A breakthrough or just another annoying beep?

Even though alcohol and speed are targeted as the 2 most encountered causes for car accidents,Mercedes took a different aproach and focused its research on tiredeness and developed a system that basicaly tells you when you’re not in shape to drive and advises you kindly to brake.Called the Attention Assist System,this new safety-oriented product will most probabily be released in 2009.Extensive test have already been conducted on various road surfaces,climatic conditions and 420 people.More than half a milliom kilometres have been driven and data seem to point aut another winner.

Practicaly this system analyses your driving style and then,when it thiks that you are not able to maintain your safety and also the people’s around you,it sends an acoustic signal that it’s supossed to make you brake.

A good concept but the way I see it,it’s nothing more than a door bell that it’s intended to annoy you while driving.Let’s just hope iy has an OFF swich…

Will Tesla deliver Roadsters with temporary transmissions?

You might have heard that the Tesla Roadster should launch before the end of the year. Well, unfortunately it looks like the launch ot the wicked-fast electric car will be postponed because the company is having some problems finding a transmission strong enough to handle gear shifts while the car runs at full torque. In the meantime, the company is considering providing vehicles that feature “temporary” transmissions which will defenetly fail after a few thousand miles.
There is already one model built right now, but that one has been built for company chairman Elon Musk and Tesla is currently undecided whether to ship cars with the temporary units and then to replace them when a final transmission becomes available. I’m quite sure that a lot of people would buy this car no matter what transmission will it outfitted with.

Mazda Furai Concept to debut in Detroit

The 2008 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in January will bring a lot of surprises. The Mazda Furai concept vehicle is one of them. We currently don’t know too much about this concept, and only one teasing image has been released. It seems that Mazda Furai is using an American Le Mans Series (ALMS) racing car as a basis and it combines the wavelike contours seen in the Taiki concept with a Courage C65 chassis and the 450-hp three-rotor rotary engine running on ethanol (E100). Whoa ! How cool is that ?

“Furai purposely blurs boundaries that have traditionally distinguished street cars from racing cars,” says Franz von Holzhausen, Mazda’s North American director of design. “Historically, there has been a gap between single-purpose racecars and the sportiest of street-legal production models — commonly called supercars — that emulate the real racers on the road. Furai bridges that gap like no car has ever done before”.

“Mazda’s critically acclaimed Nagare design language describes the flow of water, air, people or things moving in one direction. Mazda Nagare is flow, with an insightful and spirited styling, which, in Mazda Furai, invokes a raw, unfettered desire to possess everything this car represents,” enthuses Holzhausen.

Well, until January, we’ll have to wait and see what happends. I wonder what the future has in store.

Tags: mazda furai, mazda nagare

Mustang FR500S, the racing monster

I was surprised to see a first in Ford’s history. It seems that the American company decided to manufacture and sell a pure bread racer through its authorized dealers and Ford Racing Performance Parts catalog. It’s a premier and many people are happy that it happened now and that the Mustang platform had been chosen for this task.

The FR500S will basicaly be a pumped-up Mustang GT. The specs are plain and simple speed-orientated: a 4.6-liter 3-valve, fuel-injected V-8, Ford Racing cold-air intake, a 6-speed transmission with an upgraded clutch and Ford Racing short-throw shifter and an unique two-way adjustable front dampers with coil springs and an adjustable anti-roll bar in both the front and rear suspension. Driver protection hasn’t been overlooked so the race car comes complete with a racing seat and safety harnesses. With this car Ford aims to climb up the professional racing ladder. The FR500S will make its debut on the weekend of May 2-4 at Road Atlanta.

A good news is that anyone can buy this car from their local dealer but I doubt that you’ll be able to get your hand on one because there are so many enthusists who would just kill to drive a bad-boy like that.

Tags: happy

Aston Martin unveiled the new V12 Vantage RS Concept

This week has been a busy one for Aston Martin. Tuesday they’ve inaugurated a new design center and unveiled a brand new car,the Ferrari buster,the Vantage RS Concept.
The V12 engined speed machine will be the most performance car the British manufacturer produces. And now for some technical goodies: a drive train out of the DBRS9 racing model, a combined weight of 1600 kilos, a 6 litre 600HP V12 engine, zero to sixty in less than 4 seconds, top speed exceeding 322 km/h, carbon fibre disk brakes and a design resembling the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.

The Vantage RS, as it will be named as a production car, will cost in the excess of 200.000 euros. And don’t worry,the numbers I’ve given you will be found on the production model…