Another collection of car news, technologies, design solutions and interesting stories.
Mitsubishi minivan will take part in the rally
The Indonesian division of Mitsubishi has seriously reshaped the very same Xpander. The compact van is based on the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo engine. The decision was not made as smoothly as it would have been for the engineering team. The volume of the engine had to be reduced to 1.6 liters in order to comply with the regulations.
The Expander hull has lost additional seats, got a lightweight roll cage and now sports a hydraulic parking brake and adaptive shock absorbers. Of the new items, it is also worth noting wheel skirts and a massive spoiler: with the new 350-horsepower engine, it will come in handy.
BMW wants to produce an electric car a year
The company plans to release 9 new models on ecological fuel by 2030. The development strategy is, of course, aimed at staying ahead of competitors, primarily among German manufacturers.
The new lineup has already included the iX3 crossover, equipped with a 210 kW all-electric motor, which is approximately equal to 286 in «horse» equivalent. Electric SUV sales should start at the end of 2020.
In total, the Bavarians want to sell at least 2 million eco-friendly cars and become the market leaders.
American schoolgirl breaks the autoslalom record
Chloe Chambers, a professional go-kart, drove the 51-cone circuit in just 47.45 seconds. This is 0.3 seconds better than the last record.
The sportswoman, who recently turned 16, was driving a Porsche 718 Spyder roadster. Representatives of the Guinness Book of Records noted how easy and graceful the 420-horsepower car moves. However, the videos from the cameras recorded in the cabin show how strong the lateral g-forces of the schoolgirl were during dashing turns.
Full recordings of the practice and qualification runs can be found on YouTube.
Tesla Roadster is officially scrap
Let's clarify right away — space one. Speech, of course, about the legendary car with the song Space Oddity from the speakers, which was safely launched into space by a Falcon Heavy rocket in 2019.
Now the electric car has already covered almost 90 million kilometers, and the approximate flight speed is 23 kilometers per second, which is significantly higher than the third space velocity.
In fact, Tesla Roadster is just one of more than 50,000 objects recognized as space debris. At the same time, Elon Musk will probably not agree with this wording, because Tesla plans to develop a second-generation electric car that can travel more than 1000 km without recharging.
