All Entries Tagged With: "cool cars"
OSU Buckeye Bullet 2.5 EV Hits 291 Mph
Electric cars aren’t typically built for speed. Don’t tell that to the Buckeye Bullet 2.5, which just set a new speed record for battery-powered vehicles, clocking in at an average of 291 mph during back-to-back runs.
Created by a crew from Ohio State University with help from several industrial partners (such as Venturi and A123 Systems), the landspeed racer registered just shy of the 300.992 mph set by the original Bullet from last year. That one, however, ran on hydrogen fuel cells, while this year’s model was juiced completely from lithium-ion batteries.
A custom-built induction motor lies at the heart of the vehicle, pumping out 700 horsepower to deliver the blistering speed. Notable details include carbon fiber/aluminum construction and a full set of onboard diagnostics for driver feedback, along with an all-new inverter and control system.
The OSU Buckeye Bullet 2.5 made the record-setting run at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah last [...]
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport Reclaims Title For World’s Fastest Production Car
Bugatti probably didn’t feel too happy about being toppled from the top of landspeed records by the SSC Ultimate Aero. Proof? Instead of cosmetic changes to their latest special-edition Veyron, they’re throwing in modifications that allowed it to regain the title the line once held. That’s right, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport is now the fastest production car in the world.
Hitting the laps at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessian high-speed test track, the new car performed two runs under the crafty driving of Pierre Henri Raphnael. Both the Guinness Book of Records and the German Technical Inspection Agency (TÜV) watched as the vehicle registered 265.9 and 269.8 mph in each of the respective attempts. Those two speeds were then averaged to give the supercar the official speed record of 267.81 mph.
Running on a 1,200 hp engine with 1,106 ft/lb of torque, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport is easily the most powerful [...]
Hennessey Venom GT Boasts 1,200-Hp At Just 2,548-Lbs
Hennessey Performance Engineering just raised the bar for supercars with the first production version of the Hennessey Venom GT. The car, Chassis Number 01, was shipped out this week from their UK facility to its new owner’s garage somewhere in the UAE.
Sporting a body derived from the Lotus Elise, a mid-mounted engine out of the Corvette ZR1 and enough custom work to make you think it was designed on an acid trip, it’s effectively the greatest hybrid car ever produced. Like all high-performance vehicles, of course, the proof is in the numbers.
The first production Hennessey Venom GT features a twin-turbocharged Chevrolet LS-series V8 engine, producing 1,200-hp and 1,135lb-ft of torque, mated to a six-speed Ricardo manual, all on a carbon fiber body with a dry weight of 2,548-lbs. You read that right: just over 2-lbs for 1-hp, which is absolutely ridiculous. It reportedly goes up to 270 mph with a [...]
Wind-Powered Car Can Run Faster Than The Wind
Can anything buoyed by the wind go faster than the wind? Some physicists say it should be impossible, but that’s exactly what Rick Cavallaro’s wind-powered car supposedly did last May 16th. It didn’t just go faster, it went extremely faster, posting a top speed that’s 2.86 times faster than the 13.5 mph winds at the time.
Using funding from Google and Joby Energy, Cavallaro and his team from the San Jose State University aerodynamics department built the wind-beating car over the course of a year. Detailed photos and schematics are available from their blog (link below), in case you’re interested in the vehicle’s construction.
The ultra-light, four-wheeled car uses foam as its primary material and mimics the aerodynamic principles applied in Formula 1 racers. A tall stand in the rear holds a 17-foot propeller, which Cavallaro says is the key to how the vehicle can travel downwind at [...]
All-Electric Dynacar Goes From 0 To 87 Mph in 10 Seconds
No, Batman didn’t suddenly decide to include orange in his color combination. That superhero-worthy ride is actually the Dynacar, an all-electric experimental vehicle with speeds that’s helping push the limit for eco-friendly transportation.
Created by Tecnalia Technological Corporation, the car posts acceleration that’s largely unexpected in such a green-minded ride. Powered by a permanent magnet synchronous electric motor with a peak power of 100 kW, it can go from 0 to 60 mph in just 5.7 seconds, pushing even harder to 87 mph in 10 seconds.
The Dynacar employs a single-shell, high rigidity lightweight chassis, with four wheels that incline using an adjustable deformable parallelogram suspension system. Made from steel and aluminum alloy, it has a total weight of just 1,543 lbs. At the current configuration, the installed battery is only good for a 43-mile range under real-world conditions. If implemented for actual road use, though, the [...]
Porsche 911 GT2 RS Unveiled, Coming In The Summer
There’s a new Porsche coming to town and it’s one to command attention. Billed as the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, the vehicle is being groomed as the most powerful production 911 ever.
The current GT2 is a pretty impressive example of automotive engineering, so this latest supercar had its work cut out. And Porsche responded to the call, producing a car that lapped at Nürburgring-Nordschleife in just 7 minutes and 18 seconds, beating the Viper ACR by four seconds and setting a new speed record for production machines.
What kinds of improvement did the car get over the old GT2? The Porsche 911 GT2 RS is 154 lbs lighter (tipping the scales at 3,021 lbs) and adds 90 extra horses (it pumps 620 hp), making for an overall faster car, as proven by the impressive ring time. Efficiency is also getting a huge boost, with a listed mileage [...]
Delahaye “Bella Figura” Bugnotti Coupe: A Classic Reimagined
Unlike other retro kit car makers, who replicate classic car shapes into less-than-palatable forms, Delahaye USA looks to put their own stamp on them. Their new Delahaye “Bella Figura” Bugnotti Coupe, for instance, reimagines the 1937 Bugatti Type 57S into the form they envision it would have been made into today.
More than a poor carbon copy of the classic, the car uses the original as a starting point and proceeds to interpret it with a slew of stylish changes. According to the team, the design evolved over a one year period, duly influenced by illustrations from Bugatti fans and various models they’ve seen throughout the years.
The Bugnotti Coupe, which they’re billing as a tribute to Ettore Bugatti’s son, Jean, will come in either carbon fiber or alloy bodies, in three different finishes. It will use a custom chassis, currently being designed by Brent VanDervvoort of [...]
World’s Largest Jeep Replica Blows It Up To 400% Scale, Actually Runs
That picture above is not an optical trick. Instead, it’s the real, actual world’s largest Jeep and that small man is actually a normal-sized Sheikh.
Owned by Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, the supersized Willy’s replica towers 21-feet tall and is, in fact, a 400% scale of the actual wartime classic it is based from. Why would someone want a vehicle that big? You wouldn’t be asking that question if you knew that Hamad is also known as the Rainbow Sheikh, a nickname he earned because he once bought seven brand new Mercedes 500 SELs and gave each one a different paint job (one car corresponds to each color of the rainbow) so he can use a different-colored car for every day of the week.
While good sense will tell you that the giant Jeep is probably a statue, you couldn’t be more wrong. Yes, the 4.4 [...]
How To Get A Lamborghini Inside Your Living Room
When a rich man says, “I want a 9 car garage and be able to enjoy viewing one of them in the living room,” he gets it. And when he adds “Oh, and the living room needs a tall tree,” he gets that too. Wicked.
If I owned a Lamborghini and eight other kickass cars, I’d want to be constantly watching at least one of them all the time too. Yes, even while I’m glued to the nightly news. Plus, the very idea of having the car parked inside your living room is just joyously priceless. But how did he do that?
Designed by architect Takuya Tsuchida, the setup involves an elevator inside the living room that descends down into the garage. Basically, you just park whichever car you want to show off inside the house on the elevator platform in the garage, push whatever button brings the whole thing up and [...]
Donkervoort D8 235 E Pairs A 235-Bhp Engine With Ultra-Light 1,300-Lbs
We’re not sure what Donkervoort means (or if it even means anything, really, other than being Joost Donkervoot’s surname), but it’s my new favorite word for the day. Strike that. It’s my favorite for the next 100 years. Sorry, Snuffleupagus. You had a good run, but the last time your name sounded funny was when I still watched Sesame Street. Which was yesterday on VHS.
Anyway, the reason we’re donkervoorting right now is because Donkervoort Automobielen BV recently announced their latest car, the Donkervoort D8 235 E. Yes, it’s a Se7en (you know, cars based on the Lotus 7) and it’s one bundle of donkervoorting awesome. Okay, no more making up words. Promise.
A top-open, low-profile car (or, as some people put it, a motorcycle on four wheels), the Holland-based manufacturer’s new vehicle takes their well-worn D8 range and gives it even more power. While it runs the same turbocharged 1.8-liter 20v [...]
A One-Off, Kid-Sized 1992 Ferrari F40 Goes On Sale
A one-of-a-kind Ferrari just went on sale at Hemmings. While not technically a real Prancing Horse, this 1992 Ferrari F40 is a kid-sized two-seater, created as a novelty prop for the opening of the very first Ferrari dealership in Moscow.
While it is, for all intents and purposes, a novelty, the kiddie car does set itself up as the king of all junior rides. Put together in Germany, it was designed and built by the same guys who does the wind tunnel models for the Ferrari Factory F1 Team. That means it arguably fosters sleeker lines and smarter aerodynamics than the car I drive. Poor me.
The vehicle is based, of course, on the Ferrari F40, a two-door sports coupe that the company produced between 1987 to 1992. It’s made to scale, with the whole body certified correct to the full-sized original. We’re not sure if you’ll [...]
2011 Mercedes Benz E-Class Cabriolet Upgrades Convertibles For Four-Season Use
Convertibles are awesome – when the top is off. Once that roof comes down, the whole thing can feel severely cramped, far from the luxury vehicle it’s supposed to be. The 2011 Mercedes Benz E-Class Cabriolet thinks it can do something about that.
Unless you live in an area where days are always warm and still, it’s silly to be driving a convertible with the roof off most of the year. Not with the stylish new drop-top, though. The company claims it’s perfect for “four seasons, four people,” allowing comfortable use for a party of four, even after the summer is through.
How did they do it? Gadgets, of course.
The Mercedes Benz E-Class Cabriolet comes with an Airscarf system that blows warm air to front seat passengers via adjustable vents in the head restraints, allowing you to stay warm with the top off, even in chillier climes. [...]
Porsche 918 Spyder Boasts Faster Lap Times Than Carrera GT
This year, automakers used the Geneva Motor Show to showcase ridiculously fast hybrid and electric cars. My favorite of the lot? While it’s hard to decide, it will have to be the Porsche 918 Spyder, a plug-in hybrid supercar that makes no compromises on driving power.
While high-performance luxury sportscars won’t be saving the world anytime soon, you can’t help but look in awe of a vehicle that pairs eco-friendly tech with sophisticated performance. In fact, Porsche claims their new hybrid cleared the famous Nurburgring in 7.5 minutes, making it faster than their very own Carrera GT.
The 918 Spyder’s powertrain consists of a V8 engine (pulled from the RS Spyder race-car parts bin) and two electric motors, combining for a total of 500hp and an impressive driving mileage of 78.4 mpg. It posts a top speed of 198 mph and accelerates from 0 to 60 in as fast as 3.2 seconds. [...]
ECOS Harbinger: Lambo-Inspired Looks, All-Electric Powertrain And Up To 117 Mph
For $12,500, you can bring your car down to Electric Cars of Springfield (ECOS) and have it retrofitted with an all-electric powertrain. If you have a little more cash to spare, you can skip the entire conversion process when visiting their facilities and spend it on the Harbinger, the company’s newly-unveiled, Lamborghini-inspired electric sports car, instead.
With dozens of electric cars suddenly popping up, what makes this new creation so special? In a nutshell, it’s cheaper than a Tesla, all while providing similar race-worthy power and attention-grabbing European lines.
The Harbinger features a German-engineered, all-aluminum chassis, with a carbon/kevlar composite bodykit and Lambo-style scissor doors that mirror the glance-inducing appearance of Italian supercars. Underneath the luxury exterior lies an 11-inch Netgain DC motor, fed by a 30kW LiFePO4 battery pack. Together, the powertrain combines for an electronically-limited top speed of 117 mph, with a maximum range of 150 miles (if you drive [...]
Vintage Lightweight Aston Martin DB4 GT Going On Auction In January
Want to own one of the rarest breed of cars ever put together? You’ll get your chance this January, when RM Auctions puts a 1963 Aston Martin DB4 GT on sale to the highest bidder. Yes, I’m talking to you as if I believe you can actually afford this.
Pegged as among the rarest of the rare, only 75 of these cars were built during its production runs between 1959 and 1963. Of that number, only six belong to the lightweight models category. Chassis #0175/L, the car going on auction, is the last of those six.
Like other lightweight DB4 GTs, this particular car cut down the weight by using aluminum components for the elegant fastback body in place of steel. Additionally, it got rid of non-essentials (for racing) in the cabin, including the radio, speakers and heater. It also received a total restoration during the mid-nineties, getting a variety of upgrades, [...]
EcoBoost-Powered ‘34 Ford Hot Rod Showing Off At SEMA
SEMA is approaching near once again, bringing the usual lot of tuned-out cars the event is most noted for. Ford is reportedly showing off a lot of rides during the show, one of the coolest easily being this EcoBoost-powered ‘34 Ford hot rod.
Even though the car itself will garner the most attention, EcoBoost appears to be the real star here. According to the company, the technology, which they’ll be fitting into most of their upcoming cars, will prove that displacement is not irreplaceable when turning out powerful engines.
Rather than sporting the conventional V8 found in most muscle cars, the ‘34 Ford will draw its push from a 3.5-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost V6. Delivering 400hp and 400 ft/lb of torque, it posts numbers that capably rival naturally aspirated 302 cubic-inch V8 engines. Apart from the power it delivers, the new V6 will also enable 20 percent better fuel economy and up to [...]
