Driving a car through the smallest gap-Amazing world record set by Dave Ackland
PLYMOUTH, UK -- In a 1968 Vauxhall Viva. driver Dave Ackland, aged 39, from Keyham, drove on two wheels through a gap 67cm wider than the height of the car, at the Barbican Leisure Park, setting the new world record for driving a car on two wheels through the smallest gap.
The 39-year-old drove his black 1968 Vauxhall Viva through a 2.02m gap, beating the previous record by 1cm.
The difficult move, known as skiing, is considered the 'Holy Grail' of car stunts and has been used in two Bond films, and the US television series Knight Rider and the Dukes of Hazzard.
Mr Dave Ackland, a professional stunt driver from Plymouth, Devon drove over a ramp at around 8mph to flip the vehicle onto its rightside wheels.
Using finely-judged movements of the steering wheel to keep the car balanced and moving in a straight line, he passed through two columns of cardboard boxes just 2.02m apart. "It's not so much a dangerous stunt for someone who's been doing it for years, and distance is not a problem - it's precision that's key."
If you would like to find out more about Dave Ackland's stunts, visit his website at www.daveackland.co.uk
MATSUMOTO, Japan-- 75-year-old Gennai Yanagisawa, who runs an electronics equipment company in Matsumoto, central Japan, has created a 75kg (165-pound) one-man aircraft which sets the world record for the smallest helicopter.
In this photo released on by Japanese helicopter manufacturing company Gen Corporation, the company employee Yasutoshi Yokoyama flies in the air by GEN H-4, a compact single-seater helicopter developed by Gen Corporation, during its test flight in Matsumoto in central Japan's Nagano Prefecture.
Yanagisawa developed the GEN H-4 helicopter — with rotors, a chair, footrest and handle bar — in the late 1990s. Yanagisawa's helicopter is the smallest model in the world in terms of weight and its rotor length of 3.9 metres.
The GEN H-4 has two rotors turning in opposite directions to maintain stability, and four engines that enables a 30-minute flight with a top speed of about 56 miles per hour.
The helicopter has two identical rotors that turn in opposite directions making the need for a tail rotor obsolete. Each rotor counteracts the others torque keeping the helicopter free of any unwanted spin.
The entire rotor head is supported on a gimbal, which is slanted towards the direction of travel by the control bar. The pilot can therefore change their direction by shifting their weight.
It has four twin cylinder engines and can remain in the air even if two of the engines of malfunction. However, they have attached a parachute above the mast just in case...
Da Vinci designed what is thought to be the first vertical flight machine, "an aerial screw," in the 1480s, according to Italy's National Museum of Science and Technology.
An innovative carpenter gifted with a technical bent of mind has developed a variety of ceiling fans made of wood!
Carpenter-technician Suresh Sharma, 40, claims that all of the 104 models of fans have been designed and developed by him. These handmade fans are unique and different as none of the designs have been repeated or copied. The smallest fan in his collection is an 8-inch fan and the biggest one being 11 feet long!
The wooden body fans that run by electricity like normal ceiling fans, have earned him quite popularity here. These fans captivate attention, as one finds blades of ceiling fans made of wood. The users can enjoy cool air.
"These fans are different in a way as the wooden blades of the fan are natural. They are not made of metal. The temperature does not affect the blades of the fan. Outside temperature is ineffective on the wooden fan and thus the fan spreads cooler air," said, Suresh Sharma. Suresh has taken 13 years to develop various creative works that include making wooden fans. Basically these extraordinary looking fans are made of pure wood and blow the air like any ordinary fan.
He had felt driven at first to try his hand on making fans after he repaired his grand fathers'' very old fan. It motivated him to explore his latent talent in making fans. Today, he has a wide collection of wooden fans.
As these fans are completely designed, carved and assembled by artisans and are expensive. Suresh says that the advantage of a wooden fans is that it is shock-proof, which makes safe to handle in day-to-day life.
For this extraordinary work, Sharma has been listed in Limca Book of Records and he is very keen to have his innovation also endorsed by the Guinness Book of World Records.
On his part, Suresh Sharma is very enthusiastic about his innovation and wishes that there should be commercial production of wooden fans. Suresh Sharma wishes that his innovative fan is patented and also gets a brand name so that he could sell more of these wooden fans.
