The Automobile Thread

[MarketTantrik]

Is the VW Space Up! interface developed by Apple?

 

From Engadget

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Nice interior huh? And how 'bout that 7-inch touchscreen display slapped onto the center console. Pretty sweet right? You're looking at the inside of VW's third iteration of their Space Up! -- the Space Up! blue -- just revealed at the LA auto show. Now try this on. Reader Joona wonders if this is the result of recent collaborations between Apple and VW. After thinking about it some, we're starting to wonder too. As Autoblog describes it, the concept touchscreen monitor "controls all conceivable functions" and is meant to demonstrate how future human-machine interfaces might look and operate. The touchscreen (no mention of multi-touch support) uses proximity sensors to react to gestures, apparently, without actually touching the display. The user can simply touch the "main menu carousel" to navigate to the desired category or manipulate the system with simple hand gestures near the display. Autoblog says, "Visually, this control is just as spectacular as it is intuitive." Now, chew on this for a second. VW announced earlier this week that all new VW models in 2008 2009 will have touchscreens. Is this what Apple has in store for us at January's MacWorld?

 

 

 

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I can see very many accidents on account of this

 

--MT

[MarketTantrik]

The 2008 Saleen S302E Mustang

 

From Mustang Evolution

 

 

New for 2008, the car is affectionately known as the “Extreme” boasts a Saleen-built 302 cubic inch engine augmented by a patented Saleen twin-screw, intercooled supercharger. The combination delivers an unprecedented 620 bhp and 600 lb-ft of neck-snapping, tire incinerating torque.

 

[MarketTantrik]

Speculation: Ferrari FS 599 Fuoristrada SUV

 

From

http://www.worldcarfans.com/9071025.002/sp...fuoristrada-suv

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Lamborghini already had an SUV for sale more than 25 years ago and today Porsche's Cayenne is a global success. Ferrari hesitated for a long time but has now decided to develop the world's fastest SUV, or so says our Italian contact with insider info. Our DTP expert than set to work with this information and produced the following renderings. The project has been coded the "Ferrari FS 599 Fuoristrada" and its supposed world debut target date is the Geneva Auto Show 2010.

 

While the five-door will feature four-wheel drive its off-road capabilities are not among the top priorities of the Ferrari development team. Two-thirds of the engine's power is rumored to be transferred to the wide 22-inch high-performance street tires in the rear.

 

The engine is familiar and hails from the Ferrari F599 Fiorano, albeit in slightly modified form. Its maximum power output of more than 600 hp and 600 Nm of torque will be a challenge for the size 315 tires front and back.

 

Despite an empty weight of around 2.2 tons the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h is supposed to take less than five seconds, thanks to Formula 1-type shift paddles on the steering wheel. Targeted top speed is 300 km/h.

 

With a top speed such as this the Ferrari FS 599 Fuoristrada would easily eclipse the performance of a Porsche Cayenne Turbo, just as easily as it would eclipse its price at projected 250,000 Euros plus.

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[MarketTantrik]

Hennessey Reveals 1000 HP Venom GT Concept Car

 

From Jalopnik

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Looks like Hennessey Performance Engineering -- the tuners of all things Mopar and SRT -- are not going to sit back and kick up their heels with their twin-turboed Viper -- the Venom 1000 SRT. No, they've just revealed their suspected new concept super car, the Venom GT -- and yes, it's mid-engined. The Steve Everitt-penned light wight chassis Venom GT will incorporate Hennessey's massive Venom 1000 Twin Turbo Viper V10 powerplant and all thousand of it's snake-spookin' horses and still tip the scales at just under 2,700 lbs. That gives the GT an astonishing 2.7 lbs per horse -- and a purported 0 to 62 mph time of less than 2.5 sec. Even more important however would be the 0 to 186 mph time -- which Hennessey's claiming is a quick-as-a-cobra-strike 14 seconds. But company CEO John Hennessey's claiming this car isn't a "Veyron slayer" -- oh, no -- he already lays claim to that title with his Venom 1000 Twin Turbo SRT. No, according to Hennessey, this isn't a car for a Veyron driver -- no, it's much more of an "engaging" drive than the Bugatti uber-car because of the 1500 lb weight differential. We'd have to agree -- this car looks insane. We'll take two please, one for us and one for our tame race driver.

 

Full press release

 

HENNESSEY VENOM GT Concept Car 1000 BHP + 2700 lb Mid-Engine Chassis = New Benchmark of Sports Car Performance HOUSTON, TEXAS (November 20, 2007) - Hennessey Performance Engineering today announced that it is introducing the company's first concept car - The Venom GT. Penned by British auto designer, Steve Everitt, the Venom GT would incorporate Hennessey's potent Venom 1000 Twin Turbo Viper V10 powerplant into a light weight mid-engine chassis weighing "under 2,700 lbs". Power would be run through a 6-speed transmission or optional sequential gearbox. With a power to weight ratio of just 2.7 lbs per bhp Hennessey estimates that the Venom GT could attain 0 to 100 km/h times in less than 2.5 sec. and a 0-300 km/h time of around 14 seconds. Company founder, John Hennessey, is careful to point out that the Venom GT is not being built as a "Veyron Slayer". Hennessey point out, saying, "The Veyron is an ultra fast and ultra luxurious grand touring car which also happens to be quicker and faster than any other road car, except for our Venom 1000 Twin Turbo SRT which beat the Veyron earlier this year from 0-200 mph. The Venom GT will be a much more engaging sports car to drive by challenging the driver with 1000+ HP in a chassis that is nearly 1500 lbs lighter than the Veyron." Hennessey said, "The company already has existing Venom 1000 Twin Turbo clients interested in ordering the lighter, mid-engined Venom GT. "Right now are taking a serious look at building 2 concept cars that could be shown to the public sometime in 2009. If there is enough demand we may consider doing a very limited production run of the Venom GT." If the Venom GT goes into production, it would be built at the company's facility at Lonestar Motorsports Park which is located just west of Houston, Texas. About Hennessey Performance Engineering Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE) specializes in designing, testing, manufacturing and selling high-performance parts and services for the Dodge Viper SRT10, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, Chrysler 300C SRT8 and Dodge Magnum SRT8 as well as other high performance and exotic brands such as Bentley, AMG Mercedes and Porsche. HPE is completing the construction of the company's new 30,000 square foot engineering and manufacturing facility at the company's Lonestar Motorosports Park - a 1/4 mile dragstrip located 45 minutes west of Houston, Texas. HPE is the only aftermarket tuning firm in North America that owns and operates its own vehicle testing track / proving grounds. The company will move to its new facility at the end of 2007. # # #

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[MarketTantrik]

The Wooden Car with a Split Personality

 

From News.com

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When Vasily Lazarenko began tinkering, he had a vision: build a wooden car. And apparently, it was a case of double vision. The resident of Chernovtsy, Ukraine, fashioned half of the body with a retro look and the other half with more modern styling. (Or at least, "modern" as it seems to be understood in the aftermath of the notoriously unstylish Soviet empire.)

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Hit the link at the top for more amazing pics

 

--MT

[MarketTantrik]

Elephant Car Wash

 

[MarketTantrik]

Koenigsegg CCXR Special Edition: Biofueled For Your Pleasure

 

From Jalopnik

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The Dutch Blog on all things Auto has acquired themselves what appear to be the first renderings of the brand-new special edition Koenigsegg CCX-R. So what makes the already announced but as-of-yet unrevealed Koenigsegg-egg-egg-gg so special? Well -- this here CCX is biofuel-powered. That's right -- so that means this red-on-black Special Edition model featuring a cast-aluminium V8 engine with sequential multipoint fuel injection and twin rotrex centrifugal superchargers is not only pretending to be environmentally friendly, it's also a performance model -- due to the biofuel having higher octane and cooling characteristics. That means the power on this Veyron-dethroning supercar's gone up to 1018 HP at 7200 rpm and the torque to 780 lb-ft at 6100 rpm -- talk about a well-spiced Swedish meatball, right? On a side note, the Swedes would also like to point out the CCXR is the first homologated car currently in production to reach over 1000 BHP -- not that they're braggarts or anything. Full flower-filled press release after the jump.

 

 

 

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[Don Karnage]

^ That looks fantastic.

[MarketTantrik]

Veyron who ?

[khanak]

The Veyron will always be a class apart no matter what car comes, just like the Mclaren F1

[Don Karnage]

^ Well I never did like the Veyron's shape (front grill). This looks way better to me, though the Veyron will have its rightful place in history.

 

2007 Class of The World's Most Beautiful Automobiles

via Autoblog

The Lamborghini Reventón has been named L'Automobile più Bella del Mondo. Translation: The World's Most Beautiful Automobile. It earned this honor in the Special Models category of this annual automotive fashion show, recently held for the fifteenth time at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, Italy.

Edited November 27, 2007 by ShaktiSingh

[MarketTantrik]

^ Well I never did like the Veyron's shape (front grill). This looks way better to me, though the Veyron will have its rightful place in history.

 

The Veyron was more hyped because of its price and the fact that its a Bugatti. But in reality, the Koeniggsegg was the first car to breach the 1000 BHP mark in production. Sadly, it never got the recognition it deserves.

[khanak]

^^True but somehow it just doesnt seem as engineered as the Veyron.

[Don Karnage]

Well I've never seen a video of the Koeniggsegg being driven but I did see one of Top Gear doing over 400 Km/h in the Veyron and the car was simply amazing. It actually changes its profile for going that fast.

[MarketTantrik]

^^ Like I said, the Koeniggsegg could never match the Veyron hype. ANd I have seen the Veyron's 400 kmph drive on Top Gear (stupid f***** James May), but you guys havent seen the Koenig running full blast yet. I recall a video I saw a year ago of the Koenig in a desert type seting.

 

 

Mind blowing stuff :shock3:

[khanak]

WOW

 

Doesnt look all that bad.

[Chaztin]

Yaa, enough for a family of four...and looks good enough!!

[reaper]

Bajaj 1-lakh car

 

 

 

 

peace

 

let me guess ... the engine is a 180 cc dtsi ...

[Chaztin]

notice the stick is in the freakin dash console

peace

 

That was first thing i noticed, is it gear box??

 

@ Reaper, even I think so,

 

btw, it must be accident proof, incase Yo bike crashes with this car, the whole car will get disassembeled but the passengers wont be hurt!!

[Don Karnage]

Doesn't it look like a glorified Auto-Rickshaw

What are the engine specs like?

Edited January 8, 2008 by ShaktiSingh