In a bit of Speed Racer news, USA Today unveiled an official image of the Mach 5 race car that will be used in the upcoming Wachowski brothers-helmed film. I thought it would be fun to compare the movie version (top image) with the version that's been around since 1999 as a real-world, driveable car.

I actually saw the 1999 version in person (so to speak) at an Auto Show a few years ago. It's even cooler when you're standing next to it than it is in a photograph. It was built on a Corvette chassis with a big block V8 engine for power and if you have between $150-200K you can actually have one built for yourself. :-)

Anyhoo, they did get the car right, not that I doubted they would. Producer Joel Silver has re-iterated that Speed Racer will be a family-friendly movie, much different in tone from the Matrix trilogy and V for Vendetta.

Speed Racer opens on May 8, 2008 and stars Emile Hirsch as "Speed", Christina Ricci as his girlfriend Trixie and Matthew Fox as Speed's older brother, Racer X.

Source: USA Today