Autoblog

click above to view video after jump

Thumbing through the last issue of 0-60, one of the car-guyiest car mags around, I turned the page and saw an image that stopped me cold. Mother of pearl, a Subaru rally car flying through the air at a snowboard park. How is that even possible? We've all seen imagery of airborne rally cars, but the cruising altitude is usually just a couple feet. These shots depict serious flight. General Lee, Bo and Luke Duke flight. $150,000 worth of machinery being treated as the Greatest. Snowmobile. Evar.

It turns out 0-60 contributor and driver extrodinaire Ken Block was behind the wheel of that car, flying off jumps intended for snowboarders with 3,000 pounds of machinery as part of the shoot for the DC Shoes production MTN.LAB 1.5. Hit the jump for more, and to see some of the jaw-dropping video.

[Source: 0-60]

After making tires for more than 110 years, we guess the folks over at Michelin got bored one day and started looking at what else was made of rubber. We can imagine what products might have been considered, but as fun as Michelin-branded, tire-tread imitating prophylactics might have been, more sensible heads prevailed, and Bibendum will be touting his own line of shoes soon.

This summer we were invited to Michelin's introduction of its new MXV4 tires at Barber Motorsports, where they also had a display of MXV4-inspired footwear. We've finally been able to get a pair of the Belair model into the Autoblog Closet and put a few miles on them.

First, we have to say these shoes are by far the slowest mode of transportation ever tested by the Autoblog crew. Despite features like a sole that resembles Michelin's touring tire, sleek lines, lightweight construction, and wind-cheating aerodynamics, we never were able to get above about 5 mph.

Continued after the jump.

As a male, I can't begin to imagine the many hardships that go along with being a woman. Under-wire bras, various forms of painful hair removal, and uncomfortable shoes are just a few of the things many women endure to fit our culture's current definition of beauty. Uncomfortable shoes, however, can cause more than just blisters. Stilettos, sling-backs, strappy sandals and driving barefoot can sometimes cause car accidents because wearing fashionable footwear often conflicts with using a good driving shoe.

Enter Sheilas' Wheels, a car insurer for women in the UK that has developed the Sheila Driving Heel. Quite a little marvel of design, the Sheila Driving Heel features a tall heel that folds forward into the shoe's sole at the touch of a button (we couldn't find the button in the pic above, though). This turns the pump into a flat that's much better suited to the rigors of driving. In addition to hiding the heel, Sheila's shoes feature discrete tread on their soles that gives a woman's heel some grip, which we suppose is helpful when performing a double-clutch shift and the like. We're not sure how attractive the patent leather black with hot pink trim will be to the Sheila Driving Heel's intended market, but we've also never claimed to know anything about its intended market, so who knows?

There's no word on pricing or availability, and the Sheilas' Wheels website only contains the press release for the Sheila Driving Heel, which we've pasted after the jump. We waited almost a week for them to send us a pic of the shoes, as their description was more than our imagination could conjure, so we're not expecting more info to be forthcoming.

[Source: ILoveSheilas.com]

Order a new Ferrari, Maserati or Lamborghini and you'll have the option of ordering fitted Schedoni luggage. The hundred-year-old leathercrafters are based in Modena, the same city where the exotic supercars are made, and the exclusivity and allure of their products rival that of the cars for which their luggage is custom-made. The company also makes bullet-proof briefcases for the Italian secret service, leather golf bags, thousand-dollar women's purses and those little pads in the cockpit that the shield Massa's and Raikonnen's precious heads, but back at the turn of the last century, Schedoni started by making shoes.

Teaming up with Puma, Schedoni is returning to its original core craft to produce a line of bespoke driving shoes for those who have to have everything to go with their fancy new gran turismo or barchetta. The collaboration between the two independent Scuderia Ferrari suppliers will yield two series of driving shoes. The first will come in Schedoni's trademark rich golden tan, branded with the owner's initials. If that's not personalized enough for your taste, a second line of shoes can be fully customized with their "puzzle kit" that allows customers to choose from a wide variety of leathers.

Each will be available in limited quantities, along with matching bags, for what promises to be exorbitant amounts of money. You know, just to keep the riff-raff out of these fancy sneaks.

[Source: Motor Trend via Luxist]

UPDATE: The designer of the Camper Lotus, Patty Yuan, has contacted us with some corrections to our original post on her urban commuter. The design is actually her senior thesis project, and is simply a proposal to suggest what such a commuter vehicle might look like if it were designed by the company Camper. Neither Camper nor Lotus participated in the design of the Campter Lotus, and it appears as if the web has been creatively extrapolating both company's involvement from the project's name.

Spanish shoe brand Camper is just as famous for its lifestyle projects as it is for its shoes. FoodBALL, for example, is a restaurant opened up by the company pushing organic fast food in the form of whole grain rice balls filled with more organic, locally-sourced stuff (mushrooms, chicken, carob, etc.). Even the take-away materials are fully biodegradable, made from corn and sugar cane. Casa Camper, another endeavor, is a hotel tucked away in the cultural ground zero of Barcelona -- minutes from the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Centre of Contemporary Culture. Standard rooms have additional private space across the hall where guests can watch TV in hammocks or embark upon other projects, and as with FoodBALL, the environment is top priority.

Not one to pass up an opportunity to diversify in strange places, Camper has teamed up with Lotus to create an ecologically-friendly (concept) answer to Chinese traffic congestion. The Camper Lotus Personal Commuter is targeted at young entrepreneurs trying to find a better way to get to work. The gyroscopic two-wheeler has an incredibly small footprint, making parking a breeze, and encourages customization both inside and out. The enclosed nature of the car also provides the driver with personal space, a commodity difficult to come by on a scooter or bicycle. Power comes from household wall outlets, by the way, making for a convenient and generally cleaner makeup.

[via Jalopnik]