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2021 Land Rover Classic Defender Works V8 Trophy (w/VIDEO)

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The iconic Defender may have been retired from the Land Rover line but it is not forgotten. Land Rover Classic is now building 25 Defenders for an exclusive competition later this year. The adventure-ready Defender Works V8 Trophy model to be built is a re-engineered vehicle with a 405 ps 5-litre petrol V8 engine and 8-speed ZF automatic transmission.

There will also be a comprehensively uprated suspension, steering and braking packages. Additional all-terrain kit includes a front winch, multi-point expedition cage, roof rack, underbody protection, A-bar, raised air intake, LED spotlights and mud-terrain tyres.

Two body designs with personalisation
Prices start from £195,000 (about RM1.1 million) and there’s a choice of 90 and 110 Station Wagon body designs available, finished in unique Eastnor Yellow paintwork with Narvik Black details and body-colour heavy-duty steel wheels. The purpose-built vehicles also receive LED headlamps, a Heritage front grille, unique Land Rover Trophy badging and event participation graphics personalised to each customer, including their name and country flags.

Additional all-terrain equipment includes front winch, multi-point expedition cage, roof rack, underbody protection, A-bar, raised air intake, spotlights and mud-terrain tyres

The cabin has full black Windsor leather trim with Recaro sports seats featuring contrasting yellow stitch detailing, plus Land Rover Trophy clock face by Elliot Brown. Land Rover Classic’s own Classic Infotainment System with integrated navigation and mobile device connectivity is also fitted.

Competition at spiritual testing ground of Land Rover
All customers of the limited edition model will be invited to compete in an exclusive 3-day adventure at Eastnor Castle in England. This is the spiritual home of Land Rover testing and development where its vehicles have demonstrated their superior off-road capabilities for decades. It will be the first time the customers will get to drive their vehicles.

With this concept, customers can create their own stories, ‘battle scars’ and patina with their Works V8 Trophy vehicles from day one, fuelling campfire chats with like-minded enthusiasts. Expert one-to-one tuition will also be provided as part of the adventure, giving customers a unique opportunity to develop extreme driving techniques and skills in their own vehicle, before putting their training to the test. Everyone will compete for a range of prizes, including a Grand Prize for the overall winner (to be announced later in 2021).

Hyundai TIGER Ultimate Mobility Vehicle can boldly go where no man can go (w/VIDEO)

Vehicles that can operate autonomously without humans at the wheel to guide them can be very useful, especially in conditions which may be hazardous to humans. For instance, they can be used to enter areas which may be highly contaminated with radiation to perform various activities or carry various types of payload while traveling over challenging terrain. They could even be used on the moon or other planets, like the various machines that have been roaming Mars for years.

Hyundai Motor Group’s New Horizons Studio, in partnership with Autodesk and Sundberg-Ferar, have developed such a vehicle which they have named TIGER (Transforming Intelligent Ground Excursion Robot). It is the company’s second Ultimate Mobility Vehicle (UMV) and the first designed to be uncrewed.

The development of the TIGER is being carried out at the studio which has its headquarters in California. The facility was established in late 2020 to develop UMVs drawing on research and innovation leadership from Silicon Valley and other innovation hubs.

“Vehicles like TIGER, and the technologies underpinning it, give us an opportunity to push our imaginations,” said Dr. John Suh, Head of New Horizons Studio. “We are constantly looking at ways to rethink vehicle design and development and re-define the future of transportation and mobility.”

Capability across remote, inaccessible terrain
The TIGER’s exceptional capabilities are designed to function as a mobile scientific exploration platform in extreme, remote locations. Based on a modular platform architecture, its features include a sophisticated leg and wheel locomotion system, 360-degree directional control, and a range of sensors for remote observation.

A large load bay housed within its body means the TIGER can carry goods for delivery, or be deployed to deliver aid packages in emergency situations. Leg-wheel articulation enables it to tackle a range of extreme situations while keeping payloads more level than a typical ground vehicle.

With its legs retracted, the TIGER moves like an all-wheel drive vehicle and is in its most efficient mode because it moves by rolling traction. But when the vehicle gets stuck or needs to travel over terrain that is difficult or impassable for wheels alone, it uses its walking ability to get unstuck or more easily travel over that terrain. This was a feature previously seen in the Elevate, the Korean group’s first-ever UMV concept with moveable legs, which was displayed at the 2019 CES (Consumer Electronic Show).

Like the Elevate, which also had transforming 4 leg-wheel ground vehicle, the TIGER shares similar characteristics such as its legs and wheels. The difference between the Elevate and the TIGER is that, while the former can carry passengers, the latter is uncrewed. Both vehicles blend robotic and wheeled locomotion technologies, allowing them to traverse terrain beyond the limitations of even the most capable off-road vehicle.

The vehicle can also connect to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which can fully charge and deliver the TIGER to inaccessible locations.

The first TIGER
The first version is the X-1 (‘X’ for ‘experimental’) and brings together a wide-range of technological and design expertise. It fuses Autodesk’s generative design capabilities with Hyundai’s growing R&D capabilities in mobility. The teams have been working together to create a lightweight but incredibly strong structure, with the legs and certain chassis elements created using carbonfibre composite additive printing.

The New Horizons Studio has been focused on developing technologies to enable concept vehicles such as the TIGER. These technologies include wheel-leg locomotion, high-performance materials and structures, high-performance power systems, chassis and body systems, virtual development and evaluation systems, and human-centered design and systems. Each of these represents significant technical progress that can be applied to any vehicle and will speed the development of advanced mobility solutions.

UMV concepts in development do not rely solely on wheels and are expected to address challenging driving situations – for example, a car with robotic legs could save lives as the first responder in natural disasters; or people without access to a curb ramp could hail a car to walk up to their front door, level itself and allow wheelchairs to roll in.

Click here for other news and articles about Hyundai.

Prototype development of RM39.2 million Bugatti Centodieci underway

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With the Centodieci, Bugatti pays homage to the legendary EB 110. Only ten cars in the Few-off project are being built for an exclusive clientele, all of whom had made their bookings within hours of the concept model being presented at ‘The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering’ in California in mid-2019. Last year, further work was limited due to the pandemic conditions but now the company is building the first prototype of the hyper sportscar which has a starting price from 8 million euros (about RM39.2 million).

The design of the Centodieci with the flat front, deep-seated front spoiler and 3-part air inlets reinterprets the shape of the super sportscar of the 1990s. The EB 110 was an important milestone on the way to revitalizing the Bugatti brand in 1998, leading to the first modern hyper sports car, the Veyron.

Modern interpretation of EB 110
It was the Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli and the star architect Giampaolo Benedini who created the EB 110 around 30 years ago. “It was a challenge for us not to get caught up in the design of the legendary EB 110 and to only work in the retrospective. We wanted to create a modern interpretation of the form and technology of the time. At the same time, we couldn’t lose the charm and character of the EB 110. Because the super sportscar is still fascinating today with its special design and technology, ”said Achim Anscheidt, chief designer at Bugatti.

Since the premiere of the Centodieci, the Bugatti development team has been working on the technical implementation of the strictly limited model. “Every newly developed vehicle is an immense challenge, as we develop a small series that must also meet and even exceed all quality and safety standards of a large series,” explained Andre Kullig, technical project manager for one- and few-off projects at Bugatti.

Complex development process
The engineers first delve into calculations of the body, aerodynamics, engine and transmission. They simulate the flow through the vehicle and check all components down to the smallest screw. At the same time, the design team works closely with the developers to control the styling, finalize it and design surfaces. Depending on the incidence of light, they adapt the curvature of the components so that they appear homogeneous in all lighting conditions – a complex development process. After well over a year of construction and simulation, the team has now developed the first prototype.

“With the newly designed body, there are changes in many areas that we had to simulate with the help of special computer programs. Using the data, we were able to set a basic set-up as a starting point for series development and the first prototype,” said Kullig.

The team was recently able to successfully put the rolling chassis into operation on the on-site roll test bench in the studio and check all functions of the. In the next step, the complex exterior is now being built.

“With such a powerful hyper sportscar like the Centodieci, the aim is to filter out subtleties that require concentrated and intensive development work due to the changed requirements of a completely new outer skin,” Kullig added.

The challenge of thermal management
The technical challenges have been enormous: an 8-litre engine with 1,600 ps generates high temperatures that require sophisticated thermal management. As with the EB 110, the engine is under a transparent glass surface. In favour of more efficient engine thermal systems, the Centodieci relies on a wide air outlet opening and modified air flows. In addition, guide flaps around the five round air inserts, placed as a rhombus, ensure sufficient air intake for the 16-cylinder unit.

The otherwise dominant Bugatti line, the ‘C line’, is therefore giving way to a new design. The rear forms a large air outlet opening shaped by the eight rear light elements. Further challenges in the development are the new lighting elements and the design of the rear wing,

But no matter how much data the development team can simulate and test on test benches, the Centodieci will also be tested dynamically. In the next few months, in addition to setting up the exterior and further simulations in the wind tunnel, there will also be road testing to start tuning the chassis.

Porsche Taycan does 165 km/h inside a building – a new Guinness World Record (w/VIDEO)

During this period of the pandemic, we are urged to ‘Stay indoors’ to avoid being infected and also to help cut the transmission of the virus. For many people, ‘indoors’ may mean a boring time but not for racer Leh Keen: while being ‘indoors’, he achieved a Guinness World Records title for the fastest speed by a vehicle indoors.

It’s not a new category in the world famous list of records and the last person set it at a speed of 138.5 km/h. That was 7 years ago. The rules – strictly enforced by Guinness World Records – are tough. The record tun must be done up to a standstill within the space of the building. There can be no run up, no safety net and no doors open and therefore no escape route. It means not just being able to accelerate to a very high speed but also being able to come to a stop in time.

Leh therefore required a car that would be able to perform with such challenging conditions. It had to be one that he could trust his life with in order to safely break the record safely. With an output equivalent to 750 bhp, 4-wheel drive providing maximized grip, powerful carbon ceramic brakes and the ability to accelerate to 60 mph (96 km/h) from standstill in just 2.6 seconds, the all-electric Taycan Turbo S by Porsche was the car to use.

Selecting the right building was just as challenging. In the end, it was the Ernest N. Morial Convention Centre in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. At around 93,000 square metres, the convention centre boasts having the largest contiguous exhibit hall in the country, ideal for the distance it provided. However, like many other indoor facilities, the polished concrete surface replicated ice when being driven over at speed…

“I didn’t really appreciate the scale of the record attempt until my first exploratory run. The surface is so unpredictable, so slick, that you have to have complete trust in your car. It truly was like ice – and you’re accelerating flat out, facing a really hard wall at the end. Suddenly, even in a massive space like the one we had, it seemed very small,” said Leh Keen after his record attempt. “I could feel the Taycan’s systems figuring it out, working so hard to keep me heading straight – it was such an impressive feat. To accelerate so hard on such an erratic surface was incredible. Not for a moment did I doubt I could do it.”

Leh’s strategy was to build up slowly, with low-speed exploratory runs. The standard street tyres were pre-heated as a precaution. And, when it came to the record attempt, one run was all it took. “I did take a moment on the starting line – knowing I was going to have to go as fast as I could – and stop again – all before reaching the wall I was facing. It got my attention.”

“I used the car’s launch control and the Taycan just hooked up – the sensation of speed indoors, even in such a big space, is enormous – that wall rushed up fast. I was gentle on the brakes at the end… the Taycan’s brakes were more than up to the job. Of course, I didn’t look down at my speed, so it came as a surprise and a relief that I’d beaten the record, and by such a margin. It was a rush! I’m thankful for Porsche for trusting my abilities and for their preparations and encouragement – 165 km/h (officially 102.6 mph) inside a building. What was I thinking?”

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The Taycan is available in Malaysia from Sime Darby Auto Performance. Click here to find out more.

UMW Toyota Motor introduces Toyota Synergised Mobility to present a new aspect of the brand

UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) has a new brand pillar and branding initiative known as Toyota Synergised Mobility (TSM), driven by Toyota’s advanced technologies. With its leadership in the automobile industry and growing as a mobility services company, Toyota has developed numerous innovative, advanced and cutting-edge technologies. Through Toyota Synergised Mobility, these advanced technologies will be simplified for easier understanding and their relevance explained.

“Toyota is moving beyond being just a manufacturer of cars to other forms of mobility for modern lifestyles. In pursuit of this, it creates innovations featuring cutting-edge technologies with the potential for expanding the possibilities of future mobility for the wider community. With Toyota Synergised Mobility, the public will gain greater awareness of the new and available technologies – as well as what is to come in the future. There will be even greater synergy between man and machine,” said Akio Takeyama, Deputy Chairman of UMW Toyota Motor.

TSS and TNGA
Two examples of the latest technologies are Toyota Safety Sense (TSS) and Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), both available and associated with the latest models. They make possible features which exemplify the meaning of ‘smart motoring’ to enhance safety, comfort and performance. With TSM, the customer will be able to see the synergy between trust and technology as it applies to his or her daily life.

Under the All About The Drive theme, introduced in 2016, UMWT will apply Toyota Synergised Mobility to bring to the forefront the technological leadership of Toyota that will be used to make ever better cars. Over the past 5 years, the brand has undergone a rapid transformation of its image, gaining a perception of being more sporty, youthful and exciting. This has been largely supported by the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) brand which has been used for events such as the TGR Racing Festival, GR Velocity E-Sports Championship, GR Garage and GR high-performance products.

New technologies to come
While the Toyota brand now has greater appeal with an energetic, fun-to-drive, sportier character, TSM will propel its image of being advanced, innovative and cutting-edge. TSM will also pave the way for new Toyota technologies to be introduced very soon, symbolising Toyota’s synergy with the future, living with tomorrow’s technologies, today.

“We believe that technology should be simple, yet intelligent. With Toyota Synergised Mobility, UMW Toyota Motor will present to Malaysians a new aspect of the brand which is advanced, cutting edge and innovative,” said the President of UMW Toyota Motor, Ravindran K. “Customers will understand and embrace ‘Smart Driving’ with Toyota where they will enjoy and experience seamless driving experience where technology is in perfect synergy – designed for and by humans.”

More about Toyota Synergised Mobility can be found at toyota.com.my/synergised-mobility.

All food courts at PLUS R&Rs open for business (dine-in as well)

PLUS Malaysia Berhad has reopened its food court dining areas at all its rest and service areas (R&Rs), including the two overhead bridge restaurants and lay-bys along PLUS-operated highways as well as the Lebuhraya Pantai Timur 2 (LPT2). This follows the government’s announcement effective February 10, 2021.

While interstate travel is not permitted and inter-district travel is controlled, there are still motorists who will be using the highways to go to work, and they will be able to stop at the R&Rs to get food or drinks.

However, PLUS advises all customers to comply with the Standard Operations Procedure (SOP) which allows 2 persons per dining table with one-metre physical distancing when stopping over to have their meals at the respective areas. The highway concessionaire also advises all highway customers to adhere to the standard safety SOPs of wearing a facemask, registering on the MySejahtera App, checking temperatures at the designated points and keeping a safe distance of one-metre apart when lining up for food or using the facilities at the R&Rs and other public places during this period.

During the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, all facilities at the R&Rs and lay-bys such as public restrooms and suraus are open 24-hours. Meanwhile, restaurants, stalls and mobile food trucks including convenience stores are operating from 6 am to 10 pm.

Additionally, many of the stalls at the R&Rs can accept orders via a pre-order function in the PLUS App. The app can be downloaded for free through the Google Play Store for android devices or the App Store for iPhone users.