When your aim is to travel across the great ice plains of Antarctica, a normal car or truck meant for highways and regular streets probably isn't going to meet your specific needs. You need a vehicle designed for the wide expanses of ice down on the bottom of the world.
The Lotus Concept Ice Vehicle (CIV) is made for the Antarctic. Scooting around on ice runners rather than wheels and moved forward with a propeller, it's definitely not like any car you've ever seen. It only seats one, but the chances are good that you won't be bringing anyone to soccer practice in Antarctica. It runs on biofuel, which makes it nice and environmentally friendly, and it has a spiked foot that is lowered down onto the ice as a brake. If you've got to make it to the south pole in style, accept no substitutes.
editor@dvice.com
By Ken in Antarctica at 9:54 PM ON 08/20/08
One Word: Windchill. The pilot is going to freeze his face off. An open prop?
That thing will get down here to McMurdo only to be re-engineered to work in Antarctica. That thing is a death trap on ice.
By John Mansfield at 11:38 PM ON 08/20/08
Speaking as someone who has worked for Lotus, I am very happy to see them becoming the Industrial partner of choice for many academic/real world projects!
I am encouraging them to become even more proactive in the R&D field (Google: Motorsport University Malaysia).
I feel this project is only the tip of the iceberg as far as lotus are concerned.
By Don B. at 2:19 PM ON 08/24/08
It sounds like someone took the idea form the '60's cartoon "Jonny Quest". They had one with the same features but could carry 2 or 3 people. The episode is 'Artic Splashdown' and it is on YouTube.
By Hensen at 1:43 PM ON 08/26/08
KEN: it's not in the article, and I know it CAN be manually piloted, but it's actually intended to be an unmanned craft ie. it's a remote vehicle. It's fitted with a radar so it travels ahead of the heavier vehicles and scans for unseen crevasses...
Not sure about the open prop tho? You'd assume Lotus has done it's research considering it's supposed to be going to the South pole... but who knows?!