Edited by DAN READ DIGITALISM P91 Remember the digi-dashes from the Eighties? Well, these are what they’d look like on your wrist. Sort of... PHOTOGRAPHY: MANUFACTURERS OUR CHOICE OF THIS MONTH’S TOP-SPEC STUFF PLUS HEAD CASE P93 The vented BMW helmet designed to keep your hot biker head nice and breezy DATA DASH P93 Slimline external data storage, designed by Porsche, made by supergeeks LaCie MODERN OLD TIMER P93 Classic American car stereos with modern tech, including hands-free hook-up REVIEWS P95 A graphic novel about life behind the scenes in F1, plus new music to drive to ART OF SPEED P91 I The fastest sculptures on Earth
Transcript
Edited b y DAN R EAD
DIGITALISM P91 Remember the digi-dashes from the Eighties? Well, these are what they’d look like on your wrist. Sort of...
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Our chOice Of this mOnth’s
tOp-spec stuff
PLUSHEAD CASE P93 the vented BmW helmet designed to keep your hot biker head nice and breezy
DATA DASH P93 Slimline external data storage, designed by Porsche, made by supergeeks Lacie
MODERN OLD TIMER P93 classic american car stereos with modern tech, including hands-free hook-up
REVIEWS P95 a graphic novel about life behind the scenes in f1, plus new music to drive to
ART OF SPEED P91 I The fastest sculptures on Earth
NIxON UNIT SS Stainless steel with alarm, chronograph, timer and temperature
£160; Uk.NIxON.COM
CASIO G-SHOCk BLUETOOTHTalks to your iPhone and vibrates for calls/alerts
£160; CASIOONLINE.CO.Uk
SpEEDOMETER WATCH Tells the time using the layout of car dials, with LED night display
£53; GADGETSANDGEAR.COM
wATchliSTTHIS MONTH: DIGI-DASHES
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1|ARTIST’S MODEL T
he Porsche 917L you saw on the previous page looks like it has been driven through a wall of paint at 200mph, its famous psychedelic colours streaking over the
bodywork and off behind the car like a comet’s tail. it was created by american sculptor Dennis hoyt, who, as a boy, used to sit up a tree on his idaho farm, waiting for hours to glimpse whatever might drive past.
it wasn’t until 1984 that he started making car sculptures, and it didn’t take long for people to start calling. his first proper commission came in
1987, when Sir Stirling moss got in touch. Since then, Dennis has made lots more pieces, from Le mans cars to f1 tributes, all bursting from their frames or mountings.
as you can see from the pics above, most of his work is whittled into shape from wood, sometimes layered with metals or other materials. and depending on the complexity of the piece, each can take from six months to a whole year to make. So if you fancy a piece, you’d best send him an email sooner rather than later... £POA; dennishoyt.com
How to look fast without moving an inch. This involves many hours of carpentry from one very patient bloke
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2|In-car chargersPower two things at once with these fluorosilicone
chargers, featuring 12v plug with uSB slot at one end,
and phone/gadget connector at the other (see website for
a list of compatible stuff). the green one shown here has a 2ft-long, non-tangle cable. £23.30; tylt.com
4|Retro radiomodern stereos for your
classic car. they might look old, but these retro radios have a Bluetooth hook-up
for music streaming and hands-free calls, plus iPod
connectivity and built-in amplifiers for decent sound
output. £266 approx; retrosoundusa.com
6|BMW Airflow 2Designed by BmW for
summer riders, with ducts to encourage air into the
helmet, then keep it circulating around the inside. Because there’s
nothing worse than a sweaty biker head... or a smelly
helmet. From £265; bmw-motorrad.co.uk
8|Porsche Slim DriveExternal hard drive designed
by Porsche, made by pro gadgeteers at Lacie. the P’9233 is so slimline, it’s
actually thinner than a macBook air. comes
with either 500gB or 1tB capacity, and a transfer rate
of up to 5gB/sec. From £59.93; lacie.com
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3|Cycle lightsheadlights and turn signals built into rubber grips that slot over your handlebars, powered by aa batteries and operated by thumbing a button. Just a concept for now, but visit the website below, and help get these things into production asap. quirky.com
5|Wheel brushesthey look like the brushes you use to lather up your shaving foam, but these are actually made for getting all the grime out of your alloy wheels. the soft, hog-hair bristles get in awkward corners without scouring the metal. £24.95; shop.autofinesse.co.uk
7|Timbergramgreeting cards screen-printed on 3mm birchwood, light enough to send by standard uK first-class post. can be sent direct with engraved message on the rear. other designs available, or create your own through the custom service. From £3.95; timbergram.com
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worth buying this month
When he joined Williams F1 as team boss, Adam Parr was an F1 outsider, more
used to the workings of a mining company than grid girls and champagne celebrations. So his book, The Art of War, isn’t some gushing memoir, softened by nostalgia. It’s F1 through the eyes of a realist, who wasn’t caught up in the oiled-up, bikini-glam.
Here’s someone who sought to put a lid on the stratospheric – and often unnecessary – spending of the bigger teams and keep the playing field vaguely level. Someone who fought for the life of the smaller, independent teams. And someone who wasn’t afraid of the big characters, no
matter how brightly their egos – or lawyers – shone.
Presented like a graphic novel, its comic-strip illustrations lift a fairly straight narrative, which focuses on the confusing politics behind the mysterious, tumultuous agreement between Max Mosley’s FIA, the F1 teams and Bernie Ecclestone’s F1 management. It deals also with the squabbles between team bosses in the F1 Teams’ Association, especially over cost savings and budget caps. And how, even for the sharpest of suits, it’s a game that you might never win.
Like in any comic, there are heroes and villains. In this case, the latter are played by Bernie,
Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo and Renault boss Flavio Briatore. Perhaps the most contentious theme of the plot is the suggestion that, for a few years at least, Ferrari had a greater share of Bernie’s attention than anyone else. Ultimately, though, it shows that F1 is a business. Someone must attract sponsors. And find drivers capable not only of setting a fast lap time, but of keeping the team’s balance sheet healthy via a squad of financial backers.
At Williams, that person was Parr. And although it doesn’t have the venom the cover might suggest, this is the most revealing account of F1 we could hope for without a pile of gloomy lawsuits. £25; amazon.co.uk
THE STROkES: COMEDOWN MACHINE
New York’s finest are a gang once again, and their fifth
album revels in some brilliant – and very odd – influences. Expect a welter of crunchy,
melodic electro-pop and airy, spacey minimalism.
pHOENIx: BANkRUpT!
A promise of something “experimental” is often a
dire warning, but not here. Bankrupt! is warm and joyous synth-driven pop – recorded on the selfsame mixing desk as Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
jAMES BLAkE: OVERGROWN
The poster boy for emotional dubstep, Blake’s second album is a deep dive into inner space.
Listen out for spare, ringing chords, furniture-rattling basslines and guest spots from Brian Eno and RZA.
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OPTIONS LIST
9|THE ART Of WAR
DRiving muSic
Rob Fitzpatrick is a music critic who writes for The Sunday Times,
