2012 Sea Lion Prototype Amphibious World Record Competition Vehicle

Sea Lion was designed using CAD software and spread sheet calculations, by M. Witt. The vehicle is primarily, TIG welded 5052 Aluminum constructed from CNC plasma burned shapes and other CNC milled components. It has an integrated monocoque welded uni-body center section. There are removable side pods, used for floatation and cargo, and removable fenders front and rear.
With few exceptions, there are no structural parts borrowed from other vehicles. The design is created from a clean sheet of paper, and was calculated to exceed previous speed records. When the project began, in 2006, the top water speed was 45 mph and the top land speed was 125 mph. Today, the land speed remains unchanged, but the water challenge has risen to 60 mph.
There is a wide spectrum of different vehicles competing. Some vehicles are very fast on land but slow on water and others are the reverse. Some of the more unusual designs use tank tracks and have had surprisingly fast results on both water and land with the propulsion being only the tracks.