Hands up who can’t get his eyes off this piece of machinery. Yes, it isn’t your regular winter commuter, but a machine built especially to traverse

the harsh Antarctic terrain as part of the Moon Regan Trans Antarctic Expedition. Sounds serious? It certainly is as we’re talking about 3000 miles than need to be covered starting November 2009.

Designed and engineered by Lotus Engineering to run over ice and snow, the Concept Ice Vehicle (CIV) is fitted with all-round independent suspension and even features an Ice Penetrating Radar (IPR) unit which detects hidden crevasses.

The power source is a supercharged BMW 1150 engine adapted to run on E85 bio-ethanol so the motorcycle similarities are there. Furthermore, the top speed is a more than decent 84 mph and at only 360 kg, the thing can be easily pushed on ice and snow by a single man.

With a minimum of moving parts, the CIV performs excellent in severe conditions and has that cool airplane look too.

Just an idea I resonate with: “If you can run bio-fuels successfully in the most harsh and extreme environment in the world, then there is no reason why you can’t use them to get to the supermarket!” Andrew Regan

Find out more about the BMW 1150 boxer-twin-powered Concept Ice Vehicle and the expedition itself through a single click.

The pictures are courtesy of Transantarctic Expedition.