The Art of Engineering - Building the ultimate car for Larry Ellison
kirkhammotorsports.com
kirkhammotorsports.com
The whole thing says to me that it was a whole lot of work, for not a whole lot of excellence.
Still though, I bet it goes faster than my car.
The whole description seems satisfyingly low tech. The engine is carburetted rather than fuel-injected but it claims a higher power to weight ratio than a Vyron.
It's interesting that this company's nearly hand-made cars cost only three times the cost of a factory made Toyota ("Our cars start at $56,995 for the 427 models and $61,995 for the 289 models"). I would have imagined that the ratio was much more - a hand-made Pentium would set you back a lot more than 3X the cost of a factory built one.
What I'd like to know is how much this custom made car cost.
...without an engine!
"The smallest run possible is typically 12 wafers, which can cost more than US $50 000 after tallying up the cost of materials, photolithography, and fabrication, he says."
http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org/portal/site/tionline/menuit...;
BHP: > 1000 bhp 0 - 60: < 2.5 sec Top Speed: > 253 mph Braking: 249 mph to 0 in < 10 sec 1/4-mile: 10.2 sec
Not a performance car, my ass.
BHP: > 1000 bhp
0 - 60: < 2.5 sec
Top Speed: > 253 mph
Braking: 249 mph to 0 in < 10 sec
1/4-mile: 10.2 sec Veyron:
P/W ratio: .24
Price: $1,400,000
Quarter mile: 10.2
Ariel Atom:
P/W ratio: .3
Price: $65,000
Quarter mile: 10.4
Ultima GTR:
P/W ratio: .333
Price: ~ $100,000
Quarter mile: 9.9
Your comments regarding P/W and comparison of an F-22 to a rocket are illogical. A rocket is not a fighter jet, but an GTR720 is an automobile, one which in every way out performs a Veyron at 1/14 the price.
If you feel the need to make sure that the Veyron is labeled as a "performance" car, continue to repeat yourself. You will be missing the forest for the trees, because no one purchases this car based on performance.
The Vyron was EPA tested so its power rating is for the engine in the car which is much harder.
But I have no idea why they used a carburated engine. That seems too low tech.
That said it would be cool to see some documentation of software products. From concept to wireframes to UI to deployment with "director's commentary" on the code along the way.
The TapTapTap guys teased at this with their "Convert" UI video:
http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/convert-design-evolution/
If nothing else it would be extremely gratifying for team members and useful training tools for new additions.
Why have this thing custom built when you could have a Tesla roadster for substantially less? Probably because he already has two of those I guess. To each his own...