SCG Says Hydrogen Boot Ready for the Baja 1000

Jim Glickenhaus and his team of mad scientists are always working on the next big thing. For a while that was the SCG Boot, a V-8-powered off-road race rig paying homage to Steve McQueen, but with that project in the books and a resounding success, it’s time for a new challenge. Looking to alternative fuels for the future, SCG has released a preview of the company’s next project, the Hydrogen Boot, which is slated to run in next year’s Baja 1000.

The revamped model comes under the Glickenhaus Zero initiative. The nomenclature refers to the plan to build vehicles that generate zero emissions, and as we know, hydrogen fuel-cell powerplants produce no carbon-based byproducts. Hydrogen combustion makes water, and so Glickenhaus and company are calling the Hydrogen Boot the “first-ever zero-emissions Baja 1000″ race vehicle. Hydrogen is an interesting proposition for a Baja racer, because the power unit is extremely dense. SCG cites in its hilarious press release that hydrogen has a supremely high power density as compared to gasoline. This means that in applications like the undoubtedly heavy Boot race truck, hydrogen makes more sense than traditional alternative powertrains like batteries.

Glickenhaus claims the Hydrogen Boot is the “beginning of the future of transportation.” We’re hopeful, and only one team may be crazy enough to try to make that hydrogen-powered future happen, at least on the Baja course. Fingers crossed.