The Audi RB-1200 S concept motorcycle is the most aesthetically pleasing piece of two-wheeled machinery that I have ever laid eyes upon. Its design is flawlessly aerodynamic and its alluring contours are a pleasure to behold. The overall elegance of the motorbike speaks volumes to Audi’s ever expanding pursuit of distancing itself from all other market contenders. When the RB-1200 S prototype hits the American market, I am sure that it will be as coveted as the Audi vehicle line has been over the past several years. Imagine owning the RB-1200 S, the first production bike in Audi’s prestigious history. You can accentuate the already stellar design of this bike by accessorizing it with a panoramic view, custom fiber, Vision R Shark Helmet. These Shark helmets definitely go with the style of an Audi motorcycle. The Vision R helmet has a unique ‘rapid anti fog system’ as well as ’shark tooth’ communication technology. The bike and the helmet combine to create the ideal eye candy scenario. Integrating style with performance, Audi and Shark technologies combine to form an irresistible tandem. More here:  Audi Motorcycle Eye Candy

  Historically, the steam engine is credited for being the main motivator for the industrialized world that has taken human kind to new greatness and understanding. Successful in powering locomotives for until many railway companies adapted to diesel-electric trains through the 1950s, steam power never achieved widespread acceptance among automotive customers. One of the potential powerplant suitors pitched during the infancy of the auto industry in North America along with gasoline and electric batteries, steam engines were vigorously campaigned by the Stanley Motor Carriage Company from 1902 to 1924. Losing trust in the marketplace for the first time during the 1920s, steam power was explored again in the late 1960s by General Motors. Never leaving the experimental stage, steam power as an individual power source for motion has been ruled out for road use. Almost 50 years since the last serious study of steam power was abandoned, German car maker BMW is revisiting the older technology for application in the 21st century trend of hybrid power motoring. Revealed for the first time as a probable source for electric-assisted power, the BMW Turbosteamer project was initiated in late 2005. Drawing on fundamental steam engine principles and as well as working expertise gained through NASA, improved fuel economy and reduced CO2 emissions is the goal for BMW’s project. Operation of the BMW Turbosteamer system depends on deriving power from the power plant’s wasted heat. Often a lost by-product in the internal combustion engine, the turbosteamer technology recovers heat through the engine’s cooling system as well as from the high-temperature exhaust gases. The engine-sourced heat is then collected through a heat exchanger that reacts with a special fluid. Subjected to high pressures, the fluid is heated to an extent it turns to steam. The next step in the turbosteamer technology is to direct the steam through a turbine used to generate electrical power. Of course, this electrical power could be used as or alongside a current hybrid vehicle system.     As BMW developed the turbosteamer from the laboratory, the engineer’s main goal was compressing the hardware feasible for integrating into an automobile. Over the course of its development...

  Historically, the steam engine is credited for being the main motivator for the industrialized world that has taken human kind to new greatness and understanding. Successful in powering locomotives for until many railway companies adapted to diesel-electric trains through the 1950s, steam power never achieved widespread acceptance among automotive customers. One of the potential powerplant suitors pitched during the infancy of the auto industry in North America along with gasoline and electric batteries, steam engines were vigorously campaigned by the Stanley Motor Carriage Company from 1902 to 1924. Losing trust in the marketplace for the first time during the 1920s, steam power was explored again in the late 1960s by General Motors. Never leaving the experimental stage, steam power as an individual power source for motion has been ruled out for road use. Almost 50 years since the last serious study of steam power was abandoned, German car maker BMW is revisiting the older technology for application in the 21st century trend of hybrid power motoring. Revealed for the first time as a probable source for electric-assisted power, the BMW Turbosteamer project was initiated in late 2005. Drawing on fundamental steam engine principles and as well as working expertise gained through NASA, improved fuel economy and reduced CO2 emissions is the goal for BMW’s project. Operation of the BMW Turbosteamer system depends on deriving power from the power plant’s wasted heat. Often a lost by-product in the internal combustion engine, the turbosteamer technology recovers heat through the engine’s cooling system as well as from the high-temperature exhaust gases. The engine-sourced heat is then collected through a heat exchanger that reacts with a special fluid. Subjected to high pressures, the fluid is heated to an extent it turns to steam. The next step in the turbosteamer technology is to direct the steam through a turbine used to generate electrical power. Of course, this electrical power could be used as or alongside a current hybrid vehicle system.     As BMW developed the turbosteamer from the laboratory, the engineer’s main goal was compressing the hardware feasible for integrating into an automobile. Over the course of its development since 2005,...

Mercedes-Benz will celebrate five world premieres at the 2011 Frankfurt International Motor Show beginning September 15 Excerpt from: Mercedes-Benz at the 2011 Frankfurt International Motor Show

Mercedes-Benz will celebrate five world premieres at the 2011 Frankfurt International Motor Show beginning September 15 Original post: Mercedes-Benz at the 2011 Frankfurt International Motor Show

Bavarian tuner Väth Automobiltechnik released their program for the Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG V8 Biturbo facelift See the original post:  Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG V8 Biturbo by Väth

Bavarian tuner Väth Automobiltechnik released their program for the Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG V8 Biturbo facelift See the original post here:  Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG V8 Biturbo by Väth

Bouncing back from 24th after the crash that happened the last time , Michael Schumacher is now at number 5. The very happy Mercedes-Benz F1 pilot said, “We have made the most of the race – I’m satisfied. The duel with Nico was interesting, he has also made wide – but I had a little more excess of speed. Yesterday it started disappointingly, it can only get better – and it was at the end. Thanks to the fans around the track! ” Schumacher, who’s also celebrating his 20th year as an F1 driver, got the 5th place at +0.41.464, followed by his team mate Nico Rosberg at +0:48.674. “The launch was great – I got away well from the line – but knew that I can not hold the position long. No person in front of you – after you jam – is a good feeling. This exciting race was good – I like my team-mate Michael Schumacher took over, I’ve fought in any case and would make any gifts, ” Nico Rosberg said. The last time that the Germans won the race at the Spa was in 2002, it was Schumacher who stepped on the top of the podium. Now it was Sebastian Vettel who won the race. More:  Michael Schumacher Number 5 at the F1 GP in Spa

I would bet that more than a few of our gearhead readers out there in Automoblog-land are track-tards. C’mon, you know who you are. You didn’t buy that M3 or that 300ZX Twin-Turbo as a commuter car. And is that a set of mounted slicks I see in the back of your garage there? And I’d also bet that more than a few of you out there also ride motorcycles, car nuts and bike nuts do cross over. Or to boil this all down further: I bet a lot of you out there have to screw around with helmets of some sort or another. No, I’m not going to go off on a helmet law screed (it’s your head, so I got to agree with Crowley: The whole of the [helmet] law is: “Do what thou wilt.”), but something popped up on the nets which seems like a good deal for all of us out there that, for one reason or another, do have to wear helmets from time to time. Besides being generally uncomfortable, there are two main pains with using a helmet: Putting them on and taking them off. And if you wear glasses, this can be even a bigger pain (I remember seeing a video of Bobby Rahal putting on his helmet in one swift motion WHILE he had his glasses on. How he did it without crushing his glasses to his face still puzzles me). And there’s another facet to the second part of that that has huge safety implications. How do you get a motorcycle helmet off of someone’s head if they’ve been in an accident? I have a sticker on the back of my lid that says something along the lines of ‘do NOT remove helmet unless you know what you’re doing.’ It makes total sense. The last thing a person with zero medical training (let alone trauma training) should do when they come upon an injured helmet wearer is be wrenching the thing off of their head. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it could make a bad situation turn catastrophic. But now there’s this outfit called Voztec who are working on a helmet that has what they call a “rear access system” that looks quite interesting, both in terms of ease of use, and also safety. I’ve seen a design like this before used in space shuttle helmets, and it struck me as a good idea at the time, and now it seems like Voztec want to take their version to the general market. Using...

Beyond its role as Mazda’s anchor SUV, this new model is also the stalking horse for the brand’s future. We could all live without another compact SUV; the dozen or more already on the market suit every imaginable purse and purpose. So what’s the Mazda CX-5’s reason for existing? The simple answer is that Mazda’s new bouncing baby bear is a smaller, cheaper model intended to round out the brand’s set of SUVs—well, and that the small-SUV category is a sales mine and no company can afford to sit it out. But proving that nothing is ever as simple as it first seems, the CX-5 embodies two ulterior motives: This is not only our first look at two major Mazda initiatives, it’s also an accurate preview of other models scheduled for near-term introduction. Keep Reading: 2013 Mazda CX-5 – First Drive Review See more here: 2013 Mazda CX-5 First Drive: Fun, Lively, and Oh, So Good More here:  2013 Mazda CX-5 First Drive: Fun, Lively, and Oh, So Good

You thought reinventing the Beetle or Mini was tough? Try the Defender. Land Rover will need to make use of its renowned off-road prowess to extract itself from the dilemma on which it’s now metaphorically high-centered. The company’s core product, the Defender , is due for replacement in 2015, but its archetypical appearance has historically evolved at a glacial rate. Land Rover’s boffins are taking a first stab at reinterpreting Britain’s Wrangler with the DC100 concept you see here, but design director Gerry McGovern emphasizes that this is not a “production-ready” concept—it’s not even close. Rather, it is the “beginning of a four-year journey to design a relevant Defender for the 21st century.” Considering that the Land Rover Defender and its three predecessors, the Series I, II, and III, weren’t so much styled as they were formed from molten SAS commandos, McGovern’s task is taller than Mount Elbrus . Keep Reading: Land Rover DC100 Concept Official Photos and Info – Auto Shows Here is the original post: Land Rover DC100 Concept Debuts at Frankfurt Auto Show: Meet the Next Defender Read the original post:  Land Rover DC100 Concept Debuts at Frankfurt Auto Show: Meet the Next Defender

The new look of Ford Evos-inspired design language coming to a Ford near you soon The smoking-hot Ford Evos plug-in hybrid is one of those concept vehicles that will probably never see the light of day. The Evos wasn’t really designed for production, but rather to express the future of Ford’s design language. And that future is said to begin in about 4 months time. “We need to be immediately recognizable by the face of our vehicles,” Ford design vice president J Mays recently stated, according to AutoWeek . And what Ford is trying to exude via the Evos concept is premium-feeling mainstream cars. Still, while the Evos might never make its way through one of Ford’s production lines, there is speculation that Ford will reveal a more production-orientated Evos inspired vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show. Moreover, the Evos is eventually going to inspire the style of all future Ford vehicles. That means in addition to the new curves, future Ford products will be decked out with Evos-styled grills and headlights. But the Evos is also about more than looks, it’s also about a new generation of Sync-based connectivity. The Evos is tapped into the cloud, and Ford intends to bring the cloud to all of its future products. Plug-in technologies, futuristic connectivity and some stylish new curves, the new face of Ford is pretty exciting. Source: AutoWeek View original post here: Ford Evos plug-in hybrid: The new face of Ford

Hit play for an audio recording of a mystery car’s exhaust note, and then share your guesses or get a few hints from other visitors in the comments below. Be sure to check back on Thursday for the answer! View original post here: Name That Exhaust Note, Episode 103 Original post: Name That Exhaust Note, Episode 103

Good genes: Ford’s Frankfurt debutant defines a new design language for its global products. At the 2005 Frankfurt auto show, Ford’s stunning Iosis concept car debuted the company’s “Kinetic” design language, which shortly thereafter debuted on non-U.S. models like the Mondeo, European Focus, C-Max, and Kuga. Our first taste of Kinetic design came more recently with the 2011 Fiesta and 2012 Focus models. But now Ford’s look is evolving, with another Frankfurt concept—the 2011 show’s gorgeous and aptly named Evos—previewing the next evolution (get it?) of Blue Oval design. Keep Reading: Ford Evos Concept – Auto Shows View post: Ford Evos Concept: Pointing the Way to Future Ford Design See the original post here:  Ford Evos Concept: Pointing the Way to Future Ford Design

Why not diesel hybrids, such as the 508 RXH? If you’re gonna build ‘em anyway, why not send a few across the pond? Already several hybrid and plug-in hybrid concepts and production vehicles have been revealed ahead of the Frankfurt Auto Show, and one of the latest reveals is the production-ready Peugeot 508 RXH diesel hybrid. For now the 200 hp, 56 mpg RXH hybrid is set for a Spring European launch, with no plans for a US appearance. Nevertheless, with diesel share making small gains in the US, isn’t a diesel hybrid like the RXH worth a try? To be certain, in some US markets, diesel is a tough sell because of higher costs compared to gasoline, but that’s not the case in all US markets. Moreover, forecasters, such as JD Power, are predicting even greater diesel share over the course of the next decade, so why not make some of those diesel offerings hybrids? Obviously, diesel hybrid vehicles aren’t THE solution for the future of the US auto industry, but it’s going to be decades before THE solution dominates the US auto industry. In the interim, why not give US consumers some real powertrain choices when it comes to diesel offerings? See more here: Is it time for diesel hybrids in the US?