Ariel brings professional driving-simulation to livingrooms

Regular car enthusiasts may recognize Ariel as the maker of a bloody fast scaffolding called the Atom, a hardcore, no-compromise ride for the incredibly enthusiastic. Lately however, Ariel has expanded that hardcore no-compromise mentality to sim-racing too. What they've come up with is a simulator that takes virtual-racing to a whole new level.

And here it is. Let me introduce you to the Ariel TL1, the world's first driving simulator with a portable 180 degree, spherical picture projection-system that projects it's picture with three HD-quality projectors. Quite tech-serious.

Inside you'll get the lot from bucket seats to top-notch controls and software with no expense spared. Ariel even offers customers the ability to choose what features they want to have in their TL1 at purchase, so buyers get the set-up tailored for their specific needs. All this attention to detail makes for quite a professional experience, but unlike the massive professional systems the TL1 can easily be linked to both PC, PS3 and Xbox 360-platforms standing in your livingroom.

Sadly, as everything car-related hardcore and no-compromise, getting the TL1 will set you back a fortune, 11,500£ to be exact, and that's quite hefty even for the thicker numbskull considering he could just go out and race a real car for the same money, and that, I predict, is the elephant in the room that'll keep demand low.

Not many would even want it. After all, looks resemble a giant egg in race-spec with go-faster stripes attached, or how the girl you just invited for a date would put it; a giant red-and-white turnoff. A raging social suicide with the price up there between idiotic and ridiculous (In fairness though, it needs to be remembered that this is hardcore, and hardcore sim-racers neither care about, nor have girlfriends and/or social status)

Anyways, nothing is going to take away the fact that the TL1 is a really, really cool gadget. It's a gadget that I feel guilty about wanting because at the end of the day I'd still want keep my girlfriend.

-HS

Watch the video below to see how it works

FWD BMW 1-series likely to prevail at Paris Motor Show

BMW has plans to reveal a new 1-series concept called the 1-series GT at Paris Motor Show in September. Usually an event like this wouldn't even be worth mentioning, but this time it's special, in a bad way, I'm afraid. It's a cheap scare like something out of a b-class horror movie: the first front wheel drive BMW in history. Boo. For now it only enters the stage in concept-form, but BMW is planning for the 1-series GT to hit the market in 2014.

The car will be based on the the upcoming Mini-redesign platform, sharing it's 1,5 liter three-cylinder turbo-engine and the it's rumored to be a real looker, but the positive comments end there. The rest is sacrilege by the carmaker who has been so keen on protecting it's image of making the Ultimate Driving Machine in the past.

"That's why we don't have front wheels"

So, who can be blamed for this abomination? Well, ultimately it's the consumers, because in 2010, when the process started, BMW did a survey of what picture 1-series drivers had of their car, and the results were indeed surprising.

Eight out of ten 1-series drivers were too stupid to drive according to what should be general measures, because eight out of ten 1-series drivers didn't even know they were driving an RWD car. This result convinced BMW CEO's that it wouldn't matter if they made an FWD 1-series, because 1-series drivers would be too ignorant to notice anyways, plus an FWD would be marginally more fuel-efficient and green as an addition.

So the launch of the FWD 1-series is the realization of that ignorance. It's BMW's strategy of dumbening down the brand and appealing to people who just don't get it, in other words the definitive moment of doom for BMW-purity, daggers through the hearts of brand-loyal BMW-enthusiasts.

 I laughed, then I cried. I still can't believe that eight out of ten 1-series drivers are so idiotically detached. We can only hope that this is a mere means of driving sales of the RWD 1-series, otherwise it's time to say hello to a whole new image of BMW.

-HS

Share your thoughts on BMW going FWD in the comments-section below!

Väth ups the ridiculousness of Mercedes-Benz C63 Black

The Mercedes-Benz C63 Black is ridiculous by definition. It's a car where most of the power goes to the process of evaporating the rear wheels. A hardcore old fashioned muscle-car neatly packaged in a modern euro-box, pumping out 510 horses from an anciently large 6.2 liter engine. It fulfills most of the car enthusiasts' rubber burning fantasies.

Some people won't settle though, and Väth, a German tuning-company, is catering for them..

Apparently the people at Väth found 510 horsepower inadequate and thought rubber needed to be burned even more efficiently.

Their solution? Supercharge the C63 Black and call it V63 Supercharged. The specs are pretty mind-boggling; an insane 756 horsepower, 0-62 in 3.6 seconds (provided you can keep the wheels from vanishing under you) and a top speed of 217mph. Autobahn-credibility granted.

Väth can't be accused of total laziness either, because the V63 Supercharged includes a whole lot more than just the supercharging. With the car you get a fully adjustable suspension, 20-inch alloys on ultra-low profile tires, and most importantly, upgraded brakes to prevent you from having an unwanted acquaintance with a ditch. The optional upgrades-list includes a stainless steel exhaust system, new cats, silencers, exhaust-tips and a whole array of individual interior options.

The price for this delightfully crazy creation is also, along with the rest of the car, a bit high-flying for the rational human being, 130 000-170 000€ depending on the upgrades, but then again a rational human being will be disgusted by the very thing anyways. I bet Clarkson is turned on.

-HS

Ugur Sahin's take on Alfas: The Alfa Romeo 12C GTS

What does a Turkish man know about designing supercars? Well, a lot if Ugur Sahin is the man in question. He's designwork covers quite an impressive repertoire of dead-sleek Aston Martins, emotion-stirring Ferraris and spaceship-resembling SLR's just to mention a few. This time he's teased the Alfa Romeo-fans...

Sahin's latest concept is a twelve-cylinder front-engined Alfa Romeo called the 12C GTS, and as you can see it's pretty darn high up the drool-scale - even for an Alfa Romeo.

Hower, the concept is not likely to be produced in-house by Alfa Romeo because the 12C GTS would be an even bigger trespass into Ferrari-territory than the 8C Competizione was, and that doesn't sit well with the brand-diversity strategy of Fiat Group. UgurSahinDesign is not giving up though, and is looking for private investors instead.

On the homepage of Ugur Sahin the 12C GTS concept is surrounded by a lot of slick blabbering about design-cues and organic attractiveness and so on, but the words are indifferent. Not much info is given on the details, so there's no real news-value, but that wasn't the point in the first place. In fact, there is no bigger point to be made about the 12C GTS in writing. Just look at it. All you can do is stare...

To see more of the 12C GTS and other UgurSahinDesign concepts visit www.ugursahindesign.com

-HS