SOUPED-UP SOFA SETS SPEED RECORD

A Sidney design team builds a souped-up sofa and hits 101 MPH on an airport runway - setting a new land speed world record for fastest couch.

Made with a Suzuki GSX 1400cc motorcycle engine!

If you are aspiring to build a racing car with a motorcycle engine this could be the book that you've been waiting for!

How to Build Motorcycle-engined Racing Cars
By Tony Pashley

Takes the reader from the conception of a budget racing car to its appearance on the racetrack in easily understood steps. Although aimed principally at cars for hillclimbing and sprinting activities, it has wider applications also.

Click here for more info about the book!

CANSTRUCTION VW PEAS BUS

How awesome is this Canstruction VW Bus? Encompassing more than 8,500 grocery items, including peas, beans, applesauce, evaporated milk, bottled water, noodles and jello. Better still, the creation of these sculptures built of food, are later disassembled to feed the hungry! More information on canstruction.org

Anyone looking to buy a real VW Bus should check out Veloce's Essential Buyer's Guide iPhone app. Available now on the iTunes App Store!

MAVERICK FLYING CAR AT OSHKOSH

ART DECO AND BRITISH CAR DESIGN REVIEWED

Thanks to Classic & Sports Car for this thumbs up of new Veloce book Art Deco and British Car Design by Barrie Down.

Click here for more info about the book.

BEETLE SOFA AT MUSEUM OF TECHNOLOGY

The official unveiling of the ‘The Major and the Beetle’ exhibition and new permanent exhibit, is celebrated with a historic Volkswagen car show and a ‘meet up’ for Volkswagen enthusiasts, all dedicated to the memory of Major Ivan Hirst, REME

The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and Volkswagen have a long history together from the end of the Second World War when the intervention of a young British Army officer changed the future of the fledgling giant of European motoring.

Sent by the Control Commission to ‘sit on’ the bombed remains of the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg in August 1945, the 29 year old Major Ivan Hirst REME and his team decided to restart production instead. Major Hirst then secured an order for 20,000 Beetles from the Military Government; meeting this order would take all the management and engineering skill he had.

Post-war Wolfsburg suffered shortages of food, skilled workers, housing and work materials. Major Ivan Hirst’s engineering and management skills together with his people skills, his open door policy and his will to succeed, turned the Volkswagen Factory around and ensured its survival.

Part of the exhibition is a video display and a unique ‘Beetle sofa’. Created from half a Beetle, it incorporates a seat and built-in audio facility so visitors can sit in a piece of history and learn about it simultaneously.


Get the app! VW Beetle - The Essential Buyer's Guide iPhone app
Your marque experts: Ken Cservenka & Richard Copping

Packed with good advice – from running costs, through paperwork, vital statistics, valuation and the VW Beetle community, to will a Beetle fit in your garage and with your lifestyle? – the VW Beetle EBG is THE COMPLETE GUIDE to choosing, assessing and buying the VW Beetle of your dreams.

3,500 BHP MINI – FROM CUMMINS! GOODWOOD’S ODDEST EXHIBIT UNVEILED

Visitors to this week’s Goodwood Festival of Speed will have some amazing machinery on which to feast their eyes but none more unusual than the exhibit which greets them on the stand of Cummins, the world’s largest independent maker of diesel engines.

The Cummins centrepiece emerged after a previous show when the company showed off its largest engine (and the largest diesel engine made in the UK). The QSK78 engine weighs in at over 11 tonnes and some wag asked if it could be fitted to his Mini.

Steve Nendick, Cummins’ Communications Director - Europe, Middle East, Africa and CIS, takes up the story: “We never like to let a challenge go by unanswered so we got to thinking maybe we could fit the QSK78 into an original Austin Mini. It proved to be a bit tricky to fit under the bonnet but our engineers came up with a more creative solution. “We’re certain that the Goodwood crowd will have difficulty believing what they are seeing”, he said.

The QSK78, which is used to power mining industry dump trucks capable of carrying 360 tonnes, is a V18 monster with a capacity of 78 litres and uses no less than 12 turbochargers to develop 3,500 bhp and getting on for 14,000 Nm of torque (the original Mini made do with just 80!).

Visitors should go to Stand 16 and be prepared to be amazed!

Source: Cummins

NISSAN LEAF - THE ‘NEW CAR’ EXPERIENCE

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (NML) has invited nearly 500 people to experience the world's first mass-production, 100% electric, zero-emission car - Nissan LEAF - at the company's Oppama test track in a world-exclusive preview from June 11-19, 2010.

Media, Nissan shareholders, government officials, analysts and some of the first customers to place reservations for Nissan LEAF will get the chance to experience the benefits of this practical, affordable and fun to drive all-electric car when they get behind the wheel of the first production test units.

Nissan LEAF is a ‘new car' in every sense of the word and redefines the driving experience, setting new standards in handling, acceleration and comfort in its class. Nissan LEAF officially goes on sale beginning in December.

Since the 100% electric, zero-emission concept vehicle was unveiled last August at the grand opening of the new Nissan Global Headquarters, the company has been continually refining Nissan LEAF for the October start of production.

Among the enhancements to the test units is the "Approaching Vehicle Sound for Pedestrians" system, which also will be used in the Nissan Fuga hybrid, slated for sale in autumn 2010.

Press release & image: Nissan

Coming soon! The Efficient Driver’s Handbook – Your guide to fuel efficient driving techniques and car choice
By Dave Moss

This book describes in a clear, friendly manner everything today’s driver needs to know about choosing and using a car in an economical and eco-efficient way.

More info.

ICONIC BATMOBILE TRIBUTE AT AUCTION

A tribute to one of the most iconic and distinctive film cars of all time, the Batmobile, will be a focus of attention at the inaugural Historics at Brooklands auction in Surrey on June 2, when a faithfully re-created car goes under the hammer alongside a prestige portfolio of more traditional, first-class classic motor cars.

For one of Historics’ investors, Mark Perkins, the Lot holds particular significance, as he has owned the car since 1988 and is reluctantly parting with it.

One of only three existing steel-bodied versions, Perkins’ Batmobile – complete with dashboard-mounted television, rear parachute pod and Batphone – is accompanied by an extensive clippings file, having made numerous promotional appearances, including the Batman stage show in the United Arab Emirates in 1993, and a number of showings alongside Adam West, star of the original Batman TV show.

Based on a Lincoln Continental chassis and built to a similar specification as the original car in the Sixties, the car was finally completed in 1988, following input from renowned custom coachbuilder, Bill Chaplin. The car is extremely reliable and frequently driven, and is offered with a full year’s MoT test certificate as well as a UK V5 registration document.

Mark Perkins explained his reluctance to let the car go; “Classic cars, and this one in particular, should be driven to be enjoyed, and I’ve loved taking it on the road over the years. However, my work with Historics at Brooklands will leave me little time to do so in the future, and so sadly it’s time someone else derived pleasure of ownership.”

For more information, and to attend the Historics at Brooklands auction on the evening of June 2, call 0800 988 3838, e-mail: auctions@historics.co.uk, or see the website, www.historics.co.uk. Entry by catalogue only, available prior to, or on the evening.

Press release & image source: Historics at Brooklands

If you like classic cars in TV & film you'll love Motor Movies – The Posters!

"Be warned: a peek and you could be hooked. ‘Motor Movies – The Posters!’ is a collector’s delight, any way you choose." – Overdrive

More info.

BECK'S BUS!

Cheers! Volkswagen celebrates Transporter milestones in style.

Throughout November and December, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is celebrating two significant anniversaries at the AutoMuseum in Wolfsburg, Germany.

It's 60 years since Heinrich Nordhoff presented the first prototype Transporter van to the press, and 30 years since the third generation Transporter was launched. Both anniversaries come at a time when Volkswagen is preparing to celebrate the launch of the latest versions of the Transporter van and today's people carrier and camping derivatives, the Caravelle and California, in the new year.

The first generation of Transporter prototype, a Dove Blue panel van, is on show, together with memorabilia from all generations of Transporter. The T1 is affectionately known as the ‘splittie' thanks to its distinctive split windscreen which was initially derived from ideas generated by the T1 Beetle.

Also on display - and a very appealing attraction - is the so-called Beck's Bus, a converted T1 with a built-in bar dispensing ice-cold beer.

From T1 right through to T3, which was launched in 1979, the rear-mounted, air-cooled engine was a hallmark of the model range. Only in 1984 was the engine changed for a water-cooled unit.

The Transporter is Volkswagen's best-selling model in the UK and worldwide. Over one million of the current model have been sold since introduction in 2003, making a total of over 10 million since production started in March 1950.

Source: Volkswagen

CREATE & DRAW YOUR OWN CAR DESIGNS LIKE A PRO!

How to illustrate and design Concept Cars, a new book by Adrian Dewey.
Published by Veloce at £17.99, and containing 200 pictures, this book provides a clear, concise, step-by-step, easy to follow guide to drawing all external components of a car like the professional design studios. Includes 'trade tips' on rendering the images to bring them to life. Showcase illustrations demonstrate in stages and by example how these techniques produce great car art and design.
Covers all drawing materials/methods from pencils to marker pens, airbrushes to computer generated drawings.
The 128-page paperback book is available now from bookshops or from www.veloce.co.uk.

1972 MINI OUTSPAN ORANGE AT GOODWOOD REVIVAL 2009

One of 53 amazing vehicles built since 1900 featured in the Veloce book The Wonderful Wacky World of MarketingMobiles – Promotional Vehicles of the World by James Hale.

Think you've seen it all? Think again! From motorised lobsters to eggs, beer bottles, weiners (sausages) and a high heeled shoe, the marketing man's imagination has shown no limitations when it comes to MarketingMobiles.
Click here for more info about the book.

PUTTING 'ART' IN A SMART

smart is adding a huge splash of colour and personalisation to the ownership of its fortwo models with the launch of an exciting new product design service in conjunction with performance and styling specialists BRABUS.

The smart BRABUS tailor made concept which is being officially launched at this week’s Frankfurt Motor Show, will enable owners to design their own smart car from an array of special colours and bespoke interiors that will create thousands of combinations to choose from.

As part of the service, customers will be able to specify their car’s body panels and tridion safety cell from a palette of 18 vivid colours – each with a supercar/heritage theme. These include the vibrant Campbell Blue, which pays homage to the iconic Bluebird land speed record cars built and tested at Brooklands, the home of Mercedes-Benz World.

Interior detailing on items such as the door handles, instrument cluster, dials and light/wiper lever will also reflect the exterior colour chosen. There will be six tri-top roof colours to select from too, as well as nine leather/Alcantara upholsteries, which will feature in the seats and other areas including door panels, upper dash and in the floor mat edging.

Dermot Kelly, Managing Director, Mercedes-Benz Cars, said: “smart has always been regarded as an iconic and unique product and the launch of smart BRABUS tailor made will enhance that reputation. We offered a sneak preview of the range by showcasing four demonstrators at last weekend’s 2009 smart festival and the concept generated a phenomenal reaction.”

He added: “Business users have enjoyed tremendous success by using vinyl wraps on their smart cars to promote their companies and we expect the opportunity for individual retail customers to personalise their vehicle will be a huge hit too.”

The smart BRABUS tailor made service will be available this winter and offered at the point of purchase by smart retailers nationwide.
Press release/image:smart

A smart read from Veloce! the little book of smart – New Edition! by Paul Jackson.
In the little book of smart, now featuring a brand new extra chapter, author and smart fanatic Paul Jackson guides us through the history of the brand, its highs and lows, its successes and failures, up to the present day, with the very latest fortwo line-up promising major sales worldwide and, of course, helping to pave the way for a future for smart in the USA. It’s a fascinating tale, told succinctly and in an entertaining style, and complemented by full colour photography throughout. 144 pages packed with over 100 colour pictures and entertaining text make this a great little book. Click here for more info.

GORDON MURRAY DESIGN REVEAL T.25 CITY CAR SEATING LAYOUT

Gordon Murray Design’s T.25 City Car is not only designed around a central driving position but an MPV package offering 6 internal layouts within the same vehicle, each layout being easily achieved within 30 seconds.

The T.25 City Car has been packaged to accept three 95th percentile occupants and the central driving position has been named ‘iCentre®’, although the actual concept dates back to 1966 when Gordon Murray first came up with the idea during his Mechanical Engineering studies at Durban Institute of Technology in South Africa. The three-seat configuration was put into production with the McLaren F1 and then resurrected in 1999 during the original study for Murray’s City Car - then known as Project 3.

The central driving position gives unparalleled control and visibility whilst supporting the ultra-flexible interior space. This gives the T.25 a potential market advantage over the Smart Fortwo which is purely a two-seater with a small luggage capacity. In maximum ‘shopping mode’ the T.25 can be driver only but offers 750 litres of stowage space which is equal to 6 shopping trolleys in volume!

The two pedal vehicle does not have a gear lever but instead relies on push buttons with the options of fully automatic or manual using Forward, Reverse & Neutral.

Gordon Murray Design are currently in discussions with several interested parties to move the car into production using the iStream® Manufacturing process. iStream® is a unique, innovative method of producing cars invented by Gordon Murray Design which, amongst other things, reduces the area and investment of a typical car factory by 80%.
(Source:Gordon Murray Design Limited)

STYLE YOUR GARAGE

Ever wanted to disguise your garage door for a wine celler? well now you can do just that with printed photographic tarpaulins from style-your-garage.com.


Or pretend you own a classic car ...


Or even a Formula 1 car!

CONCEPT BECOMES REALITY

Adrian Dewey received the advance copy of his forthcoming book in the post today. What can we say, he was rather pleased with it.

Adrian said: "I'm absolutely delighted with the finished book. It looks even better than i had envisaged. Many thanks to all at Veloce!"

Coming soon! How to illustrate and design Concept Cars
By Adrian Dewey.
This book provides an easy to follow guide on how to draw cars like the professional design studios. Covers materials used from pencils to markers, airbrushes to computer generated drawings. The book features clear and concise step-by-step guides to drawing all external components of a car, and teaches how to render them in order to bring them to life. It also showcases work that demonstrates how these techniques produce great car art and design.

Adrian Dewey spent most of his childhood drawing cars. On leaving school he went on to study Product Design, and later Transport Design. He has taught presentation techniques and sold his artwork worldwide for a number of years.

Adrian has also designed concept cars for independent sports car companies, magazines and websites, as well as Formula 1 concept design work for books, and is a featured design expert on a marker pen suppliers’ website.

Click here for more info about the book.

DAMIEN HIRST-DECORATED FIAT 500

Five Fiat 500s, decorated by the artist Damien Hirst, were among the prizes won in a luxury charity draw at a star-studded London party last week.

The cars, donated by Fiat and finished in butterfly designs by the award-winning artist, raised £440,000 as sales of their raffle tickets proved popular among guests at the ARK dinner. Party-goers included Hollywood film star Uma Thurman, supermodel Eva Herzigova, singer Sinitta and top UK industry and hedge fund bosses.

Dubbed the most lavish party in Britain, the ARK event raises millions of pounds for children’s charities each year. For 2009 it was held in the disused Eurostar terminus at London’s Waterloo station, where the total raised on the night was a staggering £15.6 million.

“I am immensely grateful to the Fiat Group and to Damien Hirst for their unabated support and generosity to ARK,” says charity chairman Arpad Busson. “The five beautiful 500s added stunning visual drama to our event and raised £440,000 for our programmes.”

The lucky winners of the five unique 500s will take delivery of their cars at Fiat Marylebone, Fiat’s flagship store in London’s Wigmore Street.
Source:Fiat

Fiat 500 & 600 – The Essential Buyer's Guide by Malcolm Bobbitt.
The essential guide to purchasing a baby Fiat, which allows both the novice and accustomed Fiat enthusiast to appraise a potential purchase with professional confidence, identifying what to look for in order to acquire the right car at the right price. With Malcolm Bobbitt’s concise and easy-to-follow guide, packed with sound advice and backed up by specially selected illustrations, the route through checking a car’s provenance is made so much easier. This is YOUR passport to joining the Fiat community and a must for any potential small Fiat owner.
Click here for more info about the book.

WACKY RACES LIMBER-UP FOR GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED

Residents and visitors to Chichester in West Sussex were treated today to a highly unusual scene as eleven Wacky Races vehicles invaded the city centre, under their own steam, in anticipation of their annual outing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed from 3-5 July.

These fully working life-size cars from the popular Wacky Races cartoon series have been built by Goodwood specifically for the Festival of Speed over the last decade, and form a key part of the Junior Festival of Speed; a popular attraction for younger motoring fans at the event.

Bemused and amused motorists and passers-by watched the full set of 11 Wacky Races vehicles drive from the Goodwood Motor Circuit under police motorcycle escort into the centre of Chichester, then returned ‘home’ to Goodwood for a final wash and polish before the Festival in just four week’s time.

This is the first time the Wacky Racers have been driven on public roads, and all of the vehicles performed exceptionally well. Sadly the same can not be said of some of the familiar characters driving the cars!

Penelope Pitstop took a wrong turn and got lost in her Compact Pussycat, the Slag Brothers’ stomachs got the better of them and they disappeared to a local fast-food ‘drive thru’, in their Boulder Mobile, and the cunning Dick Dastardly attempted a couple of daring passing manoeuvres in his Mean Machine, without success. Drat and double drat!

In July the complete set of the Wacky Races cars and characters will be displayed on purpose-built desert set located on the Goodwood cricket pitch at the south side of the Festival of Speed.
Source:www.goodwood.co.uk

THE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE PRODUCTION SPORTS CAR

The Maybach Exelero - At a cool $8,000,000!

THE PUMA POD

GM teams up with Segway to produce this PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) city vehicle.



The P.U.M.A is capable of speeds of up to 35MPH and has the ability to communicate with other vehicles via an ‘internet’ which means that bashing into each other should not be possible and the same system could actually drive the pod itself.

GORDON MURRAY’S OLDEST KNOWN CAR RESURFACED

Just prior to the unveiling of Gordon Murray’s new T25 (his 25th design) the eldest known car by the British design ace has come to the surface: the IGM Minbug. Murray: “Back in the early seventies, if, like me, you didn’t like ordinary cars, you just built your own. At least that is what I did. I bought a £60 scrap Mini Van and designed an incredibly strong spaceframe to bolt its 850cc engine and running gear on. It was 300lbs lighter than a Mini and bloody good fun, with 15% more weight on the rear wheels as I moved the petrol tank and driver rearwards, all with the result that it handled really well. Having just married, my wife and I had planned to drive it around Europe. However, a couple of friends decided they’d wanted one, too, so instead of the European holiday my wife was there helping drilling and riveting alongside me! I did 40,000 miles in mine and it was such fun and yet still practical. I never should have sold it.”

For over ten years Murray looked for one of the four surviving Minbugs, but had just about given up, when journalist Jeroen Booij rang saying he thought he’d found one during the researches for his book ‘Maximum Mini’. At first Murray was skeptical, but this soon changed when the Dutch journalist came over to Surrey to show him the car he’d bought only hours before. With chassis number ‘01’ the Minbug that Booij had found in a Berkshire scrap yard happened to be Murray’s personal car. Booij left the badly detoriated Minbug at Murrays premises, where it will be exhibited in the future. Murray doesn’t know yet whether he will restore the car or leave it in the state that it is now.

Gordon Murray supplied the foreword in the brand new Veloce book: Maximum Mini by Jeroen Booij.
BOOK OF THE MONTH – Classic & Sports Car
This book focuses solely on the cars derived from the classic Mini. Small GTs, sports cars, roadsters and fun cars: Mini derivatives that changed the specialist motoring market completely in the early sixties, and new designs kept it busy for nearly four decades. From the well known Mini Marcos and Unipower GT that raced at Le Mans, to the very obscure but as exciting Coldwell GT or Sarcon Scarab, almost 60 cars are thoroughly researched, described and photographed in this book.
Click here for more information or buy it now using paypal or credit card!