It didn't help that two Frenchmen crossed the English Channel in five hours and 20 minutes in an amphicar in 1962 and two English cars set off in the mid-1960s, which proved to be a wise move. After one amphicar broke down with water damage en route, the other car towed the damaged vehicle the rest of the way. After more than seven hours, the amphibious adventure ended on a happy note.
The English Channel is a special test for the conventional design of floating boats with low freeboard, which are designed as displacement vessels and lie deep in the water. This is because when travelling through moving water, it quickly sloshes into the engine compartment and cockpit. In the end, it didn't help that two examples crossed the Yukon River in Alaska in 1965 and an Amphicar appeared in the film "Inspector Clouseau".
The compromise between car and boat was once described as "neither a good car nor a clever boat". A colleague from the floating car scene takes a more favourable view: "The Amphicar is the fastest car in the water and the fastest boat on the road."
The obvious and glib mockery does not do justice to the development from the post-war era. More than seven hundred Amphicars still exist, which speaks for the quality and even more for the enthusiasm and perseverance of the owners in preserving their travelling and floating curiosities. Every year, they are returned to their most beautiful destination, the water, for so-called "swim ins", a collective swimming car bathing day - on the Elbe and Havel rivers and, of course, on waters in the USA.
Incidentally, Mr Amphicar thought about floating cars until he was very old, and his last development, called "Aqua Terra 11", was launched in 1990. Trippel came up with a total of thirty different floating car models.
In 1993, the Renault Racoon was developed in France, an off-road concept designed to cope with water as well as sticks and stones. The four-wheel drive car with a V6 turbo was designed to reach 5 knots in water. A compass on the dashboard was part of the standard equipment and was a reminder of the versatility of this fun vehicle.
Like most floating cars, the Renault was a car that was sealed at the front and bottom to form a closed underwater hull, with the chassis and wheels being pulled through the water.
In the water, the Trippel floating car is even steered rather poorly with the front wheels acting as bow rudders. In view of the small lateral surfaces, the change of course takes a long time and has to be brought about early. During a test run in Venice, a turning circle of 35 metres was measured.
The Aquada, launched in 2002, is a completely different proposition in terms of driving performance and manoeuvrability. Conceived by New Zealander Alan Gibbs over seven years of development, backed by no less than 60 patents and built by Gibbs Technologies in England, the vehicle boasts an impressive top speed of 160 km/h on the road and 27 knots in the water.
In April 2004, the English millionaire Sir Richard Branson drove it across the English Channel in 90 minutes, which incidentally restored the amphibious ranking in favour of Great Britain. He drove the doorless 175-hp roadster with a V-shaped front end under a modified Mazda MX-5 body.
The acceleration values are also impressive: on the road, it reaches the 100 km/h mark from a standstill in less than 10 seconds. In the water, the Aquada should reach the gliding state in 5 seconds. The vehicle is suitable for water skiing. The so-called "High Speed Amphibian", or HSA for short, travels in the water with wheels that are cleverly retracted into the wheel arches. The mechanism is as complex as it is effective.
Switching from road to water mode is done at the touch of a button and takes just 4 seconds. After checking that the water depth is sufficient, the wheels are uncoupled from the drive and recovered. Trim tabs are extended and the standard road lighting is switched to maritime mode. When casting off, the driver simply has to ensure a minimum speed of 2000 rpm so that the water jet drive draws in enough water under the stern.
The jet drive (based on a standard water bike) generates more than a tonne of thrust with a length of 90 cm and a weight of 40 kg. The Aquada is powered by a 175 hp, six-cylinder 2.5-litre engine with 24 valves. The body consists of an aluminium space frame.
Thanks to the inbuilt buoyancy, the Aquada is said to be unsinkable. Three separate bilge pumps can be used for draining if required.
Despite the powerful technology, the unladen weight of the boat is said to be just 1350 kg. Incidentally, the driver sits in the centre, with space for the crew on the port and starboard sides.
The Aquada costs as much as an exquisite sports car, which explains the sluggish sales. After all, it has already cleared the hurdles of the European registration bureaucracy. Gibbs Technologie is currently having fun with the American ...
