Yesterday, we talked about a group of scientists from Stanford’s Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Laboratory that have been working on an robotic Audi TTS and their ambitious attempt at running the fully automated vehicle at the Pikes Peak climb.
It turns out that the Audi TTS isn’t the only car these geniuses have been working on. In addition to the Audi TTS, the scientists also have a standard-looking VW Passat in tow, and while it looks unspectacular, to say the least, the Passat also comes with the some highly-advanced computer gear in the trunk that allows the car to park itself without any manual assistance.
Amazing as it sounds, the technology does have a few catches of its own. For the technology to show off its true worth, the car needs to have a layout of the area where it’s parking and, in addition to that, the computers inside the Passat have no means of detecting outside forces that may obstruct the car from parking on its own.
Nevertheless, a car that parks by itself is still something none of us have in our garages and it’s worth noting that in the event the technology goes mainstream in the future, you should know that the whole genius of an idea was made to fruition by these guys over a Stanford.
As expected, the Cadillac CTS-V dominated the challenge that bears its own name after seven of the top 12 fastest laps recorded came from the CTS-V.
Guess that means GM boss Bob Lutz will have to eat crow at another day.
The CTS-V’s dominance was apparent from start to finish. Six of the top seven cars were CTS-Vs, with the notable exception being a BMW M3 Sedan owned by one Michael Cooper, which placed fourth in the overall standings. Bagging the top spot was former GM Performance Division Executive, John Henricy after posting a lap time of 2m and 46.56s.
As for Bob Lutz, his lap time earned him a seventh place finish with a fastest lap time of 2m and 56.231 seconds, although it’s worth mentioning that out of all the CTVs that finished in the top 12, his finished second to last, beating the CTS-V driven by Chris Fairman (10th overall) with a fastest lap time of 3m 14.292s
Well Bob Lutz laid down his V-Series Challenge and Cadillac seems to have retained their title of the world’s fastest sport sedan, with a little help from their friends of course. Owners of factory tuned fast four doors were invited to the Monticello Motor Club just outside of New York City and take on the CTS-V in a fast lap competition against the General Motors Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, as well as a few seasoned racers and friends of GM like Brian Redman, Aaron Link and John Heinricy. Throwing a wrench into Cadillac’s plans was Skip Barber graduate Michael Cooper and his four door BMW M3, although the New York native is no professional, he did manage to finish right behind GM’s trio of road course ringers. Either way Cadillac did prove that the CTS-V can go fast, even with Bob Lutz behind the wheel, and everyone in attendance had more than they can seem to remember. In a time where consumers are more concerned with efficiency than outright lap times, it is nice to see that there are still automaker’s that are giving high performance driving enthusiasts exactly what they are asking for. Even more importantly, it shows that they still know how to have fun.
This is such a waste of a perfectly good Ford Mustang – and one that was even featured in the cover of 5.0 Mustang at that.
We’re talking about the Hallett/Car FX project Mustang and whatever status symbol it had within the Mustang community all came flipping over just this weekend.
The said Mustang, which was racing at the Hallet Circuit in Oklahoma a few days ago, met a sudden and untimely demise after the driver lost control of the car, hitting a tire wall in the process. The brief – and violent - encounter with the tire wall was all it took for the Mustang to hit its nose into the ground and flipping over in dramatic fashion.
Miraculously, the driver and the passenger of the car came out of their unexpected thrill ride with just a couple of minor scrapes. Unfortunately, the Mustang wasn’t as lucky after its roof was completely pancaked as a result of its unexpected tire wall cartwheel.
Just goes to show that even the most celebrated vehicles out there aren’t invincible, and the proof of that lies in the flattened state of the ‘cover boy’ Mustang.
Anytime you’re stopping on a red light and you see an Audi TTS beside you with no driver in sight, then consider yourself one of the lucky few to have seen the robotic Audi TTS that was developed by a group of scientists from Stanford University.
We all know that Stanford has had a long history of producing robotic cars but their latest pet project is far and away the most ambitious undertaking they’ve ever done. To be clear, the robotic Audi TTS is far more than just your run-off-the-mill robot vehicle – if you can even get away saying something like that. The folks from Stanford who created the technological marvel have plans on entering their autonomous ride to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, a rigorous twenty-kilometer race for a car-driven driver, let alone a driverless vehicle. Ambitious as the challenge may be, the robotic Audi TTS clearly has something going for it, not the least of which is posting an ‘unofficial’ speed record for an autonomous car after posting speeds in excess of 130 mph.
We all keep talking about the future of vehicles, but advancements regarding automated driving have never reached this stage so you can bet your bottom dollar that this will not be the last time we hear from those folks from Stanford.
Brazilian Formula 1 race car drivers are among the best in the world with champions like Emerson Fittipaldi, Rubens Barichello, Nelson Piquet and of course Ayrton Senna still described today as one of the best F1 driver ever.
A new generation of brazilian pilots is for sure coming with drivers like Tony Kanaan (winner of the 2004 IRL IndyCar Series championship driving Andretti Green Racing’s 7-Eleven sponsored car) or Mario Moraes.
Mario Moraes (20, born in 1988 in Sao Paulo) is a brazilian professional race car driver, his career is short but he already showed a lot of talent and impressive performances. He is currently racing with KV racing team, car N0 5 in the Indy Racing League (IRL) IndyCar Series.
He spent the all day and evening at the W Hotel with Izod "In pursuit of Fast" event and the other drivers to celebrate the Indycar Series Championship Week, we took this opportunity to ask him few questions on the sunny beach of Miami Beach in between two catch and throw of volley ball.
Ford’s global headquarters emitted a different hue as dusk settled in last Monday, October 26. Instead of the traditional blue the company has long been associated with, the home of the Blue Oval lighted their headquarters in a pink lighting scheme in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.
Beginning on October 26, the Ford HQ will remain wrapped under pink lights until the next day as a sign of support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a cause that Ford has been a tireless advocate of, having donated well over $100 million to the Susak G. Komen for the Cure foundation ever since the foundation was started 15 years ago.
For 15 years, Ford has been committed to fighting breast cancer, standing up for the cause no matter the month. Tonight’s ceremony is designed to show our support for all those affected by the disease,” Mark Fields, Ford Vice President of the Americas, said.
Through the company’s “Warriors in Pink” initiative, which preaches the vital importance of early detection in raising survival odds for cancer patients, Ford has spent years advocating the cause of raising funds in fighting the deadly disease that has victimized millions of women all over the world, one of which is their tireless support for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. As part of Ford’s program in assisting the foundation, for every car that is test-driven from now until the 31st of December, Ford will be donating $20 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation on behalf of those who test-drive any of its vehicles.
Lighting their global headquarters in pink may be a simple move for Ford in establishing its support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but it’s a gesture that goes a long way to all those affected by the disease. As far as Ford is concerned, those fighting breast cancer are not alone in their plight, because the Blue Oval has, and will always have their backs.
It looks like speed demons in Utah have been given a little more leeway to satisfy their need for speed after the Utah Department of Transportation recently raised the speed limit in various stretches of I-15 up to 80 miles per hour.
So far, the little experiment has received positive results after the UDOT determined that traffic in the area is safest when cars are going in the neighbourhood of 80 mph.
According to the Newspaper, the 85th percentile speed, which represents the speed at which 85 percent of free-flowing traffic feels is the safest, have achieved the best results as far as traffic safety among commuters are concerned. “Engineers have determined that the greatest safety can be achieved when speed limits match the 85th percentile speed,” the article said.
Based on crash histories that have been recorded over the years in certain sections of I-15, the UDOT determined that increasing the speed limit in these sections would eventually end up being beneficial not only to the drivers’ safety, but also in ensuring the seamless free-flow of vehicles, thus avoiding continuous traffic.
This comes as good news to a lot of people that have been frustrated with the lower speed limits. Let’s just hope that the rest of the country follows Utah’s lead because, as you know, traffic and car accidents are two things we can all live without.
Ryan Hunter-Reay is an American IndyCar driver, 2008 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, and the new face of IZOD a well known apparel brands with sport- inspired product lines a company from the 1930s owned by Phillip Van Heusen Corporation.
Despite is young age Ryan Hunter-Reay (28) is not a new comer in car racing.
Among other in his palmares he was 2007 IndyCar Roockie of the year, the Test Driver for Robby Gordon’s NASCAR Cup Team and he represented the USA for TeamUSA in the International AIGP Championship Series. He also is the youngest American to ever win an Oval Race in 2004 and first American Rookie in over 20 years to win a Champ Car race in 2003 (Australia).
We wait for a time break in the game to ask few questions to the champion playing volley-ball under the sun with his fellow drivers and the Miami Beach Ocean Rescuers and Lifeguards during a beach party at the W Hotel with IZOD-PVH, APEX Brazil and IRL Indy Racing League.
Interview with Ryan Hunter-Reay, American IndyCar driver and 2008 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year after the jump.
While European drivers have been scooting around in the latest generation Volkswagen Golf GTI for a while, we here in the U.S. will have to wait until next year to drive the sleeker sixth generation hot hatch with its slick 17 inch rims and swept back headlamps. The 2010 VW GTI is powered by a 2.0 Liter 16 Valve DOHC TSI gas sipping four banger that makes an even 200 HP and 207 lb-ft of torque that is shifted with a six speed manual transmission. The GTI offers the traditional Rabbit like handling and can accelerate from 0 to 60 MPH in 6.8 seconds and reach an electronically limited 130 MPH top speed all for under $24,000.
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