Teams to build (possibly in an extended period of time) an armored personnel carrier which 1. must be cabable of transporting compleat team through an obstical course (in a race?) 2. must be bullet proof (yes, of course it is to be shot at - if you're in a good mood the teams could be removed first). Both tests could be made in a military vehicle testing ground. Winner needs to have most overall effective vehicle without being penetrated by small arms (machine gun?) fire. If both are penetrated than the unit with least holes. I think the shooting will generate good ratings.

-- mike remling (remlingmike@yahoo.com), January 30, 2001

Answers

Building an armoured vehicle from scrap has been a popular pastime during various wars. The usual solution is to surround a truck with boiler plate, or a "sandwich" of metal and plywood.

Without getting into the increadibly dangerous aspect of being shot at (most of these vehicles are useless against anything bigger than thrown rocks), the challenge of going "cross country" would be almost certain disaster since the machine would be quite top-heavy, unbalanced and underpowered. For a simple demonstration, strap a one thousand kilogram pallet of bricks on the roof of your car and go for a drive...

If you are looking for quasi-military devices for the show, cross-country transporter trucks, all terrain forklifts (yes, they do exist), or "self loading" pallet handling systems attached to a truck might be more appropos, not to mention the team can live through the quarter final...

-- Arthur Majoor (amajoor@hotmail.com), February 02, 2001.