4 Cylinder R/c Aircraft Engine on 2040-parts.com

McLaren plan to make windscreen wipers obsolete

McLaren plan to make windscreen wipers obsolete Much of the ‘clunkiness’ in cars – stuff like wind-up windows and a cranking handle – have been made obsolete in cars as technology arrived to make things work better, but one thing that remains on modern cars from the dawn of the motoring age is the windscreen wiper. Invented by Mary Anderson in 1903 after she realised drivers of the first motor cars were having to lean out of the window in rainy conditions to see where they were going, it became a standard fitting on all cars within a few years. Windscreen wipers have certainly improved over the years as technology has developed, but they’re still basically a strip of rubber moving across the windscreen to clear rain.

Futuristic, self-balancing Gyro-X to be restored

Alex Tremulis was an eclectic visionary who saw the future in swoops, curls, bubble tops, and hand-formed metal. At the precarious age of 19, without any training, he landed at Cord Automobile and helped develop the legendary Model 810. In the 1940s he penned the Tucker and the Chrysler Thunderbolt.

VW developing 10-speed transmission to save fuel

Volkswagen is developing a 10-speed dual-clutch transmission to help reduce fuel consumption in its vehicles, CEO Martin Winterkorn said. The transmission is one of a number of drivetrain technologies that the automaker is focusing on for the mid- and long term, he said. Others include plug-in hybrids and a high performance diesel engine.