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Amphibious Car Beats Urban Congestion
woodhouse writes "According to BBC News, a company in the UK have just tested a fully amphibious car on the Thames river. It can travel at up to 100 miles an hour on land, and its wheels fold up to allow it to speed across water at 30mph, propelled by a jet. The company responsible, Aquada, suggest it's a good way to avoid congestion."
I dunno why they say that - the Thames speed limit is 8 knots above Wandsworth, and even below there they can stop you if they think you're affecting other craft.
> "The Thames is a perfect location to make use
> of this vehicle as it has no speed limit and
> is greatly under-utilised."
Those silly Brits. We have speed limits posted for all bodies of water here in the US.
The BBC is just reporting what the guy selling the car said; it doesn't mean that it is true; it certainly isn't in general. He is a car salesman, after all. Of course, there are speed limits on the Thames.
Many rivers in the UK have speed limits far lower than the 30mph top speed of this vehicle to stop bank erosion, and why do they insist in the article that the Thames is underused?
There are lots of boats on the Thames already - often rowers in lightweight crew boats that swamp easily. They can do without tidal waves being generated.
As for rough water, you won't find much of that either on the Thames around London
People would be mostly competing with a few barges and small tourist boats.
I saw this on TV yesterday a few times, on the car there is a plastic shield on both sides, just behind the mirrors (to stop splashes I guess) and the guy looked pretty dry to me. Shame it looks like a Mazda MX-5 though.
We've got one of these amphibious cars that tootles up and down our river every so often already...
www.amphicar.com
This "new" one is just one in a long line of press releases from marketing people who haven't looked into the history of the concept... mind you this new one does look cool...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Internal Combustion Engine
Jet Engine
Electric Motor
Television
Disc Brakes
Depth Charges
Fax Machine
Lightbulbs
World Wide Web
Viagra
Vacuum Cleaner
Toilet Paper
etc etc etc...
Yeah, the problem with the British is that they keep inventing these unaffordable, impractical things...
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
Not legally, it can't.
That was classic intercourse!
It could. Back before they built the sewers in the 1850s or so, the sewage from two and a half million people went into the thames - which is a tidal river at that point. So you have 2.5mil ppl's crap going up and down the thames with the tide. They got outbreaks of cholera from that because the water companies just pumped that water and distributed that to people - drinking beer exclusively was a good plan in those days.
They finally decided to fund the sewers (a gigantic project, and very well done since the original sewers are still in use today) when the thames stank so bad that the MP's couldn't even get into the river-facing rooms of the house of parliament without choking from the awful stench (apparently comparable to the smell of a rotting body).
I'd say that was worse than now.
Daniel
Carpe Diem
But didn't Land Rover invent the SUV when it designed the ludicrous Range Rover? The original and best SUV, surely?
That was classic intercourse!
It's not really true anymore. I've (unfortunatly) had a few early baths in the Thames, its just very silty. There are a *lot* of fish in there and plenty of wildlife.. Of course it could be better, but its far cleaner than it looks (shopping trollies considered)....
Be nice to people on the way up. You will meet them again on your way down!
London's 'smog' is nothing compared to that of many major cities. What you experienced was probably just the English Permacast(R) weather that we 'enjoy' over here. Apparently, London is overcast fully 50% of the time!
That was classic intercourse!
Just commenting on all those jovial "crazy brits" postings. Mr Alan Gibbs is from New Zealand, although he was in partnership with a Brit, Neil Jenkins, and got Lotus (UK) to do some feasibility studies. The concept work was done by Eurotech and MSX in Detroit, USA. The vehicle is being built in the UK because we have a good engineering record and a lot of expertise in low volume car manufacture and "racing" (especially F1) cars.
Have you seen it, or are you spouting a knee-jerk reaction because "everyone knows it's polluted"? It's considered one of the cleanest: Comparison of the Thames and the Severn
Actually, the man behind the whole venture is a New Zealander. We've had this story all over the news tonight. Here's an article from stuff.co.nz claiming it was us all along.
Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?
Longer video available here [nzoom.com]
*ahem* Mr Joseph Swann came up with lightbulbs several years before Mr Edison.
t engine.htm -- so Britain and Germany really share equal honours here...
John Logie Baird, a Scotsman, invented the television.
As for jet engines: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blje
Go away and *research* things before posting wildly innaccurate statements...
I see AOL links to Slashdot now.
World Wide Web is not the same thing as Internet HTTP/HTML was invented by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in the early 90's.
While we're on the subject, a Brit also co-invented the concept of packet switching while working for the Post Office at the same time as it was invented at RAND in the U.S
Lightbulbs- NO. You GOTTA be joking here. Thomas Edison was NOT British...
Erm, Nikola Tesla actually. Although he was Serbian. Edison funded research and marketted the suckers.
Today's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why. -- Hunter S. Thompson
And to clear it up, the lightbulb does seem to be a british development.
Today's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why. -- Hunter S. Thompson
since when did le shuttle take 35 minutes? more like 2hours when you concider boarding, the trip then the unloading is even longer.
Comment: Yes I realise the username 'fuckfuck101' makes me sound intelligent, no you cannot buy it from me.
The Thames has been massively cleaned up over the last 50 years. Yes, it is generally brown in colour; this is suspended sediment and not pollution. Fifty years ago it was essentially dead; recently the counted (I think) over fifty species in it, including salmon and seal. Not that it couldn't do with a bit more cleaning up, but it is enormously improved.
Which means that it could do without a load of speedboat/cars on it.
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
There's a Yahoo slideshow of the vehicle being driven on and off the Thames, here.
Speedlimits are the exception on US waters. There are lots of no-wake zones. Some parts of the ICW have speed limits. And everywhere, you're responsible for the damage your wake causes, and generally for operating the vessel safely. But on most waters, there aren't speed limits per se.
Alan Gibbs is a New Zealander - the jet boat is a New Zealand innovation - he is just using British money.... so this thread should be "Only the Kiwis!" - and I'd a gree with that - if ever there were a pack of wishful thinkers it's New Zealanders....
Sorry - I can't link to a Flash page - where's the HTML version?
Fax Machine - Patented by Scottish mechanic Alexander Bain in 1843.
I know you're an American, but Scotland is part of Great Britian you know.
Lightbulb - First successful electric lightbulb invented by Thomas Edison..
Oh I'm sorry, show the man what he could have won! Joseph Swann invented and demonstrated a practical lightbulb several years before Edison.
World Wide Web - Evolved from a communications network developed under DARPA funding. (ARPANET anyone?) What eventually became the "World Wide Web" was developed by CERN (Based in Geneva, Switzerland.)
NO! Will you people stop doing this! The World Wide Web is not the same thing as the Internet! The Internet was invented in the U.S (Although packet switching was invented independently both in England and the US at the same time). Tim Berners-Lee is an English man who invented the World Wide Web (HTTP and HTML) at CERN in the early 90's.
Toilet Paper - Invented by American Joseph Coyetty in 1857.
Thats fine, but the modern flusing toilet was invented by Thomas Crapper in 1872.
In Wisconsin they are considering requiring some sort of license for Jetskiers. They comprise 1% of the watercraft yet are involved in somewhere around 30-40% of the water accidents.
If all you really want to do is haul around your family/friends/groceries then why not get a nice station wagon? Similar cargo passenger/cargo space, lower center of gravity, higher gas mileage/lower emissions. Or isn't it cool enough? Or do you not fancy your odds of surviving a crash when you're in something that's size is on the same order of magnitude with the rest of the vehicles on the road? For what you're using your SUV for its just a (unnecessarily) raised station wagon with crappy gas mileage.
I think I'll enjoy my '82 Honda Accord a couple years longer: Seats 3 in reasonable comfort + a sub woofer behind the driver's seat, 35 mpg highway, 30 city. Tons of room for luggage if I put the cargo carrier on the roof and the bike rack on the trunk. That's right! I can add more storage space if I need it. Crazy that, huh?
SUVs are for the most part an unnecesary waste of road space and a threat to drivers of smaller cars. I can't even count on two hands the number of times I've had SUVs try and merge into my Honda on the freeway. If you really take 6 people with you every place you go, along with 2 bikes and a propane grill, crossing snow/gravel/dirt/mud on your way on a daily basis then yes an SUV might fit the bill but I highly doubt thats what you're doing. If you got an SUV so you could look cool and screw over other drivers in the event of a crash than at least be honest about it, that's all I ask.
-AX
^I'm with stupid.^
If all you really want to do is haul around your family/friends/groceries then why not get a nice station wagon?
Because a station wagon seats maybe 5, uncomfortably. It also has less cargo area. A proper SUV can seat 5 in comfort, while still having around 35-40 cubic feet for cargo. Similar isn't the same. Station wagons also don't get better gas mileage, at least not the one I used to own nor the one my ex-wife owned. They got around 12mpg city. A good SUV gets 18-20 city.
Or isn't it cool enough?
It was for me. I've owned a station wagon, but never owned an SUV.
Or do you not fancy your odds of surviving a crash when you're in something that's size is on the same order of magnitude with the rest of the vehicles on the road?
Do you know what an order of magnitude is? An SUV is the same size (or smaller) than a regular passenger van. Are you saying no one should get vans, either? How about pickup trucks? No? No one can have those either? Because they are the same 'order of magnitude' as an SUV.
I think I'll enjoy my '82 Honda Accord a couple years longer: Seats 3 in reasonable comfort + a sub woofer behind the driver's seat, 35 mpg highway, 30 city. Tons of room for luggage if I put the cargo carrier on the roof and the bike rack on the trunk. That's right! I can add more storage space if I need it. Crazy that, huh?
Try carrying 5 people + luggage in your accord on a 4 hour road trip. Yeah, MUUUUCH better than taking an SUV. You're right. Everyone should just cram into tiny plastic cars so that other tiny plastic cars don't get as mangled when they fuck up.
SUVs are for the most part an unnecesary waste of road space and a threat to drivers of smaller cars.
Part one of that is your opinion, and part 2 is patently false. An SUV is no more dangerous than any other car on the road. They don't drive themselves, guy. You can't count how many times someone has tried to merge into you in an SUV? Welcome to Earth. I couldn't count on 20 hands the number of idiots in cars that have done that to me. Asshole drivers are asshole drivers whether they're in an SUV or a Miata or an 18-wheeler.
If you really take 6 people with you every place you go, along with 2 bikes and a propane grill, crossing snow/gravel/dirt/mud on your way on a daily basis then yes an SUV might fit the bill but I highly doubt thats what you're doing.
I highly doubt it as well. That's why I don't have an SUV. However, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't be able to buy one. It's a free country, and people in MANY areas of life buy products for other than their IDEAL usage. Grow up. If you don't like SUVs, don't buy one. If other people do, let them buy one. Freedom includes the freedom to let people do things you yourself would not.
If you got an SUV so you could look cool and screw over other drivers in the event of a crash than at least be honest about it, that's all I ask.
I don't have an SUV. If I did, I'd get one because I live in a fairly small town and there's a lot of good 'frodin territory around here. However, I certainly wouldn't APOLOGIZE for wanting to survive a crash. I'm sorry if *my* being safer means someone else isn't, but that's life. I've never caused an accident, and I damn sure want to survive any that others cause. I don't see how surviving a crash is 'screwing' the other driver. If they wanted to have a better chance of surviving, they should have chosen a vehicle that gave it to them.
http://xkcd.com/386/
Yes, indeed. But 'pea soupers' have been out of fashion ever since the burning of coal was outlawed half a century ago. Hopefully, the forthcoming Euro V emissions regs should put the mockers on the current scourge of Diesel particulate emission.
That was classic intercourse!
You're probably thinking of the drainage basins to capture runoff and protect areas of the city against flash flooding. I've seen them full to the top a few times when we've had heavy rains - it's not usual, but it's always entertaining as you always get some clowns who decide to go rafting down them.
But the LA aquaducts, outside the city, are always full of water. They just pipe water in from the mountains, etc.
"Teachers leave us kids alone