'World's first diving car' goes for a swim at Silver Springs
BY KEVIN CARTER
Special to the Star-Banner
SILVER SPRINGS - A new concept car by a Swiss auto design company that made a local splash recently could make gadget lovers everywhere green with envy.
The first car to travel on land, underwater and on top of the water navigated the headwaters at Silver Springs theme park with ease.
A small fleet of glass bottom tour boats sat anchored nearby in the otherwise empty park as the hybrid vehicle took center stage. Film crews shot footage as the novelty car took some laps above water before slowly sinking below water for more.
The sQuba is the creation of Frank Rinderknecht, owner, president and CEO of Rinspeed, a Swiss company that makes specialty car parts, designs cars and creates custom cars across the world.
Cars that can travel on land and zip along on top of the water are nothing new. The ability to function underwater as well makes this car a pioneer.
"This is the world's first diving car ever," Rinderknecht said.
The electric-powered convertible two-seater with the sleek body of a Lotus and capabilities of a fish is the kind of car 007 would love.
The difference is that the Lotus Esprit James Bond drove into the ocean in the 1977 movie "The Spy Who Loved Me" couldn't actually motor about underwater as it appeared to in the film.
It has been 30 years since Bond drove a car into the ocean and kept going under water, Rinderknecht said. "That was fiction. We made it real."
Bond fans may counter that this Lotus doesn't sport torpedoes, depth charges, surface-to-air missiles or an alluring Russian espionage agent played by Barbara Bach.
But that's quibbling.
A promotional video the company shot at Silver Springs played off the secret-agent theme using West Palm Beach model and commercial actress Brittney Helene as arm candy for an actor playing a pseudo-Bond.
"I'll be James Bond's assistant/girlfriend/mistress," she said. "I'm his sidekick."
Certified diver Arlene Klein of Summerfield, a mermaid in "Splash II," played the role of stunt double for Helene during the underwater shots taken in Silver Springs.
The company chose to film in Silver Springs because it had all the features the snow-covered lakes with murky water back home in Switzerland didn't.
"The clarity of the water, the depth and the accessibility are key reasons," said Silver Springs spokesman Steve Specht. "It's the same reason six Tarzan movies, the movie 'Creature From the Black Lagoon' and the 'Sea Hunt' episodes were filmed here," he said. "The fresh water doesn't take a toll on camera equipment the way salt water does."
Driver Fabian Grob of Switzerland used two hand levers to control the direction and two foot pedals to control the thrust of the vehicle.
Clothed in a wetsuit, Grob puttered several hundred yards from a dock the car had been lowered from, riding with water reaching midway to the top of the car's wheels. He then opened the car door to let in enough water so the vehicle could submerge.
As he sank below the surface, Grob pulled a mask over his eyes and donned a scuba regulator connected to tanks built into the car to breathe.
Because of the danger a seatbelt would pose in an underwater emergency, small weights were used to keep him from floating up out of his seat.
"It's fun," Grob said of his drive. "The water is quite warm here. No problem."
The car cost $1.5 million to create and went from concept to completion in seven months. A one-of-a-kind showpiece, the car will tour auto shows and be used as a promotional product for the company, with no intention of ever being sold to a mass market.
"It's to show competence," Rinderknecht said about what drove him to build the car. "It's a passion to build something no one has done before."
The sQuba made its appearance in Silver Springs on Feb. 4.
A film crew from National Geographic Asia was on hand to capture the car's progress for a show that may air this summer. A 24-hour German news network and a Japanese crew from TV Tokyo were on hand as well to document the car's progress.
All news organizations, including the Star-Banner, agreed to the company's embargo on releasing pictures, footage and news of the car until mid-February as a condition to gain access to the vehicle.
The sQuba can reach about 80 mph on land, about 8 mph on top of the water and about 4 mph underwater. It weighs 2,000 pounds and can sink to a depth of 33 feet and stay underwater for a little over an hour.
The car floats on water until the door is cracked to let water in to submerge the vehicle.
The occupant's air comes from an integrated tank of compressed air.
The car's combustion engine was removed and replaced by several electric motors. The car produces no exhaust emissions. Power is supplied by rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries.
The vehicle is capable of autonomous driving on land due to a sophisticated laser sensor system.
Source: Swiss custom car-making company Rinspeed