Hasta La Gadget!

We talked briefly about the last season of the Nissan GT Academy. This is a TV show where after three months of online competition 32 Gran Turismo online racers got the chance to fight it out at Comic-Con for the chance to drive a real race car for Nissan. Sony and Nissan have confirmed the series will be back for a second season starting Thursday, November 1st at 11:30 PM Eastern time on Spike TV.

It sounds like the format will be much the same as last year with online competitions in Gran Turismo in which the top racers get to go to England to compete in a number of activities including real track driving. It sounds like Sony and Nissan have been successful so far in picking people who can both play video games and drive well.

Season one winner Lucas Ordonez even won the P2 Class at the 24 hours of Le Mans 2011 in a Nissan prototype car. Four other GT Academy winners nailed a class victory in January after 24 Hours of Dubai driving a Nissan 370Z. This season’s episodes will be available online a week after they air on Spike TV.

It must be pretty cool to be Ken Block. The guy gets to drive cars for a living and is a world-class hoonster. In fact, “Ken Block” translates in the Latin to Hoonicus Maximus, or at least it should. If you’ve ever watched Block’s Gymkhana videos before, you will definitely want to see the latest that was released this week.

The latest video is Gymkhana Five, and this time out Block and his insanely fast Ford Fiesta (possibly the world’s only cool Fiesta) are up to some insane stunt driving in San Francisco. Block was able to get closed access to a bunch of the famous San Francisco city streets, including a suspension bridge, so he could drift and tear the place up.

It’s awesome to see him jump that Fiesta over some of the hilly streets in San Francisco. Be sure and watch the hood on that jump, it appears that the landing ripped the front end out of the car. I bet they needed a new car after that scene or at least had to stop for repairs. Apparently, the movie was pieced together from different scenes shot on different days, but it’s still incredibly awesome. I think my biggest car guy wish would be some hoon lessons from Block.

Formula 1 car technology has come a long way since it first hit the asphalt banks 62 years ago. It’s been hard to convey the sheer amount of change in a succinct way, but Rufus Blacklock may have nailed it in exactly one minute. Abstract versions of the cars show us the progression from the bullet-shaped cars of the 1950’s through to the low-slung, wing-laden beasts we know today. If the clip is a little too F1-fast, there’s also an infographic that details exactly when certain technology changes came into play, starting with the first wings in 1968 through to modern (and at times controversial) introductions like KERS in 2009. Click past the break for the video, and check out the relevant source link for a quite literal big picture.

Continue reading Visualized: the history of the Formula 1 car in 60 seconds (video)

Visualized: the history of the Formula 1 car in 60 seconds (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen Angry Birds go into strange places both figurative and literal, but Formula 1 racing? That’s a less natural mix than a peanut butter cup. As a way of backing race driver and fellow Finland native Heikki Kovalainen, Rovio has crafted Angry Birds Heikki, a free web game themed all around its namesake’s escapades during the F1 race year. The gameplay changes are more cosmetic than functional, although that leaderboard matters a little more in spirit than it might otherwise. Perhaps the biggest draw is simply that your gameplay schedule is intrinsically linked to Heikki’s: new sections only unlock as the real-world races get near, so you’ll have an incentive to keep coming back until the Sao Paulo race determines the F1 championship on November 21st. Let’s just hope that there aren’t too many road hogs spoiling either Heikki’s fun or our own.

[Thanks, Rodrigo]

Angry Birds Heikki: because F1 and fort-breaking games are like peanut butter and chocolate originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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