You know that Batmobile that's featured in the Christian Bale Batman movies? The Tumbler? It's real, and there are at least four of them.

Howstuffworks.com recently put up a detailed guide to the inner workings of the new Batmobile, explaining how Nathan Crowley (sounds like a comic book character, right?) designed the new Batmobile.

According to the article, there's an actual main car that can be driven, and it's essentially a truck hybrid, with a rear truck axle and transmission and a front suspension modeled after Baja racing trucks but equipped with racing tires. This batmobile can actually take a30-foot fall and shake it off. Also, it has a 5.7 liter Chevy V-8 engine that's been tuned to allow the 5000-pound machine to go from zero to 60 mph in five seconds.

There's a second car that is also drivable but is actually meant to showcase how Batman gets in and out of the car; it's essentially a souped up hydraulic cockpit that can be driven around for short bursts. The third "car" is actually the interior of the Batmobile, an elaborate static set that's expanded to allow camera access. Lastly, as you can probably guess, is a smaller version of the Batmobile: a miniature that does most of the stunts. Save for the waterfall landing in Batman Begins (that was the 5000-pound car doing it), the stunts and drives are usually done with the model.

Now that you understand the basic concepts behind the illusion, feel free to check out the source link for how the illusion of one single Batmobile is made. It makes for interesting reading, to say the least. Enjoy!

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