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Blaupunkt Acurabot: More Than Meets The Eye
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Please visit the Acurabot Photo page for high resolution images.
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The Acurabot, the newest showcar in Blaupunkt's sponsorship stable, was unveiled in its new form at this years CES in Las Vegas. This highly modified 1994 Acura Integra LS was completely rebuilt over a seven week period between November's SEMA show and the January 7th start of CES. Owner Tajai Das of Xclusive Concepts first bought the car in 1998 as a stock, non-Vtec, Integra LS. By 1999 he had begun to customize the car's appearance, soon taking the Best Vinyl Graphics category at the 1999 Import Revolution show in his native Ontario. "That was it," Das recalls. "From that moment, I was hooked." The Acurabot has since undergone three separate overhauls, each time raising the bar on performance, appearance, and sound. By 2003, Das had assembled what he considered his dream team for the third customization of the Acurabot, and the car took Best in Show awards across Canada, and took the Best Stereo Display at Hot Import Nights Chicago, edging out Blaupunkt's acclaimed Evil-Z. The car has always had a Transformers-inspired theme, a nod from Das to his childhood. "When I realized that great showcars had to have a theme, I knew mine was going to be based on Transformers," says Das. "It unites my childhood toys with my obsession for cars, and I love when someone tells me that they the car brings them back to childhood memories." In addition to the extensive transformers mural work, the centerpiece of the install features a motorized replica of Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots in the transformers franchise. The most recent overhaul of the Acurabot took place in period between the 2004 SEMA show in November, and the 2005 CES: just seven weeks. "This rebuild is the hardest we've ever worked to get a car ready," comments Das. "In order to get everything we wanted to do finished in time, I had to be creative getting these guys to work to their absolute limits. In the end, we were all absolutely exhausted, but I think we are all in agreement that this is the best work we've done yet. The car speaks for itself." For Audio reproduction, the Acurabot features four sets of Blaupunkt component speakers in the hood, doors, and trunk. Four 12-inch Blaupunkt Velocity subwoofers are mounted in a rear-seat enclosure, and a fifth is in a roof-mounted enclosure. The fullrange speakers and roof-mounted subwoofer are driven by five Velocity VA2100 amplifiers in the rear seat enclosure, and two VA2200 amplifiers are mounted in the motorized chest of Optimus Prime to drive the four rear-seat subwoofers. The extensive interior fabrication and audio installation were performed by Phantom Car Audio of Mississauga, Ontario, owned by Dan Baird. The sound and video system was designed and installed by master fabricator/installer Cameron Gunn with Baird and Jeff Schwarz. Gunn's design features a total of 28 video monitors, including the centerpiece Chicago in-dash fold out monitor/DVD player. Source components for the system also include three standalone Blaupunkt DVD players, an integrated TravelPilot navigation system, and America SIRIUS satellite radio receiver, an under-dash Sony Playstation 2, and two rearview cameras located in the eyes of the motorized Optimus Prime robot in the trunk. All the work on the project was performed at the BKS Custom shop, owned by Bernard Sandy who was responsible the exterior fabrication, paint, clear and polish work. The airbrush work on both the interior and exterior were performed by Dominique Nguyen, who's company Dominique Designs shares shop space with BKS. The car rests on Cusco full coilover system, Type R rear control arms, and Vibrant sway bar and Ti bars. Braking was enhanced with an AEM 13-inch big Brake System, and the ride sits on 19-inch Racing Hart 3-piece CR rims shod with nitto Neo Gen tires. All suspension system components are custom chromed, and braking/suspension system was installed by Simon Rowe of Rowe Tech. The B18B LS V-Tec conversion motor was bored and stroked to 2.0 liters by Alain Neverette of HTP engineering. It features custom seals, cam gears, rods and pistons, and a polished Vortech Engineering supercharger that was customized to accommodate the Acurabot's automatic transmission. Custom mapping of the engine software chip was performed by Paul Needring of Nee-Tronics. The Acurabot will be touring throughout the US in 2005, including numerous stops at Vision Entertainment' Hot Import Nights enthusiast shows. Acurabot Modifications
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