Fisker Karma Aluminum Space Frame – Click above for high-res image
has finally taken the digital wraps off the around which the Karma plug-in hybrid (PHEV) will be built. In lieu of enjoying a new concept vehicle at the this week, Fisker fans will have to make due with this peek at the bones of the Karma, the part that gives the luxury car its “new levels of rigidity and strength that will give the world’s first premium plug-in hybrid electric vehicle world-class ride and handling characteristics.”
The frame is made with 5,000- and 6,000-series aluminum alloys. The all-knowing Wiki says the 5,000-series are “suitable for cryogenic applications and low temperature work” but are susceptible to corrosion above 60°C. The 6,000-series are made with magnesium and silicon alloys and “are easy to machine, and can be precipitation hardened, but not to the high strengths that 2000, and 7000 can reach. Now you know.
You can read the original press release announcing the aluminum space frame .
TAG Heuer Tesla Roadster- Click above for high-res image gallery
If you’ve ever wondered whether a can really rocket from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in just 3.9 seconds, a new custom collectors edition of the electric sports car could allow you to verify that claim with a certain degree of accuracy. As part of its 150th anniversary commemorations, TAG Heuer has teamed up with Tesla Motors and will present the first fruit of their collaboration at the .
The foucault field gray carbon-fiber shell with branding-appropriate mismatched mirrors houses an interior that has received special treatment from Tesla’s chief designer , incorporating design elements from the Swiss watch maker and making room for both a one-fifth second Heuer limited edition stopwatch and a TAG Heuer Meridiist mobile phone. The center console has been specifically constructed to cradle a “cutting edge concept watch” that will itself only be revealed a few weeks from now at the watch and jewelry tradeshow. In a timely manner, please make your way to peruse the press release that details their attempt to bring “technologically advanced art to life through motion.”
The relentless run-up to the ’s official introduction at the Geneva Motor Show continues unabated, this time with a video of Markus Winkelhock taking the A1 for a spin around Audi’s test track in Neustadt, Germany.
The current DTM pilot for gushes about the A1’s communicative steering and compliant suspension, while Dr. Horst Glaser, Audi’s Head of Chassis Development, hypes up the lightweight construction and quick 14.8:1 steering ratio. It’s not the most compelling video, but it’s nice to see the premium hatch finally on the road. And we’ve got to admit that the A1 looks noticeably better blacked out, without the slightly contrived aluminum roof trim. See for yourself .
As of today, when incidents like sudden acceleration happen, it’s extremely difficult to diagnose conclusively what the cause was. Without a mechanism to track exactly what the driver did, what the vehicle sensors detected and how the vehicle responded, it usually ends up being a he said/she said situation.
Thus, in the wake of recent allegations of unintended acceleration in vehicles, a movement has begun to equip all cars with black box data recorders.
Representative Gene Green (D-TX) has already introduced legislation that would mandate the installation of such event data recorders, or black boxes, in all new vehicles.
has now come out publicly in favor of the proposal. GM has been installing event data recorders in its cars since 1995 as part of the air bag system. In accidents where the airbags are triggered, GM can use the data stored in the EDR for diagnostic purposes to improve the function of its safety systems. The recorders save the last few seconds of data before a crash from a number of sensors. GM is not only supporting the installation of these recorders in all vehicles, but also supports making the data accessible so that accident causes can be more accurately determined.
2011 Mercedes-Benz S63 showcar – Click above for image gallery
We’re here in Affalterbach, Germany this morning for a AMG tech day ahead of the Geneva Motor Show, and while we have yet to get a tour of the facilities, we already have some news – the 2011 S63 AMG will receive the company’s all-new 5.5-liter bi-turbo V8 engine, as well as the SpeedShift MCT seven-speed gearbox already on offer in the E63 and .
Even though it’s down on displacement compared to the , the M 157 generates more power (544 horsepower in ’standard’ mode, 571 with the optional performance package) and more torque (586 pound-feet or 660 lb-ft. with the optional performance pack). And despite the change in engine size, the big sedan’s S63 moniker will remain.
MB chairman of the board Volker Mornhinweg has also confirmed to Autoblog that the U.S. market will indeed receive start-stop technology despite the fact that its efficiency gains aren’t really recognized by the EPA’s fuel economy testing methodology. Even so, the user-defeatable fuel-saving measure ought to pay dividends in city traffic, which is important because cities like Los Angeles and New York are prominent AMG markets.
Despite offering an embarrassment of performance, the S63 will also cut fuel consumption by an astonishing 25 percent, thanks in part to clever programming of its SpeedShift gearbox and a driver-selectable ‘Controlled Efficiency’ program, an eco-mode that, among other things, instructs the transmission to always start in second gear, shift up as quickly as possible, and remain in higher gears whenever possible. In addition, the Intelligent Generator Management System employed on the E63 is also used to funnel kinetic energy back into the battery, and there is a new generation of cylinder deactivation technology at work as well. All-in, the still-massive motor will turn in an impressive 23.5 miles-per U.S. gallon on the EU cycle and Morninweg pledges that the car will skirt U.S. gas guzzler taxes.
The ’standard’ S63 will run to a governed 155 mile-per-hour top end, while the performance package model has been let out to 186 mph. The new car is slated to go on sale in the second half of the year, and the 5.5-liter engine is expected to supplant the 6.2-liter in other AMG offerings over the next several years. We’ll see the new engine tomorrow in person at the Geneva Motor Show, where it will reside in the engine bay of a special S63 showcar. The showcar (above) pays tribute to an early AMG-powered 300 SEL that won its class and finished second overall at the 1971 24-hour race in Spa-Francorchamps.
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-Benz S63 gets smaller but more powerful 5.5-liter biturbo V8
We saw back in 2008, but that stationary display is not how the vehicle is meant to be experienced. No, this beast wants to move, and that’s just what it’ll do Saturday, March 6th at the Speedworld Dragstrip for NHRDA’s Desert Diesel Nationals in Wittmann, AZ. There, the dragster is going to try and run the quarter-mile in the low-mid 6’s “while emitting none of the black clouds of soot normally associated with diesel racing.”
With 1,200 horsepower rumbling from its 6.6L Duramax diesel V8 from (or maybe something more powerful?) rocketing the Sidewinder down the track, we admit this isn’t the greenest of vehicles – but if you can go 200 miles per hour, you might be able to change some minds about just what diesel is capable of. Banks said in a statement that this is his goal: “Diesel has cleaned up its act, and we’re out to prove speed can come without the price of black smoke.”
Facelifted 2010 Škoka Fabia and Roomster – Click above for high-res image gallery
In just a little bit now there’s going to be a party in Switzerland called the Geneva Motor Show, and Škoda is in on the BYOB action. The Czech brand will show off the facelifted Fabia, Fabia Estate and Roomster, along with their new engines. Both models get new grilles and so-called “3D-shaped headlamps” for “a more dynamic look” and to emphasize the width of the cars.
The power behind those new horizontals will be a new engine portfolio of four gas-powered units and two diesels that start at 60 horsepower and top out at 105. One of those gas engines, the 1.2-liter TSI with 105 hp, runs through a 7-speed DSG ‘box and returns 53.3 imperial miles per gallon (44.4 U.S. mpg). Follow the jump for the complete specs, and have a look at the two cars in the photos below.
It’s only been a few months since Harley-Davidson the demise of Buell, but the gang at weren’t comfortable hanging up their leathers just yet. In fact, the newly-released 1190RR may be the first time we get to see the team really show off without any higher-ups to please.
Reading the specs, it clear that you won’t run into this Buell at a event. A new version of the -built V-twin will displace 1190cc and spit out 185 rear-wheel horsepower. EBR claims that through use of high-quality chassis components and good diet and exercise, they were able to reach a fighting weight of 360 pounds (before the 4.6 U.S. gallons of fuel are added to the frame).
The trick race-bred features keep coming, like a full titanium exhaust and valvetrain, multi-plate slipper clutch and straight-cut gear six-speed tranny. Chassis and suspension take the “tune to the moon” approach, with fully-adjustable Showa race suspension, variable rake and, therefore, variable wheelbase. Just off its championship victory in the 2009 , Buell shows no sign of bowing out gracefully anytime soon. Click to view the full specifications of the 1190RR.
A member of Pyongyang, North Korea’s traffic police on the job. Image by . Follow the jump to .
North Korea may be a totalitarian hellhole run by a lunatic with an affinity for women’s M.C. Hammer glasses, but we’ll at least give Dear Leader this: his army of traffic-control maidens is a sight to behold. Stationed at intersections throughout Pyongyang, the uniformed women of the city’s traffic police go about their mission with robotic precision. It comes off as a deadly serious affair – no smiling, no banter – as they point what little traffic there is in the direction it needs to go. And, really, it is serious business: After all, even though there may be traffic lights, there’s little electricity available to power them.
As such, the burden of maintaining order on the roads falls on the shoulders of these often pretty, yet always stern-faced officials. As one oblivious Mini Cooper driver learns in one of the (how does one come to own a Mini in NoKo, anyway?), you can get the traffic girls to leave their posts, which are defined by circles drawn in the intersections, if you ignore their instructions. Only they won’t do so until after they complete a formal, choreographed changing of the guard ceremony.
Other observations: in the summer, the blue uniform tops appear to be exchanged for white ones, and the traffic-control stations (at least some of them) are augmented with shaded platforms that presumably make the job somewhat more bearable. It’s all bizarrely fascinating to watch, which you can do in several videos posted .
Just a week ago, the rumor was spread that to the U.S. and that they’ll cook their tires with U.S. engines – but you’ll probably have to wait until this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed to get the details. Now we’ve been told that you can buy remanufactured versions of the Tuscan, Sagaris, and T350, and you don’t have to wait at all!
These old-as-new TVRs are being sold as rolling chassis, the same way you would buy a Superformance or Rossion, and have otherwise been made to comply with U.S. DOT laws. They’re available through in Indianapolis, and all you’ll need to do after a phone call and a cash transfer is show up with an engine or a trailer.
We don’t know where the supply of cars is coming from, however. The “official” TVR isn’t building cars; these are coming from a company called Total Vehicle Remanufacturing. TVR, get it? We don’t know anything about them, but hey, one call to Carmel can answer all your questions if you decide you’re ready for the raw rear-wheel-drive power of what used to be Blackpool’s finest. Hat tip to Alexis!
If you’re truly worried about your teenager and what he or she might get into – or plow into – using a cellphone while driving, then perhaps you might find Cell Cease of interest. If your teen’s phone runs on Windows Mobile and has GPS, Cell Cease will block the ability to make and receive most phone calls if it detects the phone is moving more than 5 miles per hour. Only 911 calls and an allowed numbers list will be able to get through otherwise.
Once installed, Cell Cease makes changes to the software with with a PIN code. While safety is the intended benefit, there are not-insignificant downsides. Running Cell Cease can reduce your usable battery time by up to 20 percent, for one. Even more importantly, Cell Cease can’t tell how you’re moving faster than 5 mph. If you’re a passenger in a car, riding on a bus or train, cruising in a sailboat, or even just walking pretty quickly, it doesn’t matter: your phone is rendered nearly useless. On another note, is there a teen in the world that actually uses a WinMo phone?
As of today, when incidents like sudden acceleration happen, it’s extremely difficult to diagnose conclusively what the cause was. Without a mechanism to track exactly what the driver did, what the vehicle sensors detected and how the vehicle responded, it usually ends up being a he said/she said situation.
