I kind of like it. But I'd take the concept a completely different way.
You see, the first thing that comes to mind, is that I always had a personal split between two car "paradigms".
From the one hand, I'd like a car with 4x4 drive, that wouldn't get stuck in the mud, or worry about it getting dirty.
On the other hand, I always liked fast and nice looking cars. Aka in other words, Hummer or Porsche? That's the question.
(There's some car that attempt to bridge the gap, eg, Subaru Impreza WXD, on virtue of it being 4x4 and turbocharged (0-60 in 3.8 seconds in one model) but in my view, by trying to do both, it doesn't really do any. It neither looks good, nor is a good off roader)
The second thing that comes to mind then, is: I love Buggys <3
Buggy's on virtue of being just a steel tubing around a respectable engine, are ultra light, and end up with a lot more HP than most cars.
They are also ultra tough as well, since their own weight as they "roll" down a hill won't deform them and the steel cages is much safer than flat sheets of hammered metal.
That's what I call "a good off roader":
That's what I call safety:
Although it looks impressive, I have no reason to assume that they guy got hurt. The cage looks in perfect shape to me, if he had a proper sports Idon'trememberhowmanypoints belt, he would neither have hit his head anywhere, and the forces wouldn't really be any more impressive than the guy strapped in the robot arm video.
And that's speed. If you think about it, the reason this one is as fast as hell, is because it is a essentially a buggy with a big honking engine, but with on road performance in mind:
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So instead, here is how this technology would be awesome:
You take a quite respectable, turbocharged engine. And you put it into a tubular space frame.
But instead of having that frame be fixed, you actually make it out of hydraulic pistons and stuff, computer controlled I'd presume.
You flick the switch, and, as some genius in geometry has designed it, you have a low, sport's buggy. Except that because the skin material looks so smooth when stretched, it is also much more aerodynamic, and it also looks good. If it looked as good as the GINA I'd be a happy camper.
But
You flick the switch the other way, the wheels (who would probably be a bit bigger than average in any configuration) extent out and lower from the body, ribs rise up like a convertible's roof over the driver's seat, and BAM instant rock buggy. Wither the material wrinkles etc in that configuration wouldn't be an issue since in that configuration the point wouldn't be to look pretty.
Bonus design points:
a) Already, by being so light you contribute less energy to an accident, what would be even more awesome, is to design the on-road piston based space frame configuration in a way that in an accident all said pistons absorb part of the force as well.
b) Since flexible materials, by virtue of deforming can resist some stuff better, it would be interesting to look into a slighty more carbon fiber reinforce "skin". Say, a bulletproof one that someone can't just take a knife at it.
