Super Car Ramblings

2009 F1 rule changes explanied

Once an Alfaholic always an Alfaholic

if you can't stand the heat go back to the kitchen.....

Gaelic Charm from Renault and Matra

fastest 4 door car commercial

Ok a move from the norm but I do have a soft spot for LSR and M5's and stumbled across this brilliant advert.

GINA -- Banglism at its best

open or shut case - the most beautiful car ever?

 

Behold the Holy Grail

43 years after its Turin Show debut the one-and-only 1965 Turin Salon Lamborghini Miura chassis, designed by genius Gian Paolo Dallara, and the raging bull company's first-ever transverse mid-mounted V12 engine (0293) has been acquired by Los Angeles based collectors.

The iconic show chassis had been stored for the past 30 years in Cyprus by that country's original Lamborghini concessionaire, Marios Kritikos. While visiting the Lamborghini factory in 1977, Mr. Kritikos took a fancy to the historic show unit. After successfully negotiating a future home for it, he arrived at the factory with his Range Rover and trailer, loaded it and drove away. That was in April of 1978. The original invoice for the chassis survives, together with unpublished period photographs of the chassis being built in 1965, on display at the December, 1965 Turin Salon, and at the Lamborghini factory in July, 1966. Mr. Kritikos documented his collection of the car on April 7th, 1978.

The 1965 Turin Salon Miura represents the very first mid-engined supercar theme for all marques, and is rightly considered to be the Holy Grail from which all road going supercars descend. Its re-emergence represents the most important Lamborghini discovery to date.

Thirty years later, in December of 2008 representing both parties and facilitating the transaction were Miura specialists Joe Sackey and Gary Bobileff. Only one month after its discovery it has been imported to the US and now resides in the restoration facility of world-renowned Gary Bobileff, where it will undergo a complete refurbishment to bring it to its former show glory.

The last time the general public saw this automotive icon was 43 years ago on display at the Turin Salon. It will make its USA debut in the summer of 2009.

 

 

Get dirty by keeping clean

Some bitter pils need sweetening to help them go down, and this also applies to new technology that yet has been grasped by the masses, how long did it take Apple to succeed with the ipod by relying on geeks and techno heads and now its common place and the word ipod seems to cover any MP3 & MP4 player.

Take the Telsa Roadster the state of art electric sports car, this innovative American company has sexed up what is a dull concept and made it desirable and created a niche market for itself. From this stand point they can grow stronger using excellent media coverage gained by the sportscar coating and enter the mainstream with a bang. Try it the other way and you will struggle.

Along with sports cars I have always had a passion for motorcycles, along with the brotherhood feeling motorcycle companies use to the best effect state of the art materials and technology which their customers expect and demand and to me that's a good thing. So where am I going with this blog, well the biggest killer with electric cars is their weight (that's why clever Tesla use the Lotus Elise as part of its DNA) and the how they are used, motorcycles are totally different, light from the outset and most journeys are a sunny Sunday blast or a commuting tool.

Zero motorcyles have found a niche here by building an electric dirt bike come scrambler. Using the latest evolution lithium technology their power supply is completely non-toxic (Tesla use a system) and contains no toxic materials such as cobalt, nickel, lead or mercury and are completly recyclable.

The X produces 20hp but can accelerate from 0-30 in under 2 seconds and offering 100% torque at all time, now you see why I'm started getting addictive to this technology. Along with 50ft lbs of torque the Zero only weighs in at 140 pounds, this is down to Neal Saiki obsession to weight (why can't more manufactures take his lead). The aluminum frame only weighs 18 pounds.

Zero say that their motorcycle produces less than one-tenth the pollution at the power plant than a gas powered mtorcycle.

Where's the sweetner you may ask, well no more two stroke disturbance or the smell of Castrol R when out in the country side.

Kneeslider

 

There's not much wrong with a stock BMW R1200R unless you take it to a race track, monitor and measure every moving part whilst under race conditions with the aim of redesigning it completely, well that's what Pablo Gonzalez de Chaves and Carlos Beltra have done.

The design started with pencil sketches, progressed to Photoshop and finally took shape in CAD and 3D modeling software. The design data was then used for the machining necessary to create the parts. Assembly surprises were limited due to the careful design work and after the motorcycle was complete, it was taken back to the track where the initial data was gathered and performance was compared with favorable results. Some areas for improvement were noted and some revisions will be incorporated as work continues.   

The chassis for the D1200R is made from milled aluminum. Lights are LEDs. The front suspension is of similar to designs to Foale and Parker, and was purposely left exposed for aesthetic reasons as well as showing off the extensive redesign, the front brakes are modified Buell.

Pablo holds a MSc in Motorsport Engineering and has work experience with Lamborghini, and kinda shows.