360° Power Lap with The Stig

Technology continues to march on. As mentioned yesterday, the internet and camera technology have given us access to all manner of things we wouldn’t otherwise have been able to see. Here, we take that up another notch. Not only do you get to see The Stig doing a power lap in a Mercedes SLS… you also get to control the camera. The technology is from VISUALISE, and it is rather amazing. The possibilities as this technology grows are extraordinary. You think the NFL is popular now? Wait until fans can be dropped right on the field and look around. Or what about a movie where you are free to look wherever you like? It will add a whole new twist, and increase replay-ability dramatically. For now though, some say he knows two facts about ducks and both of them are wrong, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for wolves. All we know is… Go watch the video.

Volkswagen and the 500 HP Golf

Concept cars are awesome. Sure, more often than not, they rarely come to fruition in any form remotely resembling what they originally pointed to. But it is still fun to look at the future that will never be and try and glean the bits that will survive. This VW experiment is another of those. You are looking at the Volkswagen Design Vision GTI concept. It was on display at this year’s Worthersee VW event, and it is completely crazy.

After taking design cues from various GTIs of the past, the body has been stretched, squashed, and widened into this fully modern form that still appears to obviously be a GTI. That’s no small feat. But the outside is just the beginning. The concept GTI is powered by a twin-turbo VR6 TSI engine that makes 503 HP and 413 lb/ft of torque. That all runs through a DSG dual-clutch transmission and the power eventually ends up at all four wheels. Top Gear has a good write-up on the car with more details.