carbon fibre

Lamborghini and Callaway Golf Drive a New Generation of Carbon Fiber

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Sports

You might not think there would'd be much crossover between cars and golf clubs. But you'd be wrong. Aside from golf carts on the one hand and using golf club bags as the standard American measurement for a car's trunk capacity, two of the biggest names in performance in their respective fields have come together to develop new construction methods.

The partnership between Lamborghini and Callaway Golf was announced in Paris, where the former unveiled its vision for the future in the form of the Sesto Elemento concept. While researching construction materials together at the University of Washington, the two companies found each other mutually interested in developing a new breed of lightweight, high-strength material.

The result is called Forged Composite, which they've found to be at once stronger, cheaper and more versatile than conventional carbon fiber. We've seen what Lamborghini has in mind for the material. Callaway Golf, meanwhile, plans within the year on phasing in Forged Composite drivers, which they expect will net an 8-yard longer drive than the market-leading titanium drivers which they'll replace.

Tags: callaway, callaway golf, carbon fiber, carbon fibre, forged composite, golf, golf clubs, lamborghini

Oakley Debuts C Six Carbon Fiber Sunglass Frames

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

There's little to dislike about carbon fiber. It's lightweight. It's incredibly strong. It's exotic. And let's face it, it just looks cool. It's also incredibly complicated to work with, which makes it very expensive. So while they can make simple objects like wallets out of the stuff, making something more complex like, say, sunglasses frames, can be infinitely more difficult. Which would explain why, while some optic frames have been adorned with the stuff, they've yet to make complete frames from it. Until now.

Oakley has been working on producing a carbon fiber sunglasses frame for some time now, and details have just emerged. They're calling it the C Six, and they teamed up with motorsport engineers Crosby Composites to create it. But rather than trying to lay it into the right shape, they've machined the frames out of solid billet blocks of carbon fiber using advanced CNC drills, spinning at 10,000 rpm for 24 hours to create just one pair. No wonder they're only making 250 of them, and charging $4000 for each pair.

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Gresso Gets into the Race with Carbon-Fiber Grand Monaco

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets

Coming up a little short for the ten-grand Vertu Ascent Ti Carbon Fibre edition? Not to worry, the Russians have got you covered. Luxury electronics company Gresso has just come out with the Grand Monaco mobile phone, and it's jam-packed with racy goodness.

Named after the grand prix in the Mediterranean principality, the Grand Monaco features a case made out of titanium alloy, coated in black PVD in some places and in high-strength ceramics in others, with carbon fiber trim front and back. A sapphire crystal display prevents scratches, and the phone packs a 2-megapixel camera, GPRS and Bluetooth connectivity and more. But it'll cost you $2100, if you can get your hands on one.

Gallery: Gresso Grand Monaco

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Vertu Lightens Up With New Ascent Ti Carbon Fibre Collection

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets, Luxury Cars & Autos

The market for big-bucks luxury cell phones may be shrinking, but that isn't about to stop Vertu. The premium division from Swedish telecom giant Nokia comes out with a new motorsport-inspired special edition every year, and Vertu has no intention of letting a little economic hiccup derail their plans. So while others cancel theirs, Vertu has launched the new Ascent Ti Carbon Fibre Collection.

Comprised of four special edition phones with various applications of the high-tech and dazzling material, the collection tops out with the $9,800 Ascent Ti Carbon Fibre Edition. The latest collection follows the same path as the previous Ferrari editions and Racetrack Legends series, giving those with deep pockets and a penchant for everything automotive a new mobile phone to covet.

Gallery: Vertu Ascent Ti Carbon Fibre Collection

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Sir Stirling Moss' Townhouse in Mayfair, London

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

High-tech houses full of computerized everything and robotized everything else are all the rage these days, but back in the 60's most people hadn't even dreamed of having remote-operated bathtubs and automatic dumbwaiters. Sir Stirling Moss did, however. Renowned as the "greatest driver never to win the world championship", Sir Stirling retired as one of the most distinguished racing drivers in the world. Having retired after a crash put him into a coma, Moss built himself a swanky townhouse in Mayfair, London, and packed it with all the gadgets and gizmos he could shake a titanium rod at. The best feature could very well be the one-of-a-kind carbon fiber elevator which was built especially for him by the Williams F1 team.

Seem a bit much? Moss certainly doesn't think so: the octogenarian is building himself a new house on a 2,300 square-foot plot along the river in the the retirement community of Deerfield Beach, Florida, complete with all the environmentally-friend credentials you'd expect. Click on the link below to view The Sunday Times video tour of the Moss residence in Mayfair.

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Gemballa Mirage GT Carbon Edition Proves that "Exclusive" is Relative

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

Some people just have way too much money on their hands. Those people tend to buy Porsches. But with rumors afloat of a new flagship supercar based on the German carmaker's RS Spyder race car, the last real exotic machine the company produced was the Carrera GT. Now discontinued, examples are still trading hands in seven-figure territory. For those few lucky enough to have gotten their hands on one, Gemballa has now released what could be the ultimate modification package for the ultimate Porsche. Called the Mirage GT Carbon Edition, the modified Carrera GT features a full array of carbon-fiber components to improve the car's aesthetics and performance. Gemballa has also tuned the engine to a whopping 670 horsepower, capable of pushing the supercar to sixty in just 3.7 seconds en route to a top speed of 208 miles per hour...perfect for a Sunday drive on the Autobahn. Of course this kind of performance doesn't come cheap: 300,000 euros is what the modifications alone will cost you, not including the cost of the car itself. At those kinds of prices, no wonder Gemballa only plans on building five of them.

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Carbon-Fiber Briefcase by Schedoni

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Handbags, Luxury Cars & Autos

Schedoni. To most people, the name doesn't carry any meaning. But to those in the know, it's the marque of the finest craftsmanship. The century-old Italian leather-crafters make all the fitted luggage for Ferrari road cars, and even fabricate that little pad at the back of a Scuderia Ferrari F1 car to keep Kimi and Felipe's helmets from knocking against the carbon fiber bodywork. But when the atelier isn't too busy stitching together those tiny little cases for Maranello, or making a special line of driving shoes together with Puma, they make some of their own products, too, and this is one of our favorites: an exquisitely-crafted carbon fiber briefcase.

Made from the same materials used on the most exotic of sports and racing cars, the carbon fiber shell is painstakingly woven and baked in a kiln. It's such an intricate process that half the ones they try to make have to be scrapped. Inside, Schedoni lines the lightweight case with beautifully tanned suede for that look and feel which only Ferrari's own bag-makers could manage. Of course that kind of excellence comes at a price: $4,400 in this case. At least this way your wallet will be lighter, too.

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Italian Watchmaker Mecchanice Veloce Collaborates with Brembo for Unique Carbon-Ceramic Watch

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Luxury Cars & Autos

Ironic as it may seem, there are so many watches, and so little time. Yet even in a business so simultaneously timeless and focussed on time, watchmakers are constantly racing to adopt new construction methods. Especially among automotive-inspired watches. But the latest seems to have come to a full stop: the Quattro Valvole CCM by Meccaniche Veloci. The Italian watchmaker has teamed up with Brembo, the biggest name in automotive braking systems, to produce this rare carbon-ceramic timepiece.

This special edition is made of a blend of carbon-fiber and high-strength ceramics, the same material now being used in the most advanced racing and sportscar brakes. In brakes, they offer longevity, lightness of weight and incredible resistance to deformation. In the watch, they offer the same, along with a unique appearance. Each watch incorporates four individual automatic Swiss movements, compartmentalized like the four-valve cylinder heads first seen on the most sophisticated sportscar engines, available in four different colors, capped by titanium crowns and held on to your wrist by interchangeable rubber and alligator straps. But at $15,000 apiece, they don't come cheap.

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