Tag Archive for 'Track'

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Lotus Eco Elise?

Published
by
Cory O'Brien
on July 22, 2008
in Cars
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Lotus Eco Elise

How do you take an already feather-light supercar and reduce the weight by more than 70 pounds?

Easy; just make it more environmentally friendly.

Lotus decided to make an Eco version of their venerable Elise, and in the process, managed to reduce the already svelte curb weight.

Changes include a collection of sustainable materials for the body and trim, including hemp, eco wool, sisal, and a new, high-tech, water-based paint that can be applied by hand and can still achieve the fantastic finish you’d expect from a car of this quality. The new pieces and parts manage to reduce the Elise’s environmental footprint throughout its lifetime, as well as limit the amount of energy used during its production.

Lotus Eco Elise Interior

In addition to the new materials, Lotus has also added a flexible solar panel to the roof that helps power the electric system (less strain on the engine means better efficiency) and added a green shift light (hopefully in addition to the regular, ‘you’re about to blow up your engine’ red shift light) that helps drivers achieve the maximum fuel efficiency while driving the car.

Thankfully the engine and chassis are still the same, and Elise has actually managed to improve the performance by reducing the weight, so you’re still getting one of the best handing cars on the market out of the deal, but if you’d like to save a little Earth while tearing up a little track, the Eco Elise might be just the car you need.

[Lotus - Elise]

[Via: Autoblog]

…McDonald’s is having a Big Mac Chant-Off?

Published
by
Cory O'Brien
on June 20, 2008
in Music
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McDonald\'s Big Mac Chant-Off

McDonald’s has partnered with MySpace to bring you the Big Mac Chant-Off, a competition that lets you mash-up the music from their audio kit, or lay down a track of your own, with the winning remix appearing in the next McDonald’s commercial.

The only rule: You still need to use the original lyrics.

Say it with me now: Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

[MySpace - McDonald's Big Mac Chant-Off]

…Some music is unwanted?

Published
by
Cory O'Brien
on April 21, 2008
in Music
. Comments

Vitaly Komar, Alex Melamid and David Soldier conducted an online poll to find out what types of music people are most annoyed by. The list includes:

    Holiday music, bagpipes, pipe organ, a children’s chorus and the concept of children in general, Wal-Mart, cowboys, political jingoism, George Stephanopoulos, Coca Cola, bossanova synths, banjo ferocity, harp glissandos, oompah-ing tubas and much, much more.

After compiling this list, they then took all of the styles and lyrical subjects and combined them into a single track, called simply “The Most Unwanted Music”.

Can you survive a listen?

[The Most Unwanted Music]

[Via: Wired]

…It’s Website Wednesday: Foamee?

Published
by
Cory O'Brien
on April 9, 2008
in Websites
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Foamee

Foamee “is a free service that helps track who you owe beers or coffee to (and vice versa) suing the popular messaging service, Twitter”.

Basically, you simply follow ioubeer and/or ioucoffee, and then send your I.O.U. to “a deserving recipient” using the format:

    @ioubeer @twitterscreenname “REASON”

For example:

    @ioubeer @coryobrien for writing about Foamee.

Want to send a beer/coffee to someone without a Twitter account?

No problem; just put their name in square brackets and Foamee will figure out the rest.

Then, once your friend redeems that beer/coffee, you simply send a tweet to Foamee formatted as follows:

    D ioubeer redeem “Drink ID Number”

and Foamee will mark that drink as received and redeemed.

Now drink up!

[Foamee]

…BRABUS makes a nice pair?

Published
by
Cory O'Brien
on March 18, 2008
in Cars
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BRABUS Pair

Ever wish you had a car for the track and a car for the city?

Well then, BRABUS has got you covered with a matching McLaren SLR and ULTIMATE 112.

The Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Roadster gets a full body and trim kit, as well as a custom BRABUS interior and engine upgrades to bring the power level to a respectable 650 HP. (0-62 in 3.6 seconds; Top speed of 211 mph.)

The ULTIMATE 112 (aka the “tender”), which starts out life as a Smart Fortwo, gets matching paint and interior, as well as a boost to 112 HP.

Now if they just made something to tow these with…

[BRABUS]

[Via: Autoblog]

…You can turn any song into an iPhone ringtone?

Published
by
Cory O'Brien
on March 17, 2008
in Apple
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iPhone Ringtone

Apple might make you pay a dollar per song that you want to use as a ringtone on your new iPhone, but there’s a way to create custom ringtones using only Apple software that costs just a few extra minutes of your time.

    GarageBand
  1. Open GarageBand.

    2. iTunes Library

  2. Drag a song from your iTunes library into the GarageBand window to create a new track.

    3. Cycle Region

  3. Click the Cycle Region button.

    4. Yellow Bar

  4. Adjust the yellow bar to the edges of the part of the song that you would like to use. (It must be less than 40 seconds in length.)

    5. Auto Adjust

  5. If the song is short enough, iTunes can automatically select the appropriate length to convert into a ringtone.

    6. Send To iTunes

  6. Once you’ve got your region selected, simply go to Share -> Send Ringtone to iTunes, and GarageBand will convert and then add your new ringtone to iTunes’ ringtone section automatically.

    7. iTunes Ringtone

  7. Sync your iPhone, and rejoice at your newly acquired ability to add any song as a ringtone.

It’s that easy.

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Koenigsegg Edition?

Published
by
Cory O'Brien
on March 11, 2008
in Cars
. Comments

Koenigsegg Edition

When a car already has 1018 horsepower and runs on E85 ethanol, it’s hard to top it, but Koenigsegg has done just that with the CCX and CCXR Edition.

The aim of the Edition is to “deliver superior performance - on the track, in a straight line and on country roads - and to do so in style and comfort.”

Both are fitted with the 4.8L twin-supercharged engine, and have been track-tuned with modified shock absorbers, stiffer springs, anti-roll bars, reset dampers, and a lowered chassis.

The carbon fiber bodies have also been enhanced for additional downforce with an optimized rear wing, front winglets, and a larger front splitter and nolder, all left in raw carbon fiber form so that you can appreciate their beauty. And because it’s raw carbon fiber, “each individual section of carbon fibre bodywork has been painstakingly matched and then joined together inside out like a tailored suit, to create a stunning pinstripe effect. The process is so time-consuming that it takes almost twice as much time to create the clear-coated visible carbon body compared to the normal painted carbon CCX body.”

The interior features special anodized aluminum trim and a redesigned Koenigsegg Chronocluster and center console to “conform the Edition’s exclusive status.”

Want one?

Get in line, because only 14 of the CCX Editions will be made, though that’s more than enough when compared to the six CCXR Editions that will ever see the light of day.

[Koenigsegg Edition]

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Lamborghini Jalpa?

Published
by
Cory O'Brien
on November 27, 2007
in Cars
. Comments

Lamborghini Jalpa

With only 255 horses on tap, the Lamborghini Jalpa was not known to be the fastest of bulls. However, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t room for improvement.

The Jalpa that you see here, owned by a Lamborghini enthusiast with a big dream and a bigger wallet, was the beneficiary of a twin turbo implant from a Mitsubishi 3000GT, and has apparently shown a few Murcielago owners a thing or two on the track.

Sleeper and Lamborghini in the same sentence?

Apparently so.

[Laust's Jalpa Project]

[Via: Jalopnik]

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Vasily Lazarenko’s Wooden Car?

Published
by
Cory O'Brien
on November 20, 2007
in Cars
. Comments

Vasily Lazarenko’s Wooden Car

You might not call Vasily Lazarenko a common car craftsman, but it’s hard not to call him a tuner.

That’s because Vasily not only carved his entire car body out of wood, but he actually carved two different cars, one for each side. Thus, the right side has a “retro” look, while the left side is more “modern”.

It might not burn up the track (burning is the last thing this car needs) but like it or not, it’ll definitely turn heads.

[Via: CNET]

[Via: RussiaToday]

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Formula Drift?

Published
by
Cory O'Brien
on October 16, 2007
in Cars
. Comments

Formula Drift Logo

On Saturday, I had the chance to go and see Formula D’s “The Finals” at Irwindale Speedway (yes, I did get stuck on Interstate 5 on the way down from San Francisco due to that massive accident), and I must say, if you’re at all a fan of the four wheeled machine, make sure you check out one of Formula Drift’s events at a track near you.

Pontiac Solstice

If you’re not familiar with the sport, think of drifting as two automotive ballerinas battling it out in a boxing match. It’s gracefully controlled mayhem, and in my opinion, it’s easily the best form of four-wheeled entertainment on the planet.
Continue reading ‘…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Formula Drift?’

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