This is a cool, thematic card. And also not very good.

In theory this is better than Diesel. You get 2 more cards for 2 extra credits and you get an access on R&D to boot, plus any other value you get off your board state. However, the kicker is of course that you need a succesful run on R&D. In the early game, when you need the card draw most for your set-up, R&D is unlikely to be unprotected (you're shaper after all). And playing this against an iced server is very risky. If the run is unsuccessful, you get nothing. In the late game you can probably get into R&D just fine. But then the cost for this event gets increased by what it costs to break the R&D ice.

Perhaps controversially, I think this card might actually be somewhat ok in Ken. He can play this for 1 credits and the corp is more likely to ice HQ against you turn 1. But even then, 3 influence is a lot. I think most runners are better off playing Diesel or [Dr. Nuka(/en/card/33092).