Peter Wheeler’s End of Days
Quite possibly the most bizarre vehicle to ever actually be built, the TVR Scamander RRV (Rapid Response Vehicle) was Peter Wheeler’s last project before he died. The project was started in 2003 and has been a work in progress up until now.
The idea is a go anywhere vehicle. Rough land, asphalt, and water is no match for the Scamander. It’s a one-off vehicle that was tested on Peter Wheeler’s own farm and is completely amphibious.
The details of the “car” are many. It has 11-inches of ground clearance, 11” travel in the front, 15” travel in the rear, double wishbone suspension all around, a pickup truck style bed, a sliding canopy, 3-seats with driver front & center, one seat folds down for a stretcher, and it has a mid-mounted 300hp V6 engine to which a rear propeller is attached.
Instead of side & rear view mirrors it has cameras with video screens inside and the driver visibility is unmatched due to panoramic windows and additional windows in the front wheel wells to see exactly what you’re driving over.
The Scamander looks like it was built in another galaxy and delivered to earth through a wormhole. This vehicle could probably make its way across Mars (if there was any air and water of course). Can you say Hollywood appearance?
The only unfortunate thing, Peter Wheeler never got to see the vehicle finished as he died in 2009 but thanks to his team of extraordinary engineers who have spent most of the 21st century making this vehicle a reality, it’s finally finished.
Check out some of the videos on youtube below.
Sweden’s Bunkers
With no domestic sources of fossil fuels (well – except for wood of course), there has always been a push in Sweden to go for local sources of energy. A fairly large number of reasonably sized rivers made hydropower an interesting alternative and large installations were made in the early 1900s. The main railways in Sweden were electrified from 1914 and onwards and at the time of WWII, a substantial coverage had been achieved by international standards. Today some > 95% of the rail transport effort is done with electric traction.
