Steve Green's red machine started life as a $300,000 Baja racing truck. Add $250,000 in new parts and advanced technology and you've got what may be the first vehicle built specifically to drive into a tornado.
Controls
The electronics behind the toggles are not only lightning-proof but also driver-proof - easy to operate during the stress of a tornado cruise, yet redundant enough to minimize the chance of tragically pressing the wrong switch.
Vent
Flying cows could damage a conventional radiator, so the TA-1's engineers relocated its cooling system to the sides of the vehicle, where it's vented with flaps that the driver can open and close with a blast of compressed air.
Body
The car is designed as a series of aerodynamic angles built from double-thick Lexan and plate steel. It's also trimmed with a Gurney lip, which translates a tornado's winds into downforce, like a spoiler.
Crash safety
The TA-1's safety systems are borrowed from the Nascar track. The driver wears a race fire suit, crash helmet, and neck brace. He sits inside a chromoly roll cage, buckled into a six-point harness on a molded, crush-resistant seat. The nylon webbing helps prevent a severed spinal cord in the event of traumatic deceleration.
Hydraulics
The TA-1 is built to drop flat to the ground like a turtle. It's powered by a hydraulic system that delivers 18,500 pounds of force to remove 1.5 gallons of oil from the shocks in less than a second.
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