SPORTS MOTORIST

Ms Sandiford to be executed for drug trafficking.

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:26:00 -0800

Lindsay Sandiford was arrested in May last year after she tried to enter the Indonesian holiday island with illegal drugs worth £1.6 million hidden in her suitcase.

Local prosecutors had called for the 56-year-old housewife to be jailed for 15 years. But today there were gasps in the Bali courtroom when a panel of judges announced Ms Sandiford would be executed for drug trafficking.

As the shock verdict was announced, Ms Sandiford, from Gloucestershire, slumped back in her chair in tears before hiding her face with a brown sarong as she was led out of the courtroom.

yellow jacket stun gun case for iphone

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Sat, 4 Aug 2012 03:56:00 -0700

yellow jacket is a case that transforms the iPhone 4 & 4S into that 650,000-volt stun gun you've always needed.

scheduled to hit the US market in fall 2012 the case is advertised as being able to
easily stop an aggressive male attacker, and ready for use in less than two seconds.
its designer seth froom, a former military policeman came up with the product after
being robbed in his home at gunpoint.

what is the demand for such a hostile product you might ask? well, yellow jacket
has managed to receive over 100,000 USD worth of backing on the crowd-funding
website indiegogo which means that there must be quite a few people out there
who feel the need to transform their phone into a weapon.

detail of the stun gun nodes

the iPhone's designers could never have conceived half of the the weird and wonderful accessories
that have been designed for use with the iPhone since its launch, but even in the name of self defense
a stun gun seems a bit much, doesn't it?

Now You Can Buy a $250,000 Nail Polish

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Thu, 2 Aug 2012 17:38:00 -0700

Remember that time when everyone got all freaked out about thatsnakeskin pedicure that cost $300? Well, get ready to completely lose it, because we just got a press release for the “most expensive nail polish in the world.”

That title was previously held by Models Own, which produced a $130,000 bottle (featuring a 24-carat gold, diamond-encrusted lid) back in 2010. However, the self-professed “king of black diamonds,” Azature, has doubled that figure. A bottle of black nail polish containing a whopping 267 carats of black diamonds in the actual polish will go for $250,000. Yikes. You won’t be able to just walk into Duane Reade and buy this sucker, however–only one bottle of the stuff will be produced.

For those of us who can’t afford a quarter of a million dollars for a manicure, Azature is offering a $25 version (see, now doesn’t $25 nail polish sound downright cheap in comparison?) containing one measly black diamond. You’ll be able to pick it up in LA at Fred Segal starting this month.

Estepona Town Hall sacks 176 municipal workers

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Thu, 2 Aug 2012 16:50:00 -0700

The news was given on Wednesday by the Councillor for Personnel, Pilar Fernández-Figares Estepona Town Hall has sacked 176 municipal workers. The PP Councillor for Personnel, Pilar Fernández-Figares, announced on Wednesday that the 176 workers are victims of the ERE Employment Regulation which the Town Hall put forward in June. The workers will be compensated with 2.5 million € and they will be given their ‘finiquito payments of 408,000 € between them. Pilar Fernández-Figares said one they were sacked the Town Hall will start to work on a new ‘training program for the reinsertion of the sacked workers’.

BMW to sell luxury cars for less online

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 11:23:00 -0700

The BMW i3 concept car at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show in January. (John T. Greilick / Detroit News)

BMW will sell cars over the Web for the first time as the world's largest maker of luxury vehicles seeks an inexpensive way to reach more buyers to recoup spending on its electric models.

A direct online sales platform for BMW's new I sub-brand will be unique in an industry where, outside of small-scale experiments, competitors leave Internet orders for cars to dealers. BMW's range of strategies for the models, including a roaming sales force backing a limited showroom network, reflects the challenge carmakers face as low-emission vehicles trickle into dealerships to sluggish demand after years of development.

"There is considerable risk in BMW's approach of promoting the I brand so prominently," said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management at the University of Applied Science in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. "There is the image risk, if they don't succeed as quickly as expected, and then there's the main risk of costs, which can only be countered with high deliveries."

BMW opened the I models' first showroom Tuesday in London, although only prototype cars and informational materials will be displayed at first because the vehicles themselves won't go on sale before next year. BMW is spending about $3 billion developing the i3 battery-powered city car and i8 plug-in hybrid supercar, according to an estimate by Frost & Sullivan. Industry sales of electric cars last year, at 43,000 vehicles, were only 57 percent of the 75,000 deliveries predicted by Sarwant Singh, a London-based automotive partner at the consulting company.

Starting prices posted

The four-seat i3, scheduled to reach the market in late 2013, will be priced at about 40,000 euros ($48,500), Bratzel estimated. That compares with a 23,850-euro starting price ($29,388) in Germany for the 1-Series, the cheapest BMW-brand car. The i8, targeted for sale in 2014, will cost more than 100,000 euros ($123,221), according to Ian Robertson, BMW's sales chief.

Details of how I-model buyers, the website and dealerships will interact are "still in the planning process" and will be communicated later, Linda Croissant, a spokeswoman at Munich- based BMW, said last week. Sales will be focused on the world's major urban areas, she said.

The online sales option is aimed at a generation of drivers used to making daily purchases over the Internet, and will be an extension of the car configuration that most automakers offer customers to view models with desired options such as interior colors, seat materials and roof styles.

Test drives not an option

The Internet platform may take a while to catch on because "many customers will still want to go somewhere to look at and drive the vehicle before buying," said Ian Fletcher, an auto analyst in London at research company IHS Global Insight.

"With new technologies, there may be even greater skepticism about buying a car over the Internet, as in many cases you'll have to win the confidence of customers that it works and there is support for them," Fletcher said in an email.

The setup may help BMW reduce expenses: Internet sales require less than half the cost of distributing through a dealership, according to Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of the Center Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. That allows online car prices to be 5 percent to 7 percent less than showroom tags.

Still, BMW sees standard dealerships as "the backbone of what we are doing in the interface with the customer" for the I models, Robertson said in June at a press presentation at the sub-brand's Park Lane showroom in London.

Dealer selection criteria

Outlets will be restricted to dealers with high BMW-brand sales volume who have floor space as well as capacity to work with I models' powering technology and carbon-fiber body material, Robertson said. The carmaker has chosen 45 of its approximately 200 dealers in Germany to sell the i3 and i8, a ratio that will probably be similar elsewhere, he said.

Dealers will be designated as agents for the I models, which provides an "advantage" by keeping the vehicles on the carmaker's books, the association of BMW distributors in Germany said in an email.

Electric vehicles' disadvantages versus conventional cars include costly battery packs, limited ranges and the time needed to recharge. Consumer reception to models like the Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf and General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt has been tepid.

"Currently available electric cars have a limited market success because they are a big compromise," said Arndt Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst at Credit Suisse AG. "Customers are not willing to compromise and spend a lot of money."

Carbon fiber bodies lighter

BMW Chief Executive Officer Norbert Reithofer started Project I at the end of 2007 as tighter emissions regulations threatened the viability of sporty sedans. BMW chose to create all-new vehicles that use expensive carbon fiber for a lighter body to make up for the weight of the battery system.

The approach contrasts with a decision by Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz Cars division to convert existing models, such as the van-like B-Class or two-seat Smart, to electric power.

To make its electric vehicles more attractive, Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler's Smart brand offers to lease the battery separately from the car. The automaker has a target of selling more than 10,000 of the models next year, with a starting price of 18,910 euros plus monthly battery rental at 65 euros.

The I models' new technology poses risks for BMW, "but they have no choice if they want to keep their premium and image as an innovation leader," Ellinghorst said.

The i3 and i8 will probably be among BMW's lowest-selling models through 2024, alongside the existing Z4 roadster, according to IHS estimates. In 2014, the first full year of production, BMW will probably deliver 31,380 i3s, compared with 564,760 of the best-selling 3-Series model and 18,101 Z4s, a study by the research company shows.

BMW's stance is that the models should produce earnings from the start, sales chief Robertson said.

"We clearly, as a company, go into any product launch with the view of making profit, which is no different with the I brand," Robertson said. "This is a car line just as every other car line, and we intend to make profit from Day 1."

Paper Passion, a scent from Geza Schoen for Wallpaper magazine, makes its wearers smell like freshly printed books

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 02:38:00 -0700

Paper Passion, a scent from Geza Schoen for Wallpaper* magazine, makes its wearers smell like freshly printed books. I suppose it can be alternated with "In the Library," a perfume that smells like old books.

Paper Passion fragrance by Geza Schoen, Gerhard Steidl, and Wallpaper* magazine, with packaging by Karl Lagerfeld and Steidl.
“The smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world.” Karl Lagerfeld.

It comes packaged with inside a hollow carved out of a book with "texts" by "Karl Lagerfeld, Günter Grass, Geza Schoen and Tony Chambers."

HANGING OUT WITH FRIENDS TODAY

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 10:34:00 -0700

Grabbing a cup of coffee

Dining out at your favourite restaurant

Spending some time at the museum

Meeting at a popular fast food centre

Relaxing at the beach

Going to a game

Going out on a date

Taking a drive around town

I am thankful I belong to another generation !!!!

“It’s become appallingly clear that our Technology has surpassed our Humanity” -- Albert Einstein

Tattoos are permanent reminders of temporary feelings

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:47:00 -0700

'It's wisest to pick someone whom you cannot break up with or divorce.' Photograph: Gary Powell/Getty Images

Tattoos are permanent reminders of temporary feelings – at least if you believe the report in Thursday's Daily Mail, which looked at "embarrassing" matching couple tattoos – designs that complement or complete each other across two, romantically involved bodies.

Yet there are millions of people who feel no embarrassment about the tattoos they share with their friends, lovers and even exes. Moreover, as with most perceived "new trends" in tattooing, this practice is one with a history far older than the current generation; it's a phenomenon that provides both an insight into human beings' fundamental relationships with their own bodies and the bodies and lives of those close to them.

Tattoos have been used as markers of association for probably as long as human beings have walked the earth, to mark tribal affiliations, regimental membership in the military, membership of fraternal orders such as the masons or US college Greek letter groups, and to signify gang membership.

The most common of these types of affiliative tattoos, though, is marking an attachment to a loved one. There's an old adage in tattooed circles that suggests getting your lover's name tattooed on you is a sure kiss of death for that relationship, and it's an old gag too: Norman Rockwell's famous 1944 Saturday Evening Post cover painting, The Tattooist, shows a salty sailor in the tattooist's chair, having yet another name added to an arm already full of the crossed-out names of past paramours. Even earlier, a cartoon in Punch from 1916 shows a "fickle young thing" – a well-turned-out young woman, as it happens – revisiting her tattooist to seek an amendment to the ornamental crest tattoo on her arm as she has, euphemistically, "exchanged into another regiment".

None of this seems to have affected the long-standing popularity of having names or symbols tattooed to commemorate couples' love and bond. Magazines in the 1920s reported the latest fad for newlyweds was getting matching tattooed wedding rings; preserved tattooed skins in the Wellcome Collection from the late 19th century feature names and portraits of lovers; studies of tattoos in the American navy in the 18th century reveal a large percentage of seamen of the period bore tattoos of the names of women; even Christian pilgrims in the 16th century were recorded to have borne the names of their wives on their skins, as tokens or identificatory marks; and records attest to romantic tattooing even in ancient Rome – St Basil the Great (329-380) is said to have condemned the tattooing of a lover's name that he observed on someone's hand. While I'd certainly never advocate getting a permanent mark of your relationship too hastily, it does seem that the instinct to inscribe a permanent token transcends the ages. Caveat amator.

Single tattoos that span multiple bodies appear to be a more recent phenomenon, however. In 1977, New York-based tattoo artist Spider Webb undertook what was probably the first conceptual art project to use tattooing, in a piece called X-1000, in which he tattooed single, small Xs on to 999 individuals, and, as a culmination, one large X on the final, 1,000th skin, conceived as one contiguous work. This tattoo, potentially spanning thousands of miles at any one time, was, Webb said, "the largest tattoo ever done at any point in history". In 2000, as the culmination to a performance art project begun in 1998 designed to highlight the horrific lives and plights of the homeless and hungry in Mexico City, Santiago Sierra produced his piece 160cm Line Tattooed on Four People, a single black line tattooed across the backs of prostitutes in exchange for wraps of heroin, as a symbol of their desperation, interdependence, and utter powerlessness. Sierra would later remark: "You could make this tattooed line a kilometre long, using thousands and thousands of willing people." In 2003, author Shelley Jackson famously published her short story Skin on the bodies of 2095, one tattooed word per person. These tattoos bring together strangers in common cause.

My favourite set of matching tattoos, though, are probably the ongoing collection of work worn by twins Caleb and Jordan Kilby, tattooed with matching work by influential and extraordinarily talented New York-based artist Thomas Hooper. If you must get matching tattoos with someone, it's wisest to pick someone whom you cannot break up with or divorce, and to get the work carried out by a tattoo artist who will produce a piece of work that will stand the test of time on its own terms.

Latvian company creates leather bound Ferrari

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 04:22:00 -0700

We're familiar with seeing tight leather on smoking hot women, and weird old men, but it's a first for us seeing a leather bound Ferrari F430.

There seems to be a lot of fuss over this leather bound Ferrari F430 in the UK with both The Sun and The Daily Mail reporting about it recently.

However, this isn’t a new car by any means as US motoring blog Jalopnikreported on the F430 way back in August last year. It’s a pretty cool, albeit manky, car so we thought we’d show you anyway.

It’s the work of a Latvian custom car company called Dartz who hit the headlines in 2009 when they created a $1.5 million ruby red SUV with whale foreskin-covered seats. Yes, foreskin…

Anyway, some high roller with more cash then sense decided it would be a great idea to cover his €170,000 Ferrari in dark leather.

The owner of Dartz, Leonard Yankelovich, said: "One of our very rich customers from the Cote d'Azur wanted a leather exterior and knew we could deliver.

"It took three of my staff 16 working days to apply the leather and finish. He was more than happy when he picked it up."

He won’t be too happy when he scratches it though.

Is this the most expensive way to ruin a Ferrari?

Freeze Fresh Herbs in Oil to Preserve Them

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Thu, 5 Jul 2012 05:08:00 -0700

Have a few fresh herbs sitting around that you won't get to using before they turn? Sure, you can freeze them in water or dry them out, but if you know you'll use them relatively quickly, you can add a few weeks to their life without damaging their potency by freezing them in oil instead. We've shown you how to make simply syrups with them, and how to use sea salt to dry them, but if you have some lovely herbs you want to use, but won't get to before they turn brown, consider dropping them in an ice cube tray, filling up the cubes with olive oil (or any other oil of your choice, as long as it freezes nicely), and popping them in the freezer. When you're ready to fry some potatoes, for example, pop out a couple of rosemary oil cubes—you'll need the oil for the pan anyway, and the rosemary will be right at home. Need some oil in a baking dish or crock pot for a few chicken breasts? Grab a frozen sage oil cube. The sky's the limit. The only thing to note is that with some herbs have a shorter shelf life when frozen in oil than in water (like garlic, for example), so this won't beat drying if you're looking to keep your herbs fresh for months and months. It will, however, work for weeks on end, and if you freeze them, pop them out of the ice cube trays and put them into zippered baggies, they'll keep even longer. Then, the next time you need oil for a recipe, you can add a little fresh flavor at the same time. Hit the link below for even more oil-freezing tips, and some tips on which herbs take well to freezing and which don't.

mclaren 12C spider convertible

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Tue, 3 Jul 2012 11:46:00 -0700

'MP4-12C spider' by mclaren

mclaren automotive has produced its second 'MP4-12C' model, the '12C spider'. bred through the essence of a race car, the '12C spider' incorporates a

convertible roof explicitly designed to let users experience the sounds of the vehicle's V8 twin turbo engine. unlike many other convertible models,
the hard top roof can be operated whilst moving at speeds of up to 30 kph (20mph) taking less than 17 seconds to raise or lower. with the '12C' originally
designed as a convertible, its 75kg carbon fibre monocle frame required no additional strengthening for it to feature in the 'spider'.

closing the hard-top

the raising of the roof frees 52 liters of space for storage. in 2013, vehicle lift will be available as an option, allowing for the '12C spider' to be raised
in the front and rear for improved ground clearance, up to 40mm (1.5") at the front and 25mm (1") at the rear.

the MP4-12C will be launched in 'volcano red', one of 17 exterior paint finishes currently available for the '12C' and '12C spider'.
first deliveries to customers are planned for november 2012.

closed top

3/4 top view

3/4 rear view

top view

interior view

specifications:

0-62 mph (0-100 kph) : 3.1 sec
0-100 mph (0-161 kph) : 6.1 sec
0-124 mph (0-200 kph) : 9.0 sec
¼ mile (400m) : 10.8 sec at 134 mph (216 kph)

engine configuration: V8 twin turbo, 7 speed automatic

Animal-human hybrid stickers invading Parisian streets

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:01:00 -0700

While marketing and mainstream communications campaigns have derived branding inspiration in the comic-like cartoon style of street art, and the values attached to its culture—freedom, community, transgression—the paradox still exists to see it framed and sold through traditional art channels.

We caught up with street artist Rafael Suriani at his recent show, "Collages Urbains", at Cabinet d'amateur gallery in Paris, where he told us more about street art and his relationship with the medium.

Suriani's mark features animals, surviving and thriving in the streets for its powerful and highly recognizable aesthetic. In his half-human-half-animal figures, the animal faces act as liberating masks, allowing the artist to express social criticism in an elegant way. The vibrant, seemingly playful creatures refrain from getting too serious and maintain a suggestive tone that avoids the obvious.

The stickers are the result of a double-binding process that first assembles man and animal, then adheres the resulting figure to the wall. In the past, Suriani has drawn from his Latin-American heritage, playing with shamanic mythology figures such as toucan or jaguar. In his recent series, on the other hand, he is more interested in urban domestic animals such as cats and dogs—according to the artist, the convention that they tend to resemble their owners offers a metaphoric way to talk about us people. Recently Suriani made a series of French "Bulldogs" as a special dedication on London walls, using this breed to cartoon and make fun of some French characteristics. Each dog expresses a different state of mind—humor, spirituality, criticism or beauty.

Suriani uses the rare technique of hand-painting every poster he sticks on the streets. Making each sticker is the result of a process involving selecting photos from the Internet, cutting them in Photoshop, then screening and painting before cutting the final product. Such repetition lies at the heart of street art practice, which is often based on plastering as many spots as possible, invasion-style.

When considering the ephemeral fate of the piece of work destined for degradation of the elements, police destruction or theft from passers-by, the time and effort for such little reward seems remarkable. Suriani explains, however, that the fleeting nature of his work is freeing and allows him to be audacious with both subject and technique. To him, because there is no pressure or constraint, that achievement is rarely a failure.

In the end, the piece of art is not the only sticker by itself, it is the sticker in its context, seen as a whole on the wall with the daylight shining on it, the motorbikes parked against it or the branch of a tree creeping across. Rarely is the work's time spent on the wall its only life, after all, with the rise of dedicated photographers immortalizing the scenes for the Internet.

Suriani claims his intention to step into the city's landscape by bringing much-needed beauty comes with a positive message. Rather than being aggressive or controversial, Suriani takes pleasure in having people on the street enjoy his figures. His work is bound to the city—physically, geographically and socially—compelling the public to refresh their view of their surroundings and drawing their eyes to the places that typically go unnoticed. As an architect, Suriani has found a way to unveil the city and change people's perception of the scenes they see everyday without truly seeing them. The choice of venue is very important, based on aesthetic consideration with attention to the context and surroundings like the location.

EURO 2012 POSTERS BY DAVID WATSON

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:44:00 -0700

Euro 2012 recently began and, for those of you who don’t know, it’s the European football championship. European football is what we Americans call soccer, and it has slowly gained steam over the years, although still not as popular as American football… Whether you’re into the championship or not (or even sports in general), you’ll probably love these simple, modern posters David Watson ofTrebleseven designed for it.

Each poster represents a particular country that’s playing, and the colors of their flag are incorporated into one of the various circular designs. I love the typographic twist these posters have and how they don’t have blatant sports references in them.

AWARE2 gigapixel camera

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:34:00 -0700

'AWARE2' gigapixel camera by duke university
above: 3 increasing zoom levels of footage taken by the camera

engineers at duke university have developed a camera able to take photos with up to one billion pixels of resolution.
the 'AWARE2' gigapixel camera uses 98 sensors each at 14 megapixels, capable of detecting detail from as far as 1 kilometer away.
the current model weighs in at approximately 100 pounds, and only shoots in black and white.

explore more of the super high-resolution photos on duke's site with these zoomable examples of a lake scene, building atrium and riverside town.

original image shot at .96 gigapixels; explore the full zoomable image here

the 'AWARE2' camera

camera processor render

making of 'AWARE2' gigapixel camera

George Washington's copy of US constitution sells for $9.8m

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 03:46:00 -0700

Portrait of George Washington, whose personal copy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights fetched $9.8m at auction. Photograph: Stock Montage/Getty Images

George Washington's personal copy of the US constitution and bill of rights sold for $9.8m (£6.3m) at auction on Friday, setting a record for any American book or historic document.

Bidders at Christie's New York salesroom and others on the telephone competed for the first US president's signed, gold-embossed volume dating to 1789, which had a pre-sale estimate of up to $3m.

The non-profit Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, which maintains the historic Mount Vernon estate in Virginia that was Washington's home and is now open to the public, was the successful bidder.

"The unique book had been in the Mount Vernon library until 1876, and will soon be returned to that library," said Chris Coover, senior specialist of books and manuscripts at Christie's.

The bound volume was Washington's personal copy of the Acts of Congress and is noteworthy for his bold signature marking it as his own.

The Acts of Congress include the Constitution, whose preamble promises to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," and the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the constitution, which establish such fundamental liberties as the right to free speech, press, assembly and religion.

Christie's described the book as being in near-pristine condition after 223 years. It was specially printed for Washington in 1789, his first year in office as president.

The margins include Washington's handwritten brackets and notations highlighting key passages concerning the president's responsibilities.

The Acts of Congress volume was sold from Washington's library at Mt Vernon in 1876 and eventually bought at auction by collector Richard Dietrich in the 1960s. It was being sold by the family's estate.

Similar volumes created for Thomas Jefferson, the first secretary of state and third US president, and attorney general John Jay, are in Indiana's Lilly Library and a private collection, respectively.

Rare books and manuscripts have achieved impressive prices in recent years.

An autographed manuscript of Lincoln's 1864 election victory speech sold for $3.4m in February 2009, which set a record for an American manuscript at the time. A 1787 letter written from Washington to his nephew on the subject of the ratification of the Constitution fetched $3.2m in December 2009.

ASTON MARTIN ONE-77

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 03:02:00 -0700

performance@holmesandco-london.com

ASTON MARTIN ONE-77

Car No.40 of 77 Made.

The Client is seeking 1.2 Million Sterling for the Car.

The Cars were originally sold by Aston Martin for 1Million, plus costs.

Equivalent cars are available for 2 Million Sterling – 2.7 Million Dollars.

We are Offering the Car at 1.4 Million, but it should be considerably more.

Our Client wishes for the Sale to be Confidential, and approaching clients will need to provide documents

Aston Martin’s most sought-after and expensive One-77 has been wrecked in China in a high-speed accident

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Mon, 28 May 2012 07:12:00 -0700

Photo from www.europ-cars.com

Aston Martin’s most sought-after and expensive One-77 has been wrecked in China in a high-speed accident. This is the first ever known road incident involving the British supercar. Limited to just 77 copies, the model has now become even rarer.

Chinese weibo.com site published a photo of the silver-hued lacerated pride of British carmakers piled on a low loader truck.
The vehicle is believed to have hit a curb at high speed, tearing out the front left wheel which destroyed the splash board and face bar. Reportedly delivered just weeks ago, the One-77 did not have any plates and was probably neither registered nor insured.

The main hull of the carbon fibre monocoque appears to be intact, which means the driver couldn’t have been seriously hurt. The vehicle’s 7.0-litre V12 engine producing 522kW/750Nm looks to be safe, too. While looking nasty, the car certainly could be repaired, but to do so the owner will have to pay to get the damaged beauty to the Aston Martin factory in the UK.

The Aston Martin One-77 was released in 2009. The whole line sold out long before production started to customers who pre-ordered their expensive toys.

The price of the vehicle varies, depending on the country it has been sold to and the extent of “personification”. In China, this Aston Martin was apparently sold for 47 million Yuan – $7 million – to a customer reportedly from Shenzen. In Great Britain, an Aston Martin One-77 cost ₤1.4 million.

Aston Martin One-77

Truck Nuts lead to overnight stay in jail for driver

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Sat, 12 May 2012 08:57:00 -0700

Thankfully, Truck Nuts have proven to be more fad than fashion, but that hasn't stopped a few truck owners from donning the hitch-mounted clock weights. Those who continue to hold their Truck Nuts near and dear should keep in mind that South Carolina law enforcement is having none of it. The Smoking Gun reports that one Joe Cervantes-Rodriquez recently spent a night in jail thanks to his flesh-colored pickup balls. A Spartanburg County Sherrif's Office deputy spotted the Truck Nuts during a patrol and decided to pull over the driver. For the Truck Nuts, Cervantes-Rodriquez was given a warning citation; for not having a driver's license he spent the night in jail-an experience that would likely have been avoided were it not for the "obscene object" that triggered the traffic stop, which was described as being the size of a softball and anatomically correct. Cervantes-Rodriquez was released from jail after posting a $237.50 bond. We'd guess that he's since removed the Truck Nuts.

Lotus custom channels the Esprit of Ayrton Senna

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Tue, 1 May 2012 15:19:00 -0700

These days it seems like the dream of a new Lotus Esprit is getting nothing but further away, while the troubled company responsible for it applies the classic black and gold livery to everything it produces – and many things produced by others. But there was a time when the original Esprit was a mechanical wonder to behold, and the JPS livery was championed by arguably the greatest driver who ever lived.

That driver, of course, was Ayrton Senna. And to mark the 18th anniversary of his death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, a German outfit called Cam-Shaft Premium Wrapping has created this special edition in his honor. Instead of starting with the original four-cylinder Esprit, though, Cam Shaft went with the later turbo V8 and laid over its black paint a series of gold decals evocative of the iconic livery which Senna sported on his 1985 Lotus 97T, including a reproduction of his signature on the panel in front of the door.

The German firm didn't stop there, however. They gave the Esprit new turbos, an intercooler and cats to drive output up from 354 horsepower (stock) to 492 hp, drop the 4.9-second 0-62 time down to 4.3 seconds and increase the top speed from 282 km/h to 305. They also fitted it with a new six-speed gearbox to replace the old five-gear unit, upgraded the brakes with AP Racing four-pot calipers on 330mm cross-drilled discs and fitted it with a chassis control switch similar to a Ferrari manettino.

Super Cruise is designed only for use on the highway, to "ease the driver's workload."

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:06:00 -0700

Cadillac
Nominally an improvement on adaptive cruise control, Super Cruise is actually a more sophisticated system that uses a camera communicating with the car's GPS to "see" the road ahead. It goes one step further than currently available systems, however, automatically centering the vehicle in the lane using its electric power steering system. Unlike other active lane-departure systems that use a car's brakes to help prevent it from veering off the road, the system General Motors is developing allows for precisely setting the vehicle's position within the lane. The test mule we sampled had steering-wheel-mounted buttons that would allow you to "nudge" the car from side to side by a foot at a time without upsetting its course. Super Cruise also communicates with the vehicle's other active safety systems to help prevent and mitigate crashes.

Super Cruise is designed only for use on the highway, to "ease the driver's workload," with drivers still required to steer in city traffic and for more complicated maneuvers like passing. GM officials acknowledged the difficulty in deploying a system like this, a technology that if used improperly may encourage inattentive driving. Supposedly the system will only be functional under the specific circumstances for which it is designed, much like today's in-car entertainment systems will not play video on the front screen unless a vehicle is in Park. Currently the system is somewhat limited by external factors, like weather and the need for distinct lane markings. If visibility is low or the road doesn't have at least one clear lane demarcation, Super Cruise won't function. However, GM says it will improve the vision abilities of the system as it readies the technology for the marketplace.

GM says that Super Cruise could be introduced into production vehicles in just a few years, "by mid-decade." While on the one hand, its ability to help improve the safety of our roads is laudable, we can't help but express our frustration at the march of technology headed inevitably towards removing the physical act of driving from the motoring equation.

Scroll down to watch some video of us aboard the Super Cruise-equipped test mule and read the full press release.

Show full PR text

Woman racing driver dies in high-speed crash at Goodward

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:50:00 -0700

Sandra Harrison-Moore, 37, lost control of her classic sports car and crashed into the tyre wall during a time-trial event. She was airlifted to hospital with head injuries after the accident, at 2.50pm on Saturday, but doctors were unable to save her. Mrs Harrison-Moore, from Milton Keynes, Bucks, had been racing a Caterham sports car in a sprint event at Goodwood in Chichester, West Sussex. It is understood that she raced the L7-2 Caterham Roadsport 1800 car regularly with her husband, Simon, 48, and has competed in similar events across the country as a hobby. Preliminary investigations into the crash have established that no other vehicle was involved, but it is not yet clear why Mrs Harrison-Moore lost control. She was treated at the scene by paramedics and taken to Southampton General Hospital, where she died on Saturday night.

Tushek Renovatio T500

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:08:00 -0700

It's been almost a fortnight, which just might be a record, since we last visited a previously unheard-of supercar-maker. Next up to keep the high-po exotic ball in play is Tushek Supercars, hailing from Slovenia (that's here), with its quaintly archaically named Forego T700. The company just made an appearance at the Top Marques Monaco with its first car, the 444-horsepower Renovatio T500 (pictured in our gallery below) with a modular hardtop, but the T700 will push things much further.

Founder Aljosa Tushek told Autocar the T700's targets: less than 2,200 pounds, more than 700 horsepower,up to 3.3gs for cornering. That latter number sounds like a math error would not only double the Renovatio's number, it would triple the cornering force sustained by the Lamborghini Aventador around the Nardo test track.

The limited-to-30-units Renovatio is priced at £245,000 ($394,934 U.S.) with deliveries promised later this year. Due in 2013, you can expect the T700 to outdo the T500's price by at least double as well, and you can expect both of them to never be sold in the U.S.

RELATED GALLERYTushek Renovatio T500

Flying car aims to soar in the commercial market

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 23:57:00 -0700

The Jetsons had one, and Fred MacMurray flew one in "Flubber." Novelist Ian Fleming included one in his children's book "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." James Bond's nemesis Francisco Scaramanga used one as a getaway vehicle in the film "The Man With the Golden Gun." Now, a Massachusetts company hopes to commercially market a flying car — although "driving plane" might be a more accurate description. At last week's New York International Auto Show, Terrafugia Inc. of Woburn, Mass., unveiled the Transition, a two-seat aircraft with foldable wings. Pending regulatory approvals — which by no means are assured — the company plans to sell the contraption by 2013 for $279,000. "You can pull out of your garage, fill up with 91 octane at a gas station, drive to the nearest airport, unfold your wings, perform a preflight check and take off," said Terrafugia Chief Executive Carl Dietrich. So far, he said, about 100 people have put down $10,000 deposits to be among the first buyers. The idea of a flying car may seem like a pipe dream, but the company says modern technology, such as GPS devices, air bags and high-strength composite material, has made the Transition safer for the consumer. The company even offers a vehicle parachute system. Terrafugia is an aerospace company founded by pilots and engineers from MIT. The company name is Latin for "escape the earth." Terrafugia now has 24 employees. Dietrich said he had dreamed of developing the technology ever since childhood when he saw George Jetson zoom to and from his job at Spacely Space Sprockets in a flying car on the television cartoon show "The Jetsons." It became a reality last month, when a production prototype of the Transition completed its first successful flight for eight minutes at Plattsburgh International Airport in Plattsburgh, N.Y. Terrafugia isn't the first company to try to get a car off the ground. For more than a century, daredevil aviators and freethinking engineers have attempted the concept. But the development of a flying car — some even backed with well-heeled resources and financing — has been fraught with disappointments. American aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss, who designed the aluminum Autoplane in 1917, is often credited as the inventor of the flying car. While it was capable of short bunny hops, it never could achieve sustained flight. Later in 1926, Henry Ford introduced a 15-foot-long aircraft he dubbed the "Model T of the Air," the Ford Flivver. The single-seat midget plane was flown by just two men: Charles Lindbergh and test pilot Harry Brooks. Ford stopped production on the Flivver after building three or four, according to a website from the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., after Brooks crashed and died in the ocean off the coast of Melbourne, Fla. The ConvAirCar flew for more than an hour above San Diego in 1947. Designer Henry Dreyfuss bolted a 36-foot wing and an aircraft engine onto a four-seat fiberglass car body for aviation company Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp. But it, too, was canceled after a fatal crash. In the 1970s, Henry Smolinski of Oxnard grabbed a Cessna Skymaster wing and attached it to a Ford Pinto and called it the Mizar. During a test flight in 1973, he and the pilot died. "Yeah, the track record isn't so good," said Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. "If something goes wrong on your car, you can ease to the side of the road — not so much if something goes wrong in the air." Kendall pointed out, however, that in the 1930s, Santa Monica engineer Waldo Waterman successfully designed a small plane with a transmission drive system that operated the propeller in the air and the rear wheels on the ground. The Aerobile had automobile parts from companies such as Studebaker and Ford to keep the price down. According to the website for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, where the Aerobile currently hangs, it received Federal Aviation Administration certification in the experimental category in 1957, but a market for the vehicle never materialized. The Taylor Aerocar was another prototype that was certified for flight in 1956.

Congress wants all cars to be equipped with recording devices

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:32:00 -0700

The federal government is about to become the country’s worst backseat driver. Congress wants to put tracking devices in the car of every American, and that’s not even the scariest provision in a new bill being passed around Washington. The US Senate has already signed off on a new legislation that, if cleared by the rest of Congress, will see to it that the government gets its eyes and ears inside every automobile in the country. Senate Bill 1813 calls for the installation of mandatory recorders and communication devices in Americans’ cars that could connect the whereabouts and actions of the country’s drivers with whomever the government wants to grant access to. It doesn’t stop there, though — another provision in the proposed bill will give the government the power to revoke passports from Americans behind on their taxes, essentially making it impossible for the indebted to escape the country. It’s being touted around the capital as the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, or MAP-21, and Congress is considering it under the explanation that the bill will “reauthorize Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs.” In the abstract drafted on Capitol Hill, however, the act is described as having provisions necessary “for other purposes.” And while no lawmakers explicitly explain the benefits of some questionable content within MAP-21, what the government could get away with if the bill is passed is something eerily Orwellian. If you’re not scared yet, then here is another eye opener: the US Senate has already approved the bill by an overwhelming vote of 74-22, leaving only the House of Representatives to vote in favor before government-sanctioned blackboxes become as common as carburetors and calibrated friction brakes. At this rate, it won’t be long before every Beetle and Buick in the country is being tracked by Big Brother. Section 53006 of MAP-21 calls for a “vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications systems” deployed in the country’s cars in the near future. A copy of the bill is available online, but it isn’t until the bottom of the text that things start to get creepy. That section calls on several congressional committees — including the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives — to hear in three years’ time arguments in favor of the deployment of the communications system in question. At that point, a designated person will be asked to recommend an “implementation path for dedicated short-range communications technology and applications,” which includes “guidance on the relationship of the proposed deployment of dedicated short-range communications to the National ITS Architecture and ITS Standards.” Sending short-wave signals to other automobiles and data hubs is one thing, but the act is also asking for mandatory event data recorders in every car. That’s the actual name, in fact, of what Congress says they want every car to have in the very near future. “Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall revise part 563 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to require, beginning with model year 2015, that new passenger motor vehicles sold in the United States be equipped with an event data recorder that meets the requirements under that part,” explains the act. The section goes on to establish that the ownership of data collected by those devices will be the sole property of the owner of the automobile, but other provisions clearly authorize a challenge to this. A court may be granted access to that information “in furtherance of a legal proceeding,” and elsewhere in the bill it says that “the information is retrieved pursuant to an investigation or inspection authorized under section 1131(a) or 30166 of title 49, United States Code.” Two years after those devices are made mandatory, Congress will also hear a report that will explain “the recommendations on what, if any, additional data the event data recorder should be modified to record.” Those without drivers licenses won’t be spared from civil liberty infringement if MAP-21 makes it out of the White House with Obama’s approval— another section says that Congress can confiscate the passports of Americans delinquent in paying their taxes. Although the US was built from the ground up by refugees escaping persecution, persons plagued by hardships in the near future won’t be afforded that same ability to escape Uncle Sam’s strengthening stranglehold. Under Section 40304, the US State Department is allowed the powers to revoke passports from anyone determined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of having “a delinquent tax debt in an amount in excess of $50,000.” Fifty-grand might seem like a big number for 99-percenters, but it isn’t all that outrageous or uncommon. After all, the Washington Post reported in 2010 that out of the 18,000 employees on Capitol Hill, 638 of them were behind on their taxes. What’s more, though, is that of those working within the House of Representatives, the average delinquent was indebted to the country to the tune of $15,498. "If you're on the federal payroll and you're not paying your taxes, you should be fired," Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) exclaimed at the time. Two years down the road, though, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is requesting that a citizen’s ability to travel abroad be brought to an end for being behind on their taxes. Reid was the author of Section 40304 and is presumably outside of the 4 percent of congressional staffers that owed the feds in 2010, but opponents of the act are saying that stripping passports from poor Americans isn’t a provision that is necessary for MAP-21. “It takes away your right to enter or exit the country based upon a non-judicial IRS determination that you owe taxes,” constitutional attorney Angel Reyes tells Fox Business. “It’s a scary thought that our congressional representatives want to give the IRS the power to detain US citizens over taxes, which could very well be in dispute.” “There are so many people that fall into that situation, and I think that’s too invasive. Especially coming out of a bad economy there are a lot of people behind on a lot of things,” adds financial adviser Clark Hodges to Fox. There are other damning provisions in MAP-21, including a “Stop Taxhaven Abuse” section that says the government can kick any foreign jurisdiction out of the US financial system if it wants to. For American residents up to date on their income taxes and not invested abroad, however, the real dangers lie within the very real possibility that the government will soon be able to track every single automobile on the nation’s roads. Earlier this year, the US Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement requires a warrant if they want to install GPS tracking devices on the cars of suspected criminals, but with that decision quickly collecting opposition, a loophole might have just been brought to light by forcing consumers to purchase cars with tracking systems already installed. Before the Supreme Court shot down the feds’ plea to allow unwarranted monitoring of automobiles in January, Justice Stephen Breyer said that a decision to not do so would be dangerous for everyone in the country. "If you win this case then there is nothing to prevent the police or the government from monitoring 24 hours a day the public movement of every citizen of the United States. … So if you win, you suddenly produce what sounds like '1984',"explained Breyer.

New fuel panic fears: Strike threat returns as pay deal is rejected by tanker drivers

noreply@blogger.com (blogzone) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:43:00 -0700

Fears of a national fuel strike returned today after tanker drivers overwhelmingly rejected a deal thrashed out with bosses. Unite union officials said the terms of the agreement drawn up last week did not go far enough. The union has until Friday to decide whether to call a strike. It will then have to give seven days notice of industrial action. Six days of talks brokered by the conciliation service Acas had resulted in a possible deal between Unite and the distribution firms. But it was thrown out when presented today to 60 representatives of drivers at seven haulage firms. Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland said progress had been made on pensions and training. But she said the “sticking point” was firms sub-contracting out work to private firms which was undermining pay rates and job security. “While there has been some progress it is clear that our members need more guarantees and assurances from the employers about their commitment to meaningful minimum standards. “We remain committed to achieving a negotiated settlement that brings stability and security to a vital industry and gives this workforce, and the public, confidence that the race to the bottom is ending,” Ms Holland said. She added: “Delegates expressed concern that while important progress had been made on health, safety and training, proposals on maintaining standards, security of employment and sub-contracting do not give them the confidence that the problems gripping to industry would be addressed fully by employers. “For too long operators presided over under-cutting and the erosion of standards, this is simply not sustainable and it is beholden on all parties to work together to establish a meaningful set of minimum standards that bring order to a chaotic industry.” Unite represents 2,062 tanker drivers, covering 90% of supplies to forecourts. There was panic at the pumps before Easter after Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude told motorists to stockpile fuel in the event of a possible strike. Mrs Holland stressed today there was no need for drivers to panic. “Do not panic. It’s very clear we are not on strike. We feel we are able to reach a solution and we are determined to do so,” she said. She said Unite officials were in contact with Acas about restarting talks with bosses in the next few days. Peter Harwood Acas chief conciliator said: “Naturally, we are disappointed at today’s outcome, following the parties’ intensive talks at Acas over the last two weeks. We are contacting the parties and the challenge now is to see if we can find a way forward.” Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said: “We are disappointed that an agreement has yet to be reached. "We understand that these are complex issues but urge both parties to work towards a negotiated resolution with the support of Acas. “The Government continues to believe that any strike action would be wrong and unnecessary.” Simon Walker of the Institute of Directors said: “The prospect of a fuel strike hanging over businesses is causing dreadful uncertainty, and we have already seen the kind of disruption that panic buying can cause. “It is very disappointing that the union has rejected this deal, and both parties must get back around the table to settle this dispute as soon as possible. “A strike would cost a huge amount of money, and cause disruption and misery for millions of people who have nothing to do with this argument.”