Though it's usually the adventure touring crowd that excels at turning their motorcycles into rolling technology test-beds, we've recently run across a Yamaha Vino scooter that has been fully farkled. Featuring an on-board computer based around a VIA mini ITX form factor motherboard that's cleverly been hidden under the stock Vino's seat, this rolling geek-mobile packs in WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, GPS, FM radio, a TV tuner and a front-mounted camera in its diminutive frame. With the full-spec computer, pretty much anything should be possible right from the road using this scooter. While this is certainly a cool project, we have a few questions regarding its durability. How long will the acrylic plate that makes the structure for the computer hold up? Perhaps most importantly, how long will the scooter's battery be able to power all this technology? In the name of science, of course, we graciously offer our services for a road trip on the machine to find the answer to these all-important questions. Thanks for the tip, jared!
This is either the stupidest idea ever or the most brilliant co-promotion for two brands in the history of mankind. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, the distributor of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue across the pond, and Nissan are joining forces to host a competition that could place a really good gamer behind the seat of a real Nissan 350Z at a very real 24-hour endurance race in Dubai. The competition is called GT Academy, and the first round will be an online GT5 Prologue tournament hosted on the PLAYSTATION Network (for Europeans only, we presume). Based on the picture provided, it appears that entrants will be racing a Nissan GT-R in a special livery when the competition begins later this month. The rest of the competition will span some eight months, at the end of which the winner will receive a four-month training program to earn actual racing licenses. With his or her newfound knowledge of real physics and how actual damage occurs, the winner will then be given a stint behind the wheel of a Nissan 350Z in the 24-hour endurance race in Dubai.
Based on the press release after the jump, we're a little unclear exactly how GT Academy will whittle down all of these entrants over eight months or how much driving the winner will actually be doing in Dubai. Having raced GT5 Prologue online using the PLAYSTATION Network, we can't imagine qualifying is going to be a pretty sight. There are always plenty of jerks willing to brake late in a corner and buddy bump you into the wall regardless of the game's imposed penalties, especially if they know that seat time in a real 350Z is beyond their own reach.
Click above for a huge, high-res gallery of Rd. 3 of the '08 SuperGT season.
After previous incarnations of the Nissan GT-R ran away with successive JGTC titles, Japan's GT Association decided to inflict "success ballast" on race winners in an attempt to level the playing field (i.e give Toyota and Honda a chance).
As the current GT-R race car is built to 2009 Super GT specifications, the GT-A handed it a weight penalty of 50kgs added right from the start of the season. After winning Round 1 in Suzuka car number 23 had to carry an additional 50kgs at Round 2 in Sugo, which it promptly won anyway. Then thanks to also setting numerous fastest laps and other speeding offenses it was deemed that Benoit Treluyer and Satoshi Motoyama's ride would have to port an massive 200ks (440lbs) of ballast at this weekend's race at Fuji Speedway.
That presents a couple of problems. Firstly, where the heck do you safely stow 200kgs of lead? And would the car meet GT-A regulations even if Nissan found a way to do it? The ruling body's compromise was to give the car a 115kg penalty and fit a stifling restrictor to the GT-R's air intake. That knocked 30kph off the GT-R's maximum velocity at the end of Fuji's 1.5km straight, and in the words of Benoit, "Gives us no chance at all."
Follow through the jump to find out if he was right, and to find out how Lightning McQueen faired in GT300 after qualifying on pole yesterday.
In Iceland, the leviathan you see in the picture above is called a "jeep." Here in the U.S., it would be called a massively tricked out F-350 Super Duty, or probably just "monster truck." The 6,000 members of Iceland's 4x4 club use them to explore the barely reachable sections of the island nation, trusting 4-foot-high studded tires and a bevy of custom modifications to get them back to civilization.
The problem is that Icelanders are having their own currency issues, with a free-fall even worse than the dollar's being just the start. When gas is almost $8 per gallon, that puts a fill-up somewhere around the $500 mark. And that puts a hurting on everything -- especially when you have to spend even more money getting your truck hauled out of the ice it just fell through. Not that any of this really stops them, because, well, there isn't much else to do in Iceland. So follow the link and check out the trucks in the slideshow. It's big-wheel badness.
Click to view more of the Hyundai i10 ice cream van
We can come up with all manner of criteria for evaluating a car at any level: design, performance, spec sheet, ride, features, technology, value... but the one factor that trumps all others, what it all really comes down to, is how it appeals to our inner child. At the heart of it, that's why we love Lamborghinis and HUMMERs and Mustangs... and this particular Hyundai i10. It's just a treat.
The ice-cream van conversion wasn't made for Good Humor, although it certainly put us in that state of mind. It was created as a promotional tool for the British launch of the i10 by auto innovator Andy Saunders, the same guy who gave us the neo-Picasso Citroen 2CV and the ground-hugging Fiat 126, among others. While the Poole, England-based customizer has come up with many creative designs before, we doubt any of them would get children running after it down the street like the Pied Piper. Have a look at the images in the gallery below and pick out something delicious on us.
Advertising has been creeping into video games for a while now, but in most racing games is relegated to billboards that we hardly notice while whizzing by and concentrating on our line for the next turn. Codemasters, however, is working with in-game ad firm Engage to take video game advertising to a new level by including a fully functioning eBay Motors marketplace in the developer's next racing title, Race Driver: Grid. Players in the game will actually buy and sell in-game vehicles using the eBay Motors service just like they would in real life. eBay Motors will also get a title race in the game called "The eBay Motors Mustang Muscle Series" in which they can drive the eBay Motors Mustang GTR concept car in San Francisco, Long Beach, Washington D.C. and Detroit. This type of next-gen in-game advertising should work well within the confines of Grid, since eBay Motors is widely visited and used by the type of person who might pick up the game.
Click above for high-res gallery of the Hot Wheels Honda Racer
Last November at the 2007 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Hot Wheels unveiled a troop of concepts to celebrate its 40th anniversary. These new Hot Wheels cars were not designed by everyone's favorite 1:64 scale model toy maker, but rather were all new designs penned by designers from Lotus, Chevy, Ford, Mitsubishi, Dodge and Honda. The Lotus Concept, Mitsubishi Double Shotz, Dodge XP-07, Gangster Grin from Ford, Chevroletor (GM), and Honda Racer, along with Hot Wheels' own HW-40, are going on tour around the United States in August, so keep an eye out.
The first of these concepts to actually become a toy will be the Honda Racer, the design of which is inspired by the 'H' in Honda's corporate logo. There's room for a driver and navigator in the side-by-side shape of the concept that features a paint scheme inspired by Honda's participation in F1 back in the day. A fictitious Honda V10 VTEC that displaces a theoretical 2.0L per cylinder (that's a 20-liter engine for those keeping score at home) powers the red-and-white racer. The Honda Racer's design, Guillermo Gonzalez, says rather than bean counters and engineers imposing restraints on his creativity, the only parameters when designing his Hot Wheels car were that it had to fit in the trademark orange track and be able to do a loop. With a 20L V10 and the assistance of good old gravity, we're sure a loop is well within its means. You'll be able to buy the Honda Racer next month when it begins arriving on store shelves in May. Until then, check out the high-res shots Honda released of the Honda Racer in our gallery below.
Click above for high-res gallery of Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Rockstar Games is a little busy right now ahead of its big release of Grand Theft Auto IV, but the video game developer had enough time to announce that the next installment of its Midnight Club racing series will land on the Xbox 360 and PS3 come September 9th. Joystiq reports that Midnight Club: Los Angeles will feature "no load times, no tracks, and no rules," which means much hooning can be had in the City of Angels with a large selection of infinitely customizable cars. Among those available to gamers will be the first use of the new Dodge Challenger and Chevy Camaro in a racing game. Having already been officially revealed to the public, the Challenger in Midnight Club: Los Angeles looks spot on, while the Camaro appears to sport a few quirky details like its headlights that Chevy probably didn't want to reveal in a video game or just weren't ready when it came to digitize the car. Driving your dream cars in a video game certainly doesn't replace the real thing, but it's fun to do things with a digital version that you wouldn't dream of inflicting on an actual car.
At first glance this could be Super Aguri's latest F1 contender. It's not like they need any bodywork for all their sponsors' stickers...
But no, it is a limited edition Takuma Sato Play Seat that can be parked in front of your TV for just 60,900 cents/Yen (around $600 USD). There goes that precious living room square footage freed up by last year's purchase of an ultra thin widescreen plasma display. Play Seats are comaptible with PS2s, 3s, Wiis and X-Boxes, and we're just aching to give one, or preferably two, a test drive. Fortunatley, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue came out yesterday and a few of us have it in hand, though we're not sure how we're going to convince AOL that a Play Seat is a required business expense for reviewing the game.
After watching this video of a radio-controlled car driving past a line of wine bottles, playing the theme for Super Mario Brothers in the process, we have a question: was the wine consumed prior to the successful completion of the task at hand? If so, that would make this video even more impressive, though it's pretty much epic as it stands. Released in 1985, the video game predates the Cosworth Escort model used for the stunt, but both take us back to the days of our youth when both Mario Brothers and European hot hatches were the stuff of dreams. And we love it.
Nick Hogan sentenced to 8 months in jail
Pontiac El Cami-"NO"
Spy Shots: Baby Cayenne caught on 'Ring!
First Peek: 2009 Dodge Ram R/T
Spy Shots: Corvette ZR1 attacking the Nurburgring
Future Classic: 1984 Chrysler Minivans
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy
First Drive: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen
Project Track Slut, Part One: Pick a weapon on the cheap
By the Numbers: April 2008
