The Saleen S7 was designed to compete with the fastest, quickest, best handling and most luxurious grand touring cars in the world, while providing a distinctly American driving experience for the fortunate few who will own one.  Designed, engineered, certified, manufactured and marketed by Saleen, Inc., the S7 was conceived to combine the performance of a track-only race car with the driving pleasure of a road car. Working with some of the world’s most respected and technologically advanced automotive suppliers, the S7 went from concept to first customer delivery in just 18 months. 

A true supercar, the Saleen S7 is capable of over 250 miles per hour. Zero-to-60 time is under four seconds. With its extreme ground effects engineering, at 160 mph the car can be driven upside down and maintain contact with the road. The design and 3D CAD modeling of the exterior and interior was completed in record time. This was possible by using the computer modeling tools in Rhino3D to model and analyze the quality of the surfaces, instead of using the labor intensive and time consuming process of traditional clay modeling and prototyping.   

Lorry drawings
Volvo c30 world
EV concept future of supercars
Concept Ultra-Exclusive Evantra Supercar

For locksmiths, making a replacement car key without its identifying code can be a grueling procedure. Steve Randall should know—he spent a summer during college working for his father’s locksmithing company, watching experts struggle with the process. Lacking the identification codes, called bittings, that tell them which patterns to cut into blanks, locksmiths must rely on trial and error to make a perfect fit. Inspired, Randall and a friend, Ted Schwarzkopf, recently unveiled a solution: the Electronic Key Impressioner.

The Impressioner consists of a sensor that goes into the lock and sends information back to a computer via USB about the location of the lock’s tumblers—a corresponding computer program comes up with the code, depending on the make of car you’ve entered beforehand. Once you know the code, a key-cutting machine can use it to carve up a key. The current prototype works only for Fords—Randall’s next step is to program the machine to work with cars from a wide range of companies.

Some keys are more complicated than this system can anticipate. For example, many car keys have transponders in them, so even if a newly cut key can open a car, it won’t be able to start it. But tools exist already for locksmiths to crack transponder codes—and there are plenty of cars out there that still use simple, old-fashioned key technology.

It doesn’t take a huge leap of logic to note that what could be a perfect invention for locksmiths could easily turn into a payday for thieves—and a nightmare for car companies. There are plenty of "for locksmiths only" tools out there that make breaking into cars easy (for people who locked their keys in the car, for example). But the ability to fabricate the perfect key without getting a code from the manufacturer could make it easier for thieves to resell stolen cars.

So Randall and Schwarzkopf need to plan for problems on two fronts—on the one hand they need to make sure their device stays in the right hands, on the other, they need to make sure it stays relevant. After all, once such a surefire way to replicate car keys exists, how long will it be until companies change their lock technology completely?

As far as security is concerned, the device’s first line of defense will be the same as all professional lock-picking devices—it will only be for sale to state-licensed locksmiths. But if that doesn’t work out, the company will be able to shut down rogue systems. When the software starts up, it will have to connect to a database full of updated key codes—that system will have the authority to brick the device remotely.

Despite these safeguards, critics seem skeptical. Late last year, Schwarzkopf announced to attendees at a technology conference that he and Randall had a working prototype for the Impressioner. But when he described the device, there were murmurs in the crowd—then titters. Randall says the technology might be better received if it served another purpose. "We’ve been trying to figure out what else to use it for," he says. "If you’ve got any ideas, let us know."