Flying Car!

Ever since the year 2000 hit, you've probably been wondering where the hell is your flying car.

Here it is. The Terrafugia Transition Roadable Aircraft, cleared for highway use on June 30 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In order to get there, they had to give it some exemptions from regulations other cars have to follow- a lighter windshield, aircraft tires, and the FAA had to give it a weight exemption allowing it to fly 110 pounds heavier than other planes in the 'light sport aircraft' category into which it has been placed.

It's not going to be the greatest car in the world. It's only got 100 horsepower. It will only do 65 MPH on the road and 115 MPH in the air. You'll need 1,700 feet of road in order to take off, plus room to fold out the wings, which will take 30 seconds to do. But hey. Flying car. You wanted a flying car, here's a flying car.

If all goes well, it will be available at the end of 2012 and will run you a mere quarter-million dollars.

Meanwhile, Urban Aeronautics out of Israel is trying to develop a flying car of their own, called the AirMule. It's not ready yet- steering and stability are still kinks that have to be ironed out- but not only do they plan to make it fly, they want to add robot arms to it as well. That, however, is going to keep it off the showroom floor; the robot arms are intended for inspection and maintenance- power lines, bridges, things like that. You won't get to have new and amusing ways to cut off some guy in traffic.

And also, they don't intend to make it a manned vehicle. It's to be operated remotely. Which is a total buzzkill.

You can't get too down, though. One flying car is plenty to be giddy over.

Such A Timely Matter, Here, At The Start Of Spring

Burned out from a hell night at work, so in all things burnout-related, we turn to Top Gear to save the day. Here they answer the question, can you make a snowplow of a combine harvester.

They would ultimately show that on country roads, the combine was really rather effective. But first, they tried it in a town. Skip to 6:00, and note that the uploader reversed the footage to get around a copyright issue (never had any idea how that manages to be effective, but there you go)...

A Distraction

I, like a lot of people, am still trying to work through the Tuscon shootings emotionally. And I know I'm not alone in the fact that I've thought some things over the past few days that are for me completely out of character. I've almost said them out loud before stopping myself. I might have actually said them out loud. I've seen some very nice, very respectful people say things they under anything resembling normal circumstances, even during other shooting massacres, would never, ever find themselves saying. If you find yourself in this situation, know you're not alone. Try not to take some of what other people you know to be generally decent say too personally. They may be having a hard time dealing with it all as well.

That's why nothing was posted yesterday, largely. Partly, I'm still in my own little world of mourning, but also, I didn't want to say something I'd regret later. Right now, the thing I need, the thing a lot of us need, is some sort of silly little distraction. Something light to keep us going so we can better get through this.

So here's Jeremy Clarkson trying to drive a three-wheeled car called a Reliant Robin.

Ow

Yesterday I played in a charity softball tournament. My body is currently telling me how it never wants me to do that again. I am sore, I am sunburned, I cut up both my lega sliding into bases.

So I'm just going to throw up a Top Gear clip today and have done with it.

Everything's Better When You Add 93 Years And Japan

That's an Octoauto. It was the brainchild of one Milton Reeves, who one day watched a train go by and said 'Look at that smooth ride it's getting. It must be all those wheels! If I put them all on a car, it will have a smooth ride too!'

Never mind that a train runs on metal rails while a car runs on what is essentially packed rocks. On 1911 roads. Or that more wheels means a much larger turning circle. Or that the damn thing just looked ugly as sin.

Absolutely nobody wanted it. Not a single order came in. Reeves' solution: make a six-wheeled car called the Sextoauto. That didn't work out too well either.

Reeves also invented the muffler, so he did have that.

Many years passed.

Cars are more advanced, roads are more paved, and in 2004, of all the things to look into, a team at Japan's Kelo University tried the Octoauto again. As an electric car.

Let us compare it in a drag race to a Porsche 911.

Caravan Conkers

Today we learn that most important of things: if you ever find yourself slamming caravans into each other to see which one falls apart first, which caravan is most durable?

Luckily, Top Gear is on the case.