Whatever's in the water down in Florida, we want some. As ridiculously awesome as it is awesomely ridiculous, the Shadow Six Typhoon places a UTV body on top of a pair of high-performance jet skis, creating the world's first "aquatic utility vehicle."
The body, which seats one-to-three people, is Shadow Six's own design, although according to GearJunkie it wears aftermarket body panels from a Polaris RZR side-by-side. The twin jet ski hulls are in-house builds too, in carbon composite, and they're mounted to long-travel Fox shocks front and rear, that look like they'd be right at home on a UTV.
Inside these two hulls sit two 1.8-liter supercharged Yamaha GP1800R SVHO jet-ski engines, putting out 250 horsepower (186.5 kW) apiece. Should you deem these ponies insufficient, you can choose stage 1, 2 or 3 Riva Racing performance kits to be installed before delivery. Riva won't put exact numbers on the power boost involved, but says a pair of Stage 3 kits will take the Typhoon's standard 68 mph (109 km/h) top speed up to "well over" 80 mph (129 km/h).
For such an unholy union of parts, the 2,365 lb (1,073 kg) Typhoon looks like it absolutely rips on the water, reveling in hard changes of direction and catching bulk air off waves. On landings, the suspension appears to do an admirable job of keeping this beefy contraption well under control.
Of course, there are other water toys that go fast, turn hard and do sick jumps. Like, for example, normal jet skis that roll solo without UTV cabins on their backs. Rumor has it you can pick them up rather cheaply, too, nearly anywhere you'd want to look. That's in stark contrast to the Typhoon, which is available exclusively from Riva Racing in Florida, starting at US$250,399.
This is objectively a machine as wasteful and foolish as another Florida creation, the Apocalypse Juggernaut, we sank the boot into earlier today. Try as I might, though, I just can't bring myself to hate it. Shadow Six has taken a ludicrous idea through to its logical conclusion, and the result is a bizarre-looking contraption I feel strangely compelled to go and play with.
Just take a look at the video below and tell me you're not curious about what driving a Typhoon feels like.
Source: Shadow Six Racing
