Each year, Michelin tire company sponsors a global competition known as the Michelin Challenge Design.
This year’s first place winner was “Viento” by Youngai Jun and Gunyoung Yoon from South Korea, who chose Stelvio Pass in Italy as the background for their concept vehicle. According to the designers:
“We chose Stelvio pass in Italy because this course has the best condition for our ‘Viento’ concept.The pass is located in the Ortler Alps in Italy between Stilfs (“Stelvio” in Italian) in South Tyrol and Bormio in the province of Sondrio. It is about 75 km (47 mi) from Bolzano and a mere 200m from the Swiss border. The pass has unique conditions such as many sharp curves with a slight slope and beautiful scenery. The Road is located in the mountains, so it’s usually windy. The VIENTO’s sailing mode needs wind energy because land sailing is influenced by wind.
In the future, drivers are not going to be satisfied with just one seat position in their own automobile. They want a more extreme and exciting moment for their driving pleasure. When they are driving, we want to bring the drivers an amazing experience by various driving conditions such as driving mode and sailing mode.
When in driving mode, drivers can climb up the roads stably. On the other hand, if the car transforms into sailing mode, drivers can fully experience emotions of extreme, dynamic and power of the VIENTO.
The material of the sail is based on ‘shape memory’ (fiber and alloy) technology. This technology is suitable for minimalizing volume of the sail. The Up & Down suspension spokes move like an elevator so it could be saving space of the wheel structure. Also, wheel motors and electromagnetic gears are located in each wheel to move independently and dynamically.
Great scenery of nature comes through driver’s eyes because of the VIENTO’s wide field of vision. By this unique characteristic of VIENTO, drivers are fully filled with an amazing sense of extreme driving. Exposed body enables you to feel the texture of the wind and the dynamic steering system shows that driver’s passion.”
Second place went to “SCI Project” by Aurelien Deleuze, Pierre-Hugues Vallin and Robinson Mancaux from France, and third place to “Palm Valley Buggy” by Mehdi Alamdari and Ali Doostdar from Australia.
The following is the 2015 NAIAS video showing the event. For a look at all 15 winners, see the “Showcase of Selected Entrants” on the Michelin website.
