Singer reveals All-Terrain Competition Study

Singer Vehicle Design has teamed up with renowned 911 rally specialist Tuthill Porsche to create an homage to Porsche 911/959 Safari rally cars of the 1980s for a long-standing client who wants to go rallying.

The rich client commissioned two machines, one – in Singer’s iconic Parallax White – focused on high-speed desert rallying and a second – in Corsica Red – configured for high-speed, high-grip tarmac events and disciplines. Taking a 964 as a donor vehicle, before being stripped and rebuilt as perfect as possible.

All panels are carbon-fibre with clamshell opening at the front and rear with subtle hints to the cars it’s based on – from an homage to the Rothmans livery under one clamshell to the rear spoiler shaped like that of the 959. The use of carbon fiber allows Singer to reduce overall mass and, for this car, to offset the extra weight of the roll-cage. On each corner, there are double 5-way adjustable dampers with long range travel, meaning every bump no matter how big will be absorbed nicely.

The engine has been tuned, now running a twin-turbo setup with a power output of 450hp using a five-speed sequential dog-box for flatshifting putting the power down to all four wheels.

Inside, the All-terrain Competition Study reflects the demands of off-road racing. FIA specification seats and harnesses sit within a full roll cage. The car is equipped with a race GPS navigation system while both driver and navigator have access to in-seat rehydration systems.

The man who commissioned this fantastic vehicle could have easily wanted to keep it as their own, but he has agreed that the results of the All-terrain Competition Study will be available to others who wish to equip their cars with this off-road capability.

So, if you have a lot of money and want to take your Singer to where roads don’t exist, you now can.

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Volkswagen presents mobile charging robot

Volkswagen Group has offered a first glimpse at its mobile charging robots. It is one of the ideas that Volkswagen has to expand the charging infrastructure over the next few years.

This is a different approach to the likes of Tesla that has simply built as many Superchargers as it can to make charging as accessible as it is to fill a car with petrol.

The charging robot – started via an app or Car-to-X communication – operates autonomously. It steers the vehicle to be charged and communicates with it: from opening the charging socket flap to connecting and de-connecting the plug. The entire charging process takes place without any human involvement whatsoever.

It can also charge multiple vehicles at the same time, by moving a trailer, essentially a mobile energy storage unit, to the vehicle, connects it up and then uses this energy storage unit to charge the battery of the electric vehicle. The energy storage unit stays with the vehicle when it is being charged. In the meantime, the robot charges other electric vehicles. Once the car is fully charged, the robot collects the mobile energy storage unit and takes it back to the central charging station.

It is due to be launched in certain markets in early 2021 so we could be seeing mobile charging robots in underground carparks soon enough.

Canoo unveils Fully-Electric Multi-Purpose Delivery Vehicle

Canoo is one of the many all-electric start ups ready to take on the heavyweights of the automotive industry and disrupt that way of thinking.

Alongside chef Roy Choi, considered one of the founders of the gourmet food truck movement (look up Kogi and check out The Chef Show on Netflix) Canoo is looking at not just creating an electric vehicle, but one that is usable by people like chef Choi, available in two sizes and starting from $33,000.

Based on Canoo’s proprietary electric platform, the flattest in the industry and has enabled potentially class-leading interior cargo volume on a small vehicle footprint.The MPDV is built specifically with the needs of small businesses and large last-mile delivery companies in mind.

The MPDV features a steel frame construction, transverse composite leaf springs, a double wishbone suspension system, variable ratio steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire. The vehicle will be fully connected with data reporting capabilities and will feature Level 2.5 autonomy and over-the-air software updates. Designwise, it looks like a giant Lego van, with large boxy dimensions and large glass apertures.

The two vehicle variants, multi-purpose delivery vehicle 1 (MPDV1) and multi-purpose delivery vehicle 2 (MPDV2), are expected to offer three battery sizes—80, 60 and 40 kilowatt-hours (kWh)—with the 80-kWh size featuring a DC Fast Charging time of 28 minutes from 20% to 80% charge.

Customers can pre-order the multi-purpose delivery vehicle for a refundable deposit of $100 per vehicle.

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Jaguar presents the Vision Gran Turismo SV

Jaguar has revealed its new Vision Gran Turismo SV racer for the hotly anticipated seventh generation Gran Turismo game due to be launched on PlayStation 5 in 2021.

The team at Special Vehicle Operations went a step further by building a full-scale design model as well as the in-game model showcasing the potential of EV motorsport design.

The concept builds on Jaguar’s Formula E technology using four electric motors, one at each wheel developed by Jaguar Racing to deliver 1,903PS catapulting the GT SV from 0-60mph in 1.65 seconds and onto a top speed of 225mph. For a race car, it has an incredibly low drag co-efficient of Cd 0.398 whilst also generating 483kg of downforce at 200mph. 

Designed as the ultimate virtual endurance racer, the Jaguar Vision GT SV pays homage to its illustrious forebears not only in a host of styling and surfacing references but in its unique circuit board livery which nods to milestones such as the Le Mans debuts of the C-type and D-type in 1951 and 1954 respectively.

The Bentley Blower is back!

That’s right. After 90 years, the Bentley Blower is back. The prototype car, Car Zero took 40,000 hours to build, forming part of the Blower Continuation Series.

Bentley Mulliner are building 12 customer cars, which have all been sold, using old design drawings and tooling jigs that were used to build the original four Blowers built and raced by Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin in the late 1920s.

1,846 individual parts were designed and hand crafted to create this new Blower. 230 of those parts are actually assemblies – one of which being the engine – taking the total part count to several thousand when fixings and interior trim parts are included. How do they make sure the new Blower is true to the original? Well, the team at Bentley deconstructed the the #2 Team Car owned by Bentley and laser scanned elements to create a complete CAD model.

The 4½-litre engine, originally designed by W.O Bentley himself, has been created with the expert support of specialists, featuring aluminium pistons, an overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder and twin spark ignition – the renowned 4½-litre engine has been paired with a newly machined Amherst Villiers roots-type supercharger.

It will in doubt be interesting to see what it does to the values of the original Blowers as the subject of continuation series is a hot topic.

Luftgekühlt Book V2

In the world of Porsche, Luftgekühlt represents all the air-cooled cars in the manufacturer’s history, from the Pre-A 356 through the 993 model line. It is an experiential car culture event centered around a tightly curated list of historically significant or interesting cars, both race and street.

This is the second volume of its book, Luft Book, which captures the events from Luft 4 in the Port of LA to Luft 6 at Universal Studios Backlot as well as events out of the US in Great Britain and Germany.

Expect fantastic photography curated by Jeff Zwart, much of it never seen before, paired with exciting literary journey crafted by wordsmith and Luft fellow Mr. Joshy Robots. It won’t be in print forever, so if you want something special for your coffee table, better get it ordered now. It is priced at $140.

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Bugatti Chiron Sport “LES LÉGENDES DU CIEL”

Legends of the sky is a special tribute to a group of racers that were fearless on land as they were in the air. “Bugatti has had close associations with aviation since the company was established more than 110 years ago. Many successful Bugatti racing drivers, such as Albert Divo, Robert Benoist and Bartolomeo ‘Meo’ Costantini, flew for the French Air Force, the French aviator legend Roland Garros privately drove a Bugatti Type 18 to be as fast on the road as in the air,” says Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti.

The Chiron Sport ‘Les Legendes du Ciel’ is limited to 20 models, referencing many features of the historic aircrafts. In addition to the unusual colour of the paintwork, the vehicle includes a special full leather interior with hand-drawn sketches and diamond cut aluminum.

The paintwork on the car is also pretty exceptional in the fact that it is a modern interpretation of the paint often seen on aircraft in 1920s – matt-grey “Gris Serpent” with a gloss white centre stripe. On either side, tricolour in Blue, White and Red decorates the front of the exposed carbon fibre side sills.

Inside, the light brown leather is reminiscent of natural leather in these aircrafts of days gone by. The natural material is contrasted only by aluminum trims, an aluminum inlay with the logo “Les Légendes du Ciel” that can also be found on the headrests as well as the special edition numbering “1 of 20”. 

This special edition is fitted with standard W16 engine with 1,500hp with a limited top speed of 420kmh. The cost of each unit will set back the owner a cool 2.88 million euros.