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Audi sticks with Michelin – which is good for Michelin road tyres

Audi choose Michelin for 2012 races Audi are to stay with tyre maker Michelin and this year’s Le Mans 24hr cars will be shod with Michelin tyres. Have you ever wondered why car race teams choose one tyre maker over another? Well, in F1 it’s because they don’t have a choice, but elsewhere it’s different – they can choose.

New Mercedes B Class Hydrogen Fuel Cell delayed until 2017

Mercedes has decided to delay production of its B Class Hydrogen Fuel Cell car until 2017 as it seeks partners for economy of scale. We learnt last year that the new Mercedes B Class would spawn a version powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, and that Mercedes were planning to launch it in 2014. But that’s now been pushed back to 2017.

Video: FiDU technology creating lightweight, inflatable metal structures

This short video, featuring designer Oskar Zieta, details the process and design possibilities behind products developed with FiDU (Freie Innendruck Umformung – "free internal pressure forming") technology. Zieta, a Polish designer, explains how the lightweight yet robust metal appears as a soft object yet when you touch it you realize that it is actually a hard metal. "Working with FIDU technology is similar to carving clay," Zieta explains.