OPINION
acceleration is almost instant and taking your foot off the gas provides braking. You do not really need the brake pedal and it means learning a whole new driving style. This car is not just a car but a major epoch shifting vehicle design from the analogue to the digital world. Amazing. They come to Europe later this year. And all you need is a €5,000 deposit. I am going to talk to my wife.
My final stop in the US was
The Tesla Model S Performance –complete with ‘frunk’
American Idolfinalist Daughtry). I was principally there to see how far LED stage lighting has progressed. Martin Professional stunned me with the 8,000-lumen spotlight the MAC 350 Entour live in action. The brightness improvement over the last 24 months is remarkable. LED stage lighting is now punching out enough light for nearly any large stage performance while the traditional HMI lamp fittings
are potentially relegated to specialist tasks such as very long throw spotlighting. Clearly there is a huge stock of traditional lighting out there for large venues but I suspect given the much lower costs of ownership and flexibility in control of colour the LED light is going to displace even the highest end of stage lighting.
Despite all these Miami- based AV, technology and cultural experiences my most memorable moment of the
visit came in the form of a car journey. Our museum client’s VP of technology had just acquired a Tesla Model S Performance electric car. Think BMW 7 Series in terms of size and luxury, think iPad in terms of design and technology and think 300+ mile range and 0-60 in 4.2 seconds. The floor throughout is flat because without the legacy of traditional car design the batteries are embedded in it. The passenger comfort is
wonderful. The rear load space or ‘trunk’ is huge and because there is no traditional engine it has a front load space – known quaintly by Tesla as the ‘frunk’ or front trunk. The amazement started when the owner used his iPhone with the Tesla app to set the car’s ventilation before we got in, and to check the conditions of all the systems.
Driving it is a whole different world. The
a few days in a cold New York before planning to move on to warmer climes. However after one working day in New York my worldwide trip came to an abrupt end. Crossing the street at West 81st and Columbus I tripped over. A $1,200 visit to the Lennox Hill ER told me that I had broken my elbow, dislocated my shoulder and strained my wrist. I returned to the UK
where I am now restricted to one-finger typing and producing this article has actually been really painful. Hopefully reading it will not cause similar reactions. Stay safe, sidewalks can be deceptively flat!
www.installation-international.com
May 2013 19
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