'Need a lift?': Debut flight of first flying car which can go from road to sky at the flick of a switch

By Eddie Wrenn

Since man first found himself trapped in traffic jams, we have dreamed of finding a way to leave the gridlock behind.

Well dream no longer, for the world's 'first flying car' has made its debut flight, soaring over the skies of the U.S.A. before touching down and - at the touch of a button - folds its wings away and hits the highway.

The Terrafugia Transition can cruise at 115mph before driving 'at highway speeds' on the roads - and it can be safely stored in the garage.

Scroll down to see video of the Terrafugia's debut flight

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Takeoff! The Terrafugia flying car takes off from the New York airstrip

Carl Dietrich, creator of the Terrafugia, said: 'This breakthrough changes the world of personal mobility - it’s what aviation enthusiasts have been striving for since 1918.'

The company claims its flying vehicle can soar 400 miles through the air on a single tank of gas.

Meanwhile refueling involves no more than driving into the nearest forecourt and filling up with unleaded petrol.

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Time for a refuel: The flying car takes unleaded petrol and its foldable wings allow it to be used at petrol stations and parked in garages

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Touchdown: The Transition heads back down to land, where at the touch of a button it can fold its wings and go for a drive

Other flying cars have been demonstrated before, but this is the first proven model with foldable wings which allows it to seamlessly transfer from air to road.

However there's a few barriers to entry - the car/plane will cost about £139,000 at launch, although car enthusiasts may note this is no more than a top-end Bentley.

Drivers will also need to provide full driver's or pilot's license if they get pulled over mid-flight.

As a light aircraft, it will struggle to fly in poor weather, bad visibility or restricted airspace, but it does have the added advantage of continuing the journey by road if conditions turn for the worse.

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In tandem: The Terrafugia Transition flies in formation with another light aircraft

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Ready to fly: The Terrafugia parked on the runway

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Pilot Phil Meteer in the cockpit during the test flight

Company test pilot Phil Meteer - a former air force colonel - piloted the maiden flight earlier this month.

He told AVWeb: 'The first flight was remarkably unremarkable.

'I've flown several thousand hours in everything from Piper Cubs to F-16s, and the Transition flew like a really nice airplane.'

The Transition is classed as a light aircraft, fitting into the U.S.'s 'light sport' category and making it easier to gain a licence.

The company is still waiting for certification from the National Highways and Transportation Safety Administration.

However Transition are 'confident' the vehicle will soon be taking to the roads and skies.

See video of the Terrafugia's first debut flight here:

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World's Fastest Production Car for Sale on eBay

By Chuck Squatriglia

The car — the actual car — that unseated the Bugatti Veyron to become the fastest production car on the planet is for sale on eBay, and the winning bidder not only gets an insanely powerful sports car but a nifty commemorative watch and key fob.

Shelby SuperCars is making room in the garage and selling Ultimate Aero chassis No TT-02, the car Chuck Bigelow drove through the traps at an average of 256.18 mph on Sept. 13, 2007. That eclipsed the Veyron by 3.63 mph to become just the 26th car in history to hold the Guinness world production speed record.

Shelby calls TT-02 "a piece of automotive history" and says "it is sure to remain valuable and sought-after by future generations." Bidding stood at $155,000 when this was posted, but the reserve hadn't been met.

Given that the Ultimate Aero costs something north of $600,000, the reserve on this record-setting ride is probably in the seven-figure ballpark. That kind of money gets you more than a 1,183-horsepower car, though. Place the winning bid and you also get a framed Guinness World Records certificate for your wall, a commemorative watch and key fob and the wheels and tires used during the record run for your ... whatever. We'd probably make them into a coffee table.

TT-02 has 1,345 miles on the odometer. Power comes from a 387-cubic-inch V-8 with twin turbochargers putting out 14 PSI of boost. Interior appointments include a 10-speaker stereo system, a DVD player and, of course, a navi system to help you find a few places to open 'er up.

Before making its record-setting run, Shelby SuperCars tested the car in the wind tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center — that's where the photo above was snapped — and determined the car would be aerodynamically stable up to 273 mph. That's purely academic though, as it seems highly unlikely anyone would actually hit that speed.

Twenty-six cars have held the record. Ferrari leads the way with six titles, followed by Mercedes-Benz with five.

Photos: Shelby SuperCars. The company didn't provide anything bigger. More pics in the auction listing and at WorldRecordCarAuction.com.

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GM Aims to ‘Wow’ Customers With Seamless and Intuitive Chevy Volt Driving Experience

People who follow the Volt development closely know that GM has about 35 mules clad in Chevy Cruze bodies. These have been undergoing extensive continuous daily testing for months. By the summer we will see the arrival of the first full Volt interior and exterior prototypes, and likely begin to see public test drives.

I had the chance to ask Jon Lauckner who is GM’s VP of global program management what has been happening with control development on the current Volt mules.

GM has already “laid out all of the concepts that we want to use and written a lot of the preliminary code,” said Lauckner. He notes the car’s behavior “has to be software driven” and that all the code has already been “put into our mule cars and we’re evaluating and testing it.”

GM has apparently figured out most of how the vehicle will behave. “I would say that conceptually we’re most of the way there if not all of the way there,” in terms of behavioral programming said Lauckner, “but there’s a lot of work to be done still to make sure that the whole thing operates seamlessly.”

Lauckner feels it is imperative GM makes this car absolutely perfect. He said “we need an experience where people say ‘Wow’ this is really something special. These guys have put a lot of thought into the technology, a lot of thought into the interface between me as a driver and how the car behaving that it tells me the kind of information I need know when I need to know it and that it operates very intuitively.”

“That’s the level of refinement that requires very little explanation for people to understand exactly what going on,” he said.

He says having the car operate completely intuitively and with very little driver explanation is “the reason why we do development.” He says GM really has to “love this thing a little bit to make sure that you not only get it that it actually works but you get it working in such a way that its completely intuitive.”

As to why this development process seems so long to us he said “we need the time with the car and we need the time over a wide variety of conditions to simulate certain things, so that we can see just exactly how the car is going to behave and what sort of information the driver is going to get to make sure everything works in as seamless a way as we can possibly make it.”

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