Although rickshaws may seem like vehicles that were used centuries ago, pretty much every major city in the world still has some rickshaw-like automobiles. SolarLab from London decided to resurrect the rickshaw spirit and bring a modern and almost futuristic aspect to it: the solar power. (more…)
Everyday is the same day. You wake up, you take a shower and you drink a cup of coffee. You take the bus and go to work. But, what’s your neighbor doing? OMG! It’s that a 3,800 HP Jet Powered Motorcycle? Yes, it is. That’s pure madness from the designer called Mad Ron Laycock. Don’t think that this is a joke, just check out the pictures and you might be also interested in how this Jet Bike was built.
Mad V8 Bike via Jalopnik
Do you have a driver license? Are you a speed maniac? Are you insane? If you answered yes, then you should consider a job as a driver of the North American Eagle jet car which is destined to break the land speed record for US which currently stands at about 800mph.
This jet car is powered by the engine of Lockheed’s F-104 Starfighter which unleashes 42,500 horsepower. For a ride you would need about $18,000 because the monster engine eats 160 gallons of fuel every minute. The future record breaking jet car was developed by Ed Shadle, former USAF pilot and amateur racer and Keith Zanghi, Boeing engineer.
The developrs are looking for a driver because they can’t attract sponsors because “my age is stopping us getting sponsors, we have to remove that barrier. We’ll put some hotshot in the driving seat who looks like Robert Redford and see how that works”, Shadle said.
As the race heats up for the most wanted driver seat, there are some details that you should fulfill - between 20 and 40 years old, photogenic, send a 400 words e-mail and a picture to show your good-looks to landspeedracing@gmail.com.
How do you begin describing this… car? When I first came across a photo of this baby I just froze and stared at it for about 20 seconds. I loved Audi’s R8 concept, but the Mazda designers have truly outdone themselves with this one. Taiki means ‘atmosphere’ in Japanese.
Mazda declared the car as ‘a design that visually expresses the flow of air’ and you can tell that just by looking at the front and back of the vehicle. The finesse of the curves makes them almost intangible, and makes you feel like a breeze gently caressing every turn and shade of this beauty’s design.
Mazda Taiki is the fourth concept car in the Nagare design series and will be admired for the first time by the public at the 2008 Beijing International Motor Show, starting on April 20th.
Although Coda’s Self Inflating Tires are still in the stage of development, it appears that this new system will be inevitably built in new made cars. It is made from only two elements, a peristaltic pump and a valve to stop over-inflation.
A peristaltic pump is a type of positive displacement pump that can pump a diversity of fluids or gases, and is activated by certain conditions of interaction. In this particular case, it will work as a tube integrated into the sidewall or the rims of the tires that will be compressed at the bottom, when the tire rolls, thus forcing the air into the tube. If the tire is already inflated at the right pressure, the valve closes.
The manufacturer stated that a mile of driving will be enough to cover the air normally lost in a month from the tires. Keeping them at the perfect pressure makes your car more safe, saves your time and is also an economical measure, as the tires suffer less damage and you won’t spend your money on buying a pump for the car. This new system seems to be another indispensable element of cars, like ABS, as any decent recently-made car has it.
