[DML] Re: 4X4s and hovercrafts

["ryanpwright" <dmcnews_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have to weigh in on that hovercraft episode.

First off, that Jesse guy is a punk, but I guess that's how they
decided to pull in viewers. So, whatever. My real point is that clown
doesn't know a thing about hovercraft. The first attempt with putting
the panels on that Scat (that's the brand of the hovercraft, FYI) was
real iffy already. Those things only lift a few hundred pounds.

When he came out and whined about the "lame" design, demanding the
DeLorean itself be turned into a hovercraft, I immediately knew it
wouldn't work. The car is way too heavy. You'd be hard pressed to lift
that sucker with it's own engine, let alone drive it around on a less
than firm surface. Doing it with the Scat's engine was simply impossible.

I'm no hovercraft expert, but I know enough; I'm building an 8
passenger 20 foot Sevtec Explorer hovercraft in my garage. The
completed craft will weigh about 1200lbs, engine included. It will
have a 1400lb payload and needs 80hp to operate conservatively. This
craft is /designed/ as a hovercraft and at 20' x 12' has vastly more
lifting area than a DeLorean.

Could you turn a DeLorean into a hovercraft? Sure, but you'd need an
awful lot of engineering work, a proper skirt, the underside of the
car 100% sealed, and several hundred hp just to start with. Quite
honestly I think it'd be hard to do with fans. A turbine would be your
best bet.

The other alternative is to build a proper hovercraft base and simply
attach the car to that. You'd still need a lot of engineering and
horsepower to make it happen.

-Ryan

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, darryl@xxxx wrote:
> 
> Rich, I wasn't meaning anything negative toward your cars.  I know you 
> purchased the 4X4 and vastly improved it, as it was pretty crude
when I looked 
> into getting it.  What I was referring to was the next guy, trying
to copy you 
> with some half-baked attempt.  And the hovercraft part was squarely
aimed at 
> the MG car.  That whole fiasco was ill-advised, and why people like
Don and 
> the rest would contribute to such a negative effort is beyond me. 
At least 
> your cars continue to "live" in modified form; that one was executed
in front 
> of millions of viewers.  Not a pretty sight.
> 
> I'm hardly a puritan on this subject, having been a street rodder
all my 
> life.  Heck, I even once pursued making a full custom out of a
Tucker!  I also 
> parted out 6 DeLoreans that were far beyond saving.  But the older I
get the 
> more I appreciate how these rare cars need to be preserved as much as 
> possible.  And yet I still wouldn't trade my blown car for a stock
one...
> 
> Darryl T.
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------
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