BMW C.L.E.V.E.R. Concept

BMW just released official pictures of its co-developed three-wheeled, natural-gas powered micro-car called CLEVER (Compact Low Emission VEhicle for URban Transport). Although nothing official yet, but this concept that was funded by the European Commission (Fifth Framework Programme) could base the C1 successor, marrying the worlds of cars and motorcycles. Partners in the C.L.E.V.E.R project included:

• BMW
• Technical University of Berlin, Institute for Land and Sea Transport (TUB), Berlin, Germany
• Cooper-Avon Tyres Ltd, Melksham, Great Britain
• ARC Leichtmetall Kompetenzzentrum Ranshofen GmbH (LKR), Ranshofen, Austria
• IFP
• TAKATA-PETRI AG, Berlin, Germany
• University of Bath, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Power Transmission and Motion Control, Bath, Great Britain
• Universität für Bodenkultur Vienna, Institute of Transport, Vienna, Austria
• WEH GmbH, Illertissen, Germany

The CLEVER concept, a €3.3 million (US$3.9 million) effort, is an enclosed two-seater that combines the safety of a microcar, and the maneuverability of a motorcycle, while being less polluting than other vehicles as it runs on compressed natural gas.

Its strengthened frame will protect the driver in a crash and the vehicle will have a top speed of approximately 50 mph. The 230cc BMW engine—modified by Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP) to use natural gas—produces 12.5 kW (17 hp) of power and maximum torque of 15.5 Nm at 6,300 rpm.

Fuel consumption is estimated to be 2.4 liters/100 km gasoline equivalent (98 mpg US), with 59.5 g/km of CO₂ emissions. The compressed natural gas is stored in two removable gas bottles providing a range of 150 km (93 miles).

A problem with three-wheel vehicles with a symmetrical wheel layout is the tipping moment when cornering, which cannot be controlled at high speeds if the vehicle has a short wheelbase. To solve this problem the vehicle’s center of gravity can be moved towards the center of the corner—just as a motorcycle does when it corners.

The do this, the vehicle is a cabin tilter, with the system designed by the University of Bath. The cabin with the front wheel is connected to the power unit and the two rear wheels by a pivot bolt. The rotary movement of the cabin is produced by two hydraulic cylinders (actuators) that are installed between the cabin and the power unit. The actuators create the rotary angle of the cabin of +/-45° relative to the vertical power unit.

World's Faster Radio-Controlled Car Hits 161mph or 259km/h!

Now here's a radio-controlled car you wouldn't want anywhere near your kids - or for that matter, close to any immature grownups like ourselves. Billed as the fastest R/C in the world, the Pocket Rocket (apparently codenamed Schumacher Mi3) is the amazing work of Nic Case who decided to take up the interesting hobby of customizing radio-controlled cars after a motorcycle accident. According to Pop-Sci, the Pocket Rocket achieved a top speed of 161mph or 259km/h topping Nic Case's previous record by almost 30mph.

But that's not the end of the story as the 46-year-old believes that his modified R/C car is capable of reaching a top speed of 200mph. "The car's got more," said Case. "I left a lot on the table."

Case said that it took him 6 months and around $4,000 to develop the Pocket Rocket which features numerous mods include the addition of an 11-horsepower R/C motor and a 12-cell battery pack normally found in hobby airplanes as well as a gyroscope-based steering correction system from R/C helicopters that prevents the car from flipping over.

Via: Pop-Sci

Audi Design's €100,000 Bosendorfer Grand Piano

Ever wondered what a piano designed by Audi would look like? Probably not but we're pretty sure that you're curious enough to see how the Audi Design Studio team in Munich managed to blend in styling traits from its automobile division to an entirely different product. We're no design specialists but we reckon that the curvalicious outer skin and aluminum details of the Bosendorfer Grand Piano leave no doubts even to an untrained eye that this product is the result of the work of Audi's design team.

The German firm's young designers worked closely with the specialists at Vienna's Bosendorfer workshop so as to not affect the acoustics of the impressively styled concert grand piano.

"You can imagine the respect with which we approached the challenge of redesigning a musical instrument" said Wolfgang Egger, Head of Audi Group Design. "The limitations we faced were necessary as a means of stimulating our creativity. We were obliged to study the instrument in depth, and develop an all-embracing concept from the very start. The project was a useful source of experience for our young designers, and will benefit them later when they work on car design."

The Audi Design grand piano will have its world debut at a major ceremony held on July 16, 2009 in the Audi Forum Ingolstadt to celebrate the German automaker's centenary.

Unlike most design projects of the sort, Bosendorfer's Audi Design Grand Piano will actually go on sale from July 16 onwards at a price of approximately €100,000 or close to $140,000 at today's exchange rates.

Goodwood Celebrates Audi's Centenary by Suspending Cars over Massive Sculpture

This year's featured marque at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (3-5 July) is Audi as the Ingolstadt-based automaker is celebrating its 100th birthday. To commemorate the anniversary, Lord March, who hosts the festival at his back-yard 12,000-acre West Sussex estate, commissioned the creation of massive sculpture that features two cars from Audi's history, the iconic 1937 Auto Union streamliner and the just launched R8 V10 sports car suspended in the air, at either end of the 'swoosh' of tire tracks.

Designed by the Gerry Judah, Lord March's creative collaborator, the sculpture weighs in at a total of 40 tonnes or the equivalent of 40 small family cars and it took two 100-tonne cranes to raise the monument and about four weeks for 12 men to fabricate, build and install it in front of the Goodwood house.

"I drew about 20 ideas and some had elaborate bridges with vaulted arches but somehow they didn't have quite the right style," said Judah. I then had a flash of inspiration and designed this 'swoosh' with a car at either end to represent Audi's 100-year history.

"It's made entirely of steel and although the design looks simple, it's actually extremely complex, because the structure has to be rigid and completely balanced without the need for hundreds of supporting props."

Offbeat: Vauxhall Corsa Roller Skates

Following in the... footsteps of its sister company Opel and its Agila high-heel shoes that were shown at an event in Amsterdam last year, Vauxhall unit has presented its own take on the car-theme shoe thingy with the release of the specially commissioned, Corsa roller boots. If you're wondering why, GM's UK division is planning some sort of promotional event at London's Shoreditch area that is said to "transport" visitors to a late 20th Century vision of the future, in a 70's disco meets Knight Rider on roller skates kind of way, whatever that means.

Audi Presents Updated Navigation System Plus for A3, TT and R8

Just like any other electronic product, navigation systems are continuously upgrade with better software and hardware. Audi's updated navigation system plus with MMI (Multi Media Interface) for the A3, TT and R8 models promises to offer improved route calculation speeds thanks to a latest-generation processor clocked at 600 MHz while another significant enhancement is are the 800 x 480 pixel, high-resolution graphics displayed on the 6.5-inch screen.

On the back of the display, which can be folded away at the push of a button, are two slots for SD and SDHC cards with capacities of up to 32 GB, enough to store about 14,000 songs or 700 hours of music.

Also new on Audi's updated navigation system plus is the optical parking assistant which can be combined in the Audi R8 with the rearview camera. Aside from the acoustic warning signals, the distance to the front and to the rear is now displayed optically on the high-resolution display.

The new system is available for order now with prices ranging between €2,270 and €2,565, depending on the model.

Rolls Royce Ghost / 200EX Online Configurator

The public debut for Rolls Royce's new, smaller-sized and lower-priced luxury sedan isn't due until the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, but nevertheless, the BMW Group-owned British firm has created an online configurator for the Ghost's preview model, the 200EX concept study. Judging by the most recent spy shots, there aren't any visible differences (at lease none of any importance) between the Ghost and the 200EX, so what you see here, is what you'll be able to get in a few months time.

If you feel like fooling around with the 200EX configurator that allows you to change the exterior and interior colors of the Rolls, click the link below and then choose 'Design' and after that, 'Visualizer'

Link: Rolls Royce , Via: Autoblog.it

Extra-Terrestrial Vehicle: A Chevy Aveo of the Third Kind

The Extra-Terrestrial Vehicle or ETV -we're not even kidding, that's the car's official name- is a futuristic-looking custom build created by Mike Vetter and his Florida-based company, 'The Car Factory'. It's hard to believe it just by looking at the ETV, but underneath that sci-fi outfit you'll find a Chevrolet Aveo stripped out of its body but not its heart.

Read more »

Spanish Driver Caught Soliciting Barely-Dressed Lady in Google Street View

We'd like to give the driver of this Ford Transit Connect the benefit of the doubt, but somehow we don't think that he stopped to ask the provocatively (un)dressed brunette for directions - that is, unless he meant directions for the delivery of the payload in the 'pantalon' cargo area... This humorous incident was caught by Google's 'Big Brother' street view camera in Madrid, Spain. If you want to take a look around -no need to explain- click through to play with Google's street view gadget.

Via: Jalopnik

Smart Joins Forces with Colette to Create Limited Edition Collection, Catwalk Model Suffers....

Before we go into any details on Smart's new fashion collection, allow us to say that we can't but feel sorry for the catwalk model pictured above. Like, can you imagine how long it must have taken to place all those trinkets on her body and get a magazine quality photograph? But anyway, what you see here is a new limited run collection for Daimler's Smart brand that was created in cooperation with the French concept store, Colette.

The collection consists of numerous fashion items ranging from shoes, a T-shirt, a scarf, jewellery and a bag, all of which were created by five international designer labels with production for each piece limited to a run of 150 units.

2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate Previewed Through Scale Model?

While Mercedes-Benz is trying to keep the prototype models of the next generation E-Class Estate hidden under heavy camouflage, a series of photos depicting a 1:43 die cast model of the car have made their way into various forums on the net. There's no mention of the name of the company that makes the scale model, but the build quality looks pretty high.

And even though there's no way of being 100 percent sure about the accuracy of the design, judging by the numerous spy shots we've seen so far (click here to check out the scoop pics), we'd say that the die-cast model's styling is very darn close to the real-life E-Class Estate that is due to be unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in September.

Source: Germancarzone , Via: WFC