Slashdot Mirror
Landshark
An anonymous reader writes "This has got to be, or will be when they actually make one, the coolest amphibious vehicle around. It's a cross between a motorcycle and a jet ski, and it seats three. It can travel at 200 mph on land and 50 mph on water. Just what you need to get you from point A to point B."
If you drive into the water at 200MPH it will get messy
$ strings FTP.EXE | grep Copyright
@(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
This is no different than the old car/boat things they used to make in the 60s, those were stupid, and so is this. Just my $0.02
Excellent design, cooler then the car in the parking slot next to you and of course forbidden to be used everywhere except on public roads and special water areas.
Candygram!
Wait, isn't this what Skeleton drove?
This has a similar feel to the Amiga story the other day - any chance of posting real world coolness sometime?
and there's no sign of the big and ugly coorporation...
(knock knock on the door)
"Who is it?"
(mumbles)
"Who?"
"Unicef"
"Oh, why didn't you say that before!"
(landshark attacks woman who opens the door)
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
Okay, this is cool, but it it NOT a replacement for jetpacks, personal helicopters, or hovercrafts that we were promised in all those futurist magazines.
The reason three wheels we not popular in my opinion is that they are unsafe at high speeds. It certainly looks cool, but I travelling at such high speeds can get you killed faster in the water than on land.
A boat is designed to be a wing. You want the least amount of boat in the water that you possibly can, so you construct it to lift up and out the faster you go. But on land, you want the vehicle to press down onto the ground, the opposite direction as in the water.
Like the space shuttle, this "landshark" sounds like it was engineered for coolness and not from genuine requirements.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Lady: Who is it?
... you're.. that crazy shark aren't you?
Landshark: Plumber.
Lady: I didn't hire a plumber. Who is it!?
Landshark: Flowers.
Lady: What... for who
Landshark: Plumber
Lady:
Landshark: No maam, I am just a dolphin.. will you let me in please?
Lady: A dolphin! Ok!
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
This has got to be, or will be when they actually make one, the coolest amphibious vehicle around.
GNU/HURD developers say the same thing about their operating system!
If you celebrate Xmas, befriend me (538
...apparently this motorcycle/jetski thingie can't outrun the slashdot effect.
Reading that last line on Landshark's homepage, I can only think of the next round of Darwin awards and wonder if should inform Mr. Baker of his nomination. ;)
Here's the google cache if you need it
Now I can drive right THROUGH the SUV moms to the tune of Ludacris "Move b*tch! Get out the way! Get out the way, bitch!" Get out the way!"
I think this could be a future Darwin Award in the making here :)
I don't read your sig, why do you read mine?
Damn /. effect: Google Cache
Who is going to use a motorcycle for the water?
Why do geeks always feel the need to shoehorn technology into purposes for which it wasn't intended? A motorcycle should be for use on ROADS. If you have the need to travel on water, people, _buy a boat_. Once again, our obsession for technology prevails in the face of reason. What will be next? Internet access for telephones? Where will this madness end?
I live close to the sea, not right by it but close to it... and work is close to the sea aswell.
The possibility of being able to avoid trafic by simply going through water when appropriate would be really cool.
I doubt it would deal with ice very well though, so it'd only work during the summer.
.: Max Romantschuk
The combined drive system is really clever, but I wonder how it will hold up... The impeller is mounted on the drive wheel, the wheel moves over the uneven surface of the road, and adsorbs shocks from all the bumps, so what I want to know is: how the heck are you going to build impeller seals that will hold up to that and still hold a tight tolerance?
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
If you just paint the thing black you will have a nifty Batman like toy. It looks like a veicle that only a supper hero would drive, not that that's wrong or eny thing. I think that the design would make an amazing remot controled veicle.
New thinkgeek blurb:
Do you want to scare your co-workers, destroy litle boats in park ponds, or just send mesages ashore from your house boat? Then this is the best thing that you'll ever want NEW MINI SHARK
...a duck. Maybe slower but also ALOT more stable...
... the last time that I needed to cross water and I didn't have a bridge.
42 - So long and thanks for all the fish.
"The Shark uses the single rear wheel as a turbine pump in water and then hydroplanes on the lowered front mudguards."
"One side of the rear wheel draws the water into the centrifugal turbine where it is pushed through to the pressure collector on the other side to be pushed out of a rear facing nozzle."
"This website has been receiving around 50,000 visits a month with many people interested in buying a Shark."
Okay the site is down now...
-- ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space!
Had a similar idea myself while I was in college... contemplated a single vehichle that I could use to travel the world, figured my best bet would be a motorcycle/sidecar combo that could turn into a personal watercraft. Glad to see I'm not as insane as all my friends thought I was.
Just what you need to get you from point A to point B.... via point "sea"!
Ok, bad pun...
Dan
For our non-english speaking readers, the letter "C" in English sounds like "Sea" (the large bodies of water).
Cheers,
Ian
This is a mirror, please be gentle.
--sig fault--
I really can't see the point of this. It's not interesting or cool from a technical point of view, it's not cool in anything but a mine is bigger/faster than yours and my dick is really big enough, really ! kind of way. Just seems to me like another way to get yourself killed, in a way that might not be efficient but still very fast indeed.
beauty is only a light switch away
not passing us safety requirements. here's an article about that problem:
r .a sp
http://www.motorway.com/home/articles/amphibica
and a picture:
http://www.hemmings.com/images/amphicar.jpg
YES, there is a McDonald's in Hanoi Square.
And no need to swim [http://www.channelswimming.com/] ;-)
Dyslexics of the world, untie!
Miami !
I just patented "The use of a vehicle to avoid road congestion by resorting to amphibious methods".
My lawyers will be contacting you soon.
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
You can travel across the water of most metropolitan areas as long as you don't touch it (just for safety). Does this thing come with splash guards?
That is about the most useful purpose of this thing is. :)
cutting me off at exit ramps because they couldn't see the sign.
Great, first we had vapor software, then vapor computer hardware, now vapor autos. Of course, when these come out next week, they will be obsolite since we will all be in our flying cars (you know the ones Popular science said were around the corner in 1960)
nohup rm -rf ~/. >& zen &
The news page said that in October of 2001 the clay model was being turned into a 1/3 scale proof of concept vehicle. That was the last mention of progress, but they are accepting orders for a production run in 2003. That seems a little optimistic to me. Also, I saw where the designer had built a full size 'glass-fibre' bull elephant but did not see any mention of his experience with mechanical engineering, aerodynamics, etc. (My suggestion for company spokesperson: Chevy Chase)
Anyway, to the topic, this thing seems to have been made by a (small?) team of geeks and is obviously being paid for with private money (they mention that they are trying to raise £250,000 for the project, which for Yamaha or Honda is peanuts, but for a couple of engineers and designers is not so easy to find.) That makes it interesting and I certainly hope it gets to market and it gets the same kind of distribution that jet skis get.
I have my doubts though, because we've seen tons of unique and amazing fun/recreational vehicles over the years, especially amphibious ones, which we never heard of again. They'll be on some TV technology show and then that's the last time you'll see them. Shame, really, I guess a niche market and an expensive product is an extremely tough sell unless you can really afford serious marketing behind you. But I hope they can do it.
Oh, the vehicle itself? I don't like it. Amphibious is cool and all, but being in an enclosed cell while jumping waves at 50mph? I just hope it's watertight for when I flip it. I would rather have a jet ski and a beach buggy- different toys for different games, but that's just me.
Build your own website - full service homepage system your m
You mean 50 nots. there are diffrences between the notical mile and the land mile. I can not think what they are though.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:0TUvvbx6JmEC: www.landshark.co.uk/+landshark&hl=en&ie=UT F-8
I have no
Logically then, this should be called a Duckling. That's a far cry from a land shark.
Besides, what would you use to fence them in? :P
You can easily keep ducks in with chicken wire.
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
Watching that nice movie, I can not help me, but find, that the wheels are turning into the _wrong_ direction on the land.
Second thing: Those front wheels flap. I guess it will be really hard to realize that. You see it in almost any comic strip, but this wants to be more than vaporware. And for _stability_ reasons, this will really cause problems.
How can you be sure, that the whells do not flip on land, causeing the thing to be not manouverable.
But other than that, I think it is better than the BATmobil
Note to landshark guys: It aint a turbine unless you're extracting power from the flow. In your case it's just a centrigual pump. Mount a forward pointing scoop that directs flow down the axis of the pump, then collect _all_ the radial flow and direct it out the exit.
PS. You are driving this thing with the equivalent of the guts of an air-raid siren. How appropriate.
I don't suppose they've actually built one yet... no of course not, because it's probably impossible to do safely.
I might as well just strap a jet to my back, wear rollerskates on my hands and feet and away I go... straight into oblivion.
that the speeds were given in the imperial measurements usually used in the United States (MPH - Miles Per Hour), but the the TLD of the web site is .UK? I would have thought that they would have been given in KPH.
Perfect thing to ruin a peaceful day of sailing.
Do they mention that it filters the exhaust through the water, like all other outboards? Let the fish have the pollution, so we dont have to smell what we are doing!!
Side note: these things have no rudders, and therefore are only propulsion-based steering. when you are about to hit an obstacle, like a fellow schmuck, what do you think your reflex will be? Probably let off of the gas, ENSURING that you will not be able to steer out of the way.
Why stick up for big business?
Ladies and geeks, we have a new bandwidth record...(I was only kidding about the ladies part, cross dressing does not count)
"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes
> > hurtling down the highway." -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum - Computer Networks
Now becomes...
"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a Landshark full of DVD-R's hurtling down the highway at 200 Mph" -- twoslice Certifiable Geek (or just certifiable on most days)
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
This technology has been around for decades!!. Don't you remember the Fat Boy or the Wave Runner? Geez... this is old technology people!!
Notice how there are no real pictures of this thing on the site? That's because the fine print says that it currently exists only as a "1/3rd scale clay model." The history page goes right up to the point (over a year ago) when they were trying to turn that model into a working ... 1/3rd model. Huh, I'll bet I know why the history stops there.
Most revealing line from the history: "Oct 2000, work put on hold as promised investment fails to materialise." That's because the investors realized this guy is smoking crack for all kinds of reasons.
Hey, I gotta clay model that'll do 60 mph on water and 240 on land. Really, honestly. It'll be roling off the lot just as soon as I get the funding. Can I get linked by Slashdot too?
is the trunk big enough to fit my Segway ?
Anyone actually look at the website, there are no real pictures of this thing. It's all vapourware, with some nice animations and things (i'm guessing the guy who started it was some sort of automotive designer (possibly laid off?). The rest of the site was so slow I couldn't check it out.
Lots of people are commenting on how this will actually work, since there are problems with lift/downward force, making the impellor stable enough to work both on land (with lots of shock) and in the water (keeping it sealed). Then there are things like Hydroplaning the thing with two big front wheels ( hydroplanes mounted in the mudguards??).
All a pipedream.. after all they have built amphibious cars in the 50's onward, and they are interesting to see but not a seller. You want either a boat or a car, each item does a specific job well.. not some mediocure item that does both.
Also, all those people saying 3 wheels are unstable at speed should have a look at Thrust SSC. OK, it had four wheels but the rear two were very close together like a trike, and also steered.
stty erase ^H
This project will fail. Period. And I don't mean because of engineering problems (ie actually getting the damn thing to work). It will fail because of one simple rule that applies to almost all inventions of this type: Any device that attempts to do two completely different things will do neither of them well. Prime example: The "spork"- how many do you own?
Without running lights (starboard, port, steaming/mooring) I think the coast guard is going to have a problem with this thing, as surely it's going to be classified as a boat and not a personal watercraft.
mmm pop tarts :)
I look forward to seeing one of these in action in the next James Bond or XXX film.
text and media files originally from 'http://www.landshark.co.uk/background/visuals.htm '
.mov files
.rm file
Animation :
Aerial shot, small image size (360 kb) or large image size (972 kb)
Ramp shot, small image size (642 kb) or large image size (1.6 mb)
All animation, small image size (2 mb) or large image size ( 5.5 mb)
Project Video:
Marcel Galvan produced the video for us which is really excellent, and the music was supplied by "Ojo" and is called "In silver".
The video is in a real player (Free) format because it halves the file size. Video ( 6.8 mb )
pretzel_logic
This, of course, will become an instant favorite of bank robbers in coastal cities everywhere.
shameless ripoff from Merriam-Webster (I just wanted to make sure he wasn't commenting on the size of my ... uh, never mind):
/-"kyü-nE-'ä-s&-tE/ noun
One entry found for impecunious.
Main Entry: impecunious
Pronunciation: "im-pi-'kyü-ny&s, -nE-&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: 1in- + obsolete English pecunious rich, from Middle English, from Latin pecuniosus, from pecunia money -- more at FEE
Date: 1596
: having very little or no money usually habitually : PENNILESS
- impecuniosity
- impecuniously adverb
- impecuniousness noun
Well, I just hope it's more usable than the web site. Stranded in the Visuals section for ages before finally figuring out that I had to click on the damned copyright notice to get back to the home page.
If this is the site I hate to think what the cockpit/cab/bridge is going to be like...
This thing would still kick ass though.
I'd rtfa but the bugger's slashdotted.
.29 Cd vehicle, with a TON of aero work can do this pretty calmly. Take that exact same envelope to 195 or so and it's aerodynamics are no longer adequate to task, it's gets pretty hairy handling. (and takes 575 hp...more than the neon because it punches a bigger hole in the air, and there are differences in driveline efficency and gearing)
;)
be that as it may, it's _extremely_ difficult to make a vechicle do 200mph sustained. You can do it one of two ways:
a)Serious Cubic Horsepower
b)Serious Aerodynamic design
If you choose 'a' above, be prepared to generate 600+ hp, also be prepared to protect your occupant when the vehicle loses directonal stability.
If you choose 'b' above, you may be able to get along with significantly less hp (400-500), but be prepared to spend cubic dollars renting a wind tunnel, or hardware/software to perform a lot of number crunching.
Remember, HP goes up with the _cube_ of speed change. If your car does 150mph with a 215hp motor (Turbo Neon, this month's Road n track) and you want it to go 1.33 times faster, it'll take 1.33^3*215hp or 505hp to make 200 mph...
An additional datapoint: My vette has done 168mph with 350 crank hp (automatic, nevada, coupla thousand feet above sealevel, so figure some hp loss there.) So a
You go ahead, I'll watch from a safe distance.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
He always said the fish were rising up, and now there's a land shark that travels at 200 mph!
It can travel at 200 mph on land and 50 mph on water. Just what you need to get you from point A to point B.
/dev/null.
Nope. That's the fastest way to get you from point A to
We've got one of these in Austin as well. Never been on it though.. Any fun?
Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
If you had read the article you would see that it has variable position mud flaps in the front that change the aero-hydro performance of the machine.
Even if it did not have that feature, it would be very easy to design a shape that, taking into account the fact that air and water have enormously different densities, would spoil lift for high speed land applications and still lift up out of the water at comparatively tiny speeds...
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
Clearly this is the "killer app" for drug smugglers... pack that baby full of coke and out run and out swim any DEA vehicles. All it needs now is a Stinger mount to deal with those pesky helicopters...
Jeez. I am convinced these are developed for the purposes of getting more organ doners.
My goodness people, can't you see humour when it's staring you right in the face. Did you not read the line "What will be next? Internet access for telephones?". Come on now, get up from the keyboard, but the coffee/jolt down, spend an hour with your girlfriend/boyfriend/hand/other device, get some sleep, go outside (don't forget the sunblock) and enjoy a real life for a little while before you come back and reply to posts again.
As a guy who thinks the boat chase scene in 'Live and Let Die' is still one of the seminal movie chase scenes, I can't wait until this contraption shows up in a Bond movie. Hope they pay the stunt guy well.
have any of you ever done 200 mph on a bike? The fastest I've ever gone was upwards of 130 on a friends gsxr750 (hwy 1 doesn't have a long enough straight away in the 10 miles north of santa cruz so I couldn't get it going any faster), and let me tell you that it's no picnic. It's kinda hard to imagine exactly how fast that is. I mean we've all gone faster than that in airplanes, but when you're on the ground, and you realize that a squirrel running in front of you will turn you in to a meat torpedo. It's pretty fucking scary.
I can't even imagine going to 200 mph on a bike with tires set for water. that would just be insane
Each link posted in the main body of the story should redirect to the destination site through CGI. The CGI should keep track of how many people clicked through, and show a graph of running totals, so we can measure the Slashdot effect.
I doubt top speed will be 50. I've owned Jet Skis, and one thing you learn about is cavitation, and something call the Scoop Grate.
Basically, the stock setup that came with my KW-650SX goes barely 40Mph. But it was because at 40Mph, not enough water is going through the impeller. So, with the simple addition of an after market scoop grate, I added about 3Mph (All it did was lower the scoop about 1/4 an inch. I got another 2Mph out of a stainless steel prop, and anouth 2Mph out of a new ride plain.
Pulling in water as it passes alog the side of a wheel just won't work.
It's a really cool design though to have the wheels sucking in water to pump out, but he really needs to redesign. Basically, you need to scoop the water in.
Also, since it's a fairly heavy thing, it can actually go faster on water that 50Mph because of the added stability. My stand-up jet-ski weighs about 260lbs and at 46Mpg its a not a pleasure cruise, but on a heavier 550lbs waverunner it is a pleasure to cruise at even 50Mph.
Rethink the water intake to something more direct and it'll go more like 75-95 on water. Horseopower isn't the issue, fluid dynamics is.
Decades of reasearch and technical innovations... they come in a multitude of sizes... ( http://www.hovercraft.com/ ) And playing bumper cars on the freeways and waterways would make any commute more entertaining! HC
...because ideas have consequences.
volkswagen had a functional device like this in WW2, called the schimmenwagen -excuse spelling, that is probably close. It was a variant on their kubbelwagen, sold in the US as "the thing", but had a rounded floatation body and I think a power take off prop that lowered into the water in the rear. I've seen pics of them, they look rather normal in a dune buggy sort of way, and would probably sell if someone made them or a mod for existing beetles. I know I would like one, being a jeep driver, the ability to just keep trucking in deep water has a certain appeal to me, calm water anyway. My experience with modded bugs (bajas) is such that they can already go around 90% of the places (something like that) that a normal stock CJ can go, and if they were amphibious, slick! I'd love to be able to drive to the lake here and just keep going, go fishing and diving, etc, without towing a boat or hauling a canoe. If VW was to bring them back, and use their superior diesel tech, even better, as long as the cost was not too outrageous. Don't really care about the ability to go 200 land or 50 water, normal highway speeds are adequate, and ten in the water is adequate.
Ahh yes, i would love to see the looks on people faces when they're crossing a bridge, and see me driving across the water in my crazy vehicle.
--JonnyBlog
It isn't a motorcycle, it has 3 wheels. Guess that makes it a tricycle. Maybe I should get one for my kids.
Sure, High Speed from road to water?! What else could be more fun? Of course it helps in the Dells area where there are a lot of small lakes and streams which are not necessarily connected. They also claim to have the "World's largest Waterpark". Yes, it's actually in Wisconsin. :) (The big thing is indoor waterparks now)
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
I kept expecting a green wall to appear behind it, and for it to make an instantaneous 90 degree turn...
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
but doesn't this remind you of that dog on rocco's modern life? wasn't his name landshark? and he was fast as hell?
yeah... i'm an idiot
Depending on the fuel/noise/maintenance level This would be an excellent tool for a 12 man SEAL team insertion.
Turbo Neon, this month's Road n track
It's the ultimate ricer. Paste some stickers on it and a really fat tailpipe and lower it until the undercarriage sparks at every intersection and you've got one mean riceboy car.
While waiting for the Landshark to transition from 1/3 clay model to working prototype to production, you can pass the time tooling around in a Corbin Sparrow electric car. Or for pure brute speed order a Merlin Roadster from Corbin.
This is not a vehicle. This is someone's college 3D Studio Max project. You might as well report on the all of the plastic-skinned low-polygon dragons that have been attacking Los Angeles lately.
I've seen renderings on the internet. It must be real.
"Follow your Bliss." -- Joseph Campbell
yeah it sounds like the kind of vehicle only a terrorist would need.
ariel small
ariel large
ramp small
ramp large
all animation small
all animation large
project video
Mirror provided by Mr HOSTBOT
RudeDude
Perl/Linux/PHP hacker
Possibly the ... funniest ... Darwin Award ... ever
I don't know if I'd trust the delivery boy if he's bringing stuff over on a... Landshark!
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
*knock knock*
Lady: Who is it?
A motorcycle
Lady: I didn't order a motorcycle.
A jet ski
Lady: Oh, ok, come on in
AAAAAAAAA!!!
- Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
From what I can see, this three wheel design looks less stable at high speeds in a corner. The non-steering wheels take more lateral pressure in a corner, so should be spread wider. This thing appears to have the front wheels stearing and the back not.
Tricycles (1 front wheel, two back) are quite stable because cornering puts pressure to the side and rear of the vehicle, on the non-stearing wheels. Front only has to apply lateral force to turn. The back has to hold it up.
There were some expriments with three wheel vehicles, two front one rear where the rear wheel steared, like a reverse tricycle. It was considered to be a good preformer but difficult to handle intuitively. The rear wheel gave to lateral force by steering, so was not supporting as much pressure as this thing will be. Various accidents gave it a bad name and the design was dropped. There are still some proponents, but the design has not returned to the main stream.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
DDB
Life is like surrealism: if you have to have it explained to you, you can't afford it.
Now you are just a couple hours from my house.
Somebody buys one of these and gets a horn that says "Candygram!" really loud
This sig no verb.
Okay, now I am not a Formula One engineer or aerodynamicist.....but I can tell ya this thing has issues. Having studied design, I have run into a few designers like the nimrods who designed this thing. They are the ones you ask how something they designed works, and they give you that look (you know the one, like a confused dog with its head cocked to the side) and tell you, "it just does..." Your only response.....just smile and nod. Come on, you wouldn't actually want to do some research.....
Isn't that like a VHS tape showing you how to setup your VCR? I mean think about this for a moment...
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
Of course you mean 6 wheeled..
What does this have to do with lawyers?
illegitimii non ingravare
That air scoop at the top rear looks pretty thirsty.
The reverse configuration with a single front wheel is unstable. The single rear wheel is not an unstable design.
I'll file this BS right next to the Segway, and the Solotrek. These guys should go into T-shirt sales and Saturday morning cartoons.
This is all well and good but if it plans to be a production vehicle it may run into problems other than just tipping over. Motorcycles in the US have decided to self regulate the top speed to 185 because of some controversy over the top speed race that Suzuki and Kawasaki were in with the GSX1300 and ZX-12. I think the GSX1300 did 189 but then after the debacle it now does 185.
Also due to the 3 wheel design, I can't imagine it would be very stable at such high speeds.
It's really a pipe dream, if it does come about, there will be very few of them and they will be very expensive, not run very well and no one will want them after the first year or two after the novelty wears off.
-Chris
This thing must have some funding...their web server seems to be able to take a beating. It is full of good quality images, and although slow it keeps going.
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
I would like a Landshark with a frickin laser on top!
The animation should give you a clue that the designers thought of this. Take a wing section that has no camber to it and point the front up in a breeze. The net force will be up and back. Point it down and the net force will be down and back. On land, the crafts nose points down due to the high rear suspension. In the water the craft hudroplanes out of the water, nose up, on the front nose flaps.
Your general physics knowledge should have you understand that the great difference between the working fluids would work to take care of things even if the landshark folks had not been as clever as you. The upward force created by displacing and accelerating water is orders of magnitude greater than those created by air.
It's funny that you worry about flipping right over as well. Boats that become airborn due to excessive lift and speed often do flip right over, as anyone who's ever watched a jet boat wipe out would know. I don't design high speed boats, but I'll question your overall premise. Oh yeah, 50 mph is not that high a speed on the water.
Like the space shuttle, this "landshark" sounds like it was engineered for coolness and not from genuine requirements.
Now that is a troll. The space suttle has performed very well as a reusable launch vehicle with very good turn around time. Figure out the cost of disposable rockets for each of the shuttle's missions and you might see the practicality.
Back to topic. The performance of the Landshark might be improved by not using the pump for land traction. I would suggest front wheel drive, retractable rear wheels and a seperate water pump. Ride quality is adversely effected by the non sprung pump weight, and three wheel suspensions are less stable than four wheel suspensions. 200 MPH is a little faster than I want to go on the ground, especially with a pump for a rear wheel.
Physics Genious should go do a practical thing or two.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
...is if they drop it out of a 747.
IT'S A LUMP OF CLAY!
Editors - "it can do this, it can do that..." NO IT CAN'T - it's a CONCEPT!
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
This has got to be, or will be when they actually make one, the coolest
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
This kinda machine sounds like something right out of the game "Jet Moto" for the old playstation. You basically race a jetski/bike on water and land against others. Kinda fun game.
I wonder how they counter the starboard yaw from the port turbine intake.
For you landlubbers that means the beast will go round in circles to the right.
I bet Reliant are dead jealous, imagine doing that in a Robin - or plastic pig as they are known.
:-)
I bet Delboy would by one ("Only Fools and Horses" UK TV show)
That the driver would be up to his neck in water before the skier.
Just what I need for screwing over natural areas. Bring lots noise to any location! And when it breaks down the rescue team can just follow the clouds of exhaust, same as a snowmobile.
Only problem is, when I hit manatees it won't cut 'em like a regular outboard. But it should be just as good at driving away wildlife as a jet ski.
Yep, it really does combine the best of both worlds.
...when I was 9 years old. I'd doodle some cars and motorcycles and boats on paper. Then I'd exclaim how fast and cool they were. Vroooom!
Nice concept, but is this news? Doesn't basically every artist/architect/graphic designer/automotive engineer have a little "project" like this at some point?!
But why does it have to land at an airport?
Anyone from the St. Louis area will tell you the bridges SUCK!!! I would love to have this and just "drive" across the Mississippi!
No sitting on a bridge for this guy!
But after 1967, no more Amphicars were directly imported to the United States because they failed to meet environmental and Transportation Department regulations on safety and emissions. Because of that, the manufacturer went out of business.
I suppose those are the same regulations that keep Mexican built VWs out of the US? The same ones that protect the US market from a $2,000 new car sticker price, hmmph.
This new ultra expensive toy will not be a threat and will more than likely find it's way into the US and sell even fewer than the 3,000 or so Amphibicars. But you never know, the big three automakers might change a law. Some people can't stand competition of any kind, can they?
My 1970 VW van works just fine, thank you. It would be nice for the Mexicans to make a few new ones and export them for $5,000 or so. Beep beep.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Has has anyone put any thought into what that turbine wheel would do when it's in "land mode"? All the air being sucked through it at 200 mph would cause the thing to whip around in circles!
Add some wings and now you got the WHOLE package!
Someone said getaway vehicle, come on flying is needed, then there is no way they'll stop you from getting to mexico!
You mean DUKWs? That's what the Army called them long before they were pressed into tourist duty
Jump the shark?
that bit that I said earlier about becoming a meat torpedo if you fell off your bike at 130, it applies here as well. you'd go straight over the the bars and if you didn't catch your knees you'd probably become a relatively nice water-meat torpedo. Not that I'd ever want to try it.
The SPORK attempts to do one thing and one thing only! AND IT DOES IT SUPER-HELLS-YEAH-WELL!!!
It makes eating fast food fun and easy!
Free and Low Cost CFD
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
saw thisw in Car and Driver about a year ago. Concept looks very cool, but there are some serious issues regarding its viability as a water-borne vehicle.
I wouldn't mind geting a boat and a car in the same package, but... The wheels on that thing don't promisse much off-road traction, and I don't know many seas, lagoons, whatever with an ramp into it.
So, this thing could could function perfecly if used in the city, but if you put it in the open country, with all the mud and rocks, I believe it would fail miserably.
Long live TUX!
I became a stone carver with English Heritage after leaving school and have worked with various other materials during my career
Damn! Those are some impressive credentials, that'll give credibility to those land 200mph...
Below is a glass-fibre full size (8 ft tall) bull Indian elephant that I helped to sculpt for Harrods
Unless that thing sports an automatic transmission, 250hp motor and floaters, I don't see how it in any way makes him qualified enough to make the landshark claims. Seriously, shouldn't this guy be at least associated with someone who is a mechanichal engineer with years of background in the industry? (I know that's what I expected to find in the "about me" section at least). As it is, this thing sounds like an ellaborate pipe dream to me (sweeet! this thing has a sleek shape, it should do about.... mmmhh.. 200mph? yes that's about right). I haven't been able to find a reference to someone who actually has a clue working on this on their site (i.e. not an animator, clay modeller or graphic designer).
--
Overcaffeinated. Angry geeks.
This has been out for a long time.
Especially through deep puddles!
Mommy. What's a karma whore?
to read "Junk Yard Wars" somewhere in the article.
I first heard of the Landshark almost two years ago, Wayback Machine has it, and the site has barely changed since then. I hate to be the bearer of bad(?) news, but I doubt this project will ever reach completion.
Please note this thing hasn't been built yet. They have a target range for manufacture. It's great pre-packaged masturbational geek fantasy, just like the god-damned flying car I've been lusting after for most of my life, after seeing it in an early-80's Omni mag (geek porn). However, like the flying car, it don't bloody-well EXIST now, do it?
Sorry to rain on your parades.
Kinda... Heh
Mmmmmm... Bold, yet refreshing!
This will be the perfect vehicle for getting around in a post-polar cap world...
200 mph 3 wheeler. I will believe it when i see it. 2 wheelers have trouble getting to 200. They also have no real working model just stupid comp. animations. Every new company comes out with outrageous claims to raise money . This article is another piece of spam by slashdot.
... especially at the kinds of speeds they cite. Why don't you see any racing competition classes for 3-wheeled vehicles, whereas there are flocks of classes for 2 and for 4 wheeled vehicles?
I also noticed no specs on horsepower, torque, engine type, wheelbase, track, body structure, materials, weight, etc. Did I miss a page?
There are soem good responses above about the HP and Turbine issues.
What's the deal here -- we instantly recognize vaproware in the computing arena, but here...?
does he realize how many RPM that engine is gonna have to spin at to move that sucker with dual 10" turbine rotors? It is gonna blow valves and seals out all over the place. You can't have 1 transmission do both jobs. Officially a dumb idea.
I've seen this design in many video games. This is a rip off!
Down here in third world New Zealand Bugger is a completely acceptable term, generally used as a mild expletive. In fact it was used by a young girl (like 6 or something I suppose) in a TV ad when she gets splashed by a car going through a puddle. Shortly afterwards she gets killed by a another speeding car but that is besides the point.
POKE 65495,0
READY?
Without cheating and looking it up, I'd say that changes one of the colors to black on a Commodore 64. I think it's the background color, but it might be the border color.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
The other thing the shuttle has going for it is the ability to carry a big payload. Yes, using the shuttle to launch a telecommunications satellite into orbit would be a waste of money - for much the same reason that using a 24-foot U-haul truck to go pick up milk from the store would be a waste of money.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Good friction between tires and road is vital to a balancing two-wheeled vehicle. It is vital not just for turning and stopping, but also for simply keeping from falling over when going straight. The little subconsious adjustments you do to keep balance amount to a series of curves of very short duration and small magnitude. On a bike, if your tire slips for even just brief moment while trying to turn, your bike "lays down" and you have an accident. That is one small way in which a car is definately safer. On a car if you slip for a moment in a turn, you just end up going where you didn't want to (which could result in a crash, but isn't guaranteed to.)
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Say Mr. Baker, thats a neat Landshark, er, is that a barnacle on the side there?
I don't care if I'm an AC, i'm going to add my .02 this time around. 200 mph! David Baker should be shot for saying that.
First off, the areodynamics may support 200 mph, but with what powerplant. There is nothing on the site that I could find that mentions the powerplant. As I see it, they are going to need well in excess of 300 hp to see that speed number. Sure, F1 motorcycles have hit that number once or twice. So has Troy Corser on a Duck 996 at Daytona, but those bikes have a lot smaller frontal area then this land shark thing.
I'd also like to know what's going to keep that thing on the ground at those speeds. There is a reason for those funky rear wings you know...
Has David thought about how much drag is going to be created alone by those rather exposed front wheels? Better go for dustbins as opposed to those pretty but dirty fenders. Perhaps they should do something about the exposed linkages as well.
Where is the air intake at. Can we safely guess that it has to be high on the vehicle to curb water ingestion? If that's the case, the air intake honk is going to be a real blast to the occupants when the pedal is down. Oh, wait, according to one of the pics, that's exactly where it is. I'd love to hear that!
I will say one thing though. Lotus is a good choice for help in that they have a good deal of experience with turbo charged powerplants. For something this size, I could easily see a 1.5 liter turbo charged, or even twin turbo charged 4 generating in excess of 300 hp and still providing a decent life expentancy.
Oh well...
on the front page design *concepts*. Every designer knows flying wheelchairs, gloveshaped screwdrivers and motorcylce/car/boat thingies are sophmore and junior design school projects. C'mon Slashdot, you can do better.
Wait, didn't Mr. Garrison invent something like this because he was pissed off at the airlines? Hopefully this one works without the anal probe.
1) _DRAW_ cool looking _PROTO_-vehicle 2) Place on internet 3) ???? 4) PROFIT!!
TheoD
I can think of several things that serve dual purposes equally well:
1. comb: hair/harmonica
2. hair brush: hair/discipline utensile
3. wallet: money storage/paperweight
4. wife: cook/cleaner/child raiser/sex toy
5. cologne: woman repelent/insect repelent
6. mobile home: tornado attractor/white trash houser
I could go on, but I'll digress.
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Each year, I take a couple of weeks off and leave the madness of the rat race behind. I arrive at the beach early and setup my beach umbrellas and sand chairs. The goal is to do nothing but squish my toes in the sand and watch the puffy white clouds against the clear blue sky for a single day.
Every year as mid day approaches so do the loud annoying jet skis and their idiot riders who can't seem to follow simple rules like, stay out of the swimming zone and don't get drunk and ride your jet ski. Do they even put mufflers on these annoying devices?
My attempt to clear my mind turns to thoughts of "jet ski seeking rocket lauchers". I hate these things and now I find that they are just going to get bigger, louder, and even more obnoxious.
Next year I have to find a "jet-ski" free lake, if there is such a thing.
Where can I fit my 15" subs, mp3 player, and what about a sunroof. Gotta have that sunroof for the babes to like you.
For years it has been believed that electric bulbs emitted light. However, recent information from Bell Labs has proven otherwise. Electric bulbs don't emit light, they suck dark. Thus they now call these bulbs dark suckers. The dark sucker theory, according to a Bell Labs spokesperson, proves the existence of dark, that dark has mass heavier than that of light, and that dark is faster than light.
The basis of the dark sucker theory is that electric bulbs suck dark. Take for example, the dark suckers in the room where you are. There is less dark right next to them than there is elsewhere. The larger the dark sucker, the greater its capacity to suck dark. Dark suckers in a parking lot have a much greater capacity than the ones in this room. As with all things, dark suckers don't last forever. Once they are full of dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the black spot on a full dark sucker. A candle is a primitive dark sucker. lA new candle has a white wick. You will notice that after the first use, the wick turns black, representing all the dark which has been sucked into it. If you hold a pencil next to the wick of an operating candle, the tip will turn black because it got in the path of the dark flowing into the candle. Unfortunately, these primitive dark suckers have a very limited range. There are also portable dark suckers. The bulbs in these can't handle all of the dark by themselves, and must be aided by a dark storage unit. When the dark storage unit is full, it must be either emptied or replaced before the portable dark sucker can operate again.
Dark has mass. When dark goes into a dark sucker, friction from this mass generates heat. Thus it is not wise to touch an operating dark sucker. Candles present a special problem, as the dark must travel in the solid wick instead of through glass. This generates a great amount of heat. Thus it can be very dangerous to touch an operating candle. Dark is also heavier than light. If you swim deeper and deeper, you notice it gets slowly darker and darker. When you reach a depth of approximately fifty feet, you are in total darkness. This is because the heavier dark sinks to the bottom of the lake and the lighter light floats to the top. The immense power of dark can be utilized to mans advantage. We can collect the dark that has settled to the bottom of lakes and push it through turbines, which generate electricity and help push it to the ocean where it may be safely stored. Prior to turbines, it was much more difficult to get dark from the rivers and lakes to the ocean. The Indians recognized this problem, and tried to solve it. When on a river in a canoe travelling in the same direction as the flow of the dark, they paddled slowly, so as not to stop the flow of dark, but when they traveled against the flow of dark, they paddled quickly so as to help push the dark along its way.
Finally, we must prove that dark is faster than light. If you were to stand in an illuminated room in front of a closed, dark closet, then slowly open the closet door, you would see the light slowly enter the closet, but since the dark is so fast, you would not be able to see the dark leave the closet.
In conclusion, Bell Labs stated that dark suckers make all our lives much easier. So the next time you look at an electric bulb remember that it is indeed a dark sucker.