Ava and I spent four or five hours working on the playa scrambler today. We finished welding the frame together, and took turns pushing each other up and down the street. The suspension is amazing, totally springy – all three wheels are independently suspended, and with two deep-cycle batteries on board the sprung to unsprung mass ratio is high.

Next task is the steering linkage. It’s possible to control the machine as it is, with one handle for each front wheel, but it’s a lot of work keeping the wheels pointed in the right directions. A tie rod and some Ackermann geometry will help.

It’s much easier to push this thing along than I had feared – despite its weight, it rolls smoothly. I think our little 350-watt motor will have no trouble getting us up to the Black Rock City speed limit.