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The Altcoin Rises

O n May 11 2020, the crypto world experienced the phenomena knows as Bitcoin halving . For those who are still a little looney-toons regarding this phenomena, here's the lowdown . Moral of the story is that, as the Bitcoin supply decreased and it's 21 million market cap slowly approached, it was widely accepted that the low supply and high demand will increase the price of the cryptocurrency back to its previous highs. Basic business right? Wrong! Source: Equity Trust Company BTC prices actually fell and after briefly holding steady, are only just rising above the 10000 USD range. Surprise eh? Well, we are not done yet. Because while the most valuable crypto coin wasn't showing it's expected gains, some other cryptocurrencies shot to outer space. There was no SpaceX rocket nor a Tesla Roadster involved. These "altcoins" bumped up in their market value thanks to the entire underlying system of cryptocurrency: investor speculation.  But what exactly are these ...

Is The Future of Hypercars Safe?

A few years, maybe more than a decade ago we humans had a very precise of identifying cars. Normal Cars were called uh normal cars, 'sports' cars were the slightly faster and fancy onesies whereas supercars were like a dreamy concoction of Alicia Vikander and Dwayne Johnson. Lithe, artful, but packing enough muscle to single-handedly cause global warming due to squealing rubber tyres, supercars were the cream of the crop. When you saw one, you rushed to it, hugging the owner and offering to polish their leathery shoes just to touch the steering wheel. You even offered to have their babies. Such was the mass hysteria when you read about one even in car magazines.


Image result for bugatti veyron

Today, however, supercars are no longer the benchmark of driving thrill, but they are merely a step, a very expensive multi lacquered, leather upholstered step, to the driving nirvana called 'hypercars'. If we humans keep going like this, soon we will have 'elite' and then 'legendary' cars. But let's stick to hyper for now eh?

It is very difficult to say who or rather what machine began this 'hyper' terminology. It's like trying to explain that your sibling did 'Operation Sugar-Steal' and you were the innocent victim. It's tough. But one vehicle which really stands out is the Bugatti Veyron.

Built by French knobheads who evidently don't think Ms Vikander is sensuous enough or feel Mr Johnson is muscular, the Veyron was a 1000 + hp straight-line speed machine. They didn't care about handling or the fact the fuel runs away (if you go all ghostbusters) in 8 mins. They wanted to create a machine which teleported you from Point A to Point B. With cupholders. And it was a success.

True, they didn't make any money out of it, partly because it was like putting Rambo and The Terminator in a car which looked little better than some forgotten supermodel with extensive surgery, but more importantly it was because it was the first mass-produced 'hyper' thing ever made. If you are thinking about profit and loss, forget it. Bugatti is run by pockets which run deeper than the non-mythical land called 'friend zone'. The point is that it was, successfully, a car which put a middle finger to the laws of physics. It was supercar to the power 10. It was arguably the world's first hypercar.

Since then we have come an obscenely long way. Brilliant human minds have converged upon breaking the laws of physics and making the rest of humanity( the ones who can afford that is) piss their socks off. 


Image result for mclaren P1Image result for la ferrari

The McLaren P1 was an aerodynamic jet fighter, the La Ferrari was a curvy red-head (you can buy other colours), a Saturn V rocket in her skirts. The Porsche 918 had vertical exhausts! One would think the were to provide the kind of boost you see in Fast and Furious.
Speaking of Fast and Furious who can forget the cheetah snouted Lykan Hypersport, the bulletproof diamond bully which jumped through three buildings. It has the bloody word 'Hyper' in it for crying out loud. Then there is Koenigsegg with the stunning Agera and its numerous throaty spinoffs and the relatively new Regera. All amazing masterpieces, all laying the claim to the obsidian 'HyperCar' throne.

Image result for porsche 918Image result for koenigsegg regera

But in the technological renaissance of today, a new-up-your-sleeve scenario is always needed. The P1, the 918, the LaFerrari are almost 4-5 years old this year. From a techno-innovation standpoint, they are almost a generation old and, heaven forbid, slowly inching towards the supercar moniker ever since new models started entering the game.


Image result for mclaren senna mso

The Senna was never meant to be a proper replacement for the P1 but it has proven itself to be a staggering achievement from the engineers in Woking. While the P1 looks like it was meant to have curves, the Senna is designed by someone who sat in a wind tunnel with just a ruler. Form over function they said. You begin to wonder when will the Brits begin their assault on 'The Green Hell'.The 720 S is another marvel, giving hypercar performance at a supercar price. The Chiron was always meant to be a successor to the Veyron. Its faster, it looks better and their Chiron Sport edition is lighter too. But will that be enough?

The average demographic age of a 'screw-it-take-this-cheque' buyer has decreased significantly over the years. We millennials are more conscious of the world we live in, the air we breathe, the food we eat yadda-yadda-yadda. The people who buy this money on wheels deals are buyers who are (slightly) worried about the environment. The P1, the Ferrari, the 918 would all have had naturally aspirated or turbocharged engines without any electronic humdrum if the customer base didn't want it. But they do. From small hatchbacks to the supercars, from a Mazda to a Mercedes, everyone wants to have a slightly safer, greener vehicle. And then there are the laws about emissions and noise. And the all-important fuel crisis.


Image result for mercedes amg project one

Yes Hybrid power plants are cool, and if I'm not wrong the Mercedes AMG Project One and the Aston Martin Valkyrie will have some form of battery, but at the end of the day, it is hard to ignore the fact then we will (emphasis on will) run out of petrol. No petrol, no engine. It is tough to say whether the market will go bust.

Even now Lamborghini is saying their all-important Aventador SVJ will be the last purely conventionally powered vehicle, meaning the coming and going Huracans, Aventador and whatever bull Lambo bosses feel obliged to name will have a hybrid engine. As much as they try their best even they know the future is all or at least semi-electric.

But is it possible to make an all-electric car fun? The Rimac Concept -One is fun to drive and looks good. The C-Two looks even better and comes with perks like fire extinguishers in case your name is Richard Hammond or just love crashing cars over the countryside. The Tesla Roadster is another iteration of Elon Musk's superfast goal. They all look stunning and are veritable hypercars. However the elephant in the room is the noise, or rather lack thereof. 

A Lambo sounds utterly beautiful. The AMG engine in a Pagani is melodious, like a lion trying to sing Beethoven. The Apollo IE has £ 60000 exhaust to make it sound like singing fire in an opera. 

All-electric though, is as quiet as your sibling taking away your bar of candy. Porsche have their Tycan, not a hypercar, but quite a fast machine, but even it will be silent. Pininfarina's all-new yet tobe released  250 mph + vehicle is probably going to be eerily-silent as well. 

Maybe the future is about being quite. But hypercars are garish loud toys you could see from a mile away, hear from 2 miles away. It is in their DNA to be loud, and no one can deny that the sound of an engine with brutal upshifts is nothing if not heaven. A car without a breathtaking soundtrack is no hypercar at all.

One solution to this issue is artificially adding sound. Like putting a B&O speaker on the hood of the car and hope no one notices the slight glitches in the soundtrack. It might work, several cars, who are far from super, do it. But then it has lost its authenticity. People who buy, or just admire these beauties, love them because they are different, authentic, eye-pleasing, ear shrieking.


Image result for lamborghini terzo millennio

Another solution, according to Lamborghini is using the interaction of the cars' body with the incoming air and shaping it into crowd-pleasing sound. Now, this is as difficult as its sounds, cuz if the entire car is vibrating and making growling noises you are unlikely to feel comfortable in your equally vibrating Sparco seats. But it is a thought which the Italian marquee want to implement in their concept Terzo Millenium. If it succeeds, the future is safe. Cuz no matter how much Lambo keeps their work secret the rest of the bonafide bodies are soon to follow. Fast accelerating cars, with stupendous comfort and custom soundtrack is a win-win for the potential buyers and a ding-ding for the sellers. 

If Lambo fails, or if another company trying to make electric hypercars sound authentic misses the mark, like playing Justin Bieber instead of Imagine Dragons, the future is bound to be...different. Unless we all throw in the towel and say 'Fine, I'm happy if it's quiet.', Hypercars are on a road to Jurassic world.

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