The carbon fibre sledge is the brainchild of Snowspeed, a Norwegian team of designers and speed enthusiasts. Their goal is to beat the world speed record in a gravity powered snow sledge designed to reach 250km/h (155 mph). The current world speed record is held by the British television personality, motor biker and lorry mechanic Guy Martin. In 2014, who piloted a sledge at 134.36km/h (83.49 mph).

The snow sledge that was tested in TMG’s wind tunnel is a 50% scale model. Aerodynamic testing in the wind tunnel delivers data gathered with the same sort of hi-tech equipment that is used to test road and race cars.

Mounted to an overhead strut and with a continuous rolling road under the skis, the wind was turned on and gradually increased to test how the Snowspeed sledge behaves at speed. The wind speed reached 40m/s and stabilised, with TMG’s advanced wind tunnel systems recording sideforce, downforce, drag, roll, pitch and yaw through sensors in the strut.

The data helps the designer continue to improve the sledge in order to minimise drag and maximise speed. Moreover, it aids the fine-tuning of the sledge design to ensure it remains balanced in response to forces such as headwind and turbulence. In addition, analysis of the data helps with the creation of a sledge that is stable at speed, by ensuring there is equal side force on either side of the sledge.

Data on the three movements – roll, pitch and yaw – was also generated in TMG’s wind tunnel. This helps the Snowspeed designers identify how to best position the sledge on the skis. During testing, the base of Snowspeed’s skis were covered in Teflon to reduce friction against the rolling road that rotated beneath it.

The Snowspeed sledge was penned by Oslo-based designers Nima Shahinian and Anders Aannestad. To date, the team has built three prototypes.

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Toray and Toyota’s proposal for highly efficient recycled carbon fibre manufacturing relies on an innovative and energy-efficient thermal decomposition method. In this method, combustible decomposition gas from matrix resin is used as the energy source for the thermal decomposition process, which typically consumes the most energy in carbon fibre recycling. As a result, the companies expect to achieve a large reduction in the amount of energy consumed in the recycling process.

The companies plan to build a pilot plant within the Handa Plant operated by Toyota Tsusho’s wholly owned subsidiary Toyota Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture; President: Toshio Araki). With an eye towards future commercialisation, the facility will demonstrate energy-efficient recycled carbon fibre manufacturing technologies while promoting the development of new applications for recycled carbon fibre.

The successful development of recycled carbon fibre and its applications will require collaboration with a wide range of customers to explore the possibilities for specific types of parts and materials. Toray and Toyota Tsusho will leverage their respective expertise and know-how to jointly implement carbon fibre recycling initiatives and contribute to the creation of a recycling-oriented society for the entire carbon fibre life-cycle.

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Currently only available in the Japanese domestic market The new Toyota Mark X G Sports Carbon concept is powered by a 3.5 5ltr V6 engine with a 6 speed automatic transmission.

By employing a carbon roof the car is around kg lighter, the company also used a special clear coating for the carbon which shows off the weave of the carbon whilst also making it weather proof.

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The two companies are set to announce the collaboration in Germany later this week and that they are boosting a previously announced agreement involving joint research on next-generation lithium ion batteries. The original tie-up involved technology for electric cars, the new deal will also focus its attention on batteries for hybrid petrol-electric and fuel-cell vehicles.

In return BMW will share information and expertise on lighter weight carbon fibre bodies which cuts down the cars weight leading to better fuel efficiency.

Demand for lower-emission diesel vehicles is set to grow, with further technological advances in the field seen as crucial due to increasing vehicle emissions standards.

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