Over the weekend me and some buddies were going through YouTube videos. We are all interested in bikes and cars, so that is usually what we scroll through to see what is new out in the ways of video. We were watching some older Ken Block YouTube videos when we stumbled on a more recent video of his showing off his new Subaru-based TRAX STI Snow Cat Concept vehicle. Ken Block is a rally driver for DC Shoes, Monster and Subaru. He is known for being a little strange, doing trick driving and is one of the best rally car drivers out there today. From the video he was driving his new “toy” up and down mountains and down the slopes where other vehicle could only dream of going with regular wheels and tires. This vehicle is a defiant “hybrid” all in it’s own. I did a little research when I got home and found that Popular Science did an article on Ken Blocks new toy on 11.03.2009. With this kind of thinking and merging these two types of different technologies together he not only has made the fastest snow cat out there, but he could have also changed snow rescue vehicle for the future. With something like this the snow patrol could get to hard to reach places quicker, easier and be able to carry and haul more gear or people to the situation area. Before snow patrol used snow mobiles which are small and fast, but carry very little. They also use snow cats which are big and slow, but can carry many people and things. This version of a snow patrol vehicle would merge the two together for the ultimate snow rescue vehicle. Now we just need to do something about those darn snow bunnies and always distracting skiers and snowboarders, so they will not hurt themselves while not paying attention to were they are going.
The Popular Science Article can be found here…
http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-11/baddest-backcountry-shred-machine-subaru-based-trax-sti
The YouTube Video can be found here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTDNLUzjkpg&feature=player_embedded