Rinspeed's First Under Water Car

[scannon]

Mr Bond, your new car is ready...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJC7E06IBXI

 

Two weeks after delivery.

 

Insurance adjuster: Mr Bond, please explain the front end damage.

 

007: I hit a coral head at a depth of 25'.

[Automoda]

Darling, whats that stink?

 

My God, James, there's a weeks old dead fish in the heater vent!

 

Great googly moogly! And I thought it was your octapussy!

[xcarguy]

So, just exactly how much moneypenny will this set one back? :jester:

[scannon]

So, just exactly how much moneypenny will this set one back? :jester:

 

Perhaps more than all of us could afford if we combined our resources.

[Croc]

The car has been around 2 or so years in non-autonomous driving version. I recall reading it cost $1.2-1.5m depending on options. I did not want to buy one as they could not install torpedoes. :hat:

 

 

Given it is based on the Lotus Elise will the Lucas electrics work better or worse underwater?:willy_nilly:

[yellowss7]

Looks like it understeers a bit underwater. :jester:

[Croc]

Would 10 inch slicks help fix that problem? :jester:

[NVP66S]

At least they didn't misrepresent it by pretending the interior stayed dry, as did the Esprit in the Spy Who Loved Me. You'll also notice it's kinda slow and didn't have good depth maintenance ability. Those thrusters look like they're good for about 1 HP each. We had four 5HP thrusters on the Esprit, and the movie production company (Eon Productions) was asking for more speed. IIRC, the Shark Hunters that the bad guys used in the movie were single 5HP thrusters but far less drag. http://www.originalprop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/James-Bond-Spy-Who-Loved-Me-Wet-Sub-Movie-Prop-Auction.jpg

 

If you look at the Bond movie clips, you'll see the diving planes on the wheel well covers are rigged for positive lift.

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/james-bond-lotus-esprit-submarine.jpg

That's because the Lotus is designed for aerodynamic downforce in thin air, and the lift in dense water needed to be countered. (lift is a direct function of density and velocity squared)

 

I designed and built two subs at home many years ago, and if anyone here is seriously interested, I have ideas for a fun off-road vehicle that is trailered to the beach, drives off the trailer and across the beach, swims to the dive site, then dives. The driver and passenger have SCUBA mouthpieces similar to the Rinspeed. I estimate cost & difficulty to build to be about like a Locost. Propulsion by MinnKota trolling motors. Start with one of these: http://www.vincelewis.net/max6x6.html

 

Gut the drivetrain, replace with electric motors and oil compensated Pb-acid batteries, add ballast tanks & SCUBA gear, etc.

Edited December 16, 2014 by NVP66S

[Hettric]

There's this

[NVP66S]

Hadn't seen that, thanks for sharing.