Sportsmobile builds an extraordinarily capable new home-away-from-home perfect for a wide variety of outdoor pursuit

For everyone who loves the outdoors but would still like to enjoy all the comforts of home on their adventures, we bring you Sportsmobile’s Ultimate Adventure Vehicle.

The Ultimate Adventure Vehicle project was designed to create a well-rounded vehicle capable of meeting a wide variety of transportation needs, from running everyday errands to serving as a rolling base camp for multi-week outdoor adventures. This rugged four-wheel drive van includes all the amenities you’d expect to find in a much larger motorhome, and yet achieves unprecedented levels of around-town maneuverability, open-road fuel-economy, serious off-road capability, and back-country camping practicality no other vehicle can match.

Uniquely suited to a wide variety of outdoor activities from mountain biking to sea kayaking, the Ultimate Adventure Vehicle is equally at home dry-camping on a remote mesa in Canyonlands National Park or pulling into the valet stand at a funky resort in the Florida Keys. Based on a full-size Ford E350 one-ton cargo van, the vehicle features interior and exterior modifications and an innovative new four wheel-drive system.

Adventure... 4-Wheeling in Moab

Two Ultimate Adventure Vehicles spent three days with Bill Burke and his 4-Wheeling America Company testing the vehicle's capabilities on some extreme 4x4 trails in Moab. Bill is world renowned for training and instructing off-road driving and vehicle recovery techniques, and as an experienced guide and industry consultant.

The Adventure Vehicles accomplished all the challenges with only a few minor scrapes going thru some narrow canyons.

Range Rover Convertible By Newport Convertible Engineering

Last week we brought you a convertible minivan from Nissan the likes of which we hadn’t seen since the guys on Top Gear took the roof off a Renault Espace before taking it through the car wash with disastrous consequences. This week we’ve got a convertible SUV, which doesn’t sound as mad because SUVs heritage comes from open top vehicles like the Willis Jeep, but looks just as crazy.

This is the work of Newport Convertible Engineering who has brought an open air motoring to the Range Rover Vogue. Newport has used the Range Rover Autobiography so you can be sure there will be plenty of power and lots of luxuries aboard. The Autobiography comes with a LR-V8 Supercharged 5.0 Litre Petrol engine with start/stop to reduce emissions and increase fuel economy. Inside there are high-grade perforated Semi Aniline leather seats for added luxury and a 825 Watt Meridian Sound System to let the world know you’re coming.

As the guys at Newport are experts in converting hard tops to soft tops we don’t expect there to be any problems with the roof and we’d also expect road noise and handling issues created by the loss of the roof to have been considered in the design. We’ve been told that production starts next month (August) but the run will be very short. We haven’t had any prices but as this conversion is based on the £87,00 Range Rover Autobiography you’ll have to have deeper than deep pockets to be able to afford one.

Range Rover Convertible

Whether you want this Range Rover for the most luxurious African safari or to impress the locals in Malibu, there’s no denying that it will grab most onlooker’s attention.

from EUROCARBLOG

détermination

BMW R1200R BY LAZARETH

Ludovic Lazareth has made a name for himself in France with extreme car and motorcycle customs. How about a Mini pickup powered by a 3.5-liter Range Rover engine? A trike with a Ferrari V8 under the hood? Or a custom Yamaha FZR1000 with Tron-style bodywork and a supercharger bolted on? Monsieur Lazareth has a wild imagination—and the engineering skills to match.

This BMW R1200R custom is the latest vehicle to roll out of the Annecy-le-Vieux workshop. And although it may look pretty wild to us, by Lazareth’s standards, it’s a very low-key build.

It was commissioned by a French client who wanted a ‘neo-retro scrambler.’ And the result is more than some high pipes and a new set of knobblies: According to Jean-Thomas Mayer, one of Lazareth’s young designers, “We kept only the engine and the Paralever suspension at the rear.” The tubular chassis is new, and the stock Telelever front suspension has been replaced by Yamaha YZF-R6 sportbike forks—widened to accommodate the chunky Continental Twinduro tires.

Lazareth’s aim was to mix the classic BMW cafe racer style—personified by the BMW Concept 90—with a touch of modernity and aggression. “Not horizontal like a café racer, but more dynamic,” says Mayer. So the visual dynamic of this R1200R has been shifted forward, helped by a truncated seat/tail unit. The 110hp boxer powerplant is now hooked up to an Ixil exhaust, with two mufflers sculpted from aluminum. And the cockpit has been reduced to the bare minimum, with just a simple digital speedometer and bar-end mirrors.

Head over to the Lazareth website for more images of this build. And while you’re there, check out his crazy half-car, half-motorcycle Wazuma.

Images by Charly Rosset.

Credits Ludovic LAZARETH—The factory boss / Designer manager & Mechanic | Franck PALENI—Workshop Manager & Painter | Cédric COLLAO—Mechanic | Loic GODEFROY—Engineer | Sylvain PIOTTE—Engineer Assistant | Jean-Thomas MAYER and Julien FESQUET—Transportation Designers

via BIKEEXIF