Supercars are supposed to be made from light alloys, right? Late last year, we brought you a story about a wooden supercar known as the Splinter. Well it seems that North Carolina State graduate student Joe Harmond is actually making progress on his tree-borne vehicle. The car is supposed to have a 600 horsepower engine and a 240 mph top speed. So if it hits something when at speed, then it may really be a splinter.
There are plenty of jokes to be made, but there is something truly admirable about this car. We should all be lucky enough to go out to our shed and carve out over 200 mph. Besides if you don’t think wood can make a beautiful car, you haven’t seen a Morgan.
As we have already reported, Nissan has announced a plan to reveal an all-electric vehicle by 2010 with global sales to begin in 2012. Today the company revealed the first prototypes: one all-electric and one hybrid electric both powered by advanced lithium-ion batteries.
The EV prototype features front-wheel drive layout and uses a newly developed 80kW motor and inverter. The HEV prototype delivers two breakthrough technologies – a high-performance rear-wheel drive hybrid system and parallel-powertrain hybrid system.
The advanced lithium-ion batteries used in both prototypes are sourced from the Nissan-NEC joint-venture, AESC (Automotive Energy Supply Corporation). These advanced batteries offer superior performance, reliability, safety, versatility and cost competitiveness, compared to the conventional nickel metal-hydride batteries.
Ever dreamed of being the Rocketeer? Well thankfully New Zealander Glenn Martin has had such dreams. The 48-year-old spent 27 years developing, what he considers, the first practical jetpack. Weighing 250-pounds the Martin Jetpack is powered by a 200bhp V4 engine providing 600 pounds of thrust. Right now it will only hover at about six feet, but the engineering team reckon they’ll have that up to 600 feet within a year. The jetpack has a range of about 30 miles, and will use up its fuel tank in about half an hour. For safety, it includes a ballistic parachute. Martin admits the device will likely give "somebody a very bad experience" at some point, but he said it’s still the "safest jetpack ever built."
This may not be a car, but we at TopSpeed like anything that moves - even if the direction is up.
It’s fast, it’s rare, and it can be yours possibly for low six-figures - it’s the SSC Aero. The car is a predecessor of sorts to the record setting SSC Ultimate Aero, and it’s now on eBay. This is an american-made speed machine produced by Shelby Super Cars. Although this company has no association with legendary builder Carroll Shelby, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a look.
The Aero features supercharged V-8 creating 787 hp, and at the time of this post, the car was under $150,000. The owners claim it is one of only two ever created, which may make it worth the price alone.
Leading companies from the automotive industry as well as from the telecommunications and software development sector are today presenting their results at the halfway stage in one of Germany’s most important road safety projects - AKTIV. The declared aim of this research initiative launched back in September 2006 and running until August 2010 is to prevent accidents in future by further enhancing active safety, relieving drivers and harmonising traffic flows. Volkswagen AG is one of the partners of the initiative sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.
AKTIV is the abbreviation used for the research initiative “Adaptive und kooperative Technologien für den intelligenten Verkehr” (“Adaptive and cooperative technologies for intelligent transport”). The research initiative itself is subdivided into two main projects: “Assistance Systems / Active Safety” (AS) and “Traffic Management”. Running alongside these main topics, is also the project “Cooperative Cars” (CoCar).
With an investment volume of 37.5 million euros, “Assistance Systems” is the largest project within this research initiative. Almost half of which is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economics. Besides “Integrated Lateral Vehicle Control”, this project also sets out to examine the four topics of “Active Emergency Stopping”, “Traffic Junction Assistance”, “Safety for Pedestrians and Cyclists” and “Road Safety and Attention”. The final analysis is scheduled for 31 August 2010.
Turkey is famous for its carpets and sweets and within a few years it could well become the green counterpart of Detroit. Cars like the Antro Solo could be mass produced there and exported to parts of the world. Antro what? Let me explain.
The Antro Solo is a three-seater, 600 pound, 100 mpg, 87 mph car. It will be all yours for just $18,000 in the year 2012. Built entirely of carbon fiber and composites, the power to run the car comes from not one or two, but four sources: gas, battery, solar panels and... PEDALS !
As the world moves towards eco-friendly and easy-on-the-wallet modes of transportation and everything from trains to lawn movers are shifting towards alternate sources of energy, a young set of individuals have come out with a cute yet effective automobile.
A group of high school students who are fully aware of the present situation surrounding the auto industry have designed an electric two-wheeler with a roof.
Powered by lithium phosphate batteries with an output of 60 volts, the permanent magnet motor utilizes the power to propel the bike. The recharge time is just about 3 hours and should get you to sit up and notice I say its body is made carbon fiber and Kevlar composite material (stuff that F1 cars are made of). The chassis benefits from chromoly tubing.
On a full charge, the roofed-bike will cruise for 40 long miles with a pedal-to-metal velocity of 60 mph. At those speeds, safety is addressed by a proper seat and seat belts which makes it safer than a normal two-wheeler. The pod will also protect you from the heat and dust on a summer’s day and will help you keep warm during winter time.
While other high-school kids were busy learning to efficiently hit on the good-looking, this team of 19 students toiled hard for a period of one year to see this concept from the state of imagination to reality. What we appreciate is their unique thought process, a green two-wheeler is certainly pointing in the right direction and who knows? there might be a future GM or Honda head among this group of students.
General Motors demonstrated its progress on developing a future advanced engine technology for consumers that squeezes more miles per gallon of gas and reduces emissions. GM engineers have brought the advanced combustion technology from the laboratory to the test track and, now, to the highway in a driveable concept vehicle - a Saturn Aura equipped with homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI).
GM demonstrated its latest progress with the HCCI technology during a media test-drive program in the Washington, D.C. and the New York City areas. Journalists drove the HCCI-enabled Aura concept on public roads to get a real-world feel for the efficient and low-emissions engine. HCCI provides up to a 15-percent fuel savings when combined with several additional advanced technologies, while meeting current emissions standards.
The Saturn Aura concept vehicle is capable of operating in HCCI mode during idle, in addition to highway driving. The HCCI operation at idle represents a significant technological advance that GM engineers believe could be the first for the industry. The breakthrough enables a wider range of HCCI operation, extending the efficiency-enhancing benefit of the technology.
Real or not, this M1 Prototype looks amazing, and we only hope that BMW will built it in the near future, or that the production version will look at list as hot as this one!
Only few days after the launch of the M1 Hommage Concept, FreshTarmac claims the thing you see in the picture is the 2008 BMW M1 Prototype.
It looks like its sitting on a stretched chassis of the current BMW M3 incorporating various parts including the front fascia and the hood.
It’s for sale, in Brussels, Belgium. Though AutoBlog reports that the car was originally designed to the specifications of Luigi Chinetti, at one time Ferrari’s importer to the United States, it actually has a more interesting history.
In fact, this car was something of a joint project of General Motors and Chinetti, originally envisioned as a super-luxury vehicle that could compete with expensive grand touring vehicles being imported into the United States. The project started in 1968, with GM providing the powertrain, Chinetti the engineering, and Zagato assigned to provide the bodywork. In the following year, however, GM pulled out of the project due to delays in meeting project deadlines.
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