Tuesday, March 13th, 2007
World’s most expensive luxury car costs a cool 2 mil
Robert Bliss, the gentleman in charge of Strategic Operations for DiMora Motorcar was kind enough to send me a selection of renderings of the DiMora Natalia SLS 2. What you are looking at here is going to be two millions bucks of luxe with a V16 “Volcano” engine.
The car is being developed by Alfred DiMora and his management team based in California. DiMora is no stranger to custom built cars. He is responsible for two landmark neoclassics, the Clenet and the Sceptre (more on those in a future post). The Sceptre link has an excellent collection of build-up photos and sketches. One of DiMora’s other business is Star Bridge Systems, a company that builds supercomputers used by the likes of NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and the National Cancer Institute.
The formula is relatively simple: take one part neoclassic, mix in some supercomputer, toss in the lobby of an ultraluxe hotel and you have the DiMora Motorcar Natalia SLS 2. The car is still just a rendering backed up by an idea, but there are a multitude of exotic features being touted by DiMora Motorcar.
Leave it to the colloboration between Japanese wackiness and the Italian efficiency to create an electric car so quiet its a danger on the roads to pedestrians and other cars. With the addition of a sound track, the car is now safe on the roads, although pedestrians hearing the car now might be surprised to see the Girasole car approaching instead of a horse, considering that the sound track that plays is horse hooves, not the whir of an engine.
University of Tokyo researchers have developed a smart car seat that can detect when you are about to fall asleep at the wheel. Focusing on pulse and respiration, pressure sensors embedded in the seat detect these changes even with bulky clothing and without the need for physical contact with the drivers skin. While all fine and dandy, the system doesn’t have an alarm system built in to alert you to your impending accident, although they expect it to be commercially accessable within 5 years. In the mean time, maybe Redbull should offer to hardcode the chairs with a GPS unit that alerts drivers to the nearest Redbull-stocked vendor.
The Veron has been attributed as the worlds quickest production car that can also brake from 252 mph to zero in a mere 10 seconds, and was sold for $1.2 million . A private owner in the UK apparently hydroplaned and ditched it outside of London. I can only imagine the call to the insurance company…
This tri-wheeled electronically powered vehicle called the Shuttle Express was winner of the Dyson national student awards in Australia. The three wheeled design is supposed to make it more stable and
The car driven by Tom Cruise in action film Minority Report is expected to fetch £64,000 (about $125,654 US dollars) when it goes under the hammer next month. The sleek red Lexus 2054 is just one of three models created for the movie and only has 38 miles on the odometer. It is set to go on eBay sometime soon.
For those who want the ultimate Ferrari licensed gear for their garage, DVW has created a wireless and stand alone audio system that has Ferrari stamp of approval (and $20,000 price tag!). Coming in a range of colors, including Ferrari red, it comes equipped with a start button and a limited production run of 1000 pieces. Apparently simplicity being key to its build, for those too busy to worry about tech manuals and equalizer settings. It has been marketed as a “lifestyle” product that can be just another bit of shiny expensiveness to sit in the corner of your garage.
ET the only thing that slows down their time are wavy ice surfaces.