The Hot List: Volume 8

Every week we sift through a truly amazing amount of “stuff” in the dozen or so hours we spend online—you know, the time spent not driving sweet cars. A lot of the cool stuff we find has to do specifically with new cars, naturally, but there’s also a huge amount of awesomeness that doesn’t completely fit in the normal Winding Road world. To date, we’ve been in the habit of simply reading, watching, or talking amongst ourselves about this web detritus, but recently we thought it might be a good idea to start sharing it with you all. Thus, The Hot List.

 

We’ll aim to bring you a list of the most interesting bits of information we run across. Ten worth-knowing-about things that may or may not be related directly to the world of cars, but all of which we think our typical enthusiast readers will be able to really dig into. We won’t know, from week to week, what will show up on this list, which is part of the fun for us and for you.

 

Read, enjoy, and comment. If you happen to know of something that you think would make for a good inclusion on next week’s list, drop us a line at [email protected].

 

At the 2011 Targa Newfoundland Rally, a heavily modified Ferrari got loose on a dirt road, went out of control, and decided to take a little saltwater bath. While driver Zahir Rana who was behind the wheel, looks a bit dismayed as the Enzo floats/sinks next to him, navigator Roland Linder took it in stride, saying, “Zees is just a boo-boo.” A very expensive boo-boo, we imagine, as the car is worth $1.5 million, according to National Post. (Hey, we’re just glad they’re actually out there driving it.)

 

 

 

Belgian artist Wim Delvoye uses old tires as his medium, and carves them into interesting works of art. He uses traditional, decorative design elements that are familiar to a lot of us, many of which are floral in nature. It’s quite a different style than the tires we’ve seen transformed into ferocious maneaters and strange hybrid creatures.

Oh, how we miss the Concorde. And we’re not the only ones—not by a longshot. A group in Manchester, England called Concorde Heritage was able to power up one of the old jets on display in a local museum to do some repairs and get it closer to working condition. They hoped it could one day be used again for special events. Unfortunately, the museum shut the program, and the Concorde, down citing legal issues regarding insurance coverage for the display. What a tease.

 

Why would you want a hub that makes your bike slower? So you can become a stronger cyclist, of course. The SlowWheel and PowerWheel replace the front wheel of your bicycle, and have different levels of resistance, so you have to pedal harder to go the same speed and distance. It could also be used when riding with or training slower cyclists, just so you don’t get ahead of them, but still get an adequate workout.

 

 

 

After Editor-In-Chief Seyth Miersma acquired his remote control helicopter, our Director Of Technology, Rob Grady, didn’t want to be outdone. So now, Winding Road’s Texas office has its own air shark. His name is Bruce! (For those of you keeping score, Seyth hasn’t even named his stupid helicopter.) You can get your own, too, if you want.

 

Science, man! Physicists at the European Organization For Nuclear Research (CERN) have recorded neutrino particles traveling faster than the speed of light. Other scientists still need to reproduce the results to confirm them, but if they do, this will force us to reject the notion that nothing can travel faster than light speed. What that means to the field of physics, it will take us a while to fully understand.

 

 

 

Oshkosh Defense has created the Light Combat Tactical All-Terrain Vehicle (L-ATV) as a possible successor to the Humvee. It’s a diesel-electric hybrid, and its suspension has 20 inches of travel per wheel. Let’s just hope we don’t see a widespread consumer version any time soon, because we’ve already got enough Hummer drivers taking up multiple parking spaces (though we wouldn’t mind taking one for a spin in the desert).

 

The Blue Oval has delved into the world of two-wheeled transportation with the Ford E-Bike Concept. It can run under human power, but it also has an electric motor and a battery providing up to 50 miles of charge. It features a handlebar mounted display, plus a few other cool goodies.

 

This seems a bit more like science fiction than reality, but researchers at UC-Berkeley have been able to show people movie clips, then record the person’s brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging. The result is really creepy, as researchers were able produce images that resembled what the experiment subjects were seeing. Click through for the full details.

 

 

 

A blogger at My Modern Met suggests that the Turda salt mine in Romania may be the next lair for Batman in The Dark Night Rises. We’re not sure if this is rumored, or just speculation on the author’s part, but we don’t really care. The mine itself is beautiful, and has a long and interesting history. It served as a salt mine during the Middle Ages, but now serves as a tourist attraction. Have a look at the stunning photographs.