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2009
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More details on Murray T-25 revealed
 
Since Gordan Murray Design revealed the first sketchy info of its T-25
city car, the world has been eagerly anticipating more details
of this revolutionary vehicle. Rival engineers wonder how a car
measuring just 2.4 meters long and 1.3 meters wide could accommodate
four full-size adults, or even six in MPV form. One well-known for
unknown automotive engineer even declared "it must be either the greatest
achievement or the biggest lie in the world since man landed on moon".
The controversy surrounding Murray T-25 has finally come to an end
today, as its technical details has been disclosed on the web. It is
believed the details were revealed by an ex-employee of Gordan Murray
Design who was sacked during the current economic crisis. The details
major on a roll of toilet paper with sketches of T-25 (pictured below),
which reveals the internal construction and various clever features of
the car. The sketches was said to be drawn by Murray himself while he
was doing something else.
According to the unnamed ex-employee,
Murray used to explore new ideas in toilet everyday.
When he got inspiration, he
would simply draw on the toilet tissue paper. On a good day he could
sketch pages after pages until the whole blueprint is finished. (A few
times he even consumed the entire roll of toilet paper and had to call
amah for help.) This roll of paper was stolen from the toilet when
Murray was struggling to clean his hands on a day the amah was off-duty.
The
sketch obtained shows the T-25 in 6-seat MPV form. It has 3 rows of
seats, one cascade another, to achieve 6 people accommodation in a very
short wheelbase. As shown in the drawing, the first row occupants
sit above the knee of the second row, who sit above the knee of the
third row passengers again. This clever configuration has various
advantages:
Sketch of Murray T-25
(click to enlarge)
1. The last row
passengers enjoy vast of headroom.
2. The "sandwich"
structure gives the second row passengers
unparalleled crash safety thanks to the human crumple zones front and
rear.
3. The front row
driver gets F1-style driving experience from the
open cockpit, something seen as essential to Gordan Murray.
Another special
feature is the driver control. The T-25 uses Nintendo's
Wii remote controller instead of conventional steering wheel
and pedals so that the driver can sit at any row or even in the boot to
alter weight distribution hence achieve the desired understeer /
oversteer characteristic. As the seats
are made of transparent composite materials, the driver can see through
the seats and has a good
view on the road.
Prototype transparent seats
To avoid the
embarrassment of facing the bum of the person in front,
the transparent seats are coated with a thin, clear layer of OLED
(Organic Light Emitted Diode) which may be switched on to display
images of something
else, such as your own bum.
The T-25 is
powered by a 0.5-liter V-twin engine sliced from the BMW
V12
engine of McLaren F1. It is completed with Double VANOS (Very Absurd
and
Obviously Silly) system and Efficient Dynamics to compensate for
its inefficient aerodynamics. To lure green-minded customers, T-25 will
offer a wide range of eco features, such as Plug-in
Hybrid electric shavers, Bake
Energy Regeneration oven, BlueTEC ball pen and EcoBoost toilet stool.
V-twin engine derived from BMW V12
Despite of these
advanced features, it is unknown yet whether this car
would reach production. The current economy is one problem. Another
problem is that a remarkably similar project is being run by Gordon
Murray Design. It may sue Gordan Murray Design for using a similar name
for both the company and the car. Care should be taken not to confuse Gordan Murray
Design T-25 with Gordon
Murray Design T25,
whose
photo is shown at the
top of this post. |
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