Articles by Karla Pincott

We’ve seen car companies crowdsource concept designs, usually just with a mind to increasing their Facebook profile or producing a special edition of an existing vehicle.But the US military has taken the idea a massive step further by crowdsourcing the design for a new battlefield vehicle. The United States Department of Defense has put out a call to the public to design a new amphibious infantry vehicle.The project comprises a three-part series of design challenges with a million dollars in prize money for the successful projects. A secure website has been set up for the entrants to workshop their designs, with access to a library of Department of Defense components.The exercise is being conducted by the Department’s skunkworks wing, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the agency that oversees the development of new military technology for the US.The project -- codenamed FANG for Fast, Adaptable, Next-Generation Ground Vehicle – will design and develop a new heavy-duty amphibious infantry fighting vehicle.The design brief mirrors the US Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle project: able to move from land to water without pause; have countermeasures against a full range of direct fire and land mine threats; visible and thermal camouflage; able to manoeuvre in concert with the Abrams tank; and have the capability to destroy enemy combat vehicles -- including those with similar firepower – with precision fire.FANG Challenge “is a key component of DARPA’s Adaptive Vehicle Make portfolio, which takes a radically novel approach to the design and manufacture of a ground vehicle,” the agency said in a statement. The project aims to “tap into the innovation of individuals and companies that may have new ideas.”In the first FANG Challenge, entrants vying for the million dollars and glory will use a secure online DARPA system called VehicleFORGE to develop the FANG’s powertrain and mobility system, with the winning design to go to a build process.Scheduled for late 2013, the second challenge will ask entrants to produce the chassis and structural subsystems for the FANG’s ‘survivability’. The following year will see the final challenge to produce a full vehicle design.The first competition starts in January 2-13, but inspired designers, innovators and engineers from outside the US need not apply – the challenge and the design site are open only to US residents.And a million dollars might seem a lot of money as a design competition prize, but it probably comes in at far less than most government consultancies – especially those projects that go on to soak up even more money. Collins Class submarines, anybody?

Demonstrated on a concept version of Hyundai’s popular i30 in Germany, the smartphone integration technology will be available to car buyers in two years. Rather than using Bluetooth, the system uses wireless Near Field Communication (NFC), allowing you to lock and unlock the car by waving your phone over a small tag on the car window. Inside the car, you place the phone on a pad in the centre console that wirelessly charges it while the content is synced and streamed to the car’s infotainment system and touchscreen. The system can also store in-car preferences, including radio stations, seating positions and even mirror adjustment – with multiple profiles able to be saved for different drivers. Hyundai said development the system was part of the carmaker’s aim of producing technology for the mainstream consumer. "The Connectivity Concept showcases Hyundai’s philosophy of making tomorrow’s technology accessible to a wide range of customers,” Hyundai Motor Europe chief operating officer Allan Rushforth said in a statement. “With this technology, Hyundai is able to harness the all-in-one functionality of existing smartphone technology and integrating it into everyday driving in a seamless fashion." Hyundai plans to offer the smartphone system on cars in 2015, and says it is also working on improved reversing cameras and lane departure alert systems with similar technology.  

The world’s favourite hoon used San Francisco earlier this year as the playground to shoot Gymkhana 5 – doing launch starts and burnouts on the bridge, jumps on the hilly streets and circle work around moving trams. That was released six months ago, so this behind-the-scenes video has been quite a long time coming. But it’s worth the wait, as Block and his team give us a backstage view of the hits and misses behind the action. You also get a good idea of just how difficult some of the set-ups are, with the risk of overshooting or undershooting any of the marks bound to end in some damage – and the crew revealing they wiped out most of the cameras attached to the car in the first shot. But Block’s skill makes the fender-skimming stunts look deceptively easy. And while Psy’s Gangnam Style dancing might hold the world video record,  Block proves his own footwork is just as fancy.  

The ocean is full of surprises, and some Chinese fishermen got a huge one when they found a Porsche in their nets.  The Cayenne SUV – which sells from around $110,000 here – was landed while the crew was recently fishing off the Coast of Beihai. The Cayenne was covered in seaweed and barnacles, with its state pointing to it having been underwater for at least two years according to experts called in to assess it. Reports on CarNewsChina.com suggest that the waters and coastal areas around Beihai are a hotspot for smugglers bringing in luxury goods to escape the huge import tariffs China imposes. It’s believed the smuggler possibly pushed the Porsche overboard after spotting a customs patrol.  The vehicle, which would have netted the smuggler a sizable profit, sold to a Beihai scrap metal dealer for 4000 yuan ($650).  

Narrated by John Williamson, the 2012 Deni Ute Muster Documentary is a fly-on-the-wall look at events from the two-day festival, including the World Record Blue Singlet Count, Swag Throwing, Holden Barrel Races, Showtime Kawasaki team, Show ‘N Shine, RM Williams Bullride Spectacular, RAAF Roulettes, Woodchop demonstrations, Whip cracking, Tractor Pull, Ute Museum, and -- of course -- highlights of The Australian National Circle Work Championships Final. “It’s a documentary style feature which showcases the celebration of the only truly Australian vehicle, the Ute, and for the first time, the ANCWC Finals for 2012,” spokesman Tom Kendall said in a statement. “The Australian National Circle Work Championships Final documentary captures every moment of this exciting competition. This hour-long film showcases the performance of each competitor, the final three and the award ceremony, and provides an excellent introduction to Australia’s newest rough and tumble motor sport. “The Deni Ute Muster is a one of a kind, uniquely Australian institution, and a showcase for the people and traditions that make up the back bone of the country. These films bring this event to life for the first time, for everyone to experience and enjoy.” The documentaries are available on DVD or through Digital Download, it can be purchased by visiting www.denidvd.com  

The Motherhood is a hilarious rap rundown of the realities of being a mum. Runny noses, nits, post-baby body, vomit, expressing milk – and every other everyday challenge a mother faces.“I express, like the best, from these holes in my chest. Wear a nursing bra, like a bulletproof vest… Work versus home is a mental combination, with my elbows deep in infant defecation.” And it goes on, in a no-holds-barred account of maternal life that will likely have every mum bopping her head in delighted recognition.The uncompromising track is part of Fiat’s marketing for their new compact family car, the 500L. And the Italian carmaker says the song is a salute to motherhood.“Word to all the mothers out there. This one goes out to you...'The Motherhood' feat. Fiat 500L is dedicated to all those women who have to be all things to all people and live it large on a daily basis,” a Fiat statement says.But is it too bold for a car ad? 

A hidden camera stunt in the UK revealed that 84 per cent of people would help an obviously drunk person get into their car. In the secret camera footage, a stumbling actor approaches people and with slurred words asks them to help him unlock his car and get in. The video is part of a campaign launched by consumer insurance watch website Confused.com, aimed at halting people’s apathy about drunk driving – which is estimated to rise over the holiday period. Confused.com says 84 per cent of people were happy to help the ‘drunk’ into his car, with just eight of the 50 approached refusing – and only one confiscating his keys to prevent him approaching others. A number of other people approached simply ignored the drunk’s request and walked on. “Over the festive period, thousands of people will threaten the safety of others by making the decision to drive whilst under the influence of alcohol,” Sharon Flaherty, Confused.com’s head of content and PR, said in a statement. “Our video highlights just how many people are willing to permit drink driving, or turn a blind eye to it. The video is a hopefully shocking way to remind people that drink driving kills and that in many cases, it can be stopped. By preventing friends and family from driving under the influence of alcohol, you could save a life.” Russell White from the Australian Road Safety Foundation says he was stunned by the secret camera results. “It’s shocking that such a high percentage of people seemed to be willing to help this man simply get into his car,” White says. “It does raise serious questions about our culture and attitudes. It’s also unbelievable -- given everything we know about drink driving -- that people were prepared to assist this guy get into a car and potentially kill someone.  The founder of Fatality Free Friday – an organisation dedicated to improving road safety awareness, driver education and reducing the impact of road trauma – White applauds the people who refused to the let ‘drunk’ drive.  “It must be said that the people who took a stand against this man doing the wrong thing was a good demonstration of positive action. Especially strong action was seen with the man who takes the keys from the actor. We just need more people to take action like that. It comes back to being socially responsible.” White says he’d like to believe Australians would have behaved differently, but he’s doubtful. “We’d like to think that more of us would take steps to stop this, but it is difficult to say. I fear that it would be a similar result.” And he has a clear message for the coming holiday period, when more people are likely to be attending parties and functions. “Our message is simple, if you’re planning to drink don’t drive,” White says.  “But there is also a bigger picture issue here as well. We need to get to a stronger culture about looking after each other. Turning a blind eye could turn someone’s life upside down. “If you’re at a function or a party and you suspect that someone has had too many drinks make sure that they don’t get behind the wheel. I’m sure that anyone who was been affected by a drunk driver would say that they wished someone had done that.”  

Drivers, start your seating positions. Future car seats could be adjusted to your precise preferences with a Bluetooth smartphone app. We’re all built differently, so we all like our driver’s seat settings to be a little different to everybody else’s. And that could be achieved with scientific precision, if a new Bluetooth seat system hits the market. The SmartFit seat might sound like some small-scale tech start-up’s experimental pipe dream. But you have to take notice when it’s being developed by seat manufacturer Faurecia, which has 238 factories and 38 R&D centres throughout 33 countries – and supplies seats to the world’s auto giants, including Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota,  BMW and Hyundai-Kia. Faurecia’s smartphone-based technology asks you to enter your height and weight, then get somebody to take a photo of you seated – with the phone’s internal sensors measuring specific distances and angles. The app compiles all the data, calculates your perfect seating position, and sends it via Bluetooth to the SmartFit seat. You can set up separate position profiles for different drivers or driving tasks: sports car drivers will look for a tighter position if they indulge in track days, or perhaps a more relaxed posture for long highway trips. Have a sore back? Dial up more lumbar support or a heated massage. No more spending the first part of the journey fiddling to get the perfect set-up after somebody else has used the car. And that makes for a more comfortable – and safer – driver. Faurecia believes the system could even be used for future buyers to order specific seat measurements and calibrations as easily as ordering the upholstery colour is done today.  

The most significant sports cars since the original Mazda MX-5 in 1989 and by far the most affordable. "There too many grey cars in the world. The Twins are technicolour and 3D'' says Paul Gover. Marketing puffery is often ludicrous -- especially when it’s Toyota promising passion. But for the 86 just about every box has been ticked and promise delivered – many more than we expected. The 86 is alive and kick-arse. The most significant sports cars since the original Mazda MX-5 in 1989 and by far the most affordable. "There too many grey cars in the world. The Twins are technicolour and 3D'' says Paul Gover. Steering feel is excellent, with good weighting and feedback. The car feels taut and agile, turning in nimbly and gripping the road aggressively. The six-speed manual is one of the best around: short, sweet and snickety. Even hardened stick-shunners could be won over by this one. It gets off the line smartly, and delivers decent in-gear acceleration, despite there not being any sense of huge torque on tap. The in-car soundtrack improves once you push it up above 3500rpm, but apart from that the engine noise is subdued and it’s the tyres you hear. That aside, the Toyota 86 is nearly everything most people could want in terms of bang for the buck. The BRZ is brilliant, addictive and deeply depressing. You need to drop six figures to find something comparable or better - Mazda's able but aging MX-5 is finally surpassed, but then so for sheer driving pleasure are cars with badges like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Embracing an old formula - light weight, small and willing atmo engine, manual trans and rear wheel drive - it feels fresh and invigorating against a field of ever more sophisticated and heinously expensive sports cars, devices  that are technical tours de force but which can be emotionally bereft. No track day intro for the BRZ, so no lurid power sliding. But during a nocturnal fang on one of the nation's best bits of sinuous blacktop, the Soob more than fulfills its part of the two-brand partnership. Swarm into a tight bend, the note of that chuntering four rises to a wail, the merest throttle input shifts to impetus from nose the tail.  Yet there are acres of space and ample signals between control and untidiness. The BRZ is highly sensitive and entirely intuitive. Toyota 86 GT manual four-seater/Subaru BRZ Price: from $29,990 (BRZ - $37,150) Engine: two-litre variable-valve direct-injection DOHC flat-four-cylinder Transmission: six-speed manual, rear wheel drive Power: 147kW @ 7000rpm Torque: 205Nm @ 6600rpm Fuel use/emissions: 7.8 l/100km, tank 50 litres 95-98 PULP; 181g/km Brakes/safety systems: Driver and front passenger airbags, front seat side airbags, curtain airbags, driver’s knee airbag, stability control (Emergency Brake Assist (EBA), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), Traction Control), rear parking sensors Dimensions: Length 4240mm, width 1775mm, height 1285mm (BRZ -1245mm), wheelbase 2570mm, cargo volume 217 litres, weight 1222kg (BRZ 1216kg) Wheels/tyres: 16in alloy wheels (BRZ 17in alloys) Win $5,000 in our People's Choice competition.  

The baby crossover would enter a growing segment as the world continues to downsize – and add more two-wheel drive options to – the SUV carpark.The CX-3 is likely to be launched in 2014 and be based on the platform for the next Mazda2, according to a report from Auto Express in the UK.With a focus on economy, engines are said to be a 1.6-litre diesel and a 1.3-litre turbo petrol engine, with Mazda’s SkyActiv technology and fuel-saving strategies used throughout the platform. Auto Express believes the CX-3 could have Prius-beating fuel consumption as low as 3.3L/100km and emissions around 96g/km.The CX-3 is a sure bet to be offered as a front-wheel drive, but possibly with no all-wheel drive option. However Mazda will be keen to give the crossover – which would face off against the lauded Nissan Juke -- some on-road appeal, with sharp steering and capable dynamics.It will likely carry the family face seen here on the CX-5, and get some tough-touch bodykit to give it the SUV look. However with family practicality in mind, there’s also said to be seats that drop flat at the touch of a button.