James Bond would be proud of Rinspeed and their concept, the Splash. Sick sports car, to boat and back to car at the push of a button is a feature every secret agent demands. The Splash is Rinspeed’s tenth concept design that was headed by Frank M. Rinderknecht, founder and boss of Rinspeed. The concept was first seen at the Geneva Motor show in 2004 and in 2006 it broke the world record for crossing the English Channel in a hydrofoil car, doing it in 3 hours and 14 minutes.
Day 4. The Final day. I hate to see it come but here it is. just as before, these last two videos will be packed with cars you dream of, unexpected gems and cars may never have known existed. The first video today comes out strong as you get to sit in the diver’s seat of the Norma M20 European hillclimb concept while it eats up the road. While this video doesn’t have a huge list of cars attached to it, it is still packed full of content. Turn this one up loud. Read More >>
Day 3 has come and with it, a new barrage of audio greatness. Included in today’s line up are boxer 4s, flat6s, V-6, V-8, V-10, V-12, naturally aspirated, super charged, turbo charged, street, track, dirt, basically everything. I highly recommend turning the volume up, kicking back and enjoy the show. I present for your pleasure, volume 5. Hit the jump to take the plunge! Read More >>
I am back today, as promised, with more lovely music. With any luck, you have been salivating since yesterday and maybe even lost a little sleep in anticipation for day 2. I doubt that is the case but it always feels good to be needed, even if it is only imagined. As you may have realized there were a few notable exotics not shown. These videos will wrap up a lot of that. So without any more gabbing on my part, I give you Part 3 in the The Greatest Car Sounds series. Hit the jump for the videos! Read More >>
Are you ever walking down the street and you hear that engine music that doesn’t sound like the rest of the normal rumbling? Suddenly you get goosebumps… You look to see what it is and hopefully you catch that glimpse of an engineering masterpiece, which ever it may be; and finally you spot it, the amazing piece of engineering that has plucked your attention from your daily routine, and you couldn’t be more thrilled.
That is how it usually happens in my world. To me, the 8000 rpm whine of a Carrera GT’s V-10 sounds just as beautiful as Beethoven’s greatest symphony. The roar of the Zonda is just as invigorating as Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”. So it was with great pleasure that I ran across a whole series of videos dedicated to bringing the car geek nation the sounds of some of the greatest cars ever made. I will be bringing you 2 new videos each day for the rest of the week in celebration of the music we all love. Hit the jump for today’s sounds. Read More >>
With greenhouse gases on the rise many auto makers are working on ways to deliver low emission and alternative fuel vehicles at costs similar to their fossil fuel using counterparts. One French company however, has unveiled something that not only makes zero emissions and uses no fossil fuels, but is also less expensive than an economy size car.MDI has just unveiled the Mini C.A.T., a car that operates entirely on compressed air. It has a max speed of 70mph and a range of about 125 miles. In Europe, it can be refilled at properly equipped gas stations for about three dollars. MDI has said that they will sell the Mini C.A.T. starting at around $7000. Tata Motors of India has been taped to produce the car. At this time however, it will only be released in Europe and India.MDI claims that not only is this a zero emission car, but it is actually a minus emissions car. They sum it up like this,
Before compression, the air must be filtered to get rid of any impurities that could damage the engine. Carbon filters are used to eliminate dirt, dust, humidity and other particles which, unfortunately, are found in the air in our cities…the exhaust pipe on the MDI cars produces clean air, which is cold on exit (between -15º and 0º) and is harmless to human life. With this system the air that comes out of the car is cleaner than the air that went in.
With claims like these, I can only hope that the technology is either licensed to a North American company or that the cars are imported over. While no one technology is the answer, having these cars on North American soil certainly wouldn’t hurt. Every step forward is a good one.
Yesterday I brought everyone something with some humor due to someone else’s misfortune by sharing Jeff’s CTS-V video. In this next video however, Alec Osenbach is kicking ass and taking names in his WRX around the track. However, due to circumstances out of his control, no one at the track was able to mount his race tires so he is stuck with street. This leads to disastrous consequences.
Spoiler alert: He ends up being ok but they car will need a little fixing up.
Jeff had a goal and a plan to get there. Somewhere he went wrong though. As most of us know, when an upgrade goes wrong, the result is usually really loud noises, smoke, destruction, or in this case, all three! We can all thank him for doing so because out of it came this very entertaining video. The people in the video and what they have to say really make it. My favorite quote at about 2:05 in is,
“That smoke can’t be good for you.” “I know, thats why I got a beer.”
A quick disclaimer, there is explicit language in it. I wish the best of luck to Jeff in his future endeavors with his CTS-V.
For the past century, men have been dreaming of flying cars. Many attempts have been made to make the complexity of flight simple and user friendly. Cell Craft thinks that it may hold the answer with its G440.
As it stands, the FAA requires at least $6000 and 40 combined hours of instruction and solo flights in various conditions before issuing a private pilot license which will allow a person to take passengers in single prop aircraft. These requirements put flight out of reach or just make it undesirable for many people. So the drive to make a flying car which is accessible to the normal person has been the dream of many and there have been some very notable attempts. Hit the jump to find out what I’m talking about. Read More >>
