Amazing Forza Motorsport 5 commercial is 'world's fastest zoetrope'

In Filmspeed, the latest ad spot for Forza Motorsport 5, what at first seems like a video aided by computer-generated graphics suddenly becomes much cooler when you realize that it was shot with a high-speed video camera on a racetrack - with no help from computer generation - making it the "world's fastest zoetrope," as Rutledge Wood of Top Gear USA fame puts it. A McLaren MP4-12C acts as the camera car with Tanner Foust (also of Top Gear USA fame) at the wheel, and the camera's subject is a series of 680 aluminum boards with Forza 5 game footage (of the McLaren P1, no less) printed on them and lined around a racetrack. Is it just us, or is it getting difficult to tell the difference between computer generation and reality?

The first order of business was to mount a remote-controlled video camera to the McLaren's engine block, complete with a gyro stabilizer. Automotive photo and film guru Jeff Zwart, the video's director, controls camera functions from inside the car while viewing it all on a small screen. We won't spoil the video(s) for you, which you can watch below, but keep in mind that complicated math and perfect execution – including determining the video camera's shutter speed, the MP4-12C's speed and the size of the aluminum boards – was required to produce the video as it was envisioned. Enjoy!

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CORRECTED-Lockheed Martin wins rare commercial contract for Atlas launch

(Corrects name in paragraph 2 to Morelos from Moralos)

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Sept 12 (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp has won a rare commercial contract for launch services on its unmanned Atlas 5 rocket, officials said on Thursday.

The customer is the government of Mexico, which will pay Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services an undisclosed amount to fly its Morelos 3 communications satellite in 2015.

"I'm sure it was a very competitive offer," said Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Joan Underwood.

The company also has commercial contracts with DigitalGlobe Inc for two Atlas 5 launches to fly its WorldView 3 and GeoEye2 satellites.

The last commercial Atlas launch was for Intelsat Corp in November 2009, Underwood said.

The primary customer for Atlas 5, as well as Delta 4 rockets, is the U.S. military. Both boosters are manufactured by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing Co.

Until privately owned Space Exploration Technologies began selling commercial launches on its Falcon boosters, satellite owners and operators took most of their business to Europe, Russia and other countries.

The California-based firm, known as SpaceX, has a contract with NASA to fly cargo to the International Space Station, as well as a backlog of more than 40 other Falcon rocket flights on its manifest for commercial customers and foreign governments.

SpaceX is working to break United Launch Alliance's virtual monopoly on flying military satellites as well.

Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, sees a growing future in the commercial launch world. (Editing by Kevin Gray and Stephen Coates)

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