Jalopnik: Water

Travis Pastrana Jumps Motorycle From Water

Wes Siler — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:45:00 EDT

Travis Pastrana, rally driver and motorcycle stuntman extraordinaire, has completed the world's first Hydrojump. The stunt consisted of mooring a ramp 110 feet from the shore in five-foot deep water. He then raced his motocross bike at the water in excess of 70mph, keeping the power on as he went feet wet. This was fast enough for him to hydroplane all the way out to the ramp and jump off of it. The bike was completely stock, with no flotation devices or special tires.

The stunt was made all the more difficult due to the choppy waves and windy conditions. Pastrana needed to hit the four-foot wide ramp with precisely the right amount of speed, flotation and angle; otherwise it'd have been like hitting a wall.

Speaking immediately afterwards, Pastrana said, "This is one of the most dangerous jumps I have ever made. If I had failed to get into the lake at the proper speed I could have ended up hitting the ramp really hard."

The stunt will form part of the Nitro Circus 6 DVD.
[Via Hell For Leather]

New York Auto Show: Jeep Tent Gets Swamped, Trail-Rating In Jeopardy!

Ray Wert — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:01:05 EDT

Right before the new ~~Nitro~~ Liberty reveal, we accidentally happened into the tent of the trail-rated brand, Jeep. You know it's getting bad for the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid when they're too busy trying to make sure their pretty Jeeps aren't getting all wet and dirty here at the Auto Show from all of the rain seepage. Check out all of the wetness in the gallery below. – Ray Wert

Water Engine for Real? Scientists Say H20-to-Hydrogen System Could Be Ready by Decade's End

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 11:54:10 EDT

In David Mamet's "The Water Engine," an amateur inventor derives an engine that runs on water, with which he plans to become rich and change the world. Too bad he's the only one in the whole play — including the audience — who doesn't know how forces beyond his control will conspire to extinguish his dream. Barring the same fate, a team of scientists from Minnesota University and Weizmann Institute of Science are working up a fuel-cell car that can crack its own hydrogen from a tank of water.

According to New Scientist, the car will be able to produce hydrogen to run the fuel cell via a reaction of boron with water, producing a gas that can either power an internal combustion engine or generate electricity. The only emissions of such a reaction is boron oxide, which can be reconverted back to boron. A prototype could surface by 2009, if no "accidents" happen.

Water Driven Car Might Be Available by 2009 [Hybrid Car News]

Three Feet High and Rising: Northeast Flood Wrecks Roads

maustin — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 13:30:09 EDT

"We gotta head for higher ground, we can't come back till the water comes down. Five feet high and risin'."

Yeah, we just mixed a De La Soul reference with a Johnny Cash reference, but hey — at least we didn't throw in They Might Be Giants. The Northeast part of our grand nation is still under water and it's wreaking havoc on the road system, to say nothing of the thousands of families forced to evacuate. This section of I-88 in New York was knocked out yesterday, and scattered rain is predicted for today. Where's a Gibbs Aquada when you really need one?

Heavy rains flood the Northeast [Yahoo! News]

Related:
Parking in D.C. the Sercret Service Way [internal]

Now That's Some High Quality H20 — Car Runs On Water!

Ray Wert — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 16:42:18 EDT

Our gadgety friends at Gizmodo tossed us this one — there's a company called Hydrogen Technologies, and they used distilled water in some kind of a chemical process to run a car. Here's the best part — it gets like 25 miles to the ounce! Someone's gotta get some protection over to these guys pronto before they get black helicopter-ed by ExxonMobil and the rest of Big Oil.

Prototype car runs 100 miles on four ounces of water as fuel [MobileMag via Gizmodo]