Tales of the Golem; or, the Modern Epimetheus

Go greased lightning, you're burning up the quarter mile

Advance congratulations to Insight Racing for fielding probably the sportiest DARPA Grand Challenge entry, a Lotus Elise donated by Lotus Cars USA. Lotus Engineering will provide engineering support. A Lotus Elise accelerates from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 5.63 seconds.

“Last year, we were there on the cheap with a 1987 Chevy Suburban,” said Sliva. “We didn’t get a lot of press out there. People looked at us as sort of an after-thought while others had Hummers and things like that.” [...] Sliva is hopeful that the shiny Lotus will draw attention to the technology that the Insight team continues to create.

“If that doesn’t get us attention,” Sliva said, “what will?

“We are competitive on a technology basis, but we weren’t competitive on a looks basis, on the glamour. Maybe people will take us seriously with our $40,000 car.”

Hey Dr. Sliva, I will take you seriously in a 1974 Ford Pinto, if it drives in traffic by itself.

posted by Richard Mason @ Sunday, November 19, 2006