Challenge/Special ideas

Here are two ideas... also repeats of things I've posted elsewhere.

Darien Gap


The documentary in the above Dirt Every Day episode almost calls out the British "Yankee ingenuity meant to match the Darien."


The Trans-America Trail.

 
GT nothing, I want to drive the Trans America Trail!
 
Last edited:
What would be the best vehicle in the event of an Electromagnetic Pulse? I'm thinking a small multifuel vehicle, so that it could be pop-started. The old M35 Deuce and a half seems like it would be a good candidate if it was much smaller and could be roll started. Some other candidates would be steam powered vehicles, which I won't link to here since there are many and everyone who is at least my age should have a good idea of what those are.

Edit: If used, this could have a terrific comedic scene inserted somewhere - the EMP hits an office building, the people working inside rise up from their cubicles, run out into the street and scream "freedom!"
 
Last edited:
Mr. Nice said:
What would be the best vehicle in the event of an Electromagnetic Pulse? I'm thinking a small multifuel vehicle, so that it could be pop-started. The old M35 Deuce and a half seems like it would be a good candidate if it was much smaller and could be roll started. Some other candidates would be steam powered vehicles, which I won't link to here since there are many and everyone who is at least my age should have a good idea of what those are.

Edit: If used, this could have a terrific comedic scene inserted somewhere - the EMP hits an office building, the people working inside rise up from their cubicles, run out into the street and scream "freedom!"
Click to expand...

Older Ford pickup with the mechanical 6.9 diesel and a manual transmission is a good choice - it can run on WVO and WMO, both of which will be in plentiful supply for a long time in an EMP environment and you can roll start it. You might not have to as the vehicle is made out of heavy gauge steel and the starter motor is also heavily shielded on that design.
 
Unique Design Internal Combustion Engine

Unique Design Internal Combustion Engine

Either 3 engineering schools, or 3 groups from 1 engineering school, could be teamed up with the presenters to come up with 3 new and unique designs for the internal combustion engine. The teams could then either design, or find, a four wheeled vehicle for their engines, and go on to use them in various competitions and challenges to test how successful they were. An efficiency test would be interesting. I would like to see this sort of idea involve a drag race.
 
Last edited:
Japan-Russia-China roadtrip in Kei-Cars for less than ?2000.

They start in Sapporo (Japan) where we follow them trying to find Kei-Cars (Kinda like Florida special), they ship them over to Vladivostok (Russia), drives north a bit and then in to China and down to Beijing.
 
The Whisky Trail in the US -- in three cars the presenters are documented as absolutely HATING.

For Jeremy: Toyota Corolla mI hatchback with automatic
For Richard: Nissan Juke
For James: Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24

They could get a lot of mileage out of them accusing Mr. Wilman of attempting to kill them with boredom / heat exhaustion / apoplexy.
 
They got a budget of ?5000 and has to buy a Limo online/unseen and then start in Freetown (Sierra Leone) go through Liberia, Cote d'Ivire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeira, Cameroon and finish in Libreville (Gabon).
 
Car vs. Glider? The glider would probably have to start out in the air and land at an airport.

 
Last edited:
Puerto Rico. Instead of something stupid like "Feed the World" this could just be a display of how the United States has failed some its own citizens. Maybe a drilling rig could be used to drill some water wells. If they wanted to get really ambitious, something like building a "hurricane proof" concrete home or a small neighborhood of concrete homes could be done.
 
This will never happen, but I'd like to see someone throw a natural gas fuel cell into the back of a Ford Transit (or any van, really), hook it up to what it needs to run, then hook an electric motor up to that to see if it can all come together into something that works.

https://www.redoxenergy.com/products

I read years ago that natural gas fuel cells require a lot more heat than hydrogen. With that said, natural gas is already plumbed in to many houses and petrol stations.

On a lighter note, I'd also like to see a video for The Grand Tour start out with the three presenters shorting Tesla stock. I'd love to see them claim that it's mostly what they do in their off time.
 
Last edited:
An engine is much less efficient than a fuel cell paired with an electric motor.

For some people, the point of a hydrogen fuel cell is to get away from fossil fuels. While I do understand their argument, the majority of hydrogen is still harvested from steam reforming natural gas. Why not cut out the middle man, raise efficiency, and move forward to more reliable electric motors?

While I am talking about this stuff, it's worth mentioning that I feel that, with our current battery technology, battery powered electric cars are worthless when being used for anything other than a commuter. Taking half an hour or more to recharge is too unreasonable for most people when on a longer journey. A natural gas cylinder, however, can be refilled in a matter of minutes.

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-lithium-battery-future/
 
Last edited:

I watched this some months ago. Would the three presenters be able to ride together in a similar type of vehicle for a distance nearly as great?
 
Last edited:
I think they would murder each other, but they could try it and see how far they get before arranging their own vehicles.
 
People have often typed in the past of how they'd wanted the presenters to buy vehicles for each other. That idea could be a good punishment for failure. I can picture James and Richard buying Jeremy a motorcycle, or a bicycle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top