Sunday, 21 November 2010
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smart 454 Weight Watch
For what it?s worth, the Smart 454 by Weight Watch Technologies is probably the cutest yet most perplexing entry to the 2010 LA Design Challenge. The billing alone pretty much describes what to expect from the concept vehicle: ?West coast fun and innovation meets German technology, design and grannies? hand knit socks.?
Never though we?d live to see the phrases ?West coast fun? and ?grannies? hand knit socks? in the same sentence. In any case, the Smart 454 by Weight Watch Technologies is smart?s official entry to the 2010 LA Design Challenge.
Keeping line with this year?s theme of envisioning an efficient, lightweight 2+2 car that takes into account the growing shift in building vehicles while minimizing consumption of the earth’s resources, the smart 454 uses a Tridion-frame chassis that?s apparently knitted out of carbon fiber by what the company is calling ?Smart Granny Robots?. Go figure. Each individual part of the car uses a different material to give each piece a unique set of properties like weight and function. For the windows, fenders, and bumpers, Smart opted to use recyclable plastics while touching them up with ingrained colors. Meanwhile, the 454?s roof uses a thin, but extremely durable textile that boasts of its own different prints and weavings. Probably the work of the granny robots, we think.
The wheels of the 454 WWT are likewise made from carbon fiber with an integrated suspension and with the help of SGR technology, the wheels come equipped with some snazzy and lightweight rims.
Then there?s the matter of assembling and dissembling the car without breaking any sweat. Thanks to a modular ?clip-on? construction principal, materials like the doors, the roof, the engine, and even the drive train, become extremely easy to remove or exchange, making the 454 WWT a car that can be customized for any occasion, including granny?s knitting session.
Press Release after the jump
smart 454 Weight Watch originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 20 November 2010 17:15 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/smart/2010-smart-454-weight-watch-ar100278.html
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Day off
I spent yesterday flying home from Abu Dhabi and today I declared an official “Day Off”. There have been a few things happening, but I will catch up with it all tomorrow…
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/day-off/
Mario Andretti Michael Andretti Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis
