Britains 1000mph car revealed – Autocar.co.uk.

By the way, 1000 mph = 1609.30 kmh = 44.70 m/s. And that Eurofighter engine in concert with a rocket!

Britain's Bloodhound SSC

Britain’s 1000mph car has been unveiled in Bristol, as its bid to break the world land speed record gathers momentum.

Bloodhound SSC has gone through 10 design evolutions since October 2008 and the final design has now been agreed. The car’s first attempts at the record, which currently stands at 763mph, will take place on the Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape Province of South Africa in 2011.

The car is powered by an EJ200 Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine and a 400kg rocket sitting below it. Bloodhound SSC produces the equivalent of 133,150bhp, the power of around 180 Formula One cars.

In the original plan, the 200kg rocket sat above the jet engine, but not enough thrust could be created to overcome the aerodynamic drag. This led to a 400kg rocket being used, but this caused the car to pitch nose-down, destabilising the vehicle. Engineers found the best compromise to be positioning the rocket below the jet engine.

The car’s 90cm-diameter wheels have been made from forged aerospace-grade aluminium to withstand the g-forces required of supporting a 6.5-tonne car travelling at 1050mph. The car will be driven by fighter pilot Andy Green and he has designed the cockpit himself.

One of the project’s greatest challenges has been finding a place suitable for the car to make its record attempt. The site needs to be 10 miles long and must have one mile of clear run-off at each end and be firm enough to support the weight of the car. Several locations, including the Bonneville Salt Flats in the US, were sounded out using Google Earth.

Hakskeen Pan was eventually found to be the best site; it is a 12-mile track across a perfectly flat dried-up lake. The record attempt is being supported by the Northern Cape Government.

So far, 166 sponsors have signed up to support the project. Public donations have also totalled more than £137,000, while 2410 schools have joined the project as part of its education programme.

The Ferrari 458 is already a pretty zippy car, yet Ferrari has agreed to shovel the much larger Enzo-derived V12 from the 599 into its engine bay.

Apparently, one can’t just be any megastar, in order to have a bespoke Ferrari. Your career has to be game-changing and soulful, thereby eliminating Beavers, Britneys and Cyruses. And as in the article below, Ferrari interviewed Clapton, which emphasised their enthusiasm in accommodating him…

I’m guessing that a car like the 458 was not designed to with any room for a bigger engine, so i wonder how difficult it would be to fit the heavier V12. Aston had a bit of trouble when they swapped the 4.3L V8 in the Vantage V8 for the 6L V12 in the DBS to produce the V12 Vantage. I too am guessing that a front-engined supercar has more space in the bonnet for the engine to ride further back and lower as the Aston, than a midengined vehicle as with the Ferrari.

Moreover, i’m sure the V12 would alter the balance and handling of the 458 significantly, and would it really be faster given the different weight-to power ratio?

But a what a noise it is sure to make, especially if they remove the exhaust baffles! It’s conceivable from the article below.

Maybe i should try to become a pop star instead of a surgeon…

Ferrari 458 Italia in White

Riding with the King: Clapton wants a Ferrari 458 Italia… with a V12 — Autoblog.

When you’ve recorded as many platinum records, collaborated with as many big names and topped as many best-guitarists-of-all-time lists as Eric Clapton, you can get pretty much anything you want. And the ironically nicknamed Slowhand is known to have a taste for Ferraris. So much so that when he stopped by the factory in Maranello, even Ferrari couldn’t pass up the opportunity to interview him. 

Neither could Quattroruote, for that matter. While speaking with the Italian car-mag, Clapton reportedly professed his love for the new 458 Italia… with just one caveat: He’s not such a fan of eight cylinders. Could he get it with V12?

According to Quattroruote, apparently he can, as Ferrari has reportedly agreed to build it for him, with the 6.0-liter V12 from the 599 GTB Fiorano. We’ll believe it when we see it, which is pretty much exactly what we said the first time we heard the guitar riff on Layla.

Google walk woman’s legal action – Autocar.co.uk.

I reckon that unfortunately this incredulous incident will hurt google more than it does the lady in the long run.

So much for being the ‘competent adult’…

A woman who was hit by a car after walking on a highway in Los Angeles is suing Google.

Lauren Rosenberg claims she looked up a walking route on Google Maps on her Blackberry on 19 January last year.

The directions she was given included walking on a highway that has no pavement, but instead of seeking an alternate route she walked in the middle of the highway.

She was hit by a car and is suing Google for medical expenses amounting to $100,000 (£68,000), and for punitive damages. Rosenberg is also suing the driver who hit her.

Her court filing claims Rosenberg “was and is a competent adult” and lays full blame on Google and the driver.

Google Maps

I really have been away for too long – only found out about this insanely great advert through my rss reader.

I’m not so much amazed by the creativity as by the logistics that the BMW team put together.

After working with new media for a bit now, i believe these publicity events are more effective than single adverts in traditional media, which in turn include print and TV ads. That’s simply because these stunts that are unique and uncommon easily trigger a social media response from the people, from mobile snapshots to uploads on an iPhone. Given that the barriers to interpersonal communication are at an all time low with the proliferation of social networks, adverts of a physical nature have never been so powerful.

Case in point – the hype and coverage surrounding the launch of the iPhone and iPads were instrumental in effecting the large sale volumes that apple mustered in recent years. Social networks combined with a fanatical desire for the device ensured a self-sustaining movement that in turn led to more sales. And together with free coverage in news networks and other traditional media avenues, this could have been one of the greatest value-for-money marketing campaigns.

Either way, hope you enjoy the video. And if you’re Singaporean, hope it gets you all fuzzy as well. :)

Source: Autocar – London Unveils New Routemaster

London has just unveiled a revamped iteration of its iconic red Routemaster buses.

I’m actually quite happy to see it back in service and in spirit.

However, i do miss the open platforms at both the bow and stern of this veritable ferry.

Transport for London has released the first official images of the next-generation Routemaster bus.

The New Bus for London was inspired by an Autocar story in its Christmas edition in 2007; after new London mayor Boris Johnson adopted the idea, he launched a competition to create an official design.

See pics of London’s new Routemaster bus

Autocar re-invents the Routemaster

New ‘Routemaster’ competition

The new bus, which will be built by Wrightbus in Northern Ireland, features extensive use of glass in a bid to give the interior a greater feeling of space. One of the most significant design touches is a pair of glass swoops at the rear and along the offside; TfL says these are to showcase the bus’s two staircases.

As envisaged by the original Autocar story, the new Routemaster has an open platform at the rear, bringing back the old model’s hop-on, hop-off principle. It will be closed during quieter periods of service, however.

TfL claims the new bus will be 15 per cent more efficient than existing hybrid buses, and 40 per cent more efficient than regular diesel double-deckers.

Blog: All aboard the fun bus…except TfL

Blog: A new London bus

Blog: Routemaster re-born

Speaking at the new bus’s launch, Johnson said, “This iconic new part of our transport system is not only beautiful, but also has a green heart beating beneath its stylish, swooshing exterior.

“I expect to eventually have hundreds of these on London’s roads, and for cities around the globe to be beside themselves with envy for our stunning red emblem of 21st-century London.”

Posted from .

Know this is awfully trivial, but I noticed this contradiction in the papers today. It’s regarding the sold out Ferrari 599 GTO, which is essentially a bikini babe version of darth vader – drop dead gorgeous, lightweight but still very strong with the force.

The Straits Times (230410) in its automotive section mentions the 599 GTO’s SGD1.3 million price, and that this stallion is slated to be sold in Singapore.

However in its world news section, while covering the Chinese automotive market, it states that all instances of the GTO have been snapped up. Furthermore, almost every major automotive site has mentioned that each of the 599 cars produced had found owners by the day of its launch.

Much ado about nothing on my part!

Small cars are easy to park, as evidenced by this little China-made Chery.

Look at how much space there is on either side. Mum really needs to swap her current Chrysler Voyager for something more manageable. It’s actually bigger than a hummer – we pulled up alongside one several weeks back.

No way will I dare drive something that unwieldy when I get my license…

(On the side, I wonder if ‘Chery’ was a typo of ‘Cheery’ or ‘Cherry’. Either way, it evocates neither.)

Blogged from my iPhone

This was taken around a month month ago, yet I’m still so enamoured over this little volkswagen van.

It’s like the forgotten sibling between the camper van and the beetle.

Oh my word. It’s red, and it’s steering wheel, oh so shiny. I need one, now, right now!

Blogged from my iPhone

YouTube – Crash Test: 2008 Smart Car ForTwo.

This is simply quite remarkable…

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YouTube – WTCC Safety Car fail.

Oh, the irony. Well, it’s a chevvy up against BMW racers. What to do…

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