The Solar Impulse, a prototype aircraft being developed as part of a project to fly around the world on solar power, successfully underwent its first engine run up today in Switzerland. After waiting for calm winds and favorable weather, the team rolled the delicate aircraft out of the hangar Friday.

Just before noon local time, test pilot Markus Scherdel boarded HB-SIA, as the aircraft is officially known, and powered up the four electric motors. Initially Scherdel only ran the motors one at a time. But after testing each one individually, he was given the go ahead by engineers to run all four at 400 rpm — the power needed to taxi around the runway. For this first test, though, the pilot kept on the brakes and did not go anywhere.

“With its engines running at full power, it gave the impression of wanting to get off the ground straightaway…but it won’t be long now before we release the brakes and let it roll its first few meters,” said Solar Impulse co-founder Andre Borschberg.

The Solar Impulse team says tests will continue over the next several days including initial taxi tests around the airport. Friday’s motor test was the first time the aircraft has been fully assembled outside the hangar.

“For the whole team, the impression of seeing it completely assembled, majestically reigning over the Dübendorf tarmac was very intense!” said project founder Bertrand Piccard. “We just can’t wait to see it fly, culminating six years of work.”

Piccard is no stranger to round-the-world flights; in 1999, he was the part of the first team to fly non-stop around the world in a balloon. His plan is to begin flight testing soon, complete a flight across Switzerland some time next year and in 2011 make some of the first long distance flights.

Sometime in 2012, Piccard and another pilot plan to fly a larger version of the HB-SIA around the world. Though the airplane is capable of making the trip non-stop, according to Piccard, pilot fatigue limitations will break the trip up into several three- to four-day, round-the-clock stages. Batteries will power the solar-powered aircraft at night.

Photos: Solar Impulse

Solar Impulse during motor testing in Switzerland

Autopia has been all over KERS (Kinetic Energy recover System) since it first hit the track. We’ve been avid fans of Corsa Motorsports hybrid that’s been racing in the ALMS, applauded BMW’s decision to bring its KERS hybrid tech from the track to the road, and thought that Lewis Hamilton’s win with KERS at the Hungaroring was only topped by Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari coming home victorious at the mighty Spa circuit in Belgium.

And now, KERS has received the Powertrain Innovation of the Year award at the 2009 Professional Motorsports World Expo and it has us cheering again.

So why did KERS win? Essentially because it’s a win/win sort of deal. Not only is it a slick little energy recovery system, taking the energy normally dissipated under braking and storing it in batteries, rather than wasting it as heat, but in it’s Formula One guise, that energy can then be applied back to the road via a steering wheel mounted button. You’re coming out of a corner, and someone is right on your tail? Hit the button and another 80 horsepower gets delivered to the tarmac via those sticky Bridgestone slicks.

And yes, it works quite well, and not just on a twisty, hard to pass on track like the Hungarian GP circuit, but it also proved to be quite effective on a more traditional, “power” circuit like Spa. Bottom line: An addition 80 horses are handy, no matter where you need them.

In the ALMS, the KERS is applied a little bit differently. Rather than having a button that gives you that extra 80HP at the touch of a button, the ALMS mandated system is always on. And Corsa motorsports has said in the past that the most noticeable gain is, of course, better mileage. Yes, we know that sounds like a contradiction in terms to a lot of non-cognoscenti, but racers care huge amounts about mileage. Look at it this way: You don’t win races by stopping in the pits to get more gas, you win races by staying on the track. Racing is not about power alone, but the efficient application of that power.

And the future of KERS? It looks very good for ALMS, with Corsa Motorsports continuing on, and Peugeot says it still intends to run its bio-diesel fueled, KERS equipped racer at Le Mans in 2011. In F1, things seem a little bit murkier. For next season, KERS was in the technical regs, then it was out, then it was in, and last we heard, it’s out, but they’re thinking of bringing it back in. Ask Jean Todt, newly elected president of the FIA, he should be able to tell you.

So, congratulations all around to all the KERS equipped teams in all the various series that have run, and won with the system, and congratulations to 2009 Professional Motorsports World Expo for having the foresight to give out this award.

Photo: Mercedes Benz

My DIY electric car project has officially started: I bought a car to convert, a sky blue ‘67 VW Beetle. I’ve had my eye on it for awhile. Now that I’ve got the title in hand, there’s no turning back.

So why a Beetle? Easy. They’re cheap, they’re light and parts are easier to find than sand in the Sahara. They also have the complexity of a screen door, which is a plus because I’ve got no automotive skills to speak of. EVs are pretty simple machines: A motor, batteries and a controller. You can rig them to run extras like power steering and power brakes, but that adds complexity. The Bug doesn’t have such perks. It’s perfect for my needs.

I paid $500 for it. That’s a great price considering its condition and the number of new parts it’s got. The paint is a little dull, but the body is pretty straight without many blemishes. Well, aside from the blackened paint from the engine fire, but that’ll buff right out. And on the plus side, I don’t have to yank an engine to make room for the motor.

The interior is really sharp — I love the classic ’60s chrome details, and everything’s cherry. I bought it from Ralph Finlinson, an EV converter and dealer of sorts in the Salt Lake City area. He says the previous owner was restoring the Bug but threw in the towel after the engine fire. It looks like he’d checked the interior off the to-do list before calling it quits. The car’s also got a new front end, new brakes and new tires. The sunroof will come in handy in the summer since I won’t have any air conditioning.

But what really got me was the car’s lines. A feeling came over me when I saw the Bug for the first time. Its curves are seductive. What an interesting, appealing and classic shape the old Beetles had. Why don’t cars come with curves anymore? To me, the Bug’s contours will always be reflective of a time when form for form’s sake was important.

The Bug is ideal for a conversion because, as I mentioned last week, there are several considerations when choosing a donor car. The biggies are weight, transmission, battery placement and the complexity of auxillary systems like power brakes and power steering. Ideally the car should be light and it should have a manual transmission. This makes things much easier. You also want something with a lot of real estate for the batteries and the ability to haul all that weight. It’s no wonder we see a lot of Volkswagen Rabbits, Porsche 914s, Geo Metros and small pickups with extension cords. But people have converted just about anything you can think of, including a VW Passat, an old-school Bug and a Chevrolet El Camino.

Kyle Dansie started converting vehicles a few years ago when gas prices started going crazy. So far he’s converted an ‘86 Kawasaki Ninja ZX 900 motorcycle (pictured at right), a beautiful 1994 VW Golf and, most recently, a 1991 Toyota pickup. He considered starting an EV conversion business, but when gas prices fell back after spiking last year, so to did public interest in electric vehicles.

Dansie’s provided a goldmine of info and introduced me to an EV interest group in the Salt Lake area. I’ve already made several valuable connections — pardon the pun — that will prove helpful as I start stuffing an electric motor and a bunch of batteries in my Bug. If you’re thinking of trying your hand at a conversion, you’ll definitely want to find the EV evangelicals in your area. They’re only too eager to talk about their projects and share information. They’re usually looking to upgrade the components in their rides and sell the old parts to fund the projects. I’ve found some good leads on batteries and a motor controller this way.

The converted Bug I drove earlier this month was a lot of fun, but Dansie’s torquey Toyota gave me a better taste of what EVs are capable of. Acceleration felt as brisk or brisker than you might expect from a Toyo running on dino juice, and Danize’s truck has no problem achieving freeway speeds. Depending on how fast you’re going and how hard you’re driving, it’s got a range of 30 to 50 miles.

Dansie put a NetGain WarP 9 9-inch motor in the truck. I plan to use one in the Bug. It’s good for 70 peak horsepower. Juice comes from a 144 volt battery pack comprised of two dozen 6 volt golf cart batteries. Batteries probably have the largest effect of any component on an EV’s performance. Higher voltages will equate to better acceleration and higher top speed, but is offset by weight and cost. Danzie’s pack weighs more than 1500 pounds and puts the truck only few hundred pounds under its gross vehicle weight. I won’t be able to put that kind of weight into my bug.

But there’s more than one way to reach 144 volts. Dansie could have installed a dozen 12 volt batteries and saved about half the weight, but he also would have halved his range. What’s more, 12 volt batteries tend to wear out faster than 6 volt batteries under EV loads. I must find the right balance between weight, range, and performance. Look for more battery information in future posts.

Small trucks offer definite advantages for conversions — they’re built to carry a load, they have loads of space for batteries and the front engine / rear-wheel-drive layout gives you lots of space to work with under the hood. If I wasn’t converting a Beetle, I’d probably look for a truck. But I love my Bug.

Yeah, it’s cheap and curvaceous, it’s light and parts are plentiful. But the best reason for converting a Bug is the Bug itself. It’s an icon, the single most successful automobile ever, with more than 21.5 million built during a 65-year run that ended in 2003. The People’s Car brought affordable and effective transportation to the masses.

Somehow electrifying one is just so right.

Got any advice, suggestions or ideas for Matthew? Share ‘em with us! And follow his progress on Twitter @ Wired_EV and here at Wired.com.

Photos: Matthew Redd / Wired.com

See Also:

• We’re Building an Electric Car!
• DIY Electric El Camino Is All Kinds of Awesome
• Gallery: VW Shifts Gears, Going from Gas to Electric

Under the hood of Kyle Danzie’s 1991 Toyota pickup EV. The black box is the controller. The green box is the charger. And that big white box holds five of the truck’s 24 6-volt batteries.

The interior of our Bug is super-clean, and everything’s there.

She’s straight, and the body’s in good shape except for…

… the small matter of an engine fire. But we don’t need the engine anyway.

A little elbow grease, a little paint and an electric motor and we’re good to go. Stay tuned.

Mini is looking to gain a space on the coffee tables of artsy gearheads the world over this holiday season.

A new book depicts their iconic subcompacts repainted in ways that sure beat any of the exteriors we’ve dreamed up on the Mini website. Titled “Wash Me,” the compilation of photos turns each Mini into what the automaker calls a “transient work of art.”

Ten Swiss artists including Smash137, Fabian Bertschinger, Marisa Pichler and Gigi Burn, Tika and Yello frontman Dieter Meier put their own spin on Mini hardtops for the book. While all of the artists have extensive experience in fields ranging from graphic design to murals, none of them had ever painted a car before “Wash Me.”

The artistic tie-in isn’t new for Mini, who has sponsored the “Ludlow 38” exhibition space at the Goethe-Institut in New York and  the MINI International Photo Award. Plus, remember that Mini’s parent company BMW has a long history of Art Cars starting with the iconic 3.0 CSL by Alexander Calder.

The book will be published in a limited edition of 2,000 volumes by Mini Switzerland and is priced at 34 Swiss Francs — about $33. We don’t know if it will be available stateside, but you can at least enjoy some of the photos in the book here at Autopia.

Photos: Mini

Keeping a secret in the motoring world is nearly impossible. Maybe that’s why Italian bike manufacturer CR&S let the cat out of the bag just shy of the EICMA Milan motorcycle show on November 10th.

The Duu — Italian for two — follows the “two” theme throughout the bike. It’s a two-seater with a V-twin engine and it fuses the sporty European and muscular American motorcycle cultures. But the most impressive specification in this repertoire of twos is the massive 2.0-liter engine.

That’s right. It’s a naked sport-bike with a powerplant that dwarfs those in a lot of small cars.

CR&S says the Duu is much like its smaller sibling the Vun –“one”— as “a motorcycle made for bikers by bikers.” But goes further as an exercise in innovation. The company claims it’s a combination of modularity and muscle. The muscle is indisputable, but the modularity isn’t something that goes beyond the factory floor. It’s more of a made to order personalization from an à la carte menu. If the menu ever changes, you can be sure of one thing — the house specialty will remain a healthy two-liter helping of aluminum.

The engine is the very same designed by specialty tuning company S&S in celebration of its 50th anniversary. A big player in the specialty parts market for American V-twins, S&S is responsible for a plethora of motorcycle drag racing and land speed titles. The two-liter X-Wedge engine was its call for a big-bore work of art that met the latest emission and noise standards. What we’re really itching to find out are what kind of performance numbers we can expect.

Based on looks alone, the Duu seems poised to tackle any corner, cruise any straight or own any drag strip with a high level of panache. We have seen motorcycles reminiscent of the MV Agusta Brutale in styling and others similar to Confederate Motorcycles in raw aggressive look. But much like a wife meeting a mistress, not once did we imagine such an encounter would create so much passion and sex-appeal.

Just as you suspected, all that muscle and personalization doesn’t come without a premium. Weighing in at a base-price of €20,000.00 ($29,500) the Duu costs enough to buy a Brutale almost twice over. And if its not worth it for the looks and power, how about owning a bike rarer than the Bugatti Veyron?

A tip of the hat to Chris at BikeEXIF for the heads-up.

Photos: CR&S Motorcycles

Riding shotgun lost some its luster today when Ford announced the industry’s first inflatable seat belts, which it claims will provide five times the protection of a conventional belt and could increase the number of back-seat passengers who buckle up.

The technology is designed to give additional protection to those in the back seat, especially kids and seniors who are more vulnerable to serious injury during a crash. The new system, essentially a mashup of airbags and seat belts, will appear as an option when the next-gen 2011 Explorer begins production next year.

“We have taken the top two life-saving devices and brought them to the next level,” Dr. Srini Sundararajan, Ford’s head of research and advance engineering, said in announcing the technology today.

Ford, which in 1955 became the first automaker to offer seat belts, showed off the technology eight years ago during the Detroit auto show and has been working on it ever since. The bag deploys over a vehicle occupant’s torso and shoulder and inflates on the outboard shoulder side, limiting violent movement of the neck and further protecting the head from the hitting the door.

“It’s a very simple and logical system, but it required extensive trial and error and testing over several years to prove out the technology and ensure precise reliable performance in a crash situation,” Sundararajan said.

Sue Cischke, VP of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, shows off the inflatable seatbelt.

Statistics regarding the system’s effectiveness are limited to crash dummies, but Ford claims the belt, when deployed, covers five times the surface area of a conventional seat belt. This spreads the crash loads over a larger area, reducing the potential trauma to the chest. This is particularly important for children, who have less calcium in their bones, and the elderly who have lost bone density. Ford says the belts also will afford small children some of the same protection of a conventional airbag without the risks it poses.

“We ensured that it was harmless,” Sundararajan said. “One of the extreme conditions we tested was a sleeping-child situation, where the child puts his head on the seat belt and sleeps. We tested that, and it works great. We didn’t see any cause for concern.”

Aside from some added girth, Ford says the belt looks, feels and functions just like the ones you use now. It tested a prototype on 1,000 people and claims 90 percent found it similar to, or more comfortable than, conventional seat belts.

The system deploys when the front or side curtain airbags are activated. A canister under the seat releases cold compressed gas through the belt buckle. The airbag, folded into the seat belt, takes about 40 milliseconds to inflate and, like a conventional airbag, is good for one use. Ford says the gas is nontoxic and disperses harmlessly into the air if the bag is punctured.

Ford has no plans to bring the technology to the front seats. It said installing inflatable belts in the back seat makes sense for a couple of reasons. Front-seat passengers are protected by government-mandated airbags and automatic seat belt tensioners that cinch the belts. But more importantly, Ford thinks inflatable belts will encourage more people to buckle up. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 82 percent of people up front wear their seat belts, but just 62 percent of those in the back do.

“The advancements in crash protection have focused a lot on front-seat occupants, and this is a way to better protect rear-seat occupants as well,” Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told the Los Angeles Times. “Safety is now a huge part of the competitive marketplace, and automakers are using safety as a way to sell their vehicles and as a way to show that they are ahead of their competitors.”

Although the inflatable belts are slated to appear in the Explorer first, Ford plans to roll them out globally sometime after that. It won’t say what the technology will cost consumers, but said it will be cheaper than Sync, its wildly popular in-car entertainment, navigation and communication system. So figure you’re looking at roughly $375.

Photo: Ford

See Also:

• Strapping Success: The 3-Point Seatbelt Turns 50
• Airbags Help Airlines Meet New Safety Regs
• External Airbag Protects Pedestrians
• The Mercedes ESF: Almost Death-Proof?

Can’t read it? No problem. Download the .pdf here.

Beyond starring in some awesome movies, Steve McQueen raced a Porsche, rode a Triumph and wore a Monaco. However tenuously those things might be related, Triumph and Tag Heuer mashed them up in the motorcycle you see here.

The Bonneville-Heuer commemorates the 50th anniversary of the iconic Bonneville motorcycle and the 40th anniversary of the Monaco watch. As for the paintjob, it’s a riff on the famous Gulf livery of the No. 20 Porsche 917 McQueen drove in the film Le Mans.

No, you can’t have one because, like McQueen, there is only one. It’s slated to appear at watch shows and high-end jewelry shops around Europe. If Triumph and Tag they were serious about the homage, they’d have someone jump it over a barbed-wire fence.

Photos: Triumph. More after the jump.

We’ve got the full breakdown on the M3 track star that BMW teased us about yesterday, and it looks like one very sharp knife for carving corners.

Bayerische Motoren Werke says the M3 GTS, due to hit the market next spring, will not only give most everything on the road a run for the money, but it will be a great track-day weapon as well. It’s liberally lightened and prodigiously powerful, and BMW calls it “exactly the right car for the truly discerning customer demanding the very utmost in terms of power and performance.”

We call it pretty freakin’ sweet.

BMW goes out of its way to stress how light the GTS is. We’re all about light weight here at Autopia, something we chalk up to having had too much exposure to Colin Chapman at an early age.

The M3 GTS tips the scales at less than 1,500 klograms (3,300 pounds), which is pretty light for a German car. That includes the rollcage with mounts for six-point belts and the fire extinguisher. The roof is made of carbon fiber, which is already standard on the, um, base model M3. The crash diet included adding titanium mufflers, trimming weight from the center console and door panels, ditching extraneous bits like the back seat and stereo system and reworking the insulation. The interior is just this side of gutted. Of course there’s no air conditioning system. That’s what window nets are for.

BMW says the new V8 mill is “derived from motorsport, optimized for motorsport,” and we’re not going to argue even if that’s blatant PR-speak. The engine displaces 4.4 liters and cranks out 450 horsepower. The crankcase is of an aluminum-silicon alloy. Other details include individual throttle butterflies, anti-knock sensors with ion-flow technology and wet-sump oil supply. Now you know why the M in BMW stands for “motor”.

Der motor is mated to a seven-speed M DKG Drivelogic, which is BMW’s fancy name for a dual clutch transmission. There’s a “race-bred” (more PR-speak!) gearshift that can change cogs quicker than the blink of an eye (literally). Six-piston calipers up front and four-piston units at the back bring you down from speed post haste, and a dynamic stability -ontrol system helps keep you more or less pointed the right way. The aerodynamic bits are adjustable.

For all the details BMW provided, the one it omitted was the price. But as the saying goes, if you have to ask …

Photos: BMW

Azhar Hussain is bringing his electric-motorcycle green grand prix to the United States, and the first race is slated for Northern California.

Just two days after unveiling the Mavizen TTX02 electric superbike, the founder of the TTXGP eGrandPrix announced Infineon Raceway will host America’s first running of his zero-emissions race. The race will be May 14 to 16 during the AMA Motorcycle Sonoma Showdown weekend.

“Competition improves the breed, so we hope this new U.S. championship will come to be seen as a milestone event in bringing new transportation technology to the world beyond motorcycling,” Hussain said. “We invite the best and the brightest in the world to join us at Infineon Raceway for the dawning of the next generation of motorsports in the United States.”

As you might expect, Infineon officials are thrilled.

“When it comes to development of zero-carbon motorcycles, Northern California is the center of the industry, so it makes perfect sense that Infineon Raceway should host the first event in this historic new series,” said raceway president and general manager Steve Page.

Brammo, which is based in Ashland Oregon, and the European teams that developed bikes for last year’s TTXGP on the Isle of Man may not agree Northern California is the epicenter of the fledgling field, but Infineon is a great place for the race. The track, formerly known as Sears Point, is a 2.25-mile course in the hills north of San Francisco with 12 turns when set up for American Motorcyclist Association events.

It should be a good test for the 130-mph TTX02, which Mavizen built to provide ready-made machines to anyone wishing to compete in the eGrandPrix. But Hussain tells us the race isn’t limited to Mavizen bikes. Anyone — and he specifically mentioned Brammo and San Francisco’s Mission Motors — can compete.

“Everyone’s welcome,” he said. “Mavizen is about enabling the race.”

For that reason, Mavizen won’t field a team, preferring instead to sell its bike to anyone who wants one and provide tech support to get them racing.

“We’re not competing against people.” Hussain said. “We’re here to help other people get on the grid.”

The inaugural TTXGP on the Isle of Man drew 13 electric motorcycles. Rob Barber circled the winding 38-mile course in 25 minutes and 53 seconds to win the pro class. Chris Heath took first place in the open class with a time of 34 minutes and 17 seconds and an average speed of 66.02 mph. That’s painfully slow compared to, say, a 600cc gas-burning bike that can lap the course in 18 minutes and change. But electric motorcycle racing is still in its infancy.

No word yet on specifics of the Northern California race, but the TTX02 electric motorcycle offers some clues. The drivetrain is swappable, allowing racers to mix and match battery packs and motors to suit the circuit and their riding style. It will be sold with one of three lithium-ion battery packs. The biggest pack, the Snaefell, is an 11 kilowatt-hour unit designed for the 38-mile Isle of Man TT course. The 6 kilowatt-hour Circuit pack is good for 25 miles. A smaller “Sprint” pack is being developed for a 6-mile course. That suggests we’ll see multiple classes.

UPDATE: 5:54 p.m. Eastern: The latest word from Hussain is the race will feature two classes - a 6-mile “sprint” class and the 25-mile “circuit” course. The race will follow the same rules as the TTXGP on the Isle of Man to keep things consistent on both sides of the Atlantic. Registration opens Dec. 1.

Photo of Ron Barber racing in the inaugural TTXGP: TTXGP.

See Also:

• Go Racing on Mavizen’s Electric Superbike
• Mission Accomplished: Electric Motorcycle Hits 150 MPH
• Best Buy Takes a Flyer on Brammo Electric Cycles
• It Wasn’t Even Close For Green Grand Prix Winner

For aviation geeks, hanging out at an airport watching airplanes is just something you do. Some airports are better than others. JFK used to have the Concorde and it’s still great, along with LAX if you like 747s. But few airports compare to KMHV, also known as Mojave Airport, where the future is now.

The Mojave Air and Space Port is one of those places where you can show up on any day and be assured of seeing something very cool. I still remember the first time I visited in the 1990s and it seemed like every where I looked there was something unusual like dozens of parked airliners basking in the sun, something famous like Scaled Composite’s Proteus or something you probably wouldn’t see anywhere else, like F-4 Phantoms being converted into drones.

Time it right and you might even see, say, SpaceShip One make three flights into space. Mojave is one of those places where you never know what you’re going to see but you know it’s going to be cool.

So on a recent trip to the high desert of southern California, I had an extra afternoon to stop by and talk with the Airport Operations Director, Bob Rice. As one of only 23 full time employees at the airport, Rice has coordinated everything from the SpaceShipOne flights to the recent efforts by Masten Space Systems to fly their lunar lander challenger. Of course a big part of his job is simply making sure the normal day to day operations happen smoothly.

Rice was nice enough to take me on a short driving tour of the airport, and once again KMHV did not disappoint.