gavriil

Rinspeed to debut driving, swimming and flying Splash at Geneva


By ANDREW LUU


So you think the hybrid Toyota Prius and 700-cc Smart Roadster are pretty trick? If the eclectic Swiss engineering firm Rinspeed has anything to say about it, that hardware may be passé by the time we get to the Geneva auto show.

At Geneva, Rinspeed will debut something called the Splash, which the company claims will be the first car to drive, swim and—get this—fly. Rinspeed claims its compact rear-wheel-drive two-seat sports car will run 0 to 62 mph in 5.9 seconds and hit a top speed of 124 mph on the road. But here’s the trick part: The Splash can also achieve a maximum of 31 mph on water and 50 mph in mid-hover, thanks to a hydraulically controlled foldable wing system that allows the vehicle to actually achieve lift over open water. And the topper? The Splash produces power for all this wizardry with a turbocharged twin-cylinder 750-cc natural gas-fueled engine that delivers an amazing 140 hp (compared to the Smart’s 80 hp from 700 cc, for instance).

Will we see it on the roads and waterways in the near future? With Rinspeed, we’d say the sky’s the limit.

Source: Autoweek

sho_nuff1997

iTrader: (2)

crossing the english channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWNirax06_A


http://www.diseno-art.com/encycloped...ed_splash.html

biker

Nice resurrection. Those crazy Swiss.