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VW GTI Roadster Concept Gran Turismo (2014) first official pictures

By Damion Smy First Official Pictures 29 May 2014 17:07 VW has revealed this wild-looking 190mph GTI Roadster Vision Concept. After showing sketches last week, it has unveiled an in-the-metal version of the 496bhp machine to VW devotees at the annual GTI-fest at Worthersee, Austria. It hasn’t – this is VW’s virtual competitor in Sony’s Gran Turismo 6, joining the likes of the Toyota FT-1, shown at the Detroit motor show, and the BMW Vision Gran Turismo.

MIT develops self-transforming materials that behave 'like robots without robots'

A cross-disciplinary research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a suite of programmable materials, including carbon fiber, printed wood grain, textile composites, rubbers and plastics, that self-transform when exposed to an external stimulus. Director of the Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits, presented a TED talk on 4D printing in 2013, where he demonstrated how a flat sheet of material could effectively build itself when exposed to water, like a robot without a robot. Following positive feedback from industries including aviation, automotive and manufacturing, his lab has been working on developing materials that change according to different activation sources, including heat, light, and air pressure, in addition to water – all of which have automotive relevance.

A first look at the Audi TT RS plus

Audi is taking aim at the new Porsche Boxster and its yet-to-be-revealed sister model, the upcoming second-generation Cayman, with a spectacular 174-mph version of the TT RS, pictured here officially for the first time. Called the TT RS plus, the powered-up coupe and roadster pairing is set to join what is shaping up as a formidable display of new Audi models--including the third-generation A3 and the RS4 Avant--at the Geneva motor show in early March. The centerpiece of the new range-topping TT is a tuned version of Audi's turbocharged 2.5-liter, five-cylinder direct-injection gasoline engine as used by the go-fast TT RS, the RS3 Sportback and the limited-production A1 quattro.