Dr Automotive Design and Tools

Showing posts with label SLR. Show all posts

Carbon Fibre Fashion

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Carbon fibre became a very popular material in many different areas. It started with airplanes, formula 1 cars, normal cars, laptop computers, iPhone cases and many other things. Carbon fibre is a composite material. This means, it is a combination of carbon and fibre. More basically, it is a very strong plastic! Actually it is stronger than steal and also very light, therefore it is very expensive. This unique characteristics make is very popular for automotive and aerospace industry. Mercedes McLaren SLR was a carbon fibre car, all formula 1 cars are carbon fibre, some Porsche 911 models especially GT series have carbon fibre parts to reduce weight and sustain the same level of safety.

Interestingly this ugly looking material and offers the feeling of plastic become a fashion material. Actually I was afraid of this integration in fashion, because carbon fibre is like a plastic. You cannot feel the difference in fashion products and looks weird. For iPhone cases, it might be okay. Light and robust to damages, that’s fine. A fresh fashion designer from Prague decided to use carbon fibre in shoes, in women shoes! I am not kidding. She designed high heels made from carbon fibre, the material looks exactly the same as a car interior or some unpainted parts of Mercedes SLR.

In terms of creativity, this is a great integration but in terms of functionality I really wonder the benefit. With these carbon fibres shoes, you will use less calories to walk around and even if you use them for breaking some other things nothing would happen. Also you can run faster with these shoes, as they are lighter! Actually I have no idea how carbon fibre create a benefit for fashion.

For more details; Zuzana Serbak and Carbon Fibre

Pictures' Copyrights

Mercedes, BMW, Zuzana Serbak

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The best and most forgotten SLR

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Sicily, where the Mediterranean sea meets with pure enjoyment of sun light. A great place to spend your holiday and experience Italian food. You will be forgetting daily stresses and refresh yourself.

However, Sicily is not a place to eat and swim! Sicily is the place for racing :) From 1927 to 1957, Sicily held Mille Miglia open road racing. What is Mille Miglia? It means thousands miles racing through the road Sicily. This is not a ordinary race with safety cars and thousands of cameras catching every single point. This race was drawing the between best and worst. Drivers, cars, team everyone was under heavy stress to finish this impossible race in public roads. As they push harder with drum brakes cars, they came closer to see their life like a movie! As you can expect, the cars racing at those years did not have sophisticated safety technologies like now. Actually, racing in Mille Miglia was racing with yourself!

In 1955, Stirling Moss and Dennis Jenkinson with Mercedes 300SLR finished this 1597 km dangerous race in just 10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds and average of 157 kilometres per hour. Basically, they achieved a record which cannot be achieved now, I think so! in 1955, driving at the average of 157 km/h is totally unbelievable. There was not ABS, traction control, carbon fibre or anything else; they had only their senses.

Hopefully; before the contemporary SLR's production stops, Mercedes McLaren produced SLR Stirling Moss Limited Edition. Unfortunately, senseless SLS AMG's PR campaigns shadowed the only SLR worth to buy!

This car is a combination of past and the future. In every single detail, you can see bits from the original 300 SLR and modern racing technology. This kind of integration between past and present cannot be achieved very easily. It could end up either too present or too past. But this did not happen with this SLR.

Probably in future, this SLR will be one people be paying huge amount money during the auctions. Sorry but the normal SLR will stay normal. And if you ever visit Sicily, don't forget remember the Mille Miglia.

Pictures are taken from;

Mercedes, Autospies, Wikipedia Websites

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Guten Morgen Mercedes

Monday, May 10, 2010

It was 1997, when I first saw the Mercedes CLK GTR! Many of us may forgot that magnificent car. It was a CLK but that was limited to three letters only! CLK GTR was a real super car in every single detail. It was a car that was showing how Mercedes can built a super car like Ferrari. It was excellent from every angle. And honestly; it was beyond it time, like 300 SLR.

I am pretty sure that in fifty years time, it will be the sold on auctions for couple of million dollars. Unlike stupid SLR and ridiculous SLS AMG. CLK GTR had a sole, nowadays you cannot find this on any Mercedes vehicle. Now they have to share everything single part with daily cars; engine, interior and etc. Now they are offering unique names like SLS or SLR but the rest is senseless. Actually they are so senseless that in future Mercedes will be regret have them and they will be forgotten in the past. Probably some car magazine will show the SLR and SLS AMG as what Mercedes was doing in 2000s.

However CLK GTR will be the master piece in future. It was sharing part but they made a great harmony, so that it was not annoying like current models. It was totally piece of art. Especially its unique design makes it more exquisite and different than current models. Even today, CLK GTR is phenomenon! I have never seen one in my life and I am pretty sure that, if I see one day I won't forget that moment. However I saw SLR many times but it did not make any sense and I am pretty sure that SLS AMG will create the same reaction. Those cars do not have the attraction like CLK GTR, you don't dream to buy a SLR or SLS AMG when you could buy Ferrari 599 or Porsche 911 Turbo. Because, they are cheaper and better looking and also offering more!

I hope that we will see new super car Mercedes after the catastrophic SLS AMG incident! Eventually, Mercedes remembered that they have made a super car and they have released a video of it on Youtube.

Pictures are taken from;
Mercedes Website

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Interesting review from McLaren

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Recently Ron Dennis made revealed his feelings about Bugatti Veyron! He defined the world most expensive and most powerful car as piece of junk. He cannot find a single thing which makes him happy about Veyron. Also Veyron could not beat McLaren F1 in Top Gear's lap time chart.

In some points he is right but in some point he is wrong! First of all; why he did wait for so long to express his feeling about Veyron? And the timing is a bit interesting! They have just announced their new car McLaren MP4-12C. I know that, MP4 is not a rival for Veyron but they are both offering high performance. MP4 offers the F1 technology for a road going car and it does not have nonergonomical character of McLaren F1. F1 was really interesting car, it had a fuse switch which is exactly same like in your house. And it was able to accommodate three people. Yes, it was handling really good and may be better than Veyron and it can have many other aspects which are slightly better than Veyron. But Veyron is not offering F1 style handling, Veyron is a totally different. Bugatti's involved with luxury details, high performance and comfort. Veyron is the harmony of these things.

Also Veyron had many state of art technology, this does not mean MP4 of F1 don't have, they do have but Veyron is a great car also. I really wish that Ron Dennis made this announcement a couple of years ago. By the way, they manufactured the Mercedes McLaren SLR which was a totally disaster! A super car which was using a five speed auto transmission which you could find in Mercedes A Class and had the same interior with SL and many more thing which made many people to dislike SLR! I think Ron Dennis should have commented on SLR also ;)

Pictures are taken from;

Worldcarfans Website

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TAG Heuer Meridiist, Don't Drive and Text !

Monday, April 19, 2010

TAG Heuer is one of the most magnificient watch brand on earth. If you are car lover and if you don't love TAG Heuer Monaco; you either have no idea what that is or you don't love cars! Nothing on earth can replace the place of Monaco :) Its unique character and being part of motoring world created this unique essence. Of course, TAG Heuer is not only Monaco, the Carrera, SLR Calibre and many other hand made watches are beyond the word of watch. Every unique model of TAG Heuer reflects a unique identity and targets different customer range and people who are buying each model are looking for something different.

Recently TAG Heuer introduced a mobile phone called Meridiist. It has the same unique identity like watches. Hand made with perfection of ultimate production, every button fits on this phone is made so precisely you have the same feeling like a handmade watch. Meridiist is one the best luxury mobile phone which can be purchased.

However I have found something really shocking! The teaser on Meridiist's website is showing a man texting while driving. Yes, I found the same video clip on YouTube and the man is driving Mercedes McLaren SLR and while driving he is texting with Meridiist. As far as I know, driving and texting or talking is strictly forbidding anywhere on earth and TAG Heuer is playing a video which is showing texting and driving. I am pretty sure that, they have missed this point unless they will not place this video on internet.

You can understand this on picture below and please watch the time frame 0:55 and you will notice it.

Alternative link for video: http://www.vimeo.com/11075535

Pictures are taken from;
TAG Heuer's Website

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McLaren Aether, better than MP4-12C ?

Saturday, March 20, 2010

I don't like to start writing from a negative side but I have to start this time. I have always supported that a car should have a proper, pronounceable name! Car companies especially McLaren which is perfectionist is able produce the most sophisticated car on earth and name it like MP3 player!

After the McLaren F1, we did not see a road going version of a McLaren until the disaster of SLR McLaren. Technically SLR McLaren was a piece of engineering and it became very popular in second hand market what a coincident. Engineers and consumers are thinking totally different. We can see by the words which are reflecting those people! Engineer, it hinders the word engine! That's the most important part of the car and made from steel. So it is very solid. Consumer, hinder the word consume. And that means buy and throw it away. When these two words intersect on business environment which is called car dealer, things may not go that good all the time! Consumers are looking more than engineering in a car. They want passion, uniqueness, excitement and also a good name. Not something a like a chassis number or MP3 player as a name.

Unfortunately, McLaren's success in car engineering cannot be seen while naming the cars :( May be Ron Dennis doesn't like branding, marketing and these kinds of intangible things. I really don't know. But they should also focus on this. Nowadays; if you are going to reveal a car and including Financial Times is making it cover news, please focus on branding a little bit more. Why? Because, people should remember it easily, when they desire it or to emerge a desire! People will remember this car's name by MP3 or MP4 players. Come on, even the king of MP3 player iPod does not have a MP something name. It is just iPod! So why uncle Ron decided on this ridiculous name?

Why I do write these thing on a Saturday night? Because, ideas were so strong in my mind and I could not stop writing it! This car is one of the most smart car on earth and it is not produced in Germany! That's the important point, if a car is not produced in Germany and offering very sophisticated technology you must keep an eye on it :) I will mention only one feature of this car. On board diagnostics, it may sound senseless for some of you but it is totally a revolution in car business. This car detects a problem, identify it and communicates with workshop for preparing necessary part (it will communicate by mobile infrastructure not a magical way). This kind of technology can be seen in some trucks or in air planes. Mainly, in many cars there will be a orange light will show off or a stupid "please visit workshop" message and that's all. It won't give you an exact detail like this and communicate with workshop.

McLaren is offering a new era in automotive industry and ignoring the second most important thing after engineering in automotive industry, branding! Remember the Bugatti Atalante! My suggestion; name this car as McLaren Aether. Aether is the first-born elemental gods. He is the personification of the upper sky, space, and heaven in Greek Mythology. How long did it take to find this name? Only half an hour of reading a book about mythology :)

By the way, SLR McLaren’s problem was not the branding, it was totally something different. Lack of passion, more serious problem.

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Proper Car Watch?

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

A watch is complementary of a luxury car. I am not making this suggestion, you can find this clue in Brand Management books. Also nobody denies this ;) As you cannot carry your car to a restaurant or a club or sport centre, you could carry your watch to show what you have outside ;)

Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre, TAG Heuer and Breitling share something in common. They all produce watches for cars brands. Panerai offers Ferrari, Jaeger-LeCoultre offers Aston Martin, TAG Heuer offers SLR and Breitling offers Breitling for Bentley watches. Most of them have some design inspirations from the car brand which they offer and some of them just reflect their price and luxury.

The point which I cannot understand or I should say; I am expecting to see is a reflection of that car in that watch. For example; when we look at Breitling for Bentley we cannot see a serious very significant different from other Breitlings. Watch experts could say the differences, but at least the number or dials should be same with Mulsane or Continental GT. There should be more than a small Bentley label in that watch. TAG Heuer is better but still, it is not reflecting the SLR properly. Panerai's Ferrari collection has Ferrari design inspiration and similar number which are used on Ferrari cars. That is very nice, I really wish to carry some Ferrari in my watch which could diversify the watch from the other Panerais. I kept the best bit in the end; Jaeger-LeCoultre is also official Aston Martin watch and does not have any Aston Martin style design in that watch. AMVOX2 DBS Transponder model which has very bad model name AMVOX2. Just imagine, you are talking with your friend; "I bought a new watch, what is it? Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX2, what ?" Of course this conversation will end up with "what". Model name is terrible! But the watch has something very interesting. Like James Bond, you just touch a button and your Aston Martin DBS's doors open and close ;) That's what a call a proper car watch :)