Looks like an alien landscape doesn’t it?
It may seem that we are going to review a Mars Rover today.
Well I hope we’ll make it some day, but today you’ll see the newest and awesome
hovercraft, its called mIrage!
Hi guys as usually its me just a voice over and you are watching review machines.
And today we’ve found one more unique machine for you.
It is the newest hovercraft which is called mIrage.
First of all it is worth saying that any hovercraft is a real all terrain vehicle for any season
and any type of ground.
Water, ice, snow, swamp, - a hovercraft can gracefully slide on all these types of surfaces.
Today we’ll try to test this machine on each type of ground, so its going to be very
interesting!
By the way I can’t stop myself from saying it is so beautiful peace of machinery isnt’it?
Usually hovercrafts are dull, but this one is so bright and impressive!
Well mirage is quite a large vessel, ten people can sit there.
The body is made of aluminum and durable plastic.
It is moved by two huge fans – an air intake fan and a lead fan.
An air intake fan makes the machine fly, and a lead fan pushes it forward.
There are several rudders, the hovercraft can maneuver because of them.
There are two doors on the both sides, they open upwards.
There is one engine it drives the both fans, it is quite powerful and very reliable diesel
Toyota 180 hp.
The access to the engine is directly from the cabin it is a useful feature for any serious
atv.
The interior is simple, nothing special, but the drivers seat looks like one from a spaceship.
By the way mirage is not only hovercraft that you’ll see in this video.
One more vessel will help us today it is called Pegas.
It is significantly smaller than mirage, but its faster and more maneuverable.
There five seats on board, the body is made of plastic with metal frame.
The engine is gasoline Subaru 170 hp.
Well I think its enough of theory lets see what these machines can show us in practice!
Lets start the engine, push throttle and mirage is taking off!
We are flying!
We start our tests on a spring field with melted and soiled snow.
It think its needless to say that any other wheeled vehicle can hardly move here, cause
it is thawing and the ground is quite squishy.
But where it is tough for any other machines is perfect for hovercrafts.
No matter what the condition of the ground is, mirage is flying like a bird…but not
very high.
By the way the idea of such machines is far from being new.
It started long ago in 18 century and in 19 century were the first attempts to make a
hovercraft.
But first real vessels were made in USSR in early 30th.
It was made about 15 different machines, but all of them were destroyed in war.
After the war first vessels were made in 1959 by Kris Kokerell In Great Britain and it was
his idea to call these machines a hovercraft.
Nowadays all the modern hovercrafts are based on Kokerell construction including our mirage
and pegas.
Well as I’ve said hovercrafts are all season amphibious vessels.
But do not think there are no drawbacks.
There is a drawback and it is huge.
Yes it can move on any kind of ground, BUT…the ground must be quite flat.
No, we don’t need and ideal surface like a mirror.
Of course it can move on some roughness and resist stones and hummocks.
According to the specs it is able to overcome an obstacle with 30 cm high.
Not very much but quite enough for an average wild field.
So any hovercraft is designed to move through open and spacious sites, and it is impossible
to drive it into forest for example or to mountains.
There is another quite important drawback.
It is hard to climb from water on a steep bank in this machine.
But lets find out in practice.
We found an average ascent from water, its about 25 degrees inclination.
Besides we see here huge ice crack, that also may add some problems.
But anyway lets try!
As you see there no problems for the both machines.
Now lets try it bacwards from ground to water.
Long and huge mirage slightly gets stuck in the ice, but push the throttle a bit and the
hovercraft keeps on moving.
Now we are changing the location, we’re moving straight on the huge river.
It is still covered with ice but somewhere we see an open water.
The vessels gracefully slide across the river, no matter what type of surface we have.
But it is the ice where any hovercraft can show the best performance!
They can reach maximum speed there.
It is worth saying that hovercrafts are quite maneuverable, they can turn around on the
spot.
But also I should mention huge braking distance.
It is impossible to stop the machine quickly if it has gathered high speed.
The fuel consumption is significantly depends on the type of the ground and a load.
Approximately it is 25 lilters per hour with the speed 60 km/h.
If something happens to the engine when you are moving on water – it is no problem,
cause all the hovercrafts are like a boat and can easily float.
Also I want to mention that the machine moves very smoothly…no wonder it doesn’t contact
with the ground directly.
On the other hand it is very noisy inside the machine, two huge fans make a lot of noise,
no matter what sound proofing system the body has.
More over I think its worth of it to bear any noise but have the possibility to enjoy
such views.
Isn’t it?
Now it
is high time to check the maximum speed.
According to the official specs maximum speed is 90 km/h.
Lets see what we have on practice!
By the way if we consider a hovercraft as a kind of ATV it is obvious that it is the
fastest amphibious atv.
No other wheeled or tracked vehicle can be compared with a hovercraft.
Especially on water, where all the traditional amphibious atv are very slow.
Meantime we managed even to exceed official specs, we did more than a 100 km/h.
And now we can see an impressive ability of the aircraft to slide on any kind of surface.
Ice…water…and ground.
Well I think its awesome, but not lets talk a little about the most practical thing – about
the prices.
The total sum may depend on various options, I can say only about standard prices.
The hovercraft Pegas costs about 40 thousand dollars and mirage is about 75 thousand.
Also I want to say when you see these beautiful machines for the first time they impress you
greatly…and you will be even more impressed when you see what they can do.
In this video I’ve tried to share my emotions with you, I hope you liked it.
And finally I’d like to ask YOU what you think about hovercrafts.
What would you choose – a traditional wheeled or tracked atv or some hovercraft?
Please post comments with your opinions, it is very interesting to read them!
Thanks for watching guys, please consider subscribing the channel if you liked this
video, stay with us, it will be many more interesting materials here, good bye!