Racing Web Design

By Gino Hitshopi

On my recent trip to New Zealand, I did what most people would think is the unthinkable for a person of my quiet sensible character and personality – I had a test drive of the v8! To drive a v8 was just the stepping stone of going beyond my comfort zone and stepping over the line towards the wild side. This is one of the thirstiest and fastest cars in Australia and New Zealand, therefore it goes without saying that no trip to NZ could be complete without trying out one of these.

I am not really into cars and know very little about them but as mentioned before, to drive v8 cars around the circuit felt like I had the world at my fingertips and could do whatever I wanted. This may seem like such a small thing to experience, but for someone who keeps well within the speed limit in the UK, never ever been pulled over, not even as much as had a scratch on my car this was the biggest step I had ever made and one that I would not forget.

In order to experience this one would need to book this in advance, making sure to provide as much detail as you possibly can. You should also be clear on what documents you will need to take with you for the day, because they can turn you away for not bringing just one vital document, no matter how far in advance you have booked the event.

Many people, who opt to drive v8 cars as an experience day, will need to do some preparation of their own. This is not an activity that anyone can do and one would need to have a valid driving license for more than five years before enquiring about it. Furthermore it helps to have a near perfect record, if not a perfect driving record. People with even a minor offence maybe turned away, which is permissible if they feel that the car or any persons are endangered.

However, you are not alone driving the car. You will have an experienced instructor right beside who will provide with a pre-drive tuition. This lasted for about 30 minutes for me because it took me a while to gain the confidence to drive the actual car. The tuition covers the basics, as well as mastering a few tricks and how to drive round specific areas of the track. Before this you will be given your own suit and helmet, making you feel like a real driving professional.

You get a chance to pick and choose the car you want to drive from a selection. Whatever car you choose, you will have a personal car coach to help you along the driving experience, making it a bit more comfortable and less intimidating. The next thing that you would need to do is relax, going over everything you have been taught and enjoy the ride.

By Lance Winslow

I’m sure you wouldn’t be too surprised if I told you there are auto racing simulators for NASCAR. After all, you have probably sat in an arcade somewhere and driven the cars around in a video game. You may even have a computer game that you like to play which involves racing cars. Today, race cars have cameras on them which record everything that happens. People at home can watch, on their TV and almost feel as if they are in the race car. And some of that footage is actually used in video games, or is used by the gaming programmers to create them.

For auto racing simulators to go to the next step they need an augmented reality playback feature from the real world. That is to say the auto racing simulators need to use real races to get all of their data, and allow the drivers to be put into the exact same positions, and circumstances as the race car driver was in the actual race. Then they can run through various scenarios, and try different strategies to see the different outcomes. This is often done in aviation simulators after a crash. The pilots in the simulators fly the exact same flight as the pilots who were involved in the crash, using all the data from the black box, hopefully they can do better.

For racing it’s even better because there are cameras and all sorts of other data from the vehicle is available. They know the engine speed, the speed of the car, the vibrations, and the physics that go along with it – meaning all the mathematical equations, and they have live video feed. By using this they can upgrade the auto racing simulators to the point they would be so real, that a driver in the simulator would soon forget they are not actually in a real car on the race track, they are sitting in a machine.

Indeed, this would also help in allowing drivers to understand what’s going on out there on the race track, and it would definitely improve safety. It might also stop all the ridiculous and unnecessary purposeful tapping, bumping, or sending fellow drivers into the wall. Not to mention the fights that happen after the race when two drivers have connected or even wrecked their cars due to a mistake of one of them or both. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it. If you have any comments, or new technology ideas for auto racing simulators please send me an e-mail.

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you’ve enjoyed today’s discussion and topic. http://www.WorldThinkTank.net – Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow.

By Christopher P Clark

The name Bugatti may not be a household name, but among car enthusiasts the brand is something of an icon, though only a few thousand Bugattis have ever been produced. Founded in France by Ettore Bugatti, an Italian immigrant, the company is legendary for producing some of the fastest and most exclusive cars in the world. Starting in 1909 – making the company one of the earliest automobile manufacturers still in existence – the Bugatti brand has experienced quite the renaissance in the last fifteen years or so.

At the dawn of World War II, it looked as though Bugatti was going to be one of the prime contenders for racing domination. The Bugatti team won the first ever Monaco Grand Prix of 1929. This race has gone on to become one of the most important, and prestigious, auto races in the world. Not long after, the company’s driver Jean-Pierre Wimille won the 24 hours of Le Mans twice, in 1937 and again in 1939.

The company early on became known for its artistic and high-level engineering. Of the many hallmarks Bugatti was known for were engine blocks that had been hand scraped, so that they did not require gaskets, as well as an exposed engine compartment. At the time, Bugatti’s main competitor was Bentley. This British company seemed to be directly competing for the same high-end automobile market. Many of the models produced in those early days by both Bentley and Bugatti were made only in limited numbers, and most were created by hand. Only a few examples of each Bugatti model were ever produced because of their exclusivity.

Like many automobile brands, however, the original company failed during the materials shortages of World War II, though it did produce one model in the 1950s. The company was eventually purchased for its airplane parts division. Having fallen into the shadows of other brands, Bugatti rose to the surface of the racing world again in the late 1990s when Volkswagen bought the brand and started working on a series of three experimental cars. Today Bugatti has rejoined the ranks of some of the more famous and infamous racers, after releasing the Veyron 16.4 in the US and debuting in Sicily a few years later.

The modern history of Bugatti includes Lamborghini designers and the acquisition of the Lotus car company – testament to the brand’s high-end following. In 1998, under Volkswagen, Bugatti began working on the EB118 concept. The EB118 was a touring sedan with an 18 cylinder W-configuration engine. The two-door coupe boasted 555 horsepower. A year later the EB218, a four-door limousine, surfaced at the Geneva Auto Show. Following close on the heels of the EB118 and EB218 were the Veyron 16.4 and the Chiron.

Bugatti touts their race cars as aesthetically appealing, high-performance machines – showing, once again, that the Bugatti brand may have changed hands, but has not changed its commitment to quality automobiles. Today, the Bugatti remains a favorite – though often unattainable – brand for many a racing enthusiast.