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Saturday 25 October 2008

Bloodhound SSC wants to break ground speed record with over 1,6000 km/h

Andy Green is the owner of the ground speed record, with 1.288 km/h, established in 1997 with Thrust SSC supercar. If you believe this is too much, be prepared for the next attempt to break it. Accord to Richard Noble and Curventa, the new Bloodhound SSC will be able to reach 1,690 km/h or more. Not even an airplane has managed to reach such a high speed in low altitudes. That's five times faster than a F1 car.




The formula to reach this speed is to use two engines at the same time. First of all, the EJ-200 jet engine that power the car will be turned on. When it reaches its top speed, a rocket will be used. Acceleration an deceleration forces will be superior to to 3 g.

One of the major problems Bloodhound SSC will have will be a suitable place for the world record break attempt. A 16 km surface, with no debris or other obstacles, will have to be discovered in any part of the globe. Bonneville Salt Flats are not adequate, as well as the place where the previous record was broken, in the Black Rocket Desert.












Source: Curventa

Friday 24 October 2008

LEAKED - Chevrolet GPiX will be presented at Sao Paulo Auto Show

Here are the first pictures from Chevrolet GPiX. This is the concept car GM has announced when it celebrated its 100 years. It anticipates the project Viva, a project that will give birth to a new family of vehicles, including a hatchback that shall replace Corsa in South American countries. Besides the hatchback, there will also be a sedan, a pick-up truck and possibly a small crossover, such as GPix.



Based on the fourth generation Corsa, also known as Corsa D, Viva will preserve its European brother's dimensions, such as a 2.50 m wheelbase and a 4 m lenght. Engines, at least in Brazil, will be the 1.4-litre Econo.Flex and a 1.8-litre engine, which should be replaced by a new one, since it is not very fuel efficient. We will have more details on the car pretty soon, when Sao Paulo Auto Show opens its doors to the press, next Monday.





Tuesday 21 October 2008

Lamborghini Countach replica is entirely built in basement

Sometimes car news get a little slow, but normally a great story emerges in such situations. Slow was how this week was going until the story of Ken Imhoff came up. He would look like an ordinary guy who lives in Wisconsin if he was not an skilled aluminum worker and a TIG welder. This helped him fulfill a dream that came upon with the movie "Cannonball Run": to built a brand new Lamborghini Countach replica with no ready kits help. It may sound the car is not good enough, but have a careful look at the picture below. Is this gorgeous or what?



Ok, it may look as if this is a regular Lamborghini Countach (if any Lambo can be called regular), but we can assure you it came out of Imhoff's basement. Check the pictures of the car in its birth place.





Now, the birth itself. Since the basement door did not dilate, Imhoff had to have its baby through caesarian delivery. In order to do so, he had to hire a contractor to excavate his yard, biuld a ramp, get to one of the basement walls and knock it down to get the car out of the house. If you are easily impressed by birth scenes, we advise you not to look at the three pictures below (the windshield has been removed to avoid damages while the car was being taken out of the house).





Smart baby, it even waves...



We would not believe it also if we had not spoken to Imhoff. He has really spent the last 17 years of his life building this car. "I never worked more than 10 hours a week during this time. I guess the car took me 10,000 hours to built", Imhoff told MotorTips. In total, he believes he has spent US$ 40,000 on the car (excluding his work on it, which would make the price grow higher).

Although he did not get a real Lamborghini engine to mid-mount in the car, he has found a pretty nice heart for the car, a Ford Boss 351 V8 able to pump out 520 bhp, mated to a five-speed ZF-25 manual transaxle. The engine roar is also very nice to hear.

In order to create the body, Imhoff built a wooden buck. All body panels were formed from aluminum panels, TIG welding (inside and out) and Imhoff skills. Even the scissor doors, the most difficult part of the job, were made by his hands. Besides the engine, Imhoff bough only a few things. "Windshield came from South Africa. I only used the windscreen, tail lights, front signals, badgets and fiberglass arches/wing/chin spoiler. I have looked for a year to find the pieces and molds, to reproduce them if I choose", he told MotorTips.



Pieces were built with the help of this equipment, called an English wheel.



As you can see, the car is entirely made of aluminum plates, a tube space frame designed by Imhoff himself and very little pieces of fiberglass. With this care in creating the vehicle, it could not have a better weight: only 1,225 kg. It gives the car an amazing power-to-ratio of only 2.36 kg/bhp.

Although the car has been taken out of the basement this month, Imhoff did not manage to drive it so far. "It came out of the basement a little early due to mother nature. It wasn't 100%. There is a clutch/pedal issue to workout, the windshield must be installed etc." No legal problems, though. "In my state there are no problems with licensing. I have two options: all scratch build or donor car VIN, which I have from the car the block came from."

With so much work, does Imhoff think of building more replicas to make some money? "No, not really. Labor of love needs pays off." What about selling his masterpiece? "No, but are we talking crazy money?". Yes, passion has a price.

We know this post may seem excessively illustrated, but all pictures deserve to be here. If you, like us, have loved this story, we are sure you won't mind seeing all of them. Ken, great job! Most of us would like to be able to do something similar.



















Source: GlobalMotors.net

Bugster will be Fiat's main attraction at São Paulo Motor Show

Fiat has already presented many new products to the Brazilian market. Considering this, there should be no big surprises related to new cars for São Paulo Motor Show, which happens by the end of this month. If this is really the case (and Fiat decides not to present Bravo and the new double cab Strada), the Italian automaker has created an exclusive concept car for the event. Named Bugster, it has no chances of going into series production, even because it uses an electric engine.



Fiat has not present any technical specs on the car so far. Probably because the car has only the basic ones (dimensions) and no engine. It would be a pity not to see Bugster moving for itself, even because it proposes solutions for the future. And a future that does not move is not promising at all.



Source: Fiat

Monday 20 October 2008

2010 Ford Mustang appears almost undisguised in the USA

The 2010 model of Ford Mustang is about to be presented, at Los Angeles Auto Show, in November, but Ford seems to be willing to anticipate that. Just check out the images below, shot by the user Guitardrumr at GreatLakes4x4.com:



The car wear very little camo, especially in its rear end. The rest of the car is solely protected by black and white painting, in order to confuse observers about the new lines. We can say they are sleaker than the ones in its predecessor. The car must also be more fuel efficient, a demand for all new vehicles, especially in the USA. As soon as we gather official information we will get back to Mustang in these pages. This beautiful car is always welcome here.

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Source: GreatLakes4x4.com via AutoBlog

Sunday 19 October 2008

Insecta Concept shows how nature can help manking move

Car design has long been limited to combustion engine requirements. Electric propulsion has come both to make cars cleaner and to allow different ideas to flourish. A pretty good example of that is Insecta Concept, or Concept Meng (grasshopper, in Chinese), a vehicle conceived by Taiwanese design student Shao Yung Yeh.



Insecta Concept is an individual means of transportation with four wheels and an electric engine at each wheel. Each of them is linked to an individual arm and all four arms are linked to the base of the vehicle, which holds the cabin. These arms work as insect legs and adjust themselves to road conditions.

The batteries of the car are in the "tail" of Insecta Concept. Since their package moves, it can control the gravity centre of the vehicle and improve stability in all conditions. Safety is ensured by a lightweight cabin that is also extremely resistant, just like an insect's exoskeleton. It would be nice if, just like grasshoppers, this individual car managed to reproduce quickly and invaded all big cities with a more rational, green and yet comfortable means of transportation.







Source: Car Body Design