Friday, February 02, 2007

The Peugeot N Jooy

It was just about a year ago that I wrote about my new dream car. Actually, it was exactly one year ago. I guess February second will be my yearly car blog post :)

As is often the case with such finds, I have no idea how I found this site, and this car. It is not supplanting the Veyron as my ultimate dream car, but I have found myself thinking about it ever since I saw it this afternoon. According to CNet News, Peugeot has a design contest. The winner will get to see his or her design not only created as a full-scale model, built by Peugeot and debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show in September, but also integrated into an Xbox 360 video game!

The “N Jooy,” pictured at right, is one of ten finalists in the Peugeot contest. It was designed by Wesley Saikawa of Brazil and was inspired by old Formula 1 cars.

So anyway, it initially appeared to me that the “wheels” are actually spheres. My first thought was that this feature would make it extremely maneuverable – in theory, it could travel in any direction. But as I was driving home, a number of questions arose in my mind, and I can’t figure out how it all works . . .

Well, I just found another page with more pictures (click on “The 10 Winners”), and this one where the designer explains it. I don’t think English is his native tongue, as it doesn’t all quite make sense. But it does explain some of the questions I had. Cool!

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