The Mandalorian Pod Racer Engine
This article contains spoilers for the mandalorian season 2 episode 1.
The mandalorian pod racer engine. The mandalorian season 2 episode 1 contains a number of a references to star wars movies of years gone by but one of the more subtle ones harkens back all the way to the phantom menace. Hand built and often custom jobs it wasnt until closer to the time of the rise of the galactic empire that factory customs were designed and marketed as podracer engines. The mandalorian spoilers follow.
The engines were 7 meters in length and was smaller and slimmer than other podracers. How the mandalorian is already transforming filmmaking. Chapter nine even included what looks like anakin skywalkers podracing engine now repurposed to power a speeder bike.
So far mandalorian had been quite light on plot characterisation. The pod race speeder is a case of simple world building being done in a mostly meaningful way. Skywalkers racer followed the basic design of the podracing machine cockpit total length 315 meters.
When peli motto was reintroduced in the mandalorian s previous episode she appeared to be working on a pod racer but the vehicle was mostly obscured in the back of shot. While robotic limbs hold the chunky steak in place the grill is provided by the flame of a pod racer engine. Cobb vanth though rides a tricked out pod racer engine.
Vanth played by timothy olyphant is a new character in the mandalorian season 2 but not one new to star wars canon. Toward the middle of the episode cobb vanth timothy olyphant and the mandalorian pedro pascal ride off to find help to defeat the krayt dragon. Much like the prequel pit droids being used.
Rocket motors turbine engines and high performance ion engines. Its during the ride that mando rides a speeder bike. The blue and silver podracer built by anakin skywalker was a custom specification pair 620c racing engine made by radon ulzer repulsorlift.
These things make a degree of sense if it was indeed anakins pod racer then that makes a degree less sense. Star wars is a massive franchise. Developing into the modern podracer engine circa 100 bby these engines came in three varieties.
Salvaged rebuilt and scrapped podracer engines were converted from the wrecks of starfighters turbofans and airspeeders. While djarin drives the speeder loaned out to him by peli motto vanth uses a speeder with a unique design it is a modified podracer engine and one that looks especially like anakin skywalkers from the phantom menace.