In the year 2025: The shape of things to race
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The next big car jamboree is going to be our very own Los Angeles Auto Show, happening Nov. 21-30. One highlight of the event is the L.A. Design Challenge, and this year, the brief is for car companies to create their vision of a motorsport machine from the year 2025.
So, evoking the company’s great reputation in rallying, here is Mitsubishi’s entry, the MMR25 Rally Racer, which looks like it can handle the trans-Sahara trek known as the Paris-Dakar rally. Check out the omnidirectional wheels. These actually exist -- they were patented by a Swedish inventor and sold to the U.S. Navy. Another application of the technology so far: A forklift truck fitted with them.
Apart from this clever reinvention of the wheel, other details are few and far between, such as what kind of futuristic powerplant might propel this thing over the dunes. But as a design study, it’s pretty darn striking.