Wind Powered Auto by the Shore

So you’re sitting there, trying to think of ways to power cars, and you think “hmmm, I wonder if I could make a car that’s powered by air?” That’s silly! You think, gosh, it’d work if only there were a constant source of wind. Right? Well hold on there, maybe if you shore up your thinking a little bit, so to speak, and place this car in only one specific location: the line of land near the ocean, from whens the wind almost continuously blows. How about that?

The following project is called “Kazaguruma” – it’s a wind force mobility project which employs the wind using an automobile that can utilize it in an extraordinary way. Air resistance and dynamic lift make this car go quite speedily. And it works! It’s tested on a small scale, you can see it in the video below.

This all has to do with the Magnus effect. In a nutshell, it has to do with the spinning of fan in the back creating a whirlwind effect, and that force resulting in the forward motion of the entire vehicle.

The Kazaguruma – Wind Force Mobility is an entry for the James Dyson Awards.
The James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers.

Designer: Ippei Iwahara