19th
May 2004
The Gibbs Aquada - genius or just strange?
Written by David Gregory,
BBC Midlands Today Environment Correspondent
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| The
Gibbs Aquada |
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Strap
yourself in, hold tight and get ready for a thrill-a-second as the
Gibbs Aquada heads for the Motor Show in Birmingham. David Gregory
from BBC Midlands Today test drives the Gibbs Aquada. |
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Boat/Cars.
I mean why would anyone want one, let alone build one. The Gibbs Aquada
looks likes a Mazda MX5 on steroids and driving it on land is a bit
daunting at first.
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| David
Gregory drives the Aquada |
I drive
a Lotus Elise and the Aquada dwarfed that when we parked them side
by side. Its much taller and wider than your average sports car, but
like the Lotus its rear wheel drive and the engine is mounted behind
you.
Mind you the driving position is strange, you sit in the middle of
the car, the steering wheel in the centre of the dash.
But once you get used to it the car has poke, and with a top speed
over 100 miles per hour it certainly wouldn't shame you if you took
it onto a motorway. I was expecting the Aquada to handle, well, like
a boat on wheels. But in fact its sporty, and it feels like you could
throw it around quite happily.
But I didn't really spend much time driving the Aquada on land though,
after a quick briefing on the controls I drove it down to the water's
edge. Press the blue "Land/Water" button and drove slowly
down into the water. Deliberately driving a car into a lake is a very,
very strange feeling.
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| The
wheels rise up |
Once the
wheels leave solid land, they rise up into the car body and you can
pootle along, propelled by a jet propulsion system developed by the
company. It's like driving a car on ice and there are no separate
controls, you keep using the steering wheel and the accelerator. It
only takes a few seconds for the wheels to be stored away, and once
everything is set you can floor the Aquada and really let rip.
You push the accelerator right down and the rear mounted 2.5 litre
V6 engine bellows in your ear. The front of the car soars up to point
skywards and the car begins to move forwards. But then the whole car
rises out of the water and the bonnet tips back down so you can see
where you are going and then it quickly reaches incredible speeds.
The Aquada doesn't plough through water like a boat, instead it planes
across the surface, which means it can get up to 30 miles an hour
on water.
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| David
Gregory |
You can't
let off the accelerator because then the car then dip back into the
water and slow right down. So the engine keeps roaring and you have
to keep going. I slung it through turns and slapped it bouncing through
its own wake. I have never had so much fun in a car.
To
get out, you just drive to the bank, take your foot off the gas and
the car drops back into the water and then moves more slowly towards
dry land. Press the land/water button again and the rubber of the
wheels squeaks as they move down again. And then you just drive straight
out.
The common complaint is that if you had £150,000 you could buy
a great boat and an amazing sports car, rather than something that
tries to combine the two. But drive one and suddenly the Gibbs Aquada
makes sense.
| TICKET
PRICES |
| 28
May to 6 June 2004 (in advance) |
| Adult |
£16
(£13) |
| Child |
£9
(£7) |
| Live
Action Arena |
| Adult |
£6 |
| Child |
£6
|
Tickets to the Motor show are cheaper the earlier you buy. Check the
official site for more details. |
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