Author: Fazz

Professionally, I am passionate about driving management and leadership excellence. I relish challenges in enhancing business performance and organisational adaptability in line with the dynamic and connected 21st century. Personally, I am a bit of a Car and Tech geek. I like cars and I am a true BMW fan. I love racing, particularly Formula One and do a bit of karting myself. I am a technology, Internet and science fiction geek. But I have taste too - I love great design, beautiful people and things. :)
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BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept – green & mean

BMW has followed up the M1 homage concept with a daring green and mean concept car. In one go, this concept – the Vision EfficientDynamics – concept vaults BMW straight into both the supercar and green vehicle categories in a single leap.

i do hope that this car makes it into production as the images are hot.

source of images and news from BMW Blog –
http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/08/29/meet-the-bmw-vision-efficientdynamics-concept/

http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/08/29/bmw-vision-efficientdynamics-photo-gallery/

For decades, BMW has made the reduction of emissions and fuel consumption a key part of its product development strategy, just as enhancements to the dynamic ability of each BMW have been a lasting, sustained brand value. BMW’s EfficientDynamics engineering philosophy – the pursuit of an enhanced, athletic driving experience while simultaneously lowering the consumption and emissions of each vehicle – resulted in the most dramatic drop in fleet consumption of any automaker from 1990 through 2005, according to an Environmental Defense study.

Now, the BMW Vision concept car clearly demonstrates that the EfficientDynamics objectives are fully compatible when applied to a sports car. Conceived as a 2+2-seater with plug-in full-hybrid technology, this unique car combines the performance of a BMW M vehicle with a standard of fuel efficiency and emission management that exceeds even the current levels achieved by the latest small cars. This outstanding result is made possible by the combination of BMW ActiveHybrid components with an extremely economical combustion engine, and outstanding aerodynamic qualities.

some facts:

* 2+2 seater
* Bird’s wings door
* Dimensions (length x width x height): 4.60 x 1.90 x 1.24 meters
* Combined power: 356 hp, 800 Nm(590 lb-ft) of torque
* 1.5 liter 3-cylinder turbodiesel engine placed at the rear of the car
* Diesel engine: 163 hp, 290 Nm(214 lb-ft) of torque
* Two electric engines, one near the front axle, one near the rear axle
* Electric-rear engine with constant 33 HP and a peak of 51 HP. Maximum torque 214 lb-ft
* Electric engine front axle with constant 80 HP. Extra power of 112 HP available for 30 seconds and for 10 seconds, 139 HP. Torque:162 lb-ft
* 4.8 seconds 0-100 km/h, limited 250 km/h (155 mph)
* DCT gearbox
* average 3,76 liter per 100 kilometer – 62.6MPG. CO2 99 gram per km
* Maximum Range: 690 kilometers – 428 miles
* Weight: 1.395 kg – 3,075 lbs
* Weight of the lithium-ion batteries: 85 kg – 187 lbs
* Charging time: Depending on the amperage between 44 minutes and 2.5 hours
* 3D HUD
* No Active Cooling Required

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updating the site to drupal 6

i recently updated this site to drupal 6.

it was a fairly delicate task.

i had to follow a few steps to make sure that the update worked ok. the first is to put the site on maintenance mode and to backup all my database, settings of the old drupal 5 site. then i created a duplicate “staging” site to test the new site with the new drupal 6 code. then i had to test each version 6 module and themes to make sure that it worked on the new site. once, i got that working, then i ported over to the “production” site. standard upgrade procedures i guess.

still, doing all this at night was not the best. the mind often doesn’t work that well at night. lol.

i cannot seem to get over the problem of images being lost.

this still remains unresolved.

anyway, i am using new drupal 6 themes for the new site.

starting with the adaptive theme. i find it pretty good and flexible. however, i need to get to the task of proper theming and css coding.

this is quite tough.

i am not much of a css coder.

i have a rough idea of the theme in my mind.

but as ever, my mind is a helter skelter of ideas and concepts.

recall, and recall in a structured manner is my challenge.

anyway, i hope to be able to slowly sort these things out over the next few weeks.

then i will start thinking of updating my other sites.

probably will update my-kart.org last of all.

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80s British comic nostalgia

I grew up reading a bunch of comics.

I initially started with the Marvel / DC types, then moved on to the British comics such as 2000AD and Tiger whilst in secondary school, and returned to Marvel / DC after that when i studied in the UK.

I have a whole range of comic reading materials, but today had a bit of a nostalgia time googling the 80s British comics. I have not seen these comics for a long time now. And of the characters I remember reading, only Judge Dredd and Dan Dare remain in recent memory. So i decided to check out the titles i used to read. So here are some of them (i would be happy if others can jog my memory too)…

Robo Hunter

I used to like this series as it combined classic noir sleuth stories in a future context – with investigations revolving around robot crimes.

Strontium Dog

Strontium Dog wasn’t one of my top stories in those days, but i sort of liked the concept of mutant bounty hunters.

Nemesis The Warlock

Nemesis the warlock was one fantastic comic series that i liked because of the extreme artwork. The stories were unusual and surreal, but the art and concept was out of this world.

Rogue Trooper

Rogue Trooper was a popular story amongst my friends at the time. This was a classic war story that kids my age then loved. The twist was that this was a story about a Genetically engineered soldier who was looking for his commanders who betrayed them.

Slaine

Slaine was a typical barbarian tale that was quite popular with kids our age then.

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Artist Renderings: BMW S.X. Concept

source site – Artist Renderings: BMW S.X. Concept

bmw_sx_concept_driving_large-655x460_0

 

The BMW world doesn’t suffer from lack of rendering artists – some better than others – especially since the BMW design language is one of the most interesting ones among automakers.

We have seen in the past several independent renderings that usually try to fill the gap of a missing BMW supercar on the market: M-Zero Concept, Supercar Concept and M Concept. There were also several design studies among the students at several European universities, some of these projects even sanctioned by BMW: Concepts of the future or the LayerON Personalized Car.

Well, today, another talented rendering artists makes waves around the web with a new concept: BMW S.X.

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i think we’ve waited far too long for a true BMW super car. is it no wonder that there are so many artist impressions / rendering of what BMW’s next mid engine super car would look like? surely BMW is doing something?

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BMW Sportscar Concept Study

source site – BMW Sportscar Concept Study

Creativity of some car fans never ceases to amaze me. In the past few years, we have seen many graphic artists or design students taking a proactive step and creating their own version of automobile concepts.

BMW fans are quite known for their creativity as well and some of these concepts have been many times sponsored by BMW itself.

This BMW supercar concept designed by Iran-born designer and graduate of Industrial and Transportation Design, Emil Baddal is a wonderfully interesting interpretation of the BMW design and brand. The design is an aggressive view of the brand. perhaps a bit too aggressive. but for me, i think it captures some of the passion of what BMW is all about. share your thoughts.

more BMW and car pics at http://www.thefazz.com/me/image/tid/8

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