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The Art of Engineering - Building the ultimate car for Larry Ellison
- joezydeco 17y agoShould be required reading for any future Oracle customer.
- ellyagg 17y agoBecause Ellison demands perfection from his engineers or because then they'll know why Oracle software costs so much?
- aaronblohowiak 17y agoAre the people who make the decision to go with Oracle more impressed by his success than they are turned off by his opulence?
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- gaius 17y agoLarry made his money from scratch in one of the most brutally competitive marketplaces in the tech industry. So what if he wants to enjoy some of his wealth now? Same with Richard Branson - or John Carmack.
- tjmc 17y agoThey might also like to know about his personal fighter jet: http://www.airportjournals.com/Display.cfm?varID=0511014&PrintPage=True http://www.airportjournals.com/Display.cfm?varID=0511014&...
- joe_the_user 17y agoHmm, The whole description seems satisfyingly low tech. The engine is carburetted rather than fuel-injected but it claims a higher power to weight ratio than a Vyron. It's interesting that this company's nearly hand-made cars cost only three times the cost of a factory made Toyota ("Our cars start at $56,995 for the 427 models and $61,995 for the 289 models"). I would have imagined that the ratio was much more - a hand-made Pentium would set you back a lot more than 3X the cost of a factory built one.
- albertsun 17y agoA hand-made Pentium would be impossible to make, just like much other modern tech where building the tools and process to create the end product is more important and costly than the actual end product. What I'd like to know is how much this custom made car cost.
- gaius 17y agoIndeed. There was an article posted here not long ago about Dubai which included a photo of a solid gold Mercedes. This car is understated by Dubai standards.
- blasdel 17y agoIt looks like they're made in Poland, which probably keeps the cost down a lot.
- toppy 17y agoYou mean this? http://www.leopardautomobile.com/ http://www.leopardautomobile.com/
- something 17y ago"only three times the cost" ...without an engine!
- aaronblohowiak 17y agoSmall-run machine parts are less expensive than chip fabrication. "The smallest run possible is typically 12 wafers, which can cost more than US $50 000 after tallying up the cost of materials, photolithography, and fabrication, he says." http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org/portal/site/tionline/menuitem.130a3558587d56e8fb2275875bac26c8/index.jsp?&pName=institute_level1_article&TheCat=1016&article=tionline/legacy/inst2005/dec05/12w.memprof.xml& http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org/portal/site/tionline/menuit...;
- ynniv 17y agoThe Vyron isn't a performance car. You can easily build an Ultima GTR for less than $100,000 with well over 600 HP. People often mistake expensive with fast, when expensive really means safe, luxurious, flashy and then fast. Ellison's roadster is not safe, or luxurious, but it is flashy and fast. [ http://www.ultimasports.co.uk/Content.aspx?f=usaintro http://www.ultimasports.co.uk/Content.aspx?f=usaintro ]
- christopherolah 17y agoThe book binding is awesome in and of itself... This particular example is a bit extreme, but if your going to make a physical book, make it worthwhile!
- zokier 17y agoUltimate car is imho bit of an overstatement, but it's still extremely nice craftsmanship.
- diiq 17y agoIt's the ultimate car for Larry Ellison.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- gstar 17y agoActually, I was really disappointed. The engine bay shot killed it for me, those K&N filters on top of the rocker covers, silly anodised aluminium pressure fittings and the crazy angled radiator support just lack symmetry and grace. The whole thing says to me that it was a whole lot of work, for not a whole lot of excellence. Still though, I bet it goes faster than my car.
- replicatorblog 17y agoHow many of you document your work in anything resembling this manner? At my company we do project books, but we also make physical products so there are a lot more physical artifacts to photograph. I can imagine screens of JS getting old after a bit. That said it would be cool to see some documentation of software products. From concept to wireframes to UI to deployment with "director's commentary" on the code along the way. The TapTapTap guys teased at this with their "Convert" UI video: http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/convert-design-evolution/ http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/convert-design-evolution/ If nothing else it would be extremely gratifying for team members and useful training tools for new additions.
- andrewlf 17y ago$56,995 and no engine, ouch! impressive car but looks like a factoryfive to me
- newsdog 17y agoLarry's got lots of money from helping implement the coming police state in the USA. Just wait until our next 'terrorist action'
- jksmith 17y agoGood grief. This reminds me of the SNL sketch where Trump is giving his wife a diamond encrusted front door. Point being, this is what you come to when you run out of stuff to spend your money on. Why have this thing custom built when you could have a Tesla roadster for substantially less? Probably because he already has two of those I guess. To each his own...
- rflrob 17y agoMaybe a little nitpicky, but does the font they used in the book seem a little... plain? Maybe it's just the sans serif that's bothering me, but if I were designing a book about the ultimate engineering anything, I'd want to put similar thought into the font face.
- tocomment 17y agoSpeaking of building cars for celebrities, Did they ever find a suitable vehicle for Ellen Cleghorne?