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Drayson Racing and RCA launch EV racing car contest

Drayson Racing has launched a contest with the Royal College of Art's Vehicle Design program to design electric racing car concepts for the FIA's new Formula E series, which is set to start in 2014. The RCA's students are asked to present designs that explore new themes within the technical constraints as part of this course's curriculum. The previous Drayson Formula E concept was developed by Sergio Rinland who will be part of a series of workshops and lectures on aerodynamics, engineering packaging, production engineering and materials, giving students the technical knowledge to develop their designs.

Cars in the living room--art or furniture?

It takes a special kind of person to put a $100,000 supercar in the living room instead of the garage, but we say if you have the means, go ahead and do it. A photo collage that appeared on www.home-designing.com last week showed Ferraris, Maseratis and Lamborghinis sitting in houses as showpieces, like the works of art they are. Our enthusiast side says the owners should be out driving these spectacular pieces of machinery, but something tells us that if you have a Gran Turismo in the rumpus room, there's probably another one in your garage, too.

Kia Picanto

Kia is set to unveil its next generation Picanto city car at the Geneva motor show in March in the next step of its continual range overhaul. As these first images show, the diminutive A-segment hatchback has been totally redesigned to give it what Kia describes as a 'bolder, more mature and more self-confident look'. While the outgoing model's high H-point (and corresponding proportions) remain, its DRG has been brought further in-line with the rest of the Kia range, with Venga-referencing headlamp graphics, a 'tiger-nose' grille and a surprisingly dominant trio of faux air intakes.