Batmobile Crosses Silverstone Tarmac Beside Toyota F1
Event introduced Dark Knight
Toyota F1 and Batmobile
by Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
July 5, 2008 3:00 AM
Filed Under: American, Motorsport, Specialty Marques, Toyota
July 5, 2008 3:00 AM
Filed Under: American, Motorsport, Specialty Marques, Toyota
There are heroes in fantasy and in real life. Ayrton Senna was a real one for motorsports fans. He won so many times in Silverstone that the track was nicknamed Silvastone, a reference to the pilot’s last name. Batman faces criminals in fiction, what makes him a movie and comics hero. Nonetheless, sometimes fantasy and real life heroes’ lives meet. Silvastone, or, better saying, Silverstone was the stage for this meeting. The same tarmac that has seen Senna win has also received a piece of Batman this week, the piece World Car Fans like the most: the Batmobile.
Panasonic Toyota Racing and Warner Bros. Pictures have made a partnership to show Batman’s vehicle at the British Grand Prix and, last Thursday, it even ran a little on the track beside a TF108, Toyota’s F1 car. The idea was to celebrate the close release of the movie “The Dark Knight”, a sequence to “Batman Begins”, the last movie performed by Heath Ledger. Although many movie vehicles are not functional, the current Batmobile, as well as the previous one, which was recently for sale at eBay, runs on unleaded fuel.
Weighing 2.5 tons, the Dark Knight’s ride is 4.5 m long, 3 m wide at its widest point and 1.5 m high. With six wheels, the vehicle does not have a front axle. Its two front wheels are fitted to a sort of “fork”, what, according to the press release, allows the car “to make extremely tight turns”. The four other wheels, with monster truck tyres, are at the back. Batmobile is also able to jump 1.2 m to 1.8 m. It has already jumped a distance of 18 m. Hero’s car stuff…
The movie will be released on 25 July. No need to say Batman will manage to beat the bad guys and keep alive to continue saving the world. It is a pity real life heroes not always manage to do the same.
Press Release (Click to expand)
Thanks to a partnership between Panasonic Toyota Racing and Warner Bros. Pictures, Hollywood is coming to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix weekend to celebrate the release of the event movie of the summer: The Dark Knight.
The much-anticipated film, which releases in cinemas across the UK on 25 July, is the follow up to the 2005 action hit Batman Begins. The Dark Knight reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who again portrays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
To mark the release of The Dark Knight, Panasonic Toyota Racing will adopt a new look at Silverstone this weekend. The Dark Knight artwork will feature on the TF108s and the overalls of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, as well as the team's motor home.
But The Dark Knight theme does not stop there. On show at Silverstone will be the iconic Batmobile and Bat-Pod vehicles, while some very special media events will bring the excitement of The Dark Knight to life.
The Batmobile will even take to the Silverstone track on Thursday evening for a demonstration run alongside the TF108, followed by some unique photo opportunities with the Bat-Pod and Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock.
Notes to editors:
Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Legendary Pictures, a Syncopy Production, a Christopher Nolan film, The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman. Nolan directed the film from a screenplay written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. Charles Roven, Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan are the producers, with Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull serving as executive producers. The Dark Knight is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane.
The Dark Knight will be distributed worldwide in theatres and IMAX by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
The Batmobile is around 3 m at its widest point, 4.5 m long and 1.5 m high. It runs on unleaded fuel and weighs 2.5 tons. The vehicle has six wheels - two in the front, outfitted with sprint car race tires, and four at the back, which utilize monster truck tyres. The Batmobile has no front axle. The absence of a front axle enables the Batmobile to make extremely tight turns. It can jump 1.2 m to 1.8 m and has jumped a distance of 18 m.
Comments
Homerlovesbeer
July 5, 2008 8:38 AM
Prove it....I think u are very wrong! It's called "the tumbler" and was designed from scratch. PFT! As if it's based on a Lamborghini....get off the drugs :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Begins
bakrione
July 5, 2008 2:16 PM
yooo reelax homerlovesbeer, its like someone offended a member of your family or something
Spyshot-73
July 5, 2008 9:47 AM
LOL ok so do you live near cardington in bedfordshire ? , i worked for Airship technologies and they filmed the first and second batman film there in the Hangars, which i was told it is a mix of hummer and Lamborghini.
I cant make it any easier to explain to a 11 year old.
Bada_Bing
July 5, 2008 12:16 PM
Yes the body is based on a lambo - Spyshot , but the rest is chevy and some hummer , alot of websites are soo wrong.
RobERob
July 5, 2008 11:51 AM
FYI: The batmobile is really a Chevy underneath.
But the thing I was wondering about was... does Batman have auto insurance? I mean having the ability to jump roof tops causing all kinds of damage to the structural stability of, say, old churches and crashing threw parking garage walls has got to be considered too much of a liability, no? And what kind of traction does this thing put down with four tractor wheels powering it from behind? Hmm...and no front axle, too? **cough**BS**cough** okay, I know, I know, my nerd talk is done here.
Kepe
July 5, 2008 12:54 PM
If you look at the pictures you'll notice that there's no axle between the front tires. They are both individually suspended from the outer side in to the "fork"
RobERob
July 7, 2008 7:04 PM
I know. It was my failed attempt at sarcasm in reference to "allows the car to make extremely tight turns" which I highly doubt.
carolinaluvr101
July 5, 2008 11:20 PM
I wish they would have used the Reventon as the Batmobile for this new Batman... it would have been so much better! This thing is so ugly...
mps
July 6, 2008 11:58 AM
And they should also make sure that the Lambo logo sticks out right? Dumbass advertisement. Silly. Besides, as I recall, he used a Gallardo to go to parties, using another lambo as a Batmobile... too much maybe? Also, the Batmobile should never be an actual car. And by my opinion, it should be even more ugly, so that it scares the sh1t out of everyone.
LMS
July 6, 2008 12:32 PM
I thought angular shapes had gone out of style in the 80s.
This thing looks like crossbreed between a 4x4 and a tank. In my opinion it's ghastly.
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