We often worry too much about what is hidden under the hood of the car and there is great effort, time and money spent in improving it. But what if there were no engines and yet you could zip along dangerous curves at well over 65 mph and get so close to the mountain edge that another inch over the hedge could actually kill you? Well, that is the adventure journey we wish to embark on as we take a look at the best ‘Gravity Cars’ that the planet has to offer and how the forces of the planet power it on an exhilarating racy drive!
Gravity cars are all about the aerodynamic tweaking and to eek out that every extra second which matters for the win, as all you have to work with is the aerodynamic design and the driver position. That makes it much harder than designing the conventional car where a better engine could easily earn you the win. Since so much of aerodynamic design was in focus, there was no way words could ever convey the picture, so we decided to take a slight backseat and let pictures take you on a head spinning ride. Enjoy the path downhill...
1. Volvo Extreme Gravity!
Don’t let the curvaceous body fool you, the Volvo Extreme Gravity Car is all about speed – in a straight line. It’s also designed to be “human centric” and Volvo’s Extreme Gravity Car breaks almost all the rules of a typical soap-box-derby racecar. Take the rider’s forward facing “rumps-up” positioning for example. Head first in to the curve, mate!
2. Mercedes Silbervogel
It’s named Silbervogel and has been especially designed for the Xtreme Gravity Series from Irvine, California, by Jakob Hirzel. The design is inspired from the old Mercedes-Benz cars, but built in a futuristic style. Carry your helmet along and don’t let the class of Mercedes’ design fool you in to thinking about an easy ride!
3. Porsche’s Stunning Sleek Design
This gravity car is designed by Mark Clarke (Senior Designer at Porsche Design) and 3dyn brought the car into reality. The cars are fully functional, with high-performance downhill mountain bike disc brake systems, rack and pinon steering (with carbon fiber, F1 style steering) and 4-point safety harness.
4. Nissan Torpedo- Destroying Competition!
Nissan Design America (NDA), known for designing cutting-edge vehicles, has used its automotive design expertise to win the Best in Design Category at the 5th Annual 2005 Extreme Gravity Racing Series held yesterday atop Jack’s Peak Drive. Dubbed the Nissan Flying Torpedo, this sleek race machine competed with ten other automotive manufacturers for charity and blew away competition!
5. GM’s Extreme Gravity
GM puts up this amazingly well crafted aerodynamic car to compete against other cars in the Xtream Gravity Racing Competition. It did impress a lot of people with the design.
6. Ferrari and Gravity: Attracted by the scarlet seduction
It is time for the big boys from the stables of the ‘Prancing Horses to get involved’ with this stunningly Italian design of a gravity car. When it comes from Ferrari, you know that it is all class and while they might be busy winning another F1 crown, this will do well for me too. Me personal favorite on the list!
7. Audi Gravity!
Many Auto lovers believe that when it comes to car perfection then few can even think about coming close to Audi. Audi have always been the makes of perfect lines and curves. This proves the point again.
8. Mazda Speed
The Mazda Speed makes up in color and passion what it might lack in cutting edge speed. It still makes for some amazing speeds on the curves though as it might improve on straight lines still.
9. Lotus blooms on Gravity!
Lotus is really one car maker that puts minute and meticulous detail in its working process by adding personal touch. Classic Lotus colors and a sold design make it a downhill treat!
10. Volkswagen with Silver touch
This might not have the touch of the sleek and the slender that other gravity cars have in them but it makes up with a very unique and stable design that takes it to great speeds with the right aerodynamics. Downhill all the way with solid stability!
11. Mazda with a view!
This flaming hot Mazda will also get you the perfect view of the ride you had all the way down with the recorder sticking out of it. Though I’m guessing it will not really help the downhill speed too much by creating air turbulence.
12. Volvo 2005
A Volvo on to of the top 10 and a Volvo at the beginning of the next 10! This one is not about the curves though as it is all about a solid design and technical craft on the downhill aerodynamics.
13. Bentley goes Silver!
Here is a Bentley that is all about style and plenty of pace. The tapered front is now getting a lot more common!
14. Green is in
This Green car is all about going fast downhill and it does so by spreading a message of going green without exhaust or even engines!
15. Volvo without Windshield
Volvo seems to have a lot of variants for a gravity car and this one looks like a Bob Sled rather than a gravity car with a windshield that is non-existent!
16. Lotus Bob Sled of RAF!
Did someone talk about a sled? This one might not be a gravity car but it will be with wheels underneath and will be much like the gravity car of Volvo above.
17. Car Crazy in a Race Crazy!
Another entrant in the Xtream Gravity Races, this one follows a very basic style with some really cool color and design patterns. Like the solid black.
18. A missile downhill!
This one is much more like a missile shot out of a MIG than a gravity car but it achieves what it is meant to do. I guess, we need to get in some shape before we fit in to this!
19. Speeding Ahead... White Hood
Again a very traditional aerodynamic design along with a very fast pace downhill, strong winning combination indeed!
20. Quick Silver: For the Future!
ID-One is a creative services company of engineers, automotive designers and graphic artists which accounts for the baby rattle cars design technology. The looks might have portrayed to you that it ain’t a conventional gasoline driven car, it rather thrives on gravity.
Now that truly was a head spinning ride and hopefully you escaped unscathed and had your helmets on all the time. Gravity Cars are all about fun and with technology making giant strides forward, maybe one day it will power conventional cars as well! See you up another hill on another day with maybe ways to jump down wearing wings!!
Comments
Wow.. How cool is that! For a car lover like me, this is a dream list. I wish I could get to drive at least one of them sometime soon. The missile car looks pretty interesting. They look very expensive too!
Hope being a car lover you enjoyed the list. Being a Scuderia Ferrari mark, that still remains my personal favorite, though it is neither the fastest or the best. The missile car is from a private collection and not from one of the big boys, so you can maybe give the soapbox a try!
How do these cars ’vividly defy gravity’?
It seems like these cars vividly follow the natural laws of gravity to such a point that they are able to go as fast as they are in some of these pictures. No defiance here. Just plain old awesome physics, the way it’s always been.