Computer Designed Car Sets Speed Record

amcdiarmid writes "Several sources are reporting that the first entirely computer designed car, the JCB Dieselmax, has broken the diesel speed record of 236MPH at a speed of 328MPH. From the article: 'The record attempt came after a string of trial runs on the runways at the airbase. But while testing went well, the team endured a troubled time in the US. The combination of the altitude (4,000ft) and the higher air temperatures affected the performance of the second engine, which was generating insufficient turbo boost pressure and led to days of work for the small team of engineering experts.'"

That's pretty fast

[ackthpt]

broken the diesel speed record of 236MPH at a speed of 328MPH.

But they could probably top 350 MPH if they'd ditch the CB antenna and Yosemite Sam "Back Off" mudflaps.

this thing gets some real looks at the Sapp Bros.

all part of the plan

[User 956]

Several sources are reporting that the first entirely computer designed car, the JCB Dieselmax, has broken the diesel speed record of 236MPH at a speed of 328MPH.

..and it will help those computers find Sarah Connor just that much more quickly.

Imagine the bandwidth of...

[Anonymous Coward]

a diesel computer designed car going 328 MPH filled with hard drives.

Deisel motors

[Reality Master 101]

But while testing went well, the team endured a troubled time in the US.

Sources said the motor had been making an unbelievably loud clunking sound, as well as spewing black smoke. Only later did they figure out that was the way the engine was supposed to sound.

(/RM101, the not-so-proud one-time owner of a Diesel Mercedes Benz, the loudest, most embarrassing-to-drive car he's ever owned)

Are we talking...

[ackthpt]

a diesel computer designed car going 328 MPH filled with hard drives.

An information super highway, here?

Yeah, but...

[dgatwood]

...the ping times are a bitch.

Re:That's pretty fast

[Tackhead]

> But they could probably top 350 MPH if they'd ditch the CB antenna and Yosemite Sam "Back Off" mudflaps.

Me an' Tim was haulin' chickens
O'er a lakebed outa Wiggins
And we had spent all night on the uphill side,
Of thirty seven hundred square miles of hell called Bonneville Flats,
(Which was up on the great divide...)

And we was sittin' there readin' Slashdot,
And moderatin' like Crow T. Trollbot,
And I says "Tim, let's send an Internet down the tubes,
And then send them chickens on down t'other side"
(Yeah, lets give them hens a ride.)

Chorus:
Bonneville flats, way up on the great divide,
Truckin' on down, the other side.

Leverton put down his bottle,
With Andy's foot down on the throttle,
Ate a couple o' smores, then 1500 horse,
from a two-thousand-ought-six Dieselmax screamed to life.
(We woke up the chickens.)

We roared up off'n that shoulder,
Sprayin' pine cones rocks 'n boulders,
And put four hundred head of them Rhode Island Reds
And a couple of burnt out roosters on the line.
(Look out below. 'cause here we go...)

...and I really don't have to change another word of Wolf Creek Pass [narrowgauge.org], by C.W. McCall, from that point onwards, because the ride was just about as hairy.

'Cept for that feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs. Place was still a mess from when that truck done run through it.

You're wrong.

[Poromenos1]

You're full of it. The article is 100% true.

This post was designed by a computer.

I followed the link...

[agentcdog]

and was surprised to see that this thing really runs on 440 AA batteries. Quite the misleading article. Diesel indeed.

In other news..

[Anonymous Coward]

Ford has announced that they will begin testing a prototype computer built entirely by a car. The car used to design the computer is actually a Beowolf cluster of recalled Explorers and Expeditions from the Firestone debacle of some years ago.

"We think we can use the characteristics of our best-selling cars to build huge, powerful computers with more space than anyone else", said a Ford spokesperson. "Our latest prototype model already has eight CPU cores in a V shape. It can seat seven hard drives (two of which are situated at the front of the enclosure, visible through the glass front bezel of the machine) and we're making lots of strides in how we can build tires on to the thing so we can drive it around the office while we download our emails and pick up our kids from soccer practice."

Chevrolet declined to comment on whether or not they were working on something similar. All they said is that they think Fords suck and tried to sell us on a new Corvette. "It's an American Revolution", said the salesman we interviewed at the local Chevrolet dealership.

Neat

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

I found a pic of it here [ilexikon.com].

Re:Come on, 'entirely computer designed' ?

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

design_car -fast -diesel

What is it with these Linux geeks. They think the whole world works on the command line. Everyone knows that this car was built by double clicking on "Car", selecting "diesel" in the "Car Design Wizard" and then pushing the speed slider to the top. And apparently there's a hidden option in the registry that increases the range of the speed slider so we expect this record to be broken again very soon.

Turbo Boost

[Megane]

The combination of the altitude (4,000ft) and the higher air temperatures affected the performance of the second engine, which was generating insufficient turbo boost pressure and led to days of work for the small team of engineering experts.

Don't they know that K.I.T.T. can only use the Turbo Boost once per episode?

Speed is nice and all...

[corychristison]

... but I still want my goddamn flying car!

Re:The Speed of /.

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be new here. You probably have a sense of deja vu because it's a dupe. Or will be, give it a week or two.

Re:Yeah, but...

[x2A]

It took 5 days for a car my secretary sent to reach me, because it got stuck in traffic. You see, cars aren't like trucks, you can't just dump loads of stuff onto them. Cars are a cereal of tubes, they run on... I'm not finished, they run on milk in a bowl. Excelsior!

Forget fast......

[Rank_Tyro]

...."we need ludicrous speed".

Re:Yeah, but...

[doubtless]

did your secretary notify you of the internet I sent to you last week?

Re:British Engineering

[BiggerIsBetter]

Joke all you like, but it's very difficult to make an engine that leaks oil continuously yet never actually falls apart.

That's pretty much over 88 MPH...

[Bega]

...but does it have a Flux Capacitor [wikipedia.org]?