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Top Gear solves the TVR problem

Published: 12 Jul 2012

Dear TVR,

We read the news yesterday of the end of the TVR badge on anything other than wind turbines. It was upsetting. But have you thought this through?

Because we've just discovered this. It's called the Blackbird and it combines both ends of your disparate businesses. On the one hand, it is a car (well, a land yacht). On the other, it is a wind turbine. 

It's fast, too. And, not unlike some of the older TVRs, a bit baffling. It was developed specifically to prove that it is possible to sail dead downwind faster than the wind , powered by the wind only. Which surely bends the laws of physics to breaking point, but such a beast has been built, tested, and works.

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On July 2, 2010, Blackbird set the world's first certified record for going directly downwind, faster than the wind, using only power from the wind. Then, earlier this month, Blackbird boss, Rick Cavallaro, and his team went to California and clocked a top speed 2.01 times faster than the wind speed when headed upwind. 

So there you go - wind turbines and cars in perfect environmental harmony. And you can watch it below. 

Yours sincerely, TopGear.com

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