French company Iguana is taking aim at the record books with a new amphibious boat patterned after its military and emergency offerings, and designed to outsprint every other amphibian on the market with a peak output of 900 horsepower.
The Iguana Pro featured in these images is no slowpoke; this six-seat military-focused RIB is already capable of speeds up to 55 knots (63.3 mph, 101.9 km/h). But Iguana is adapting the design for the civilian market with a pure focus on maximum performance, preparing to launch a two-seat version with twin 450-horsepower outboards. Murdered-out in an all-black paint job, the new RIB has been structurally reinforced in the tube and hull, and kitted out with Ullman seats designed for high-speed water safety.
Like all the Iguana amphibians, it's much slower on land. It rolls on a pair of kevlar-reinforced rubber tracks, connected to the hull via strong, hydraulically retractable struts. In the water, the tracks pull up and largely out of the way, adding minimal resistance to the boat's path through the water.
On land, the tracks grip all sorts of terrains, from soft sand to mud and mossy rocks, and provide a remarkably stable platform that can tilt as much as 40 degrees without losing its balance. The Iguana Pro in these images, for example, won't fall over even with 11 people standing right at the front of it – no matter how odd it looks.
Clearly, this is not designed for highway use; land speed is slow and deliberate. So what's the point? Well, it's a boat that can be safely and securely parked in a garage, safe from bad weather and mooring fees, and then driven into the water and launched without the need for a tow vehicle or trailer. Within a couple of minutes, these things can be in the water and moving fast; they may be the fastest-launching boats from dry land.
Iguana says the new boat under construction will be "the fastest amphibious boat in the world," and plans to release more details in July. The current world record holder, best we can tell, is a prototype WaterCar Panther that managed 52 knots (60 mph/96 km/h) on the water back in 2010. The Production Panther, though, can only do 39 knots (45 mph/72 kmh). Either way both appear to be slower than the bog-stock Iguana Pro, at least until they hit dry land, where the WaterCar can do a healthy 80 mph (129 km/h).
Check out a video of the Iguana Pro below.
Source: Iguana