Nissan Almera N15 1996-2000 Model Hood on 2040-parts.com

Royal College of Art's Class of 2013 launches real-time projects blog

The Royal College of Art's Vehicle Design Class of 2013 has launched a new blog that will allow the public to follow their projects and studio work from ideas to exhibition for the first time in the course's 40-year history. The blog, which is updated daily, allows people to follow the process of the 18 MA students' final projects and college work in real-time and give them a ‘behind the scenes' look at their progress. RCA student Ewan Gallimore, speaking on behalf of the class, tells Car Design News, "So much of the work and process is unseen and by regularly updating this blog we give the chance for people to follow and interact with the run up to our show.

New World Record is not child’s play

THE NATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM is celebrating its success in setting a new World Record for the longest line of toy cars. To achieve the record, the museum gathered 24,189 model cars and laid them bumper to bumper to create an unbroken line that stretched for 1910-metres. Snaking its way around the museum’s grounds, the line of toy cars more than trumped the previous record of 14,310 toy cars.

Aftermarket Car Plug-In Hybrid system developed (video)

The Department of Engineering Technology at the Middle Tennessee State University has developed a plug-in hybrid retro-fit system for cars. As hybrid cars show the world that we can get more miles to the gallon from fuel by adding in an electric motor to the mix (depending on just how that electricity is generated, of course), it was inevitable that aftermarket solutions would eventually surface. Now, the Department of Engineering Technology at the Middle Tennessee State University has popped up with what they claim is an after market plug-in hybrid system that can be added to just about any car and would cost – assuming it gets to market – around £2,000.