Autoblog

One of Delphi's major reveals during CES this week is surely to get the iPhone fanbois frothing at the mouth – even if it's just a concept. The software allows users to monitor and control several aspects of a vehicle's system, everything from unlocking doors to starting the car and getting the temperature just right.

The connection is made from the phone to a Bluetooth-enabled key-fob that then connects to the car. According to Delphi, that gives geeks the opportunity to connect to their vehicle from a mile away.

Beyond the aforementioned features, the system can start or stop the car, roll down the windows, check tire pressure, monitor oil and brake fluid life, as well as detecting if the car has been broken into. If and when the system is ready for primetime, Delphi expects it to be available for a number of smart phones.

Thanks for the tip Corinne!

[Source: PCMag]

The Ford GT has always been badass. When it went into production in 2003, all of those kit cars from back in the day suddenly paled in comparison to a genuine GT40-inspired supercar. It was a relative bargain, too. Of course, when we say relative bargain, we mean expensive. Always willing to settle, we've found a way to claim with a straight face that we own a GT. It's still not cheap, but it's hundreds, not hundreds of thousands. Winding Road has pointed us to the 1:6 scale remote control Ford GT over at wowzzers.com. Equipped with a 23cc engine, this three-plus foot long vehicle can buzz around at a maximum speed around 60 mph. Christmas is coming, and it's only $650.

[Source: Winding Road]

It's hard enough to get a full-sized vehicle slurping gasoline and sitting on 10-inch wide rubber to reach 200 mph, so imaging trying to reach the lofty speed with a home made remote control car powered by a 29.6-volt electric motor and running on foam based tires. The current R/C land speed record is held by R/C enthusiast Nic Case, who managed 134.4mph.

This time, another enthusiast by the name of Nick Maslowski is going for 200 mph with his new X2 racer. Though the R/C car has a theoretical top speed of 274 mph, drag generated by friction from the road surface and air brings that final top speed to the 200 mph figure.

At these kinds of speed, directing the cars remotely can be very difficult. To prevent it from rolling out of control, Nic has installed a gyroscope that adjusts a pair of rudders to keep it on a straight line. We'd love to see what a R/C car would be capable of with the right facilities such as a wind-tunnel and smoother track.

[Source: Jalopnik via Pistonheads]

Around our office, we're always passing small files between the multiple workstations via USB flash drives. Chinese toymaker Marsilli has come up with a fun way for us to amuse ourselves as we pass files back and forth. Their 512MB flash drive that doubles as an RC car comes with its own race track, though the first thing we'd try is zooming these little buggers around from room to room. They're controllable with your cellphone, though we're not sure if it's via Bluetooth or some other scheme. The USB port jutting out the back of the New Beetle is also just about the correct scale to match some of the inane drainage-pipe exhausts we've seen on clapped out rides around town, too. It's too bad we don't have an office pet, as we bet these zoomy little cars would do great on smooth surfaces and drive cats and dogs absolutely bonkers. We know we'd giggle like schoolgirls for a good half hour, maybe more. We're not sure where to find these in the US just yet, but we haven't looked terribly hard, either. We've been avoiding actually finding them because they're just what we need, more excuses to be unproductive while we hold out for that dream job of GranTurismo beta tester.

[Source: engadget.com]