Yearly Archives: 2015


The first production 2015 Ford Shelby GT350R attracted a $1 million bid at Barrett-Jackson… 13

The first production 2015 Ford Shelby GT350R attracted a $1 million bid at Barrett-Jackson auction

All of the proceeds will go JDRF as has been the case with many of the cars donated by +Ford Motor Company over the years.  Ford has been supporting +JDRF for more than 30 years.

http://mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14340?

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As much as I dig the state-of-the-art  LMP1 cars at Le Mans, GTE is shaping up to be where the real action is in the coming years

As much as I dig the state-of-the-art  LMP1 cars at Le Mans, GTE is shaping up to be where the real action is in the coming years

+McLaren will officially unveil the P1 GTR at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The press release doesn't say what they are doing with the hybrid system in the car although current GTE rules don't allow electric assist. If the new 2016 rules enable hybrids in GTE, we could see a P1 with a smaller battery and no plug taking on the expected +Ford Racing GT and potentially even the +Honda / +Acura NSX plus the long rumored mid-engine Corvette C8.R and of course the traditional challengers from Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, BMW and even Audi. ?


As much as I dig the state-of-the-art  LMP1 cars at Le Mans, GTE is shaping up to…

In album McLaren P1 GTR

As much as I dig the state-of-the-art  LMP1 cars at Le Mans, GTE is shaping up to be where the real action is in the coming years

+McLaren will officially unveil the P1 GTR at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The press release doesn't say what they are doing with the hybrid system in the car although current GTE rules don't allow electric assist. If the new 2016 rules enable hybrids in GTE, we could see a P1 with a smaller battery and no plug taking on the expected +Ford Racing GT and potentially even the +Honda / +Acura NSX plus the long rumored mid-engine Corvette C8.R and of course the traditional challengers from Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, BMW and even Audi. ?

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Mr. Abuelsamid called Mercedes’ seating vision “pretty pie-in-the-sky for the foreseeable future, meaning the next 10 years.”

Mr. Abuelsamid called Mercedes’ seating vision “pretty pie-in-the-sky for the foreseeable future, meaning the next 10 years.”?

As envisioned by some companies, self-driving cars will have front seats that can face each other so occupants, even the person in the driver’s seat, can chat face to face.


Mr

Abuelsamid (that would be me) called Mercedes’ seating vision “pretty pie-in-the-sky for the foreseeable future, meaning the next 10 years.”

Let me a share a little more context of what I told +Jim Motavalli when we spoke about this since his word count was limited for the news paper.

First, an important aspect of protecting occupants involves keeping them in position so airbags can do their job. That's why more and more cars have knee airbags, so the passenger or driver don't submarine and the frontal bag can work effectively. If the seats can swivel around to any arbitrary position protecting occupants will be nearly impossible. Someday when all vehicles are autonomous and can't crash, this may be viable but until that time which is likely decades away, this ain't happening. 

Second, until we have a sufficiently high degree of confidence that the sensing and actuation systems will always work and these vehicles can drive themselves properly under all conditions, drivers will need to remain in position, paying attention to what is happening and ready to take over at any time. This will also preclude these fancy swivelling seats. 

I'm not a luddite, I want this stuff to come to fruition for a number of reasons, but I am a realist and understand how extraordinarily hard the problems are that engineers are trying to resolve. ?

Automakers Rethink Seats for Self-Driving Cars – NYTimes.com
As envisioned by some companies, self-driving cars will have front seats that can face each other so occupants, even the person in the driver’s seat, can chat face to face.

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*This past Monday +Chevrolet unveiled the second-gen Volt at #NAIAS2015 * #TBT  After I first wrote…

*This past Monday +Chevrolet unveiled the second-gen Volt at #NAIAS2015 *

#TBT  After I first wrote about the original concept eight years ago this week, I followed the car all the way to production. Along the way, in November 2009, I was fortunate enough to be among the first group other than GM engineers to get behind the wheel of the Volt with chief engineer Andrew Farah riding shotgun.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/30/2011-chevrolet-volt-quick-spin/?


*This past Monday +Chevrolet unveiled the second-gen Volt at #NAIAS2015 *

*This past Monday +Chevrolet unveiled the second-gen Volt at #NAIAS2015 *

#TBT  After I first wrote about the original concept eight years ago this week, I followed the car all the way to production. Along the way, in November 2009, I was fortunate enough to be among the first group other than GM engineers to get behind the wheel of the Volt with chief engineer Andrew Farah riding shotgun.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/30/2011-chevrolet-volt-quick-spin/?

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High-speed track testing demonstrated the need for more downforce and better balance on the 2015 Shelby GT350

High-speed track testing demonstrated the need for more downforce and better balance on the 2015 Shelby GT350

+Ford Motor Company designers and engineers added more wing and spoiler after running the hottest new #Mustang at the 'Ring?