I’ve walked past this display a few times over the last couple of weeks and figured I’d grab some photos of it last night. What you see there is a Tesla Roadster sitting on top of four tea cups in front of a William Ashley China store. Now one downside critics often cite when it comes to electric cars is the added weight from the large batteries, and according to this display the tea cups under the front wheels of the Tesla are each supporting 481 pounds while the tea cups under the back wheels each have to deal with 894 pounds. So if it’s not heavy enough to shatter a set of tea cups, I guess it’s nothing to worry about right?
While the Bugatti Veyron might have beaten it when it comes to facts and figures, I still think the McLaren F1 is the greatest supercar ever produced. While the Veyron achieves its impressive speed and performance through sheer brute force, to me the McLaren F1 always looked like it could hit 200mph by just pushing it down a hill.
Well today McLaren announced the first details on their next high-performance sports car, and while it’s definitely not designed to outperform the F1, it’s also only expected to cost somewhere between ~$206,000 to ~$288,000. The MP4-12C, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, features a one-piece carbon fiber “MonoCell” weighing in at a mere 176 pounds and is powered by a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 producing about 600HP and 433 lb-ft of torque. While top speed and 0-60 times were not officially noted in what has to be one of the most epic press releases of all time (Autoblog’s got it) rest assured they’ll probably be impressive.
I think we’ve all seen those little magnetic key holders that some people stash under their car. These are great for emergency situations, such as getting locked out of your car. However, they aren’t great for stashing your keys when you’re out on the boat, or somewhere else that you can’t really keep your keys. However, if you’re a truck owner, there is a perfect solution out there for you. It’s called the Hitch Safe.
As you no doubt imagined, the Hitch Safe is a small safe that locks in your hitch receiver. It locks in with a pair of bolts, and keeps your things secure. It is crafted from coated metal, with four chrome dials that won’t rust. There’s even a rubber cover to keep it less conspicuous while protecting it from dirt. It’s large enough to keep keys, cash, credit cards any other small items when you’re away from your vehichle. $70 is a little salty, but will pay for itself quickly if you tend to lock yourself out of your truck.
Recently revealed at the Caravan Salon Dusseldorf RV show, the Snakeliner President-Suite is the perfect recreational vehicle for those who like to look absolutely ridiculous when they pull into a campsite. Its 969 square feet of living space (when fully expanded) is carried on an actual tractor trailer, and amenities include everything you could possibly imagine like central heating, a whirlpool, flat screen TVs in every room, a waterbed, remote window shades and of course satellite TV.
But the options are even more ridiculous and include such luxuries as granite floors, a garage, a motorboat in the ‘cellar’ and even a helicopter landing pad. Not surprisingly the base version of the Snakeliner runs just under $930,000, though I’m sure that can easily be pushed past a cool million with a fully loaded configuration.
This is what happens if you have a Dodge Viper V10 engine and decide to Frankenstein it into a motorbike. The creation is called a Millyard Viper V10 and is probably the bike with the longest wheelbase in the world (then again, maybe not, what do we know about bikes?). Created by one UK tinkerer called Allen Millyard, it’s supposedly street-legal and might be up for sale at some point in the future. Motorcyle News got interested and will write more about this in their August 26 and September 2 issues, so that’s all we know for now.
We’re wondering… with a total contact patch as small as that provided by a bike… is it even possible to slow this thing down safely from the speeds it can probably attain in the blink of a eye? In any case, this isn’t the first V10 powered crotch rocket we’ve written about: here’s The Chrysler Tomahawk V10 from all the way back in 2006.
If you’ve been trying to find a way to ugly-up your Mercedes Benz real good like, for just $5 you can replace its stock hood ornament with this clear plastic version that lights up thanks to a set of red, blue and green LEDs that are powered by a small chrome wind turbine. So not only does it not require batteries, but the installation is as easy as peeling and sticking it to your car’s pristine paint job. Available now from DealExtreme who couldn’t possibly squeeze another watermarked logo onto their product shots.
While I suspect the Naturmobil was actually designed for the sole purpose of making ‘one horsepower’ jokes, I guess Iranian engineer Hadi Mirhejazi’s invention is also an eco-friendly way to get around. It’s powered by a single horse tethered to a treadmill inside, which charges the battery on an electric motor and allows it to reach speeds of up to 28mph. To keep the horse comfortable it wears a jacket of cold water, and to keep the passengers comfortable it also wears a colostomy bag to deal with the vehicle’s ‘emissions.’
If you’re one of those people who actually uses an off road vehicle off roads, then something like this little device from Uxsight might come in handy. Attach it to your dash with the self adhesive bottom and be constantly aware of your vehicle’s tilt and roll. You can even enter maximum values as per your vehicle’s handbook and be alerted of impending doom or whatever it is that happens when you do stuff with your car you really shouldn’t be doing in the first place.
Since it’s all of $18, don’t be surprised that there’s no real carbon on the device; it just sort of looks like there is. Barely.
A few weeks ago we brought you this ridiculous F1Showcar Motion Simulator and lamented that the $44,900 investment only included a 19-inch LCD display which would hardly provide a ‘realistic’ driving experience. Instead, we’d have liked to have seen a screen like the one the RS1 Xtreme M3 Simulator from Texas Sim Racing Inc. comes with. Specifics about its actual size aren’t listed on the website, but the display does provide 180 degrees of “immersion screen technology” which works in conjunction with a 3-axis motion actuator system that’s capable of acceleration up to 2G’s. I have to say I completely agree with the company’s slogan, “it doesn’t need to look like one, It only needs to feel like one” though they should also include a bit about it costing like one too, since you’re looking at about $30,000 for this particular setup.
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