(Credit:
Carrera International)
Long before RC toys began terrorizing household pets, there was the slot car. They still exist today, of course, but have become more of a hobby akin to model trains than something that would occupy kids for hours on end, pre-Nintendo.
But now that Speed Racer has been resurrected--"the movie event of the century," as Craver Caroline McCarthy puts it--the venerable slot car may make something of a mild comeback. Carrera is coming out with a new package that includes a Mach 5 (of course), a Racer X Street Car, 20 feet of track, and endless bouts of nostalgia, according to Gadget Lab. Scoff if you will, but it sure beats that lame flash drive.
(Credit:
OhGizmo)
Like everyone else, we can't wait for Speed Racer to hit the theaters next month. Not just because we're anxious to see the cutting-edge animation or to revisit childhood memories, but also because Craver Caroline McCarthy won't stop talking about it.
But despite all the hype, there seems to have been a surprising dearth of the kind of product merchandizing that usually accompanies releases of this ilk. In fact, the first branded gadget we've seen is this USB flash drive that comes with a Target gift card.
OhGizmo notes that the drive stores only 62.8MB, but almost all of it is packed with Speed Racer content that kids (and some adults we know) will appreciate. As for us, we're just happy to have our very own "Mach 5."
The Mach 5 was on display at the Detroit auto show.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Somehow, a reporter for Road & Track got to test the Mach 5, the car from the upcoming Speed Racer movie. We got to see the Mach 5 at the Detroit auto show, although the one we saw looked like a nonfunctional mock-up. Some of the features and specs covered in the Road & Track article seem fictional, such as the "crampons" that are supposed to wrap around the tires for better traction. But the article includes pictures of things such as the saw blades that pop out from the front, so we're not really sure what to believe. The car in the article is supposed to be powered by an 8-liter quad turbocharged V-12 putting out 1,700 horsepower. According to the spec sheet handed out at the Detroit auto show, the fictional car only has 1,000 horsepower. The article also points out that Yokohama designed special tires for the Mach 5, and the car's builder says that most of the film's budget was spent on the car. But when we see stats such as 0.6 seconds to 60 mph, we have to assume that the entire article is fictional.
(Credit:
CNET Networks/Sarah Tew)
Racer Motors, a family-owned racing company, displayed its Mach 5 race car at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. Although the car's design is not typical of what's found on today's race tracks, the Mach 5 boasts some impressive specifications. Spinning at 8,500rpm, the engine produces 1,000 horsepower, while its 1,000 ft.-lbs. of torque comes at 7,000rpm. All this power pushes the Mach 5 to speeds in excess of 300 mph. The spec sheet handed out at the auto show mentions some surprising and decidedly nontypical racing equipment, including a bulletproof cockpit, jump jacks, and saw blades. Pops Racer, proprietor of Racer Motors, designed the car, which is raced by his son, Speed Racer. The Mach 5's first race is scheduled for May 9, 2008.
(Credit:
CNET Networks/Sarah Tew)
(Credit:
Warner Brothers)
Ladies and gentlemen, start your salivating. Those of us silly enough to go to Detroit in the middle of January to look at cars will be able to gawk at the super-cool Mach 5 from the Wachowski brothers' remake of the classic 1960's 'toon. The car is slated to be on display at Cobo Hall in Detroit during the 2008 North American Auto Show, beginning Jan. 13 for press and Jan. 19 for the public.
Although, like most Hollywood prop cars (and more than a few Hollywood people), it will probably be just an empty shell.
The real-life version of the Mach 5 was first revealed back in June, around the time production plans for the movie were announced. Sadly, previous reports say the driving scenes were filmed with the Mach 5 on a crane, and most of the effects were computer-generated. Still, it's fun to imagine tearing down the road in that sweet little road rocket. If I were Trixie, I'd insist on driving.
(Credit:
Warner Bros.)
We extend our thanks in advance for your indulgence of our trip down memory lane this morning. Honest, we've tried to shake this nostalgia bug, but it keeps coming back--and this time we're not going to fight it, and you'll see why.
The Speed Racer car is real. That's right. The "Mach 5" has been brought to life in full glory from the '60s animation version (at least the body, anyway) for the Warner Bros. movie scheduled for release next year, according to Gizmodo. And thank goodness for that, because it's probably the only thing that's remained faithful to the seminal anime show. Christina Ricci as Trixie? Matthew Fox as Racer X? Please. We'll stick with the original series on DVD.
Is the future finally here? We've started to hear murmurs and rumbles about flying cars. Then there's all that research on the cloak of invisibility. And now, according to a BBC story, automatic translation machines that dub your speech, movie-style, could be next. Over on Digg they're extolling this in-the-works product as a "real Star Trek Universal Translator" (of course), but the scientists who are developing it are using the name "Tower of Babel." It looks like they're still having some accuracy issues, so I doubt you'll be seeing world leaders using these to converse any time soon. Nevertheless, it's still a pretty cool concept.
On the other hand, since you'll be mouthing the words in your own language while the device spits out a translation, the end product could quite likely resemble a poorly-dubbed episode of "Speed Racer" more than anything else.
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