Rinspeed splash- A concept car with flair
Rinspeed is one of Switzerland’s most famous automotive specialists. The company takes production cars from famous brands and makes further performance-enhancing changes. They also build individual cars to order, design bodywork and automotive equipment, and provide consulting services for the automotive industry worldwide. As such, they are perfectly placed to produce concept cars, and they do so with flair.
It took the designers at Rinspeed just seven months to create the fully functioning Splash. Its body is constructed from a lightweight carbon so that it only weighs an amazing 825kg. The gas tank of the Splash is also made from environmentally-friendly composite materials.
Having a bivalent engine, the Splash lays claim to being the first amphibious vehicle in the world to have the option of also running on natural gas in the manner of some of the latest dual-fuel vehicles. The rear engine of the car is the type which is typically found in personal watercraft and snowmobiles. The four-valve two-cylinder motor is exceptionally compact and lighter than most comparable engines.
As a hydrofoil, it ‘flies’ from 30 to 80km/h; and as a boat, it sails at a maximum speed comfortable for water-skiing — 50km/h. The Splash can of course drive on land, becoming a stylish sports car with a maximum speed of 199.5km/h.
Amazingly, its size and weight belie the power it can produce. A mere 5.9 seconds is all it takes to reach 10Okm/h on land. Its engine produces a minimum of 140hp at 7,000 rotations per minute, with a torque maximum of 150nm at just 3,500 rotations per minute.
In order to ‘fly’ on its hydrofoils, the Splash must start in the water at a minimum depth of just over a metre of water, and the driver to activate the car’s stern drive. Manipulation of the gearbox instructs the cleverly hidden Z-drive under the Formula 1-style spoiler to open up and neatly tuck itself under the car. The Z-Drive then drops its self-contained propeller down into the water. Activated electronically and hydraulically, the propeller may or may not reach its fully outstretched, upright position at this time, depending on the depth of the water.
A minimum depth of about one and a third metres of water is then required for two half-hydrofoil ‘wings’ to shed their camouflage from the exterior of either side of the car. They turn 90 degrees from their original position, reach a vertical parallel to one another and stop, forming each half of a ‘V shape hydrofoil. Only with this hydrofoil in place, and when a minimum speed of 30km/h is reached, does the Splash begin to lift its body from the water’s surface.
When in true hydrofoil operation, the wheels are kept dry as the,vehicle then hovers a good 60cm above the surface of the water. Naturally, the ‘hull’ of this multi-tasking creation is designed to prevent internal water damage, but in the rare case that water should enter the confines of the Splash, a pumping arrangement, similar to that found on boats, quickly expels the water.