Roads to the future
Aerospace innovator Burt Rutan revs up Art Center’s Car Classic ’09
By Carl Kozlowski 07/16/2009
Most classic car shows feature shapely lines, giant engines and rainbows of colors. But leave it to Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design to host a show featuring a flying car, micro-cars and a discussion on how the latest breakthroughs will spur space tourism.
Highlighting Car Classic ’09, “By Air, Land and Sea,” will be an address by legendary aerospace engineer Burt Rutan, who designed the record-breaking aircrafts Voyager — the first plane to ever fly around the world without refueling — and SpaceShip One, the first privately owned manned spacecraft to exceed an altitude of 328,000 feet twice within a 14-day period, winning the $10 million Ansari X-Prize. Rutan recently teamed up with Virgin Airlines owner Sir Richard Branson to launch Virgin Galactic for civilian space travel.
“In the past, we focused on automotive design because that’s what our department is known for,” says Jay Sanders, director of the Art Center’s Transportation Design Program. “But there are alumni who have been successful in areas beyond automotive design — designing boats and yachts, working for companies like Cessna, and with aerospace-related industries. We wanted to draw attention to that.”
The daylong exhibition will feature more than 100 rare and exotic vehicles, including sports and custom cars, along with hot rods, motorcycles, aircraft and watercraft. Art Center established a strong connection with Rutan’s company, Scaled Composites, with students visiting the company’s Mojave Desert headquarters to observe projects.
“He’s the perfect speaker for this event,” says Sanders. “In addition, the vehicles on display show the full breadth of transportation — from vintage Ferraris and hot rods to aircraft that Rutan designed. There are a couple of exotic boats and a two-man submarine and a spacecraft, a space capsule designed by Space Exploration Technologies [a competitor of Spaceship One], which is also looking to put civilians into space. We’ll even have a 17-foot space capsule at the event.”
The event begins with a flyover by Rutan-designed aircraft, which should inspire attendees to check out his experimental Vari EZ and Long EZ, as well as the black A-Star helicopter used in the television series “24” that will be docked in Art Center’s Sculpture Garden for the day.
The afternoon features a panel discussion by Art Center grads who now design cars for companies such as Ferrari-Maserati, Ford, BMW and Porsche, motorcycles for Harley Davidson and BMW, and aircraft for Gulfstream Aerospace and Cessna Aircraft. Barry Meguiar, host of Speed Channel’s “Car Crazy,” will emcee a closing ceremony when seven Design Showcase Awards, three Designers’ Choice Awards, a Students’ Choice Award and a People’s Choice Award will
be presented.
Car Classic ’09 runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Art Center College of Design, 1700 Lida St., Pasadena. Admission is $60 for adults. Kids 12 and under free. Call (626) 396-2200 or visit artcenter.edu/carclassic.
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Scaled Composites and SpaceX are not competitors by any means - as the author or editor mistakenly comments in brackets. Rutan’s Spaceship One (and upcoming Two) take people briefly to the edge of space, whereas SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will take people all the way to Earth orbiting destinations where they can stay for long periods of time. For orbital rockets, the performance requirements and technological demands are orders of magnitude greater.
Developing the new commercial human space traveling future is a collaborative effort. SpaceX is creating the transportation, Rutan/Branson/Virgin Galactic the participation, and Bigelow Aerospace the destination.