Two of Daniel Simon's futuristic creations from Cosmic Motors ... now Michael Bay wants to bring them to the movie screen.
Daniel Simon is probably best known for his work designing the vehicles in science-fiction movies such as Tron: Legacy and Oblivion, but he may soon be known for a completely different reason - as the man responsible for what could be the best Michael Bay movie ever.
Between Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bay has taken his cinematic crowbar to the kneecaps of some precious childhood memories over the years.
But Simon may have produced something that will play to Bay's unique set of "talents" - frantic action, spectacular stunts, big, big explosions and a story that could have been written by a brain-damaged monkey chewing on a keyboard.
Picture / Daniel Simon
Simon is responsible for the absolutely stunning coffee table book Cosmic Motors.
A showcase for his brilliant futuristic vehicle designs, the book wraps up his gorgeous illustrations in a bare-bones "story" about some racing nonsense in the distant future.
Or something like that. And Bay is apparently very keen to bring the book to the big screen.
The best part is that the book is all about Simon's stunning visuals and the story really doesn't matter. So it is the perfect project for Bay. We doubt even he could balls this one up.
Loads of fast-paced, futuristic racing action filmed by a frantic, shaky camera, interspersed with lots of explosions and long, leery shots of some interchangeable hot starlet's perfect bottom, with no discernible plot involved. That has Bay written all over it!
Simon's other book - The Timeless Racers - is about race cars that could exist on Earth in a parallel universe.
The foreword is by Jacky Icxx and the book has a good story - about a racer who travels back and forth through time to compete in races between 1916 and 2615 - wrapped around the amazing visuals.
This also should be a movie - but Bay must be kept away from it at all costs.
We are the world
• If you failed once at stealing a Ferrari, common sense would suggest you shouldn't have another crack at it ... but that is where common sense and Earnie Hooks of Los Angeles parted ways. Hooks was stopped at a drink driving checkpoint driving a 2014 Ferrari 458 that had been reported stolen. He drove off and the 458 was later found abandoned. Later that night, the Ferrari was stolen from the police impound yard and five days later a man was arrested while driving it. Yes, it was Earnie Hooks.
• Taxi drivers in San Diego are upset at a new regulation the city's airport has introduced requiring them to pass a smell test if they want to work there. The airport authorities are apparently fed up with whiffy cabbies stinking up the place, so has decreed that taxi drivers who are particularly odoriferous must leave and change clothes before they pick up another customer. The United Taxi Workers union said the policy "perpetuates the stereotype that immigrant taxi drivers smell bad".
Hey you! You wanna buy a slightly used Ferrari?
Pictures / Modena Motorsport
What's that? What model is it? Well, it's sort of a 348 ... but there's bits of F355 and F430 in there as well ... oh, and it's also got an early version of the Enzo Ferrari's 6-litre V12 jammed into it as well!
As dodgy as all that sounds, such a machine is actually up for sale on German website Modena-motorsport.de. But don't stress, Ferrari purists, it is a factory-approved model.
Factory made, really, as it is actually one of the first prototypes of the Enzo and the only one sold by the Ferrari factory.
It is pretty apparent at first glance that there is something strange about what appears to be a 348 - the drastically elongated rear is the most obvious hint - but once you get to the back and notice the massive exhausts sticking out through holes cut in the bumper and the colossal V12 barely squeezed into the engine bay, it is pretty obvious this ain't no 348 ...
The V12 was apparently pumping out 500kW in the prototype (compared to 485kW for the production Enzo) and this particular car was the third of three development mules built, and the only one sold.
It was originally auctioned alongside the 400th Enzo in June 2005 and sold for €236,300 ($309,761). It was last up for sale in 2012 and was snapped up for €750,000 ($1.188 million), suggesting that it is indeed an appreciating asset ...
Of course, it can't be road registered, but if you have a lazy couple of million lying around it could be worth picking up. After all, it's not like they're making any more of 'em.
Just print and drive away
Local Motors is, as of this moment, officially the most interesting and exciting car manufacturer in the United States.
The small Phoenix, Arizona-based company first gave us the brilliantly retro electric (or petrol) bicycle, a drift trike and the even-more-brilliantly retro Racer motorbike before unleashing the wild Rally Fighter, a road-legal off-road sports car. It recently opened up voting for the public to decide the design of its next project - a lightweight sports car - and by the time you read this will be in the process of constructing the world's first 3D-printed car.
Called the "Strati", the car was printed one piece at a time at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago this week. Once the parts have been printed, the Local Motors team will put it together and drive it out of the show. Construction is expected to take around 44 hours.
Not the entire car has been 3D printed though, after all, no one has yet perfected the process needed to print an engine. Propulsion will come from the electric motor from a Renault Twizy, while the battery, wiring, suspension and other un-printable bits and pieces will come from "a variety of suppliers".
Local Motors intend the Strati to "prove the viability of using sustainable, digital manufacturing solutions in the automotive industry" and the company plans to start selling 3D printed vehicles to the public in "the months following the show".
Which means it is possible you will be able to print at least most of your own car at home in the very near future.
Number Crunching
485 KILOWATTS
The output of the Enzo Ferrari's 6.0-litre V12, at the time a record for a naturally-aspirated engine in a road car.
588 KILOWATTS
The output of the current record holder - the LaFerrari, which has a 6.2-litre version of the same engine.
633 KILOWATTS
The most powerful version of the engine, as used in the track-only FXX Evoluzione.
3 MARQUES
The engine (in V8 and V12 forms) has been used in every Ferrari since 2004 and most Maseratis since 2002, as well as the Alfa Romeo 8C.
The show used drones, lights and sound to tell Matariki stories at the Rotorua Lakefront.