Chrysler Firepower V8 engine The extreme rear of the sport concept car

Chrysler Firepower V8 engine The extreme rear of the sport concept car

The Chrysler Firepower is an attractive and powerful concept, reaching 60 miles an hour in less than 4.5 seconds and continuing on to 175mph.
The Chrysler Firepower is based on a Dodge Viper chassis, and it's not impossible to see a resemblance. Muscular rear arches, wide low and flat bonnet and a cockpit pushed to the extreme rear of the car.
The rear view, especially the taillights and boot lid, have a distinct Aston Martin vibe. This similarity is not by accident, both cars are intended as luxury tourers designed to compete in the same market. Although the Firepower would probably be termed 'the poor mans Aston Martin.

Chrysler Firepower V8 interior

Chrysler Firepower V8 engine The extreme rear of the sport concept car

Chrysler Firepower V8 engine The extreme rear of the sport concept car

The Chrysler Firepower is an attractive and powerful concept, reaching 60 miles an hour in less than 4.5 seconds and continuing on to 175mph.
The Chrysler Firepower is based on a Dodge Viper chassis, and it's not impossible to see a resemblance. Muscular rear arches, wide low and flat bonnet and a cockpit pushed to the extreme rear of the car.
The rear view, especially the taillights and boot lid, have a distinct Aston Martin vibe. This similarity is not by accident, both cars are intended as luxury tourers designed to compete in the same market. Although the Firepower would probably be termed 'the poor mans Aston Martin.

Chrysler Firepower V8 interior

2009 LM5 McLaren Concept Car by Matt Williams

2009 LM5 McLaren Concept Car

The LM5 was designed as a vehicle which could rekindle the drama and sophistication of the legendary McLaren F1. And while McLaren have since revealed the MP4-12C supercar, it's not exactly in the same league as the technological tour-de-force which was the original F1.
The McLaren LM5 is a concept created by Matt Williams, a graduate of Coventry University's Transportation Design degree program. The LM5 was produced as his final year project.
The styling of the F1 was primarily dictated by function. However it also retained a unique sense of character and presence. Williams thought it would be interesting to develop the brand identity of McLaren - but more specifically the F1 model - and bring it into the 21st Century. And while the LM5 concept was designed to offer a similar personality and overall stance to the F1, it was also designed to utilize more extreme and race-influenced bodywork.

2009 LM5 McLaren Concept Car

The McLaren LM5 concept features the same three-seat layout with a central drivers seat as the old F1. All three sports seats have an extremely slim profile to reduce weight and free up interior space, and instead of conventional safety belts all the seats feature racing-style four-point harnesses. The multifunction steering wheel features a central display for the tachometer.
The proposed engine for the McLaren LM5 concept is a worked over 5.0 litre V10 sourced from BMW. Mounted midship in the carbon fibre pre-preg chassis this unit would make the LM5 a force to be reckoned with on both road and track.
While the LM5 is at the moment just one man's idea of what the F1's successor could look like, the design itself uses both past and present McLaren influences giving it a sense of realism. And It's important to remember that McLaren themselves have made it public knowledge that they're working on developing a successor to their most iconic car within the next couple of years.

2009 LM5 McLaren Concept Car by Matt Williams

2009 LM5 McLaren Concept Car

The LM5 was designed as a vehicle which could rekindle the drama and sophistication of the legendary McLaren F1. And while McLaren have since revealed the MP4-12C supercar, it's not exactly in the same league as the technological tour-de-force which was the original F1.
The McLaren LM5 is a concept created by Matt Williams, a graduate of Coventry University's Transportation Design degree program. The LM5 was produced as his final year project.
The styling of the F1 was primarily dictated by function. However it also retained a unique sense of character and presence. Williams thought it would be interesting to develop the brand identity of McLaren - but more specifically the F1 model - and bring it into the 21st Century. And while the LM5 concept was designed to offer a similar personality and overall stance to the F1, it was also designed to utilize more extreme and race-influenced bodywork.

2009 LM5 McLaren Concept Car

The McLaren LM5 concept features the same three-seat layout with a central drivers seat as the old F1. All three sports seats have an extremely slim profile to reduce weight and free up interior space, and instead of conventional safety belts all the seats feature racing-style four-point harnesses. The multifunction steering wheel features a central display for the tachometer.
The proposed engine for the McLaren LM5 concept is a worked over 5.0 litre V10 sourced from BMW. Mounted midship in the carbon fibre pre-preg chassis this unit would make the LM5 a force to be reckoned with on both road and track.
While the LM5 is at the moment just one man's idea of what the F1's successor could look like, the design itself uses both past and present McLaren influences giving it a sense of realism. And It's important to remember that McLaren themselves have made it public knowledge that they're working on developing a successor to their most iconic car within the next couple of years.

Splinter Wooden Supercar the first supercar ever to be designed and engineered using wood

Splinter Wooden Supercar twin supercharged V8 engine

The Splinter is a very unusual and innovative vehicle. It's the first supercar ever to be designed and engineered using wood as the primary construction material. In the past some vehicles have used wood to various degrees in their construction, but never to the extent the Splinter does.
The Splinter is a graduate project by students at North Carolina State University. Wood has been used where possible, including the chassis, body, and even a large percentage of the suspension components and wheels.
While moving components like the suspension might seem impossible to fashion out of wood, the Splinter team realized that a leaf spring shares many traits with longbows, flexible, durable and with progressive spring rates. After research they decided to use Osage orange wood, which is the strongest wood found in North America. The front suspension therefore comprises of a laminated Osage orange wood leaf spring transversely mounted and providing suspension for both front wheels.

Splinter Wooden Supercar twin supercharged V8 engine

The wheels of the Splinter are made from rotary cut oak veneers. Each veneer was rotated 36 degrees from the previous layer to maximize grain direction alignment with the spokes. A walnut sunburst was cut for the front while a cherry sunburst was used on the back.
The mid-engined layout of the Splinter wooden supercar comprises of a 4.6 litre, twin supercharged V8 mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox and Getrag limited slip differential.
The Splinter is not intended for mass production, nor is it designed to break and performance or handling records. The design is merely to show that with intelligent and creative thinking a car can be created out of the most unlikely materials.

Splinter Wooden Supercar the first supercar ever to be designed and engineered using wood

Splinter Wooden Supercar twin supercharged V8 engine

The Splinter is a very unusual and innovative vehicle. It's the first supercar ever to be designed and engineered using wood as the primary construction material. In the past some vehicles have used wood to various degrees in their construction, but never to the extent the Splinter does.
The Splinter is a graduate project by students at North Carolina State University. Wood has been used where possible, including the chassis, body, and even a large percentage of the suspension components and wheels.
While moving components like the suspension might seem impossible to fashion out of wood, the Splinter team realized that a leaf spring shares many traits with longbows, flexible, durable and with progressive spring rates. After research they decided to use Osage orange wood, which is the strongest wood found in North America. The front suspension therefore comprises of a laminated Osage orange wood leaf spring transversely mounted and providing suspension for both front wheels.

Splinter Wooden Supercar twin supercharged V8 engine

The wheels of the Splinter are made from rotary cut oak veneers. Each veneer was rotated 36 degrees from the previous layer to maximize grain direction alignment with the spokes. A walnut sunburst was cut for the front while a cherry sunburst was used on the back.
The mid-engined layout of the Splinter wooden supercar comprises of a 4.6 litre, twin supercharged V8 mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox and Getrag limited slip differential.
The Splinter is not intended for mass production, nor is it designed to break and performance or handling records. The design is merely to show that with intelligent and creative thinking a car can be created out of the most unlikely materials.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa back in the cockpit, preps for return in 2010

Felipe Massa is relishing the prospect of returning to Formula One after his first Ferrari drive since his life-threatening accident in Hungary.

The Brazilian took a privately owned F2007 for a spin at the Fiorano track near Maranello, Italy in his first drive in an F1 car since July. He is not allowed to drive this year's Ferrari beacause of restrictions on mid-season testing, but already feels close to full fitness.

He told Sky Sports News: "It is a really great feeling to be back in a Ferrari on the track, even if it is not this year's car, it is a great car, very good to drive.

"I was really, really happy straightaway that all the movement, braking, acceleration, the speed, the vibration... everything is working like it was before the accident, nothing diferent.

"I can even go back to everything that happened after my accident. When I started to do exercises for the fitness, in one week I was really almost similar to how I was before the accident.

"I did three days of go-karting before comming here and it was really, really great. The feelings, the vibrations, the movemnets in the go-carts are even stronger than in F1 because you are always on the kerb, you don't have suspension. It is stong movement but nothing happened, even the lap times, consistency.,... everything was normanl."