Biofueled Skycar 2009 Expedition plans to drive/fly from London to Timbuktu

Click to see more of the biofueled Skycar

There are a lot of green car shows and events taking place around the world and we - sadly - cannot cover them all. But there is one event that I'd love to be a part of in 200: the Skycar Expedition. Billed as the "World's First Bio-fuelled Flying Car," the Skycar is part parachute, part fan-powered swamp boat and part X-Bow. Whereas convertible car makers take about how quickly their vehicles can go from sunny exposure to rainy-day protection, Skycar designers like Gilo Cardozo tell us that conversion from "road mode" to "fly mode" and visa-versa will take three minutes.

To showcase the Skycar's potential, the Skycar Expedition Team is planning a January 2009 flight/drive from London to Timbuktu, a distance of over 6000km (3700 miles). The car uses a lightweight ParaWing that is filled by a huge fan built into the back of the vehicle to achieve theoretical airspeeds of 100 mph. Two people can fit into the steel or aluminum chassis and cruise along at 2,000-3,000 feet. The Times Online says that the Skycar is certified for road use and can burn ethanol in its modified 140bhp Yamaha R1 engine. That's all we needed to hear. Now, who's willing to pitch in and send us to cover this trip? For purely professional journalistic reasons, of course.

Note: this is decidedly not the Moller Skycar, even though Moller did like ethanol. And, any time I write about the flying car, I feel the need to post the classic Clerks clip after the jump.