Aerodynamics

Following the development and rollout of a "big hole" hybrid three-wheeled scooter for police and emergency services, UK-based R&D outfit White Motorcycle Concepts has teamed up with Mahle Powertrain to produce a fully electric version.

With a US$425-million cash injection from NASA, Boeing will build and test a full-sized airliner based on its transonic truss-braced wing (TTBW) concept, using long, thin, strut-braced wings to add lift, reduce drag, and burn an impressive 30% less fuel.

This wonderfully odd idea appears to have genuine potential to radically improve the power, speed, efficiency, payload capacity, range, endurance and ground footprint of a wide range of VTOL aircraft and drones. We've never seen anything quite like it.

AGV's ultra-lightweight Sportmodular helmet is still my all-time favorite flip-face brain bucket, and the company has backed it up with a more affordable Tourmodular lid focused on longer rides, with the option to add an integrated Cardo comms unit.

The Celera 500L is a truly remarkable design. Otto Aviation says its odd shape delivers an astonishing 59% reduction in drag, so it can cruise as fast as a small jet while using 80% less fuel. Now, Otto and ZeroAvia are giving it a clean powertrain.

Airbus is moving ahead with its vision of aircraft with active wing control, working to mimic the behavior of bird flight with wings that adapt their shape on the fly to optimize aerodynamics and lower carbon footprints.

Zero-emissions airliners are still a long way off, but Lufthansa and BASF have developed a way to improve things right now. AeroShark is an adhesive riblet film that immediately reduces fuel consumption, and therefore emissions, from any aircraft.

UK company White Motorcycle Concepts, best known for the big hole in its land speed racer, has stuck a big hole and a small hybrid system into a three-wheeled police scooter, and says these two modifications can reduce emissions by up to 50 percent.

There's no bike on earth remotely like the bizarre WMC250EV, an electric land speed racer built to slash aerodynamic drag by taking the radical step of tunneling a giant hole through the middle of it. Boy does it look surreal on track in this video.

British company McMurtry Automotive has shown off its new Spéirling at Goodwood. It's a miniature electric hypercar with a Gordon Murray-style fan system that generates more than 500 kg of downforce at a standstill – and 120 decibels.

There's no motorcycle on the planet like this one. British company WMC has put land speed record holders on notice with a 2WD, hydraulically hub-steered electric motorcycle designed around a great big hole it says can reduce drag by nearly 70 percent.

No props, no jets, no rockets – Spencer Lisenby just broke the world speed record for remote controlled aircraft, going transonic using nothing but the wind, and an incredible degree of skill in a highly dangerous technique called dynamic soaring.