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Toyota getting into 3D printing with i-Road in Tokyo

Think of it as Pimp My Ride for the Japanese green concept car set. Toyota is further publicizing its funky, really skinny, leaning i-Road electric concept vehicle by putting on a contest that, among other things, encourages folks to customize parts of the car's surface via 3D printing. Hey, it is a really small car. Toyota's Open Road Project in Tokyo, which will last about a year and will let about 100 participants work with 10 vehicles, also includes a component that lets contestants find the most creative parking spots by seeking out "small unused spaces with access to plug sockets" (we're sure Tokyo is full of them). What grabbed us, though, was the possibility of printing out panels for a three-wheeled car that's less than eight feet long and less than three feet wide. Earlier this year, we reported that Toyota would add five i-Road vehicles to a Tokyo carsharing pilot project. Toyota's unusual promotions for the admittedly unusual concept two-seater date back to early 2013, when the Japanese automaker featured a video of four i-Roads dancing their way through a sun-kissed Mediterranean village. Meantime, take a look at Toyota's press release below, and get more information on the project here.

Rod Millen to face Monster Tajima in Electric Division of Pikes Peak Hill Climb

The 91st running of the Pike's Peak International Hill Climb is scheduled to begin on June 30. Like last year's event, the 12.42 mile course - fully paved these days - starts at 9,390 feet elevation and doesn't stop climbing until it reaches an impressive 14,110 feet (the air is so thin up there that the FAA requires pilots to use oxygen at that altitude).
There will be an assortment of internal combustion machines racing to the summit, entries from France, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Sweden, Brazil, Canada, Great Britain, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Belgium, but all eyes will be on the electric showdown between Rod Millen and Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima, from Japan. 61-year-old Millen is a familiar name to Toyota racing fans, and he will be driving the Toyota TMG EV P002 (it won the Electric title last year), while Tajima will be again piloting the Monster Sport E-Runner (which was forced out of the field last year after a fire broke out).
Other entrants include Rhys Millen driving a 2013 Hyundai PM58OT and Paul Dallenbach, who will be driving Millen's Hyundai Genesis Coupe (it set the all-time speed mark last year).

Final decision on Toyota/BMW sports car due by year end

BMW and Toyota signed a memorandum of understanding to share technology and build a sports car way back in 2012, and months later, they made that partnership official. This oft-rumored model from two auto industry titans still hasn't hit the road, and the time has come to make a final decision about its future. Thankfully, the model's fate is just a few months from being known. "By the end of the year we will approve whether or not we will make it," a Toyota spokesperson said about the sports car project, according to Automotive News Europe. "The whole study before that, on what kind of platform, on what kind of architecture, that's been progressing quite well. We haven't yet decided to give the green light to the project, but it's coming up." The collaboration is supposed to result in jointly developed fuel-cell tech, composites, and research into lithium-air batteries. Little is officially known about what Toyota and BMW are planning for the sports car project, but there are plenty of rumors about what's in store. Both automakers are supposed to get their own version of the vehicle. Some reports say the Japanese model will be the revival of the Supra, and the Bimmer-badged one might end up being a replacement for the Z4. The potential powertrains have been suggested as a German-sourced, turbocharged inline six with rear-wheel drive and a super-capacitor-powered plug-in hybrid with all-wheel drive.