4th Maier S. Coop Design Competition

The 4th Maier S. Coop Design Competition has been launched, open to both students and professionals. The brief calls for a graphic expression of a Color & Trim trends study showcasing the finishes of a vehicles exterior and interior.

Car makers to be forced to disclaim ‘Official’ economy figures

We’ve banged on for a long time about the futility of official economy figures, especially as car makers get better and better at ‘gaming’ the official economy tests to produce the results they want. Much of the impetus to create the best headline economy figure for a car is driven by taxation, with car makers well aware that the better the official economy results are, the lower their CO2 will be (CO2 isn’t tested for – it’s just extrapolated from the official mpg) and the more appealing the car will be to buyers, particularly fleet buyers. But a ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) against Audi could at least see car makers having to admit in their adverts that the ‘official’ economy figure bears no relation to what owners can expect to achieve in the real world.

Button wins in Monaco – another Brawn 1-2

Button wins the Monaco Grand Prix 2009 [ad#ad-1] This year’s Formula One season is starting to turn in to a cross between a Roy of the Rovers special and a Disney Fairytale. Not content with simply getting the Brawn GP team up and running just in time for the start of the season, and then going on to win four of the first five Grand Prix of the year, Button and Barichello have crowned all those achievements for Brawn GP by winning in spectacular one-two style at the F1 ‘Jewel in the Crown’ event in Monaco. Button got off to a great start in qualifying by grabbing pole in the closing minutes of Q3 qualifying to join Raikkonen on the front row of the grid, with Barrichello riding shotgun for Button on the second row.