I happened to flip through TV channels yesterday and there it was... James Bond 007 driving a car that works underwater. Inspiration for a challenge!

A car powered by internal combustion that can be driven underwater.

Can a car with an internal combustion engine be built for underwater running in 10 hours? I think that would be challenging since various solutions would have to be devised to aspirate the engine.

Thoughts?

Thomas

-- Thomas (trh1@concentric.net), January 12, 2001

Answers

Oh... The way to determine the winner I think should be an underwater race course.

Thomas

-- Thomas (trh1@concentric.net), January 12, 2001.

Does anyone remember Swamp Buggy racing on TNN about 5 years ago . This would be a great contest for the show . The standard SwampBuggy was half tractor & half unlimited hydroplane. But came in 2 or 4 wheel drive verions. They were too cool !!! Went 80 MPH in 3 ft.. of water driven only by tractor wheels. They ran a course that was about a mile long & there was a sippy hole at the finish line that was about 8 ft deep, that they had to go threw also. This would make one great show!!!!!!!!! Most had big V8 engines on tube frames with a boat like front to plane on the water . Some even used hydrafoils for lift. I could just see the bodging on this one LOL

-- Rick Lawrence (hoodoo2@povn.com), January 12, 2001.

For swampbuggy racing info, with tons of pics, try: http://www.swampbuggy.com I entered a machine in 1966, made from a 1930 Ford, and my son races now in the jeep class. Airboat races would be cool too, but dangerous. The British navy team almost built one, but didn't know about steering with a rudder in the air stream, as they were not experienced at it. Waddy/ "Rusty's" "expert"

-- Waddy Thompson (cthomp3851@aol.com), January 12, 2001.

I forgot which James Bond movie it was.. "Thunderball" or "Dr. No," not sure. But the dapper Brit spy was driving what looked like a Lotus Turbo Esprit and it was running completely SUBMERGED. Not merely hydroplaning, but *submerged*. It emerged from the water and ran onto a beach. Mr. Bond in shades rolls down the window and drops out a flopping fish.

Possible to build in 10 hours? The driver can be in scuba gear and the passenger carriage open to the water, but the IC engine would be waterproofed and running some sort of on-board air reservoir or snorkel..

Thomas

-- Thomas (trh1@concentric.net), January 12, 2001.

FYI the Bond movie was "For your eyes only."

And that challange would be OH SO HARD!!!

You all know that diesel engines already work underwater? How hard would it be to find one of those and find a snorkel? I'm not an engineer, but i could build that. 5 maybe 10 minutes....

-- Raine Maida (tfath@home.com), January 12, 2001.

There is one problem with a snorkle. the deeper you go the harder it is to draw air down the pipe do to the water presure around you (if you don't beleave me try for yourself with long snorkle and a pool) and to hold it up would have to be pretty strong because of the water resistance and the speed of the car.

-- Robert (Robo_man80@hotmail.com), January 12, 2001.

How deep was that lake from which the teams had to retrieve those mini's in the marine salvage episode? If such depths preclude using a snorkel, I wonder if other alternatives to aspirating the engine can be found?

Kudos Raine and Robert. =)

Thomas

-- Thomas (trh1@concentric.net), January 12, 2001.

You know Robert and Raine, your thoughts just went one further for refining an underwater challenge.

All those Robert Ballard expeditions to the deep to find wrecks like the Titanic and USS Yorktown had some sort of remotely-piloted deep- diving drone. How difficult would building something like that be in 10 hours? I remember the submersible episode in which the Dipsticks and the NERDS competed, and both seem to have problems controlling their machines.

The challenge would be to build a remote-control diving drone to retrieve something from the bottom of a lake. Whoever brings up the object first wins perhaps? I think the teams this time would have to pay real attention to controllability this time around..

Your thoughts?

Thomas

-- Thomas (trh1@concentric.net), January 12, 2001.

The James Bond movie you're thinking of is "The Spy Who Loved Me" and not "For your eyes only". It was a white Lotus tht turned into a submersible for a while and then drove out of the water onto a crowded beach in Sardinia.

-- Tom (geo5370@aol.com), January 13, 2001.

hey thomas i see what your talking a bout but what we are thinking of i a submersible car and we are fine tuning it robert

-- Robert (Robo_man80@hotmail.com), January 13, 2001.

With the intervention of gas-electric hybrid engine, it maybe possible to completly submerge the vechile and use the electric engine as opposed to the gas...no snokel needed. It would not be very powerful or fast, but possibly a good idea. JUNKYARD WAR RULES

-- Chris Marcrum (cmarcrum25@aol.com), January 28, 2002.

Maybe the engine wouldn't need a snorkel for air, maybe if it had it had its own pressurized air tank supply going to the engine(like a scuba diver would) it could certainly go some time without having to surface. It seems the same would go for the cabin as well to keep the occupants breathing easy. Then again the other option is rear driven, electric-powered water jets (running from the battery) like those on boats or in spas, that have some directional jets on each side of the submersible car. If any of this seems silly please contact me.

-- Henry (slickbackcadillac@yahoo.com), March 05, 2003.

engines give off emmissions even around the block areas. I would belive the air supply to the driver would need to be totally isolated from any engine compartment areas. Meaning two seperate air/oxygen supplies would be the saftey standard, unless the engine was also submersed directly exposed to the water in its designing.

-- dr evil (sorrynoneavailable@rr.com), September 11, 2003.

the movie was " the spy who loved me" and yes the car was real and was sold to exxon after the movie was finished...it was Lotus spirit 1977

-- Jesus Contreras (bohemian@hotmail.com), February 08, 2004.