Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Gas 2.0

Gas 2.0

Bringing The Steam Car Land Speed Record Back Home

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 11:32 AM PST

Land speed records absolutely fascinate me. While drag racing is fun and practical for most of us, land speed records require a lot more planning, power, and endurance. One of the most enduring records of the past century has been that for the Stanley Steamer, which set the land speed record of 127 mph back in 1906. It stood officially unbroken  until last year, when a team of British engineers sent their Steam Kettle steam-powered car to a 148 mph run.

Now one American, Chuk Williams, is working on bringing that record back to America, according to Wired Magazine.

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Honda Unveils Futuristic 3-Wheeled Electric Concept Car

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 11:26 AM PST

Like many guys, when I was about 13 or 14 I was into drawing the cars of the future. To my hormonal and inexperienced cauldron of a prepubescent brain, the cars I drew were clearly superior the dull people-movers that adults seemed to appreciate. But in reality, the cars I imagined we’d all be driving when I got to be 30 looked more like they plopped right out of an episode of Robotech than something anyone other than a prepubescent teenager could take seriously.

Which is why, when I saw the pics for Honda’s newly unveiled 3R-C EV, I thought, “Wow! That is something my 13 year old self would have thought was totally wicked!”

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NLV Quant Electric Car Closing In On Running Prototype

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 09:01 AM PST

Last year I was a little taken aback when Koenigsegg teamed up with NLV Solar to showcase the Quant at the Geneva car show. While some Koenigsegg supercars supported biofuels (and actually made more horsepower on them), they never struck me as much of a green company. The car they designed was definitely influenced by their line of supercars.

Well the Quant has returned to Geneva in 2010, and is more than just a pretty concept sitting on a pedestal. Though their current relationship with Koenigsegg is unclear, NLV says they should have a running prototype up this year, with a full production model slated for 2012.

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Mercedes F-800 Plug-In Hybrid Concept Is Easy On The Eyes

Posted: 24 Feb 2010 08:57 AM PST

Apparently Mercedes is so excited about their F-800 hybrid concept, that they just had to get it out there for public consumption.

And I can see why.

I’ve never been much of a fan of Mercedes automobiles, unless we are talking about the turbo-diesel boxes from the 1980’s. Those cars refuse to die. But beyond that, I just shrug my shoulders at most Mercedes for being, well, boring looking. But the F-800 concept may just change my mind.

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Three Electric Ice Machines Fail At Olympics

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 09:56 AM PST

The surprise US victory over Team Canada in the mens’ ice hockey game brought back many memories of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” at the Lake Placid games. It also happened to be the 30th anniversary of that game. As a hockey fan and devout goalie (yes, I let people shoot pucks at my head) I was ecstatic at the victory.

What I was not so happy about was the apparent failure of three Olympia electric ice machines last Monday. Touted as a green solution to ice resurfacing, one machine after another broke, prompting officials to bring in the good, old fashioned, American-made, and fossil-fuel powered Zamboni ice resurfacers.

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GM Lifts Veil On Volt-Based Opel Flextreme GT/E Concept

Posted: 23 Feb 2010 09:52 AM PST

The Chevy Volt is costing GM a pretty penny to produce, and GM execs like Bob Lutz think the company will continue to lose money on hybrids for years to come. But one way of offsetting those costs is to delegate the Voltec technology across brands to other markets. We already know GM is planning on making the Cadillac Converj. And now GM has just unveiled another voltec platform-based concept for its Euro-brand, Opel, ahead of the Geneva Auto Show.

Called the Opel Flextreme GT/E, it is a very muscular looking sedan with a sleek drag coefficient. The GT/E seats four and incorporates some rather surprising performance enhancers, like a rear spoiler that deploys at high speed to keep drag down.

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