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Debate Battle! LAMBORGHINI vs. FERRARI

January 28th 2008 21:39

This is a debate over visual aesthetics, not performance stats. Over the decades these two makes of supercar have battled it out for top spot. Which one is the fastest? Which one is the most powerful? Which one is the most luxurious? Each of them has commandeered these attributes with great skill and finesse ... but we’re not here to discuss and argue over high speed and smooth engineering.

We’re here to debate their design style and visual appeal.

It’s a simple enough debate, no politics or ethics involved, only personal taste is at stake. Is it the rearing stallion or is it the charging bull? Scarlet crimson or midnight black? Hard top or roadster? A vintage from the 1950s or 1960s? Or the glamour heyday of the 70s? Perhaps the ostentatious 80s? Or the sleek 90s? Or maybe you prefer a model from the new millennium?

In the mid-80s, when I was sixteen, my family traveled to England and in London we visited some dear old friends of my parents. They were rather wealthy with a home in Kensington and a huge farm in Sussex. The father, like my dad, was a bit of a car nut. He was into Ferraris and owned a couple, one of which was a 1960s Dino, but they weren’t kept at the London home. I had recently become entranced by the Lamborghini Countach regarding it as the most stylish looking car I had ever laid eyes on. As far as I was concerned nothing came close to the Countach for sheer wow factor.

Despite having an extensive die-cast model car collection (Matchbox, Corgi, Hot Wheels, and others), I was naïve. I hadn’t done much looking around in the real world. No doubt there were other cars just as fantastic looking, but I had yet to discover them.

We went to a car show and I bought myself a Lamborghini car key ring. I told myself I’d get the key one day when I was rich and famous. Later back at the Kensington pad Mr. Ferrari gave me a present from his bookshelf; a large hardback pictorial history of Lamborghini. On the title page in the front of the book he wrote “To Raoul, a LAMBORGHINI fan … but he’ll learn!” This was a sly nudge to let me know that Ferrari was No.1 in his books, and always would be.

Several years later whilst re-reading the beautiful Lamborghini book I “discovered” the Miura, in particular the P400 model from the late 60s/early 70s. I fell in love. I’d always thought the Countach was about as sexy as a car could get. I was wrong. The Miura is sex on wheels. I’d even say it’s the car lovers equivalent of deep throat with a finger up the ass, but some people might find that analogy a little crass. How about Miura is the g-spot of performance cars ... now that’s a little less vulgar, but no less carnal, because that’s what these extraordinary cars evoke; a base, but overwhelming desire; to own, to drive … and caress.

But enough of the vehicular vernacular, let’s put the images up for debate. Which cars do you find the most eye-catching, most attractive, most visually appealing, most stylish-looking, sexiest, sleekest. Is it a Lamborghini or is it a Ferrari? Here they are, twelve of each, alternating …

1963 Lamborghini 350 GT

1957 Ferrari California 250

1965 Lamborghini 350 Zegato

1962 Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta

1976 Lamborghini Urraco

1960s Ferrari 275/330 GTS

1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV

1960s Ferrari Dino

Lamborghini Countach P400

1975 Ferrari 308 GTB

1982 Lamborghini Countach SV

1971 Ferrari 365 GTA BB Modena

1985 Lamborghini Countach P500 S

1982 Ferrari 208 GTB Turbo

Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder

1986 Ferrari GT Turbo

Lmaborghini Espada concept

Ferrari Dino concept

Lamborghini Gallardo Nera

2006 Ferrari F430

Lamborghini Reventon

Ferrari 404 Enzo

Lamborghini Miura 2007 concept

Ferrari 599 GTB

175

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Posted By: Raoul Duke - Category: technology

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robots

October 24th 2007 06:39

In Isaac Asimov’s famous novel about robots, I, Robot (which was eventually adapted into the dire and wholly dissimilar Will Smith vehicle) the Three Laws of Robotics were laid down. Every other science fiction author admired the clarity and humanity of his regulations. Although they were broken here and there, many writers to this day utilise their basic principles.

original cover to Isaac Asimov's I, Robot

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Robots have come in all manner of sizes and designs over the decades. And as we push deeper into the 3rd millennium robots are starting to appear more and more as real utiltities designed to aid and abet the human race.

Personally I can only see tears before bed time. Automaton will eventually seize the planet in earnest and we’ll end up with a scenario not too dissimilar to the prologue of the brilliant sf-action-thriller The Terminator. Robots will have taken over the world. It’s a scary thought, and one not to be taken too lightly, regardless of how absurd it might seem.

We already have sentient artificial intelligence; machines that can think and operate by themselves, without human interference or executive control, and the more we experiment and make breakthroughs in robot technology the more chance of something going awry. Japan is leading the field.

But enough of the serious implications, what about the entertaining kind of robots? The Iron Giant, Number Five, Robby the Robot, ED-209, and Hector from the Farrah Fawcett vehicle Saturn 3. Actually some of those have been not only down right mischievous, but murderous. What am I talking about?! Well, let’s not get too hot under the collar, for a start they’re all fictional robots, created in movieland. But I’m sure US military has been plugging away on robot technology for strictly combat purposes.

I’m a great fan of Survival Research Laboratories. They’re an American team of industrial designers and engineers who specialise in building robots and remote controlled devices that they pit against each other in specially monitored arenas for public amusement. One of the organisation’s originators lost most of one of his hands while building one of the robotic beasts. No, it didn’t bite it off, it blew up.

SRL made a short film I saw in the late 80s at a film festival. I believe it was a combination of animatronics, stop-motion animation and remote-controlled robotics. It was called A Bitter Message of Hopeless Grief. It featured several robots underground battling it out to the nasty end, occasionally re-fuelling from an underground spring of crude oil. The film left a deep impression on me like a strange and troubling dream.

I've included primarily robot robots. But there are a few androids/cyborgs. I do like that metallic skin. My favourite film is Blade Runner, which features replicants: flesh and blood androids. I had a crush on Sean Young as Rachael. "Do you like our owl?", "Artificial, isn't it?"

I've sent the future and it works. Yes, automaton is just around the corner. Best get yourself a little robot dog for a pet, one of those service robots to clean the house, and one of those Naomi Campbell sleek 'bots to service other needs when you're all alone. My favourites here are Maria from Metropolis, which you can see George Lucas blatantly ripped off for C-3P0, but hey, I love Star Wars, so whatever. I love the Nanofly 'bot as well, kinda cute'n'clunky. Bender always makes me laugh though, and that's imperative in this incoming cold climate of metal and chrome.

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motorcycles

August 27th 2007 02:12

Although I’ve always enjoyed riding bicycles, I’ve never ridden a motorcycle. Not properly anyway. I’ve fooled about on a trail bike on a farm, but I’ve never ridden on the open road. That just scares me. Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the visual allure of motorcycles, and they’re a marvel of engineering.

My father had a small Honda which I’d ride pillion on when I was a lad. That was always a thrill, clutching on tight to my father’s waist, or if I was more game I’d have my hands behind me holding the bike’s frame.

Watching skilled motorcyclists is nerve-wracking. It looks so damn dangerous. And it is. When they turn those tight corners and lean out, it screams disaster to me. But of course, the riders are in complete control. It’s all about physics ... and I was never any good at that.

Often we get disturbed or annoyed by the loud roar of a motorcycle as it tears past us down the street ridden by some dickhead with a small penis, but there is something undeniably stirring, almost arousing, by the controlled sound of a motorcycle’s engine when it throbs and growls.

With the big engine warm between your legs, your leather-gloved hands gripping the thick girth of the handlebars, your helmut head strong and safe, gunning the clutch … you feel 9-foot tall and bulletproof. Not that I’ve ever actually had the opportunity for that kind of getup. But I can imagine.

I’m happy to admire motorcycles from afar. As a technological design they kick ass. Lean and mean for the most part, although some bikes are absolute beasts, like some of those Harley Davidsons. Then there’s the pop culture classics as well; the cult iconographic Vespa, laden down with all the mod mirrors, the Easy Ridin’ chopper and its handlebar heaven.

And then there’s that famous piece of literature: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

I do love the old school designs; the Nortons, the Triumphs, the Harleys. But those stretched body frames - the choppers - they ooze cool, although I’m sure they’re not that easy to steer. But that terrifying monster of a cycle called the Tomahawk sends chills down my spine. In my dreams I might be zooming along the Autobahn on one of those. The nightmare would be when I lose control at 180kms per hour.

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cars

August 13th 2007 03:11

I have a very vague memory of my parents’ first vehicle. I was an infant, so it must be one of those lodged in the cobwebbed far reaches of my mind kind of memories, more of a feeling rather than an image. But the feeling does conjure an image as well, aided by my parents confirmation. It was a 1954 canvas top Land Rover. And they’d have me snug in my little baby-carry in the back.

It made some sense then that as a young boy the car I really fancied was the mid-to-late 70s model of Range Rover. Apparently the Range Rover has been preferred by many in the off-road fraternity as their off-road vehicle of choice. To an impressionable young car lover it oozed vehicular sophistication, girth, power, style and luxury. I bet you didn’t know it is the only vehicle to have been exhibited in the Louvre as a work of art!

I loved my die-cast model cars. The UK brands Matchbox and Corgi and the fancier European-manufactured brands Majorette and Siku. I would stage long dramatic traffic jams along the sides of the hallway which would last several days (and if mum moved any of the cars whilst vacuuming I was furious!)

Years later at high school I became close friends with a buddy who introduced me to the Lamborghini Countach and everything changed. While visiting relatives in England an old school chum of my mother’s gave me a beautiful collector’s pictorial hardback book on the history of Lamborghini. He was a wealthy Ferrari nut and he wrote in the front of the book that I was “a Lamborghini fan, but he'll learn …” Well, I haven’t yet and I still own a Lamborghini key ring, but I moved on from the flamboyance of the Countach to the sleeker, earlier Lamborghini Miura. A truly beautiful machine indeed … the libido with an engine.

Italian car designer Bertone is a legend. Along with the Miura he has designed many of the world’s most magnificent looking driving machines. I’m a huge fan of that futurist design that was prevalent during the late 60s and early 70s. They don’t design them like that anymore. Well, perhaps some of the latest cars are returning a little to that ultra-sleek, super-stylised look, but still, most cars these days all look the bloody same.

Maserati Birdcage Pininfarina concept car

As you can see I fancy the wedge shape, cars that look like panthers, big headlights, small windows, curves in all the right places. Feminine contours with a big masculine engine and the quintessential Euro stamp that says “I am the ultimate driving machine!” But I’m also partial to those terrific American muscle cars too; more rectangular, but still armed with puh-lenty of visual pizzazz. But if I had to nail it down to a top five? (It was damn hard enough keeping it under 30, so I broke my “rule of 24” for this post). 1. Lamborghini Miura P400S 2. Lamborghini Countach LP500S 3. Chevrelot Corvette Stingray 4. Pontiac Firebird 400 convertible 5. Alfa Romeo Carabo.

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guns

August 8th 2007 02:20

“Guns, guns, guns” taunts the head villain from Robocop with a devious, sarcastic smirk on his face. What would the world be without guns? No doubt a much better place, but there’s no use crying over spilt blood, er, milk, the irreparable change in weaponry happened quite some time ago.

For centuries wars were battled and won by the sword. Then the gun was invented and everything changed. Hand-held firearms first appeared in the early medieval times but it wasn’t until the sixteenth century that the pistol was perfected and thus the armour of the knights died a swan song.

The matchlock, although cumbersome, was the first real useable hand-held gun. A section of match cord burned very slowly and was used to ignite powder in a flash pan, which ignited powder in the barrel sending a lead ball in the general direction of the target.

The latter-designed flintlock, used in pistols such as the blunderbuss, prevailed for nearly two hundred years. Along the way the addition of cartridges and repeating rifles and pistols added more firepower to guns as well as tighter accuracy and longer range.

Considered by many to be strictly a lads’ interest, but that’s a tenuous reasoning. There is something incredibly compelling about guns. Not that they are devices designed specifically to maim and kill, but more precisely they have a fascinating visual allure. There was something about that L-shape, the barrel, the trigger, the “gun metal”. Phallic? Certainly, I’ll freely admit it.

Two things brought about my quiet fascination with guns. One was my father’s extensive collection of replicas. He had everything from revolvers to automatics, rifles to machine guns. They all looked and felt like the real thing, but they weren’t; authentic, yes, but fully operational, no. Guns from my father’s collection were often hired for plays and film shoots. The famous New Zealand Crunchie bar ad from the mid-70s set on a train in the wild west used my father’s revolvers and rifles.

The other thing was the Tintin comic book adventure Flight 714. While trapped on a volcanic island Tintin and Captain Haddock both acquired unsual looking machine guns. I wanted Tintin’s German-esque machine gun. It had a very cool design. As it turns out Hergé had created them especially.

As you can see I’m partial to the classic gun designs, but being a science fiction enthusiast I’m keen on the look of the futurist gun designs, most of which are already based on an existing gun (such as the RoboCop, Blade Runner and Star Wars pistols). Definitely Han Solo’s trusty blaster and Rick Deckard’s Plager Katsumate series-D blaster has always commanded my attention, but for sheer rollicking, destructive audacity, the Gatling gun is the go-go-go-go-go-go-go-go-go!!!

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telephones

July 30th 2007 02:18

Many historians credit the invention of the telephone to Alexander Graham Bell. It is true that Bell was one of those who patented an "improvement" on a device known as the telephone. It is not true that he invented it.

The device that Alexander Bell imitated was the electrical equivalent of a child’s toy composed of two cans connected by a taut string. People had been experimenting with electrical sound transference and similar contrivances long before Bell performed his experiment. Bell contributed nothing to the theories on which electrical voice transmission is based, nor was he the first to apply those theories in physical form

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