Ben Dodds
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Homepage: http://www.influx.co.uk
Posts by Ben Dodds
Need for Speed, RC Style!
Feb 10th
This video is currently doing the rounds on the blogosphere, and you can see why! A clip from Korean remote controlled car drifters, showing they can do all the cool stunts and tricks you see from the big boys. The cars look the biz as well, with the usual rims, body kits, vinyl’s and other badassery. And the down-sized drifters are complete with realistic roads, cheering fans and some flash night-time drifting, well up until bed-time anyway.
Check out the video, very cool even if it is a little bit sad!
Get Involved in BMW
Dec 21st
BMW has recently done a really cool ad which astonished cinema goers. They used flash projection technology to imprint the brand image on all participants.
The advert was for BMW motorcycles and featured Ruben Xaus, the BMW Superbike racer, describing why he races cut with high paced shots around a track. At first you think it’s just a cool ad, although the brand identity is almost completely missed out. Then after a white flash Ruben urges you to close your eyes and BMW appears for a few seconds. They do this with a photo flash that is shone through a BMW shaped hole, all very clever trickery.
In a world where you have to be inventive to stand out, how better? Rather than forcing the brand on someone, BMW have really engaged the audience and made them part of something pretty special. If you were there, you would be truly bamboozled as to why BMW is burned onto your cornea. Also this is no more harmful than a photo flash, so don’t think BMW are blinding movie fans.
BMW sum it up with…
Tell me something. And I will forget.
Show me something. And I can remember.
Involve me in something. And I will understand.
See below the video of how it’s done and after the ad, obviously the flash projection isn’t there but it does show you what people did/should see:
Marc Brown and Light Graffiti
Nov 26th
About this time last year, I stumbled across some great artwork. It was Light Graffiti Cars, a really cool one of using light painting to show cars on different backgrounds. It was an original, inventive way of using light painting which got them included in the 10 Masters of Light Painting Photography. The original series featured the Morgan Aero, Ferrari F430 and the Audi R8 among others.
The creators, media entrepreneur Marc Cameron and photographer Mark Brown, are back with Light Graffiti Cars – The Final Chapter! And the latest instalment is arguably better than ever. It features some of the hottest and most talked about cars around at the moment, the Audi R8 Spyder, the Bugatti Veyron SS, the Ferrari 458 Italia, the Lamborghini Gallardo and more. Here are some of the best:
Cameron and Brown have now decided after this, their third and final set, that they’re going to take a break and decide what to do next.
Ferrari World
Jul 2nd
Some have you may have already heard about Ferrari World, the Ferrari theme park located on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi scheduled to open on the 28th of October. For those that haven’t, it is set to be the biggest indoor theme park in the world at 86,000 square metres. Unsurprisingly everything in the park is Ferrari themed, with a touch of Italian flavour for good measure. Ferrari have excited a lot of people last week by releasing the list of attractions on offer there, including the worlds fastest roller coaster and virtual tours around the Maranello factory.
One of the roller coasters, called Formula Rossa, is an F1 themed ride that boasts a top speed of 240km/h (about 150 mph). Along the way you will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 2 seconds and feel the force of 1.7Gs. Find out more about it here.
There is also a big Italian vibe to the park with an attraction called Bell’Italia, where you explore some of Italy’s most famous locations in miniaturised form. It features attractions like the Colloseum, the Monza racetrack and of course Maranello the home of Ferrari. All of this can be viewed on foot around cobbled streets, or you can choose to drive around in a small-scale 1957 250 California. If that’s not enough for you, there is also Viaggio in Ialia, an aerial trip over some of Italy’s cities, monuments, coastlines and mountains, all while pursuing a Ferrari.
After all that Italian scenery, if you are a thrill seeker then there is more for you. The G-Force is a tower ride that will shoot you through the roof and up to 62 metres in the air in a seat inspired by the Enzo, all to replicate the ‘G-Force’ of riding in a Ferrari. The Fiorano GT Challenge is a duelling roller coaster, where you twist and turn around a tight racecourse in Ferrari F430 Spiders. The two F430′s are are operated independently on separate tracks and will overtake and race to the finish line.
There is of course lots more on offer, more rides, films, fun for the kids, shops and eateries. If this tickles your fancy and you’re looking at a holiday in Abu Dhabi, take a look at a full list of the attractions on the Ferrari World wesite.
Demolition Dodge
Jun 2nd
Demolition Dodge, the flash game from Adrian Flux, has just been launched. Play below, or at http://www.demolitiondodge.co.uk/. The aim is to last as long as possible without getting blown up by the other cars, bonuses and extra time will help you along the way.
Every entrant gets put into a draw for £1000 and if you record a good enough time, you can win money off your insurance. If you like it, please share it with your friends so they can save money on their car insurance too…
Mar 25th
Aviva are set to pay out the biggest car damage insurance claim in history after a Pagani Zonda S was crashed on a test drive.
The accident happened in September last year when a test drive near Aberdeen went wrong, the car spun out of control on a country road and hit a telephone poll before smashing through a fence. The Italian supercar was adjudged to be repairable by Aviva and so they’ve had it sent back to the factory in Modena, Italy to undergo some pretty serious repairs.
The cars are not cheap as are built from carbon fibre, titanium and aircraft aluminium,they cost around £500k and around 10 are made every year. The Zonda S is also insanely quick, it has a 7.3 V12 Mercedes AMG engine with 550 hp, it can rip from 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds and 0-100mph is done in under 8.
A spokesperson for Aviva told the BBC, “This is the biggest insurance payout we have had for repairs to a private car in the UK.”
The test driver made the claim not the owner of the car, which has saved his wallet somewhat. Not only would that have ruined his no claims bonus but also a £300,000 fault claim would hike your supercar insurance premium up rather a lot.
Golf’s Driving Range!
Feb 26th
Volkswagen have just released details of the new CrossGolf, making its début at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. Now VW say that it “blurs the line between a multipurpose vehicle and an SUV”, although isn’t that meant to be the Tiguan? The CrossGolf doesn’t even have all-wheel drive, but just a higher ride height and off-road looks… so essentially a GolfPlus in a flat cap, wax jacket and wellies!
The Mk5 Polo is only 10″ shorter and 4″ narrower than the Mk6 Golf, and yet VW are also releasing the CrossPolo. I think VW are just getting a bit silly now!
The range is shown here…
If you want to be critical of the VW(Golf) range, you have the Golf, Golf Estate, Golf Plus (slightly bigger Golf), Jetta (Golf saloon), Tiguan (Golf 4×4), Eos (Golf Convertible), Scirocco (Golf coupé) and Touran (slightly bigger than the Golf Plus, Golf MPV). All of these cars are based on the same platform! Now with the CrossGolf and the very similar sized Polo editions, VW are really trying to appeal to EVERYONE!
On the plus side the Polo GTI is also set to premier at Geneva, and this looks amazing…
… although if you want to be critical, now there’e not much difference between that and the Golf GTI, it’s not even that much slower.
Burnout Fail!
Feb 19th
Something for the weekend…
This guy in a 3rd Gen Camaro definitely chooses the wrong tires to do a burnout in, oh dear!
Burnout Fail!
Feb 19th
Something for the weekend…
This guy in a 3rd Gen Camaro definitely chooses the wrong tires to do a burnout in, oh dear!
A New Era in F1
Feb 15th
The 2010 Formula 1 season will be very different to the last, there are a few new teams, a few new faces but there is also a new set of rules to consider.
I might be getting ahead of myself as the new season doesn’t start for another month but the Formula 1 buzz has already begun with the release of all the 2010 car specs, liveries, teams etc.
There are 4 new teams joining F1, here’s the lowdown on my favourite two:
Virgin Racing
Virgin Racing’s car for 2010, the VR01, is said to be a new breed of racecar as it’s the first F1 car to be exclusively designed by CFD (computational fluid dynamics) computer technology. Virgin have got two very promising young drivers, and old rivals in GP2, Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi. If you want a chance to name Timo or Lucas’ cars, go the website by clicking here.
Lotus F1 Racing
There has been a lot of hype about the return of Lotus to F1, well there’s one main difference… they’re run by a partnership of the Malaysian Government and a consortium of Malaysian Entrepreneurs called 1Malaysia F1 Team. Other than that great racing pedigree, Lotus have another thing going for them and that’s their drivers. They’ve got the great experience of Italian Juano Trulli and the very talented ex-McLaren man Heikki Kovalainen.
Mercedes GP Petronas
Now technically this isn’t a new F1 team, Mercedes took over Brawn GP and this is the result. Although this is obviously a very exciting prospect for 2010, what with Brawn GP winning last years drivers and constructors championships and of course the fact that one of the best Formula 1 drivers of all time has come out of retirement to race. With Schumy being backed up by Nico Rosberg and should still have a great car, they could be realistic title contenders.
Rules
There are going to be quite a few rule changes for 2010, all found here.
The main one I’m going to focus on is the new points system. Now that there will be 26 cars instead of 24, 25 points will be awarded for 1st place, 18 for 2nd, 15 for 3rd and then 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and then 1 for 10th place.
I’m excited already!