Source: www.bbc.co.uk
UNITED KINGDOM, September 2010: Imagine a car so narrow that two can drive next to each other in one lane; a car so small and short that three can park in one parking space. Now imagine that the car is built in a shed from glass fibre, recycled plastic bottles and steel tubes, using just a fifth of the material required to build a conventional car.
Such a vehicle would have the potential to prevent gridlock on the world’s roads as the number of cars quadruples to 2.5 billion by 2020. Well, that car has been made. It seats three, weighs just 1267lbs, has a top speed of almost 100mph and is expected to cost about $9,000. The man behind the project is Professor Gordon Murray. During the 70s and early 80s, Prof Murray earned his spurs as a Formula 1 racing car designer, churning out cars that won a string of Grand Prix races and World Championships.
Prof Murray’s team has built a tiny city car – the T.25. The T.25 has no doors; instead it opens as the front tilts forward The T.25 copies the F1 supercar’s three-seat interior design, with the driver in the middle and the passengers behind. And like the F1, the citycar is built using composite materials – only cheaper ones. The body panels and the monocoque, or base, of the car are reinforced with glass, which costs a fraction of carbon, Prof Murray says. Some of his 30-strong staff are secretly developing a number of different vehicles based on the T.25 manufacturing principles. “A five-seater, an eight-seater, a bus, or a two-seater,” Prof. Murray says, insisting anything is possible. “We are very flexible.”