Yes, it’s another set of videos of the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, but we're not complaining. This time, the Raging Bull supercar was caught at the Autodromo Vallelunga Piero Taruffi racing circuit just outside of Rome, Italy. Unfortunately, the three clips are quite short – up to 12 seconds each, but at least we get a taste of the 700-horsepower V12 engine’s sounds. Watch them after the jump.
Garrett Brown, the man behind Hollywood's Steadicam, is looking to bring a little upgrade to manufacturing. Brown has partnered with Eric Golden's LA-based Equipois to help release the "zeroG", a new type of mechanical arm that could reduce manufacturers' health care costs by up to $13 billion annually.
Spawned from a conversation with a Honda engineer who liked the idea of a Steadicam mechanism on the factory floor, the zeroG is crafted from high-grade aluminum and steel and helps minimize overexertion by using simple physics. Each arm is fitted with spring that counterbalances the weight of heavy tools, which in turn makes the tools "lighter" and easier to use.
Maneuverability has also been taken into account; the zeroG's gimbal mechanism means tools can be used to their full capacity even when being held by the arm.
Equipois's Eric Golden explains it like this: "The actions cancel each other out...When the arm holding the tool moves, the position of the end of the spring changes to compensate for the movement. That's 20 pounds of lift on a 20-pound tool, no matter where it's positioned...You can have something that weighs 25 pounds and move it with your fingertips, as if you're in space."
At a cost of $10,000 for the larger arm ($5,000 for the smaller unit), Equipois has found serious interest from serious clients like Boeing, Ford, and the United States Navy.
Allison Stephens, an assembly ergonomics specialist working for the Blue Oval, says, "Because it uses no electricity -- just springs -- it's actually much cheaper than our current method of tool support...We selected jobs that had difficulties because of heavy tools, and operators who had medical visits because of that. We've seen some great results -- no injuries when the arms are used. We are going to incorporate it into our engineering strategy."
With the economy slowly getting back on its feet and a number of positive responses, Equipois hopes more people will come to see the benefits and invest in the zeroG. If its current client base is any indication, this may just be the next low-tech big thing in the world of manufacturing.
By Phil Alex
Sources:Equipoisinc & CNN
Now here’s something you definitely don’t see every day; a camper van put through its paces at the Nurburgring race track in Germany. Mind you, we’re not talking about a VW Bus Camper Van here, but a full-size, six-wheeler recreational vehicle… Follow the break to see it in action for yourself.
Hat tip to Anthony R.!
We don’t know the identity of the man hiding behind the white racing helmet at the ‘Top Gear Festival 2011’, but The Stig sure knows how to work the steering wheel. Of course, being that the black London Taxi Cab you see in the video after the jump is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, does help a bit. You see, what looks on the outside like a normal black London taxi cab, is in fact a re-skinned Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 crafted by the folks over at SHP Engineering.
The company started with a Lancer EVO 9 with just 1,500 miles on the odo and stripped it down to the bare bones. The body shell of a London Taxi Cab was then dropped on top creating the most innocent EVO we have ever seen to date. Follow the jump to watch it in some awe-inspiring donut action.
What is the best way to promote a commercial van? Well, you can follow the classic way by showing off its qualities and advantages over the competition, but that lacks originality. On the other hand, a van that writes its own letters of application and sends them to 121 potential employers (i.e. big buyers of commercial vehicles) sounds a lot more creative.
And that’s exactly what a German marketing campaign for the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is all about. Check it out in the video below, but don't try to do that to your Sprinter, it might lose its grip -literally...
By Dan Mihalascu
In one of the cleverest ads from the 1980s, Lexus stacked fifteen champagne glasses on the hood of its (then new) LS400 sedan...and then placed it on a dynamometer. Taking the LS400 up to a simulated 145 mph (233 km/h), the viewer marvels as the glasses remain exactly where they should be. The ad ends with the Lexus logo and the words, “The Lexus LS400 is designed to stir the soul...and not much else.”
It’s a great bit of advertising and holds up pretty well even today. There is one question that many would-be Lexus owners may be asking themselves today: are the cars still as good as they were back then? Has engineering perfection über alles survived twenty years of market reinvention and product development?
One Lexus owner has decided to find out, by (sort of) recreating the experiment with his own Lexus LS460 sedan, some champagne glasses half filled with water and an ordinary suburban driveway. The first test with wineglasses and 5800 rpm works well, but can this same feat be performed with nine glasses and 7500 rpm?
I guess you’ll just have to watch the video to find out.
By Tristan Hankins
Via Lexusenthusiast
Tesla Motors announced yesterday that it has sued BBC's Top Gear TV show for “libel and malicious falsehood.” The American automaker’s action refers to a Top Gear episode aired on December 14 2008, when Jeremy Clarkson tested the Tesla Roadster.
According to Tesla, the show “contained lies and misinformation about the Roadster's performance, behavior and reliability.” Tesla Motors considers the breakdowns of the Roadster that allegedly occurred during the Top Gear episode were “staged” and that the statements made during the show are untrue.
More specifically, Tesla claims Top Gear misrepresented that:
Tesla said it simply wants Top Gear to stop airing this episode and correct the record. The company said that the legal action came after BBC ignored “repeated attempts to contact the BBC, over the course of months”. On top of that, the EV carmaker is seeking damages of “no more than £100,000” for libel and malicious falsehood.
Interestingly, in Tesla's complaint, the company's UK director of sales and marketing, Don Cochrane, is said to have expressed concern about the fair portrayal of the Roadster after having seen on the set a script written before any of the two Teslas were driven, which read: “It's just a shame that in the real world, it absolutely doesn't work.” These are almost the same words Clarkson used as a conclusion to the Roadster review.
Serious accusations, to which the BBC has answered by stating its support for the show. "We can confirm that we have received notification that Tesla have issued proceedings against the BBC. The BBC stands by the program and will be vigorously defending this claim,” said a Top Gear spokeswoman.
We'll keep you updated with further developments on this case. In the meantime, scroll down to see the Top Gear review of the Tesla.
By Dan Mihalascu
Sources: Tesla Motors , BBC
The original Chrysler 300 is perhaps one of the most popular cars in the tuning industry here in the States, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that the Detroit automaker is using the car’s successor to tap into the custom scene.
The very first customized 2011MY Chrysler 300 is called the Fatchance 2.0 and it made its debut alongside the firm’s “S” concept cars at this past weekend’s Annual Spring Festival of LXs in California (see here). The low-rider 300 was crafted by John Fortuno aka Fatchance, who apparently caught the attention of Chrysler with his first generation 300-based FatChance 1.0.
The FatChance 2.0 300 has a rather clean look with exterior modifications including dark headlamps, a new front grille with a mesh insert, bespoke fog light surround trims, tinted and windows. The body is painted in a white hue and comes with a contrasting matte black finish for the grille surround, mirrors, bumper trims and logos. The lowered ride and the massive 22-inch forged alloy wheels wrapped in Nitto Tires measuring 255/30/22 at the front and 295/25/22 at the back complete the look.
Fortuno said that the custom 300 is an ongoing project that will be completed in time for the 2011 SEMA Show in Las Vegas this November. Among other things, Fortuno plans to modify the car’s interior and mechanical hardware.
Sources: Chrysler FlickR / Facebook
After commissioning a one-off Enzo-based Ferrari P4/5 from Pininfarina, American millionaire James Glickenhaus wanted a similar car for racing, and that’s how the P4/5 Competizione was born. Similar in shape to the road-going Pininfarina model but different mechanically, the racing version shares many components with the Ferrari 430 Scuderia and the 430 GT2. The P4/5 Competizione features a 4.0-liter V8 engine pushing out 450HP and 600 Nm of torque (442.5 lb-ft), and a carbon-fiber body that helps keep the weight down to 1,230 kg (2,712 lbs).
The main event for the car this year will be the Nurburgring 24 Hours race on June 25, with the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus team performing intensive tests this year. The latest test session for the P4/5 Competizione took place at the Nordschleife, where all the team's drivers (Mika Salo, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Nicola Larini and Luca Capellari) got some time behind the wheel.
Scroll down to see a spectacular onboard lap in the P4/5 Competizione plus another video revealing the sights and sounds of the fabulous Ferrari.
By Dan Mihalascu
One of the major fears consumers have regarding electric vehicles, besides range anxiety, is how these cars are going to function in rough weather conditions. We all know batteries are sensitive to extreme temperatures, which can affect their capacity of storing electricity.
This is why Volvo is trying out its C30 Electric model in the north of Sweden, inside the Arctic Circle. Temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius are something normal in this part of the world, so Volvo engineers want to ensure the battery-powered car runs smoothly even in harsh environments.
Volvo has developed several new test methods for its electric vehicles, with the C30 Electric having to undergo over 200 different tests. "We must ensure that the C30 Electric performs as intended when driving, parking and charging in a variety of conditions, from normal to very cold or hot. Northern Sweden is the perfect place to do sub-zero temperature testing," says Lennart Stegland, director of Volvo Cars' Special Vehicles.
To cope with freezing temperatures, the C30 Electric is equipped with three different climate systems: one for the passenger cabin, one for the battery pack and one for the electric motor and power electronics (with the latter being water-cooled). Since there is no conventional combustion engine aboard, the C30 Electric is fitted with a bio-ethanol powered heater that takes care of passenger cabin heating. The car comes equipped with a tank that can carry 14.5 liters of bio-ethanol.
This solution is used in order to save energy from the batteries for driving range. However, on short distances it is also possible to heat or cool the cabin with electricity from the battery-pack.
Under normal driving conditions, maximum range is estimated at 150 km (93 miles) on a single battery charge. However, at temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius, Volvo says the C30 Electric will cover up to 90 km (56 miles) or 80 km (49.7 miles) at -33 degrees Celsius. The car is powered by an 82kW electric motor (110HP) linked to a lithium-ion battery, which takes up to eight hours to charge completely.
The car can reach a top speed of 130 km/h (80.7 mph) and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 10.5 seconds. Scroll down to watch the Volvo C30 Electric during cold weather testing.
By Dan Mihalascu
At last November’s LA Auto Show, Nissan lifted the sheets off the revised GT-R that recently went on sale as a 2012MY in North America and as a 2011MY in the rest of the world. Key changes over the previous model include a 45HP bump in output to 530HP, plus a series of aero and chassis tweaks.
For those of you wondering how these modifications affected the GT-R’s performance on the notorious Nordschleife, Nissan’s team managed to shave more than two seconds off the 2011MYs time of 7:26.4, dropping it to 7:24.22, allegedly in less than ideal conditions. You’ll have to skip to about 3:20 into the clip for the driving to begin.
We also found a edited film on Youtube that compares the 2012 GT-R and Corvette ZR-1 on the 'Ring in a split format, which was created by synchronizing the two videos at the pit exit. Watch both videos after the jump.
On a side note, if any of our Japanese readers could help us with the translation in the first clip, we’d appreciate it.
Chrysler found the perfect opportunity to preview its upcoming range of ‘S’ models at the 6th Annual Spring Festival of LXs in Irvine, California this past weekend. The Detroit automaker showed off the “S” trimmed 2011MY 300 sedan, 200 Convertible and Town & Country in concept forms, though all three models are scheduled to enter production later this year starting with the 200 this spring.
According to Chrysler, the “S” treatment is a cosmetic package designed to appeal to younger customers that want something more “edgy” in terms of style. On the 300, this translates to a bespoke gunmetal finish, a new front grille, smoked headlamps and taillights, beefier alloy wheels in a unique design, a boot lid spoiler and if we’re not mistaken (since Chrysler has not released any official details), a lowered suspension. The interior also receives a makeover with red leather seats sporting the “S” logo and bespoke trim.
Chrysler has already confirmed the specs on the 200 Convertible ‘S’, which will be offered exclusively with a V6 engine. Unique styling features include as a special finish for the grille, dark headlamp surrounds, bespoke 18-inch aluminum wheels, black leather seats with suede inserts and a Boston Acoustics speaker system.
As for the refreshed Town & Country, the “S” trim adds new alloys, a mesh grille, silver accents on the body, and various interior upgrades including leather upholstery.
Source: Chrysler
Truth to be said, any journey would be a blast if you were behind the wheel of sports car like the Audi R8 Spyder V10, but we can’t help but applaud the brand with the four rings for this beautiful, 2-minute long clip filmed in remote, untouristy parts of Brazil. Sit back, turn up the volume and enjoy the ride in the video right after the break.
Ford’s Brazilian arm has filed a criminal (!) lawsuit against the local division of Nissan for airing an aggressive TV commercial directed at the Focus sub-compact. To make a long story short, the parody-like ad points the finger at Ford for allegedly overpricing its Focus model.
The TV spot, which looks exactly like a rap video, shows two men dressed as Ford engineers living the big life with gold chains and rings, plenty of champagnes, and –the best part- an exotic assortment of sexy women in bikinis dancing around them. And oh, there’s also a silver Ford Focus on the background….
At the end, the commercial announces the price of Nissan’s Tiida sub-compact (sold as the Versa in the States), which in Brazil, costs around BR 3,000 or a little over US$1,800 less than Ford’s rivaling Focus.
Translated from Portuguese, the lyrics say something along the lines of "all the luxury that I got, I got it with your money," and "don't weep because you're paying extra money -- your money was well spent, look what I do with it."
According to Reuters, Nissan was forced to pull out the ad from TV on March 3 after Ford obtained an injunction. However, being that we live in the age of networking, the ad quickly spread all over the internet.
Watch the video below and tell us what you think about Ford’s decision to sue Nissan in the comments section.
Via: Reuters
