the water, you burn a lot more fuel and the odometer doesn't move. Tires don't rotate in the water, you know." Which, perhaps, is why Julie Giljam always reminds customers: "Before youinto the water, fill her up." Copyright 2006 The _Associated Press_ (http://www.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#AP) . All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
-- Erin
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-- Erin
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