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4 Aug 2009, 13:41 (Ref:2515445) | #1 | ||
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Mercedes considering sports car racing?
Nothing more than a thought from autoblog, but interesting none-the-less:
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/04/m...t-of-f1s-door/ |
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4 Aug 2009, 17:22 (Ref:2515581) | #2 | ||
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I don't follow F1 that closely, but I am surprised a team would pull out after winning the championship last season. Mercedes hasn't been involved in sportscar racing since the flipping incidents.... but if they were considering this move I guess it would be in a prototype, possibly a hybrid of some sort.
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4 Aug 2009, 21:45 (Ref:2515754) | #3 | ||
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"On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, 'Okay, this is the limit.' And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high." -Ayrton Senna |
4 Aug 2009, 23:29 (Ref:2515810) | #4 | ||
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Soon the tires on the cars will be taller than the rest of the car.
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*jingle* The New York Mets have a new left fielder... Duda, Duda “It's fine that F1 goes all over the world, but we must not exaggerate by going to race in deserts or where there is no culture for racing," di Montezemolo continued |
5 Aug 2009, 06:04 (Ref:2515898) | #5 | ||
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What the hell is that? And everyone likes Mercedes? Not if they make designs like those.... Last edited by Adam43; 7 Aug 2009 at 22:52. Reason: Image death! ;-) |
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5 Aug 2009, 06:17 (Ref:2515908) | #6 | ||
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It looks like an artist's rendering of the SLR. Take it with a bucket load of salt.
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The only certainty is that nothing is certain. |
5 Aug 2009, 07:45 (Ref:2515931) | #7 | |||
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Quote:
Last edited by Adam43; 7 Aug 2009 at 22:52. |
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5 Aug 2009, 11:22 (Ref:2516061) | #8 | |
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Well, in the wider picture it seems to make sense, despite the picture above. At the moment Audi, Mercedes and the DTM management discussing the new 'more manufacturer friendly' DTM from 2010 which is supposed to be GT2/GT3 friendly to water BMW's mouth for their works entry
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5 Aug 2009, 13:32 (Ref:2516130) | #9 | ||
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Here is a picture of the actual car. But i don't think we will se neither a GT or an LMP from Mercedes!, they have NEVER experiences real success with their LM cars, without getting overshadowed by some failure. Even the Grp. C cars where a failure because of the many attempts it took to win (the C cars started in 1985!) |
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Hvil i Fred Allan. (Rest in Peace Allan) |
5 Aug 2009, 13:54 (Ref:2516144) | #10 | ||
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Looks like a modernized Gullwing.
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*jingle* The New York Mets have a new left fielder... Duda, Duda “It's fine that F1 goes all over the world, but we must not exaggerate by going to race in deserts or where there is no culture for racing," di Montezemolo continued |
5 Aug 2009, 14:15 (Ref:2516152) | #11 | ||
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Hvil i Fred Allan. (Rest in Peace Allan) |
5 Aug 2009, 15:47 (Ref:2516193) | #12 | |||
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Audi Merc BMW & Porsche Only Merc would have to build a new car! |
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5 Aug 2009, 16:02 (Ref:2516201) | #13 | |||
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Quote:
Last edited by Adam43; 7 Aug 2009 at 22:50. Reason: Image death! ;-) |
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XBOX 360 GAMERTAG ==> ROB IS THE STIG add me for close, clean racing. |
5 Aug 2009, 16:07 (Ref:2516204) | #14 | |||
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I'm taking this image with a pinch of salt - it looks like a photoshop.. Last edited by Adam43; 7 Aug 2009 at 22:51. Reason: Image death! ;-) |
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I don't like Harleys, I'm chromophobic. |
5 Aug 2009, 16:13 (Ref:2516208) | #15 | |||
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Besides, look how much it looks like the mule and design sketch! Edit: Here is a photo of the test car!, look at the similarities. |
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Hvil i Fred Allan. (Rest in Peace Allan) |
5 Aug 2009, 16:21 (Ref:2516216) | #16 | |||
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Yep, fair enough. Hopefully the final production model will look better than the first picture. Is this the final update to the SLR? I thought that was to be the 'Stirling Moss'? Last edited by Adam43; 7 Aug 2009 at 22:51. Reason: Image death! ;-) |
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I don't like Harleys, I'm chromophobic. |
5 Aug 2009, 16:24 (Ref:2516218) | #17 | |||
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No, the SLR is an old model, and the SLS is a brand new replacement for the SLR, made together with AMG instead of McLaren. But this is going off topic! |
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Hvil i Fred Allan. (Rest in Peace Allan) |
6 Aug 2009, 01:29 (Ref:2516544) | #18 | ||
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But it looks much less like ass than that ridiculous drawing does. Actually it looks pretty good, though not too much like that test car (which itself looks like the unholy lovechild of a Z4 and a diseased Zebra).
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6 Aug 2009, 01:37 (Ref:2516549) | #19 | |
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I was thinking it looked like MB took the baby Viper concept and made a Merc out of it. That front just screams new Dodge to me.
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6 Aug 2009, 01:46 (Ref:2516552) | #20 | ||
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SLR meets Dodge Caliber?!
PS: I actually like the Caliber for what it is, my buddy and I had a rental one for a few days and it was great. |
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6 Aug 2009, 09:52 (Ref:2516681) | #21 | ||||
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Quote:
Quote:
http://www.channel4.com/4car/gl/gall...y+shot/21039/1 |
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Hvil i Fred Allan. (Rest in Peace Allan) |
7 Aug 2009, 20:06 (Ref:2517532) | #22 | ||
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Maybe it'll sell well in the US...
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I don't like Harleys, I'm chromophobic. |
8 Aug 2009, 01:33 (Ref:2517651) | #23 | |
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13 Aug 2009, 12:54 (Ref:2520805) | #24 | ||
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That brings to the point what is so ****ed up about car designs these days
examples of these are the new Fiat 500, Das Neu Mini, 370Z (which is trying to be a 2+2 260Z), Ferrari P4/5, last model Ford Thunderbird, new Chevy Camaro, new Dodge Challenger, Ford GT. Also token mention goes to the Lamborghini Murciélago for ripping design hints off its precessors - a huge contrast of them and almost the Muira concept of 2006, which at least the bosses had the decency to pull the plug. What they have got in common - they all are retro wannabes without any hint of originality, which is what is so screwed up about car designs At least the SLR made an affort of not straying too far into the retro wannabe bandwagon This makes me think why I'm glad I never trained to become a car designer |
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13 Aug 2009, 13:48 (Ref:2520828) | #25 | ||
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How much does the public at large notice though, I wonder? It's probably not nearly as much as we do here. They just want to see what they think are cool new concepts and production sports cars. It's probably not an overwhelming endorsement of public intelligence or design skill that a company thought the market would receive the Pontiac Aztec well, and thus made it a production vehicle.
At least partly because of this perceived public demand (I would have to think), timelines for getting new designs out have been cut quite significantly. There isn't necessarily the time anymore for designers to feel they can just let something revolutionary come to them. Also, companies have become leaner, so the emphasis on simply delivering product is that much more prominent. There is also the issue of automakers pushing for in-your-face designs with very clear brand identification. Engineers and designers get caught in just doing their assignmen to accomplish the mission, and don't consider things outside of the box. Along these same lines, engineers, and I suspect designers as well, are more and more taught to analyze problems and deliver the single correct answer, as opposed to having to create their own solution in a situation where there can easily be a plethora of "correct" answers. There was a good article about this earlier this summer in "Automotive Engineering" where they talked with Professor Dale Harrow of the Royal College of Art about these sorts of issues and concerns. |
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