Unfortunately, slot car racing is either too cheap, and its toy status quickly wears thin as it starts to fall apart and stops working, or it’s too expensive, and it’s not fun because you’re doing it as a hobby instead of an occasional fun activity.
However, The World’s Greatest Shelby Slot Car Racetrack looks to bridge those two extremes by creating a well-built track that you can set up at home and race for fun.
Featuring 63-3/4 feet of track, Neo Dymium ground-effect magnets and extra-long guide pins, the 1964 Daytona Coupes will whip around at breakneck speeds, but won’t launch off the track the first time you try and take a turn.
In addition, high-conductivity phosphor bronze shoes and a 22-volt power pack deliver speed and racability that you’re looking for, and that no track can match.
As if mechanical-digital watches weren’t already cool enough, Harry Winston has created a watch that uses mechanical pixels to display the time at the push of a button, and called it the Opus 8.
Even the back features a second time display, with a power reserve indicator to tell you when your awesome is running low.
Only 50 were made, and apparently they all sold before the watch was even unveiled, so if you want one, then get the house on the market and start checking eBay, because these aren’t exactly going to be cheap.
Apparently, automakers that dabble in carbon fiber also have a penchant for high-end stereo equipment, because they seem to enjoy lending their name to pieces of audio art.
This Pagani system features an aluminum and carbon fiber turntables, CD player, and speaker pair that’s designed to mimic the Zonda’s sound system controls with additional details like the Zonda exhaust themed ports tying the two together.
I guess if you an afford a Zonda, then they assume you can afford something like this; because I don’t imagine shock absorbing carbon fiber turntables are a cheap addition to any home.
Sure, the Asus Eee PC is small, and the MacBook Air is powerful, but what about making your very own lightweight portable computer out of an old Palm Pilot a keyboard, and a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records?
It might not be small and powerful, but it is cheap, and the DIY factor alone should give you plenty of bragging rights at your next Starbucks laptop spec shootout.
If you love chocolate more than life itself, then perhaps you should check out the Burlwood Chocolate Vault from Richart.
Featuring seven drawers (112 pieces) of the company’s finest chocolates, this hand-crafted vault has temperature and humidity gauges that ensure you’re enjoying your chocolate from the optimum environment.
This thing does cost a hefty $825, but I guess nobody ever said luxury was supposed to be cheap…
Fisker Automotive wants to bring the sexy back to green sport car design.
With Tesla taking a sad and slow turn towards the automotive afterlife, there’s now a gaping hole in the car world for people who want to drive green, but don’t want to drive slow to do so.
Enter: Fisker
The Karma (clever) will be a four-door plug-in hybrid sports sedan, and will start at just $80,000. (I say just because technology like this doesn’t come cheap when you’re trying to debut a whole new type of transportation.)
With initial delivery scheduled for late 2009, and an estimated production run of at least 15,000, there’s definitely some hope of this thing seeing the light of day.
And if it does, what will drivers see?
A sexy exterior wrapped around an even sexier interior powered by a Q DRIVE powertrain. (Q DRIVE is Fisker’s name for their plug-in hybrid technology.) Basically, a small gas engine turns a generator which charges the lithium ion battery pack which then powers the electric motor.
With this configuration, the car can be driven for up to 50 miles per day, as long as the car is then plugged in each night. By following this routine, the car then also only needs one fuel fill-up. Per year.
Will this change the face of green automotive design?
As with the Tesla, only time will tell; though I do hope that this one at least makes it into production, since we’re at going to need baby steps if there’s ever going to be hope of running towards a cleaner type of automobile.
The new Challenger, which will debut in 2008, is scheduled to arrive in SRT8 trim at a comparatively cheap $37,995. (Comparatively, because the 6.1L HEMI V8 will be making an estimated 425 horsepower.)
Initially available in only three colors (black, silver, and HEMI orange) the Challenger SRT8 will also feature the concept car’s carbon fiber hood stripes for extra style points.
Though the original is going to be tough to beat, I wouldn’t mind parking one of these in my garage in between stoplight sessions:
Like the looks of Apple’s new OS, but still trying to stay loyal to Windows?
Then check out Lifehacker’s Hackintosh guide for information on how to build a high-end computer that’s confused about its identity using OSx86.
The build consists of a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a total of 4GB of RAM (four sticks at 1GB each), an ASUS P5W DH Deluxe motherboard, a GeForce 7300GT (the same basic video card that comes installed in the default Mac Pro configuration), a 500GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and an Antec Sonata case.
So what’s all of this going to cost you?
$800, plus the cost of the OS.
Not bad for a system whose closest competitor is the $600 Mac Mini with half the specs.
The veteran of numerous rallies, races, and records, he recently drove from New York to Santa Monica in 31 hours and 4 minutes, beating the previous transcontinental record by over an hour. To give you an idea of the kind of speed it takes to break a record like that, think about this: Roy needed a sustained speed of almost 90 miles per hour.
For 31 hours!
So what kind of technology does it take to pilot a four-wheel rocket through 31,000 highly trained highway patrol?
Tasco 8 x 40 binoculars with a Kenyon KS-2 gyro stabilizer
Military spec Steiner 7 x 50 binoculars
Bumper-mounted L-3 Raytheon NightDriver thermal camera
Flush, bumper-mounted Blinder M40 laser jammers
Redundant Garmin StreetPilot 2650 GPS units
Preprogrammed Uniden police radio scanners
Ceiling-mounted Uniden CB radio with high-gain whip antenna
And last but not least, a Valentine One radar/laser detector
Since 1992, Valentine has been making a radar detector that refuses to loose. It’s a company that only makes radar detectors, only make ones model of radar detector (constantly upgraded with the latest technology), and only makes the best radar detector, so you know that they mean business.
On my recent trip to Las Vegas for the SEMA show, I had a chance to check out the capabilities of my newly purchased V1, and I must say, I was beyond impressed. Not only did it constantly keep me aware of what was going on around me (the patented arrows tell you with amazing accuracy if the radar is in front of, beside, or behind you), but it also saved me from at least one sure-fire ticket.
Coming down a hill with a clear lane and a tailwind, my car was more than happy to break the posted speed limit, and trusting in the powers of the V1, I was more than happy to oblige.
Suddenly, the V1 flashed Ka band, and maxed out the signal strength indicator, showing sure signs of a cop ahead. Heading the warning, I quickly brought the car down to posted speeds, and peered ahead for the awaiting cruiser. After about a mile of driving, I came upon the hidden cruiser, tucked neatly under an overpass with his radar gun pointed directly down the road that I had just traveled. Just past him though, there were three other cruisers parked and waiting to pick up what the radar gun picked off. It was a speed trap, and thanks to the V1, I had easily avoided it.
Chock one up in the V1 win column.
Though you can’t exactly call the Valentine One cheap, it’s a definite case of you get what you pay for. (And it’s also probably cheaper than getting a ticket.) Plus, if Alex Roy trusts it to drive across the country, shouldn’t you trust it to drive the kids to soccer? (Quickly.)
Also, having tested out a few other radar detectors over the years, I can confirm Valentine’s claims that the V1 is the easiest to use, most reliable, and gave the best warning time out of the bunch.
Your driving record will thank you.
(For more information about Alex Roy’s record run, check out his book, The Driver, and his documentary, 32 Hours 7 Minutes.)
If you love chocolate more than life itself, then perhaps you should check out the Burlwood Chocolate Vault from Richart.
