It's Friday! Border Collie + hamster wheel = go! [w/VIDEO]
Bordercolliebil - Click above to watch the trailer after the break
While there seems to have always been jokes about cars driven by hamster wheels (especially during the Chevette era), to our knowledge no one had ever created an actual vehicle powered by an animal running in place. OK, there was that horse-on-a-treadmill thingy but it's doubtful you could ever get a horse in there to do his thing safely. Besides that, horses on treadmills had never even been proposed as a punchline until that contraption was conceived after that long night its inventor spent locked in a barn with a bag of "special" mushrooms. But I digress.
The low-slung open-wheel machine we present for your perusal today ends any speculation about whether the hamster-wheel drivetrain is a viable low-carbon propulsive possibility. Of course, using real hamsters might be construed as cruel and bring down the wrath of the lettuce-wearing PETA people and so the hoop in question is up-sized to befit a Border Collie. Built on a frame of recyclable time-formed cellulosic material (ie. wood), the roadster is limited to one milk-bone motivated pup power and makes speed appropriate for its young driver. Although a dog-treat-to-wheels CO2 analysis has yet to be performed we expect the vehicles canine-contoured carbon footprint to be relatively negligible compared to a gas-powered craft of a similar size. Hit the jump for a minute's worth of hamster-wheel driven go-cart craziness and perhaps visit the Google-translated Bordercolliebil blog for a little of the project's background. Happy Friday!
[Source: Bordercolliebil]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eletruk 6:02PM (9/18/2009)
Well I see that the dog bone provides absolutely no incentive to the dog. Matter of fact, it seems the energy expended by the dog owner running along side encouraging the dog would have been better used pedaling.
Reply
tedd 6:45PM (9/18/2009)
YOU ARE A BUZZKILL MAN!
randomdude 3:17AM (9/19/2009)
The propulsion of the future!
Even though it currently is quite heavy and big, in a few years Hamsters will take over and then...
Reply
Domenick Yoney 11:56AM (9/19/2009)
"and then..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40