| Designer | Reed Timmer, Kevin Baron |
|---|---|
| Class | First Generation Storm Research Vehicle |
| Weight | 8,000 pounds |
| Drive Power | 4 wheel drive |
| Engine(s) | stock V-8 gasoline engine |
| Transmission(s) | automatic transmission |
| Weather Instrumentation | Vertical Radar, Air Cannon firing probes, instrument mast |
| Armor | steel plating, ballistic glass windows, Kevlar and Rubber Rhino Lining |
| Safety Features | Hydraulic Drop down |
The SRV Dominator is a vehicle used for storm chasing as featured on the Discovery Channel series Storm Chasers.
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The Dominator was modified from a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe that was used during the 2008 storm chasing season and debuted in the 2009 chase season. It was upgraded for the 2010 season with improved armor featuring Rhino Linings. The SRV is not designed to intercept (due mainly to a lack of an anchoring system as employed on the TIV 2) but is able to get as close as humanly possible to tornados. The vehicle originally had standard windows, but these were replaced with ballistic glass for the 2010 storm season after an incident the previous year where a tornado in Aurora, Nebraska unexpectedly strengthened right over the Dominator and blew out the driver's window. Designer Reed Timmer and one of his passengers suffered lacerations to the face from flying glass. Further upgrades added mid-season include a vertically-scanning radar intended to profile the winds at different heights within a tornado, as well as compressed-air launchers intended to launch wireless parachute probes to gather and transmit data on tornadoes to a chase vehicle. During the 2011 storm season, the Dominator suffered various mechanical issues, including brake and hydraulic system failures, and the lexan protecting the driver's side window not fully closing.
| Designer | Reed Timmer, Kevin Baron |
|---|---|
| Class | Second Generation Storm Research Vehicle |
| Drive Power | 4 wheel drive |
| Engine(s) | stock V-8 flex-fuel engine |
| Transmission(s) | automatic transmission |
| Weather Instrumentation | Air cannon firing probes, vertical radar, instrument mast |
| Armor | steel plating, rubber Rhino Lining, ballistic glass windows |
| Safety Features | Hydraulic Drop down, anchoring spikes |
In early 2011, Timmer and other members of TVN purchased a 2011 GMC Yukon XL which would be the base vehicle for a second Dominator vehicle christened Dominator 2. Changes over the first Dominator are said to include a flex fuel engine, improved aerodynamic streamlining, swiveling rear passenger seats, improved hydraulics, and upgraded armor protection as well as anchoring spikes which could allow it to engage tornadoes stronger than those the original Dominator could safely face. Timmer also stated that both vehicles would be used with one going into tornadoes to gather data from inside the funnel while the other would collect data from just outside the tornado, with the intention of comparing the two sets of data.[1] Features shared with the first Dominator are said to include rubber Rhino Lining, onboard radar, compressed air cannons for deploying wireless parachute probes, and a mast-mounted anemometer (the first Dominator being equipped with an anemometer for the 2011 storm chasing season).
Dominator 2 first saw action during the May 21–26, 2011 tornado outbreak sequence in central Oklahoma, which was shown on the fifth season of Storm Chasers.