Pedal powered Lamborghini is a work of Benedict Radcliffe and Ben Wilson. Radcliffe is known for his wire sculptures of cars, beside the sculpture of Lamborghini his sculpture of Subaru Impreza has received much attention. On the other hand, Wilson is best known for his Bicycle expertise. Here's what Ben Wilson has to say about this car:
"The work questions the combustion engine, celebrates bicycle efficiency and the striking design of the Lamborghini arguably one of the most iconic super cars of all time, as well as Wilson and Radcliffes commitment to clever and thoughtful craftsmanship."
Seeing the photo above I would add: "Attracting unwanted attention of a police officer" :) Anyhow, if you want to see more of the Wilson's work you should visit his website. Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:29:00 +0000
Top Gear + Fifth Gear = Final Gear The Brits, some people think they are a bunch of arrogant arses, but they know how to make a proper car show. If you are a fan of the British car shows, namely the Top Gear and the Fifth Gear, the place to be is a site called the Final Gear. Here is an excerpt from their About page:
"In late October of 2003, Vuk and I (Viper007Bond) were members of the forum at Fast-Autos.net. At the time, I had only seen small clips here and there of the shows as there wasn't really any public way to get either show. So, long story short, the wonderful Vuk started ripping episodes for me and sending them to me. In return, I started hosting the rips on my personal site for the members of the Fast-Autos.net forum.
I quickly used up all of my bandwidth though and went to a crazy system where I had different people hosting the episodes to distribute the bandwidth. That didn't work for too long though as the bandwidth was just too immense. Not to mention the site was really ugly (I rock at web design, don't I?).
Then in March of 2004, I released version 2.0 of the site. It featured a much less ugly design as well as the use of torrents. It was still hosted at http://gear.viper007bond.com/ and was fully dynamic, rather than like the previous site that was static. However, by the end of 2004, the site had outgrown my shared hosting account resulting in a close of the forums and not long after, my host made me kill this site from my account.
That resulted in the site being moved to it's own domain name and donated hosting and how the site came to be known as FinalGear.com. During the move, we redesigned the site again to look like what it does now."
Basically, at the Final Gear you will find a place to discuss current episode of your favorite TV show, and the place to show your admiration/disdain towards Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May or Tiff Needell, Vicki, Jason, and Tom. And the best part is that you will also find some torrent files there :) Sat, 06 Oct 2007 10:43:00 +0000
Ferrari F149 Rumor has it that a new Ferrari code-name F149 is coming in January 2008 and since one of its alleged first appearance will be at the Detroit Motor Show the new Ferrari model may get a California name tag. Geneva Motor Show in March is other possible date for this model's first presentation to the public.
There are many rumors, but very little facts about the new Ferrari model. This "we want it to be named Dino" Ferrari is supposed to be a F430 replacement. The new model will be powered by a next generation 4.3 liter V8 engine with direct fuel injection. Until January, or March :), enjoy this spy video of F149 being tested at the Nurburgring.
To say the truth, Maserati has been known as a manufacturer of beautiful but technically inferior cars. With a new model, Maserati GranTurismo, the House of the Trident is taking another direction. GT is not just beautiful, sophisticated, and stylish. GT is also technically polished, and in the case of Maserati that means a new gearbox :)
Technical Specifications
ENGINE
Manufacturer: Maserati Type: V-8 Displacement: 4244 cc Max power output: 405 HP (298 kW) @7100 rpm Max torque: 460 Nm (339 lbft) @4750 rpm
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHTS
Length: 4881 mm (192.2 in) Width: 1847 mm (72.7 in) Height: 1353 mm (53.3 in) Wheelbase: 2942 mm (115.8 in) Dry weight: 1780 kg (3924 lb) Kerb weight: 1880 kg (4145 lb)
PERFORMANCE
Top speed: 285 km/h (177 mph) Acceleration 0 – 100 km/h (0 – 62 mph): 5.2 s Acceleration 0 – 400 m (0 - quarter-mile): 13.4 s Acceleration 0 – 1000 m : 23.9 s @ 225.00 km/h
Although, you may not be astonished by the speed of Maserati GranTurismo, you should keep in mind that this is a four person tourer after all. Anyway, with GranTurismo Maserati is back. Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:13:00 +0000
Italian Supercars in 2008 This year is almost over and it's a good time to start looking at what models we will be seeing in 2008.
Ferrari has unveiled F430 Scuderia at the Frankfurt Motor Show and the rumor has it that new F430 Challenge Stradale will be joining other F430 models early next year.
From Lamborghini we have updated Gallardo and Murciélago LP640, and much more interesting models: Gallardo Superleggera and Reventón.
2007 is a very interesting year for Maserati, because Maserati made profit for the first time in the last 17 years. For the 2008 we can safely say that will be even more interesting because of the new model GranTurismo.
With all those models coming, the year of 2008 will be very interesting for all the lovers of Italian super and sport cars. Mon, 01 Oct 2007 05:46:00 +0000
Poll: Ferrari vs Lamborghini I've created a separate blog just for this poll and completely forgot to promote it here so I'm correcting this error now. So far there are 38 votes total:
Ferrari .......... 21 (55%)
Lamborghini ...... 17 (44%)
I noticed it too. There is a one percent missing in action :) There are 27 days left so don't be lazy, go and
On the other hand rumor has it that Fernando Alonso, reigning world champion, will leave Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and join Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro for the next season.
Alonso is at two points from Hamilton, the championship lead. Hamilton has a fantastic season, he is a rookie and he leads Formula One championship.
Off topic: I'm looking for a new template for this blog. Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:50:00 +0000
Pay tribute to Colin McRae On September 15th, the Scottish rally driver, Colin McRae, his young son Johnny, and two more passengers were killed in a helicopter accident. This tragedy shocked the automotive world. Fans all over the world are paying tribute to Colin McRae. Here is a nice video by Antti:
"Mysterious Dietrich" or how Trevor Michael Karney, 27, just got himself a nice 30 day jail sentence and three years probation. He was involved with the February 21, 2006, crash, when he'd claimed that he was a driver of a Mercedes-Benz who saw how Dietrich had left a Bo Stefan Eriksson's Ferrari Enzo.
Just a quick reminder of their original story. Eriksson and "Dietrich" were in Ferrari Enzo. Dietrich was a driver and after he'd crashed Enzo he fled into the hills. Karney arrived just in time to see Dietrich running.
The result: Eriksson who's been accused of stealing a car, got 3 years jail sentence, Karney got 30 day jail term and three years probation, and the Enzo got this look:
Pierre Scerri's Ferrari 312 PB Or how seeing a Ferrari at young age can make you do strange things. This is the story about Pierre Scerri and his remarkable devotion. Here's Jeremy Clarkson interviewing him, it's an old video, probably from 1992 when he finished his Ferrari:
"Back in the 1970's, Pierre Scerri was a big racing fan. He loved the look and the sound of the Ferrari race cars that graced the European sports car races he attended. As a young telecommunications engineer he wanted very much to own such a car, but realized there was no way he could ever afford to buy one. If he wanted to have a car like that, he would have to build one himself. He started with drawings of each part of the car—a project that took three years in itself working just from photographs of the real car. He then started on construction of the car. The 12-year construction odyssey took Pierre on a journey though virtually every process needed to build the full size car. He learned to mold his own rubber tires, cast his own glass headlights, make his own battery, weld the tube frame, build the shock absorbers and such delicate tasks as making a miniature tachometer and other working gauges. The drawing and machining skills were learned from reading books, as he had not been given any training in these subjects when in school.
Of course, there was the running 100 cc, fuel injected, dry sump, flat 12-cylinder engine; the heart of the car that had to be built too. The engine alone took three years, and just tuning the exhaust to get the proper "Ferrari music" took almost six months (and three different sets of exhaust pipes) before Pierre was satisfied. To learn pattern and mold making to do the castings, he attended a foundry school in Marsaille. Bodywork, upholstery, electrical system—all had to be fabricated from scratch. The only part that required some collaboration because of its exotic metallurgy and tight machining specifications was the gearbox. For this Peirre was able to work with Colleti, the famous builder of the full-size Ferrari racing gearboxes who lent their expertise in making the actual gears used inside the cast case. The 5-speed box also has a working reverse gear. In total, Pierre estimates a total of over 20,000 hours was devoted to completing the car, which was finished in 1992."continue reading
Well, if that isn't a dedication, then I don't know what is. Sun, 16 Sep 2007 23:08:00 +0000
Spy Games 2 Ferrari can be satisfied with Thursday's FIA's ruling that fined McLaren a $100 million and stripped them of their 2007 constructors' championship points. McLaren drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, were not fined. Still, I don’t think this is over yet.
Anyhow, here is Ron Dennis's statement:
PRESS INFORMATION - STATEMENT FROM RON DENNIS
Paris, France, Thursday 13th September 2007
"The most important thing is that we will be going motor racing this weekend, the rest of the season and every season. This means that our drivers can continue to compete for the World Championship. However having been at the hearing today I do not accept that we deserved to be penalised in this way."
"Today’s evidence given to the FIA by our drivers, engineers and staff clearly demonstrated that we did not use any leaked information to gain a competitive advantage."
"Much has been made in the press and at the hearing today of emails and text messages to and from our drivers. The World Motorsport Council received statements from Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Pedro de la Rosa stating categorically that no Ferrari information had been used by McLaren and that they had not passed any confidential data to the team."
"The entire engineering team in excess of 140 people provided statements to the FIA affirming that they had never received or used the Ferrari information."
"We have never denied that the information from Ferrari was in the personal possession of one of our employees at his home. The issue is: was this information used by McLaren? This is not the case and has not been proven today."
"We are also continually asked if McLaren didn’t use the information, what was the reason for Stepney and Coughlan collecting all this data about Ferrari? We can only speculate as neither Coughlan nor Stepney gave evidence at today’s hearing, but we do know that they were both seeking employment with other teams, as already confirmed by both Honda and Toyota."
"There will be no issue for the 2008 season as we have not at any stage used any intellectual property of any other team."
"We have got the best drivers and the best car and we intend to win the World Championship."
Based on the Murcielago LP640 the Reventòn is powered by a 650 horsepower V12 engine and that means it has a top speed of 340 km/h (211 mph) and accelerates from zero to 100 (62) in 3.4 seconds.
It looks great, very aggressive, more a jet than a car, only twenty will be produced, but is it worth a one million euros ($1.4 million)? I like this car, I like it a lot, but I can't escape the feeling that this is just the face-lifted Murcielago LP640.
Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:58:00 +0000
Pagani Zonda vs. Lamborghini Murcielago We all know how fast Murcielago is, but what about Zonda? To help you appreciate this beautiful car I found you a nice video of Jeremy Clarkson, of Top Gear fame, driving a Zonda:
Pagani Automobili S.p.A. doesn't have Ferrari's history or Lamborghini's fame, but this independent supercar manufacturer sure knows how to make a car. Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:38:00 +0000
Lamborghini Murcielago Twin Turbo This is no car, this is a jet. With the wings attached I bet you it would fly. Lamborghini Murcielago Twin Turbo, built by Doug Levin Motorsports, makes 800 HP at the motor. And what a noise this Lambo makes! See for yourselves in this video:
BTW, this is the first Lamborghini Murcielago Twin Turbo ever built. Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:10:00 +0000
Pagani Zonda R Ferrari FXX just got a serious competition. New Pagani Zonda with its 750 hp engine built by the Mercedes AMG aims for the title of the best Italian supercar.
Here’s the press release from Pagani Automobili S.p.A.
Press Release
Zonda R
While we certainly cannot say the Zonda F lacks performance figures, driving around the Nürburgring in 7:32 and achieving lateral G forces of almost 1.5 G, it is however a road car, easy to drive, intuitive and setting the benchmark for comfort, safety and lightweight. Paired with a quality finish and the attention to detail this made the Zonda F one of the most desirable supercars resulting in the 25 Coupé models being sold out in record time.
This did not seem to fulfil the requirements of our most demanding customers, who adore the weekend drive on a racetrack. The spark has been set by an Italo-American customer, enthusiast and already proud owner of 3 Zondas. He describes the project this way: “The thought has been on my mind for quite some time, but I am not interested in racing”. The Zonda R is born with full liberty. The target: the ultimate performance at the racetrack without any implications of rules, except for safety, where no compromise is allowed.
In September 2006 the first drawings were ready, but it was crucial to have the support of Mercedes-AMG for a high revving engine with a power output of 750hp, dry sump, light and with a low centre of gravity. The basis was the self supporting engine of the mighty CLK GTR, which has dominated the GT championships. Eve at constant racing pace the engine would have to cover over 5.000 km before servicing. The challenge has been accepted without hesitation.
The Zonda R is a car designed from scratch, with only 10% of the Zonda F components to be carried over. The suspension forged in Avional, a new Pagani six speed transversal sequential gearbox, carbon fibre monocoque, aeronautical four pump fuel tank are only part of the equation.
The wheelbase has grown by 47mm, the overall length by 394 mm and the track is increased by 50mm. The bodywork and aerodynamics have been studied to offer maximum downforce. Even though built for the track, the project would not have received kick off, if the quality and finish of the car and its details was not up to the level of the Pagani road cars.
One of the first cars to be delivered however will be kept in a living room, designed by Pagani and built with the same materials as the Zonda F, beautifully textured carbon fibre, avional, titanium, inconel and other state of the art materials. Additionally it will feature a bespoke HiFi System that will allow the customer to listen to the sound of this car at Le Mans and the Nürburgring.
The Pagani customers who have ordered the Zonda R will be relieved of almost 1.2 million + taxes.
Technical Specifications
Zonda R
This Zonda is purpose made for track use, without restrictions of any competition rules or homologation, with the only exclusion of the passengers’ integrity, where no compromise is tolerated according to our philosophy and state-of-the-art safety measures are featured.
A new heart
The engine is built by the racing specialists at Mercedes AMG, where the championship winning DTM cars are born, as well as the CLK GTR, probably the most devastating and effective weapon ever to compete in the GT series. From it’s engine the Zonda R borrows the basic architecture including an ingenious dry sump allowing a low centre of gravity. This self-supporting engine with 750 hp at 8000 rpm and 710 Nm of torque carries a lightweight carbon fibre highperformance intake system, a racing multiple disc sintered clutch and Formula 1 style exhaust system, hydroformed in Inconel 625 and ceramic coated for optimal heat dissipation. The power unit combined with a 6 speed transversal manual sequential synchronised gearbox is designed to satisfy the most ambitious drivers.
The chassis
The central carbon chassis will incorporate a roll cage and a rubber racing fuel tank with 4 fuel pumps and quick refuel filler like on GT race cars. The wheelbase has been increased by 47mm to offer the best stability. The front and rear subframes are brand-new, built to accommodate a new suspension geometry, produced in avional. The magnesium forged rims with central wheel nut and a quick pneumatic lifting system allows fast and effortless changes of the slick tyres.
Bodywork and aerodynamics
The new bodywork has been honed to offer elevated downforce even in low speed corners. The longer front bonnet with flaps, closed underbody and the rear overhang with the adjustable rear wing and race derived diffusor translate into shattering aerodynamic efficiency and will let you experience cornering speeds beyond imagination. The car displays and logs information about the amount of dowforce that the car is generating at each moment. Combined with the adjustable wings you can easily find the best setup for each track.
Workstation
The interior is designed to accommodate the driver and passenger in bespoke seats, built to offer the best support, when the G-forces from the vehicle dynamics come into question. The Digitek instrumentation provides the essential information and a sophisticated telemetry allows through a variety of sensors to monitor every single component of the car.
technical data
Type V12 - M120 V - angle 60° Displacement 5987 ccm Stroke 80,20 mm Bore 89,00 mm Valves per cilinder 4 Horse Power 750 Power output 551 KW at 7.500 1/min Torque output 710 Nm Aspiration Single throttle bodies, mechanically operated Lubrification Dry sump with separate oil tank Firing order 1-12-5-8-3-10-6-7-2-11-4-9
