NASCAR Pit Crews eat your hearts out...

Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD78rTF0Rjo

Something new to dream about. This is a new supercar. It is from a small manufacturer in England. Why buy a supercar from England, one may ask. Well, because it can BLOW the doors off a Ferrari, Lambo, Aston Martin, Porche, and even gets better acceleration than a Bugatti.

This car will accelerate from 100-130 in 2 seconds. 130-170 in 2 seconds. 40-80 in 2.5 seconds. That is amazing. But doesn't match most other figures. So 0-60? 0-60 in 3.9 seconds! There is actually a switch on the dashboard to convert the engine HP from one level to another. 700+ in the top setting, 450 in the next level, 350 in the third, and 300 in the bottom setting. In case you don't feel like getting a speeding ticket due to a slight twitch in your foot.

So you may ask at this point, where can I get one... www.noblecars.com How much, 250,000 Pounds Sterling! The picture on the main site is a picture of a switch which Nobel "borrowed" from a British joint fighter. It is the same switch the fighter pilot uses to arm the missles. What is it doing in a car? It is the switch to turn off the traction control.

BLANTENT Copying???

Infiniti

Fisker Karma

Infiniti (thing Nissan + $20,000) has been showing their new ideas, like every other car company. One of their newest is the Infiniti Essence. In my opinion they've copied the Fisker line of cars. I couldn't find the 2-door version of the Fisker Karma; however, here is a 4-door photo and the Fisker Latigo for comparison to the I-Essence. Also feel free to google (images) the cars as well.

The KARMA is a hybrid, the essence is also to be a hybrid.

Where was this over the past few years?????

This is from Dodge. Yes - Dodge! It is all electric, but does have a generator (diesel) and is plug-in. It has power - 0-60 in 5 seconds, top speed of 150, and approx 500 miles per full charge.

Hmmm. If they came out with this a few years ago - when it was suggested - they could have probably saved themselves and made a killing on the expensive gas!

Another Great Family Car

The 2009 Porsche Panamera! Four Door with Porsche Power! YAY! :) $100,000++++ BOOO! :(

Sad news this week in the Auto-World!

Andrea Pininfarina died in a scooter accident.

His scooter was hit by a car just outside Turin on Wednesday. He died instantly. Mr. Pininfarina was the head of a design group which worked for Ferrari, Maserati, Volvo (all the newer designs which are not boxy), Fiat and others...

He was 51.

General Motors posts a slight loss....

OF nearly $16.5 billion for one quarter! That's a loss which occured over only three months! Not that they're going to seriously do anything about it - other than close some factories and layoff a good portion of their white-collar workers. Some of which are in the research / design departments!

Those are the people that they should have kept and put to work on alternative fuels and other ideas to move forward, oh well...

Cars - who's winning?

GM - way down
Chrysler - down
Ford - down
Toyota - RECORD SALES!

Let's see. Could it because up until the past two weeks the US automakers denied alternatives to the normal internal combustion engine? Could it be because although GM had the ultimate car they destroyed the program - the EV1...? Could it be because they've been loosing their strangle hold on patents for alternative energy vehicles - thanks to Clinton?

I don't know - maybe it was just luck. That's probably what McBush thinks.

The TLC Rocks!!!

The NYC TLC - Taxi Limousine Commission (TLC) - revised their new ruling for the change-over to alternate fuel vehicles... They changed the date to 30 September 2008!!!! The new rules state (within about 50 pages)... Bad part of it is that a medallion (the badge on the top of the hood - TLC license) fee will now be $300,000 / car, but the good news is ... ... ...

"Below is a list of the only approved vehicles that may be hacked up as medallion taxicabs AFTER September 30, 2008, the effective date of the TLC’s new rules requiring that vehicles achieve a minimum of 25 mpg (city):

2008-Lexus RX400h-26mpg city

2008-09-Toyota Camry Hybrid-33 mpg city

2008-09-Toyota Prius-48 mpg city

2008-09-Toyota Highlander Hybrid-(4WD)-27 mpg City

2008-09-Saturn Vue Greenline-25 mpg

2008-09-Nissan Altima Hybrid-35mpg city

2008-09-Ford Escape Hybrid-2wd-34mpg city

2008-09-Mercury Mariner Hybrid-awd-29mpg"

That is great. After 30 September 2008, no-one can put a cab into service without it being a hybrid. WITH EXCEPTION for wheelchair access. The old gas-guzzlers will disappear. Many cabbies pushed the TLC to move-up the date so that they can use these new options - since many are independent owner-operators they've been feeling the pinch of the gas prices.

Other good news is that many hybrids will begin to be seen for dirt-cheap money in the next few years with 500,000+ miles on them...

Here are some photos of the only approved cars:

Hyundai Elantra Commercial

Cool views of driving across Australia from Sydney to Perth! A boy going to meet his girlfriend!!!

Video from www.hyundai.com.au

Holden to start making Green Cars.

Holden, the company which brought the world the Jackeroo (known better as the Mitsubishi Endenvor from recent years and one of their other SUVs in the past)... They also brought the Pontiac G6 and related autos to that company.

They're now back on the cutting edge designing a complete line of green cars - not just hybrids, but also cars that utilize other forms of energy - hydrogen, electricity, etc...

This should bring the company to the forefront of the market in the next coming years - perhaps even bringing the Holden badge to a road near you! Only change will be, if the government has its idea adopted, is that it would have a green background; however, the company suggested putting the Aussie flag in the background.

This is what happens when a government switches hands and the begin to encourage such development and begin to offer assistance to companies to begin this research. PM Rudd (Australia) has also allowed approximetely A$31 billion to the development of this project and to encouraging Toyota to move one of their largest research campuses from Asia to Australia...

Melborne - the CLEAN Detroit!!!

Hyundai Damage

After the idiot stopped quick during the "tornado-like weather" we had recently, as most of you heard, Mari hit the back end of the 1992 Accord in front of her at a light. They stopped quick probably to avoid the traffic cameras.

Well, it doesn't look like much, but thanks to Hyundai being silly and using such things as Metal, High-Carbon Fiber, and other polymers it will cost about $4000 to fix!!! The parts did their job and there was absolutely no damage to the major components of the car.

Hyundai started using these newer materials which started out only being used in the higher end cars (BMW, Porsche, etc.) to make the cars lighter and safer. Two of their issues from the past were solved by using these materials. The issue these materials cause is that when they break, they cost a fortune to replace. Especially when the grill is attached by a clip such that any bump will cause that clip to break off the bumper.

Also one of the carbon-fiber pieces runs the entire length of the front of the car to provide the top support for the lights, grill, and bottom support for the hood.

The lights, the grill, the bumper, and these supporting pieces did protect the radiator, the engine, the transmission, etc... A similar hit on some of the other cars we've had in the past - incuding the Jettas would have resulted in radiator damage and even higher repair costs.

Ian's Favourite Car

1966 Sunbeam Tiger
This car is most well know for being the model driven by Maxwell Smart in the original series "Get Smart." It is a great little car with a V8, better handling than a Lotus, and very crash-worthy (for its day and size)...

Sunbeams are made by Rootes Group, Ltd. in England; therefore it was rare to find Left-Hand Drive versions of the car. Although this was the case at first, it is not so much now. Many of these rusted to death in England; however, many have been restored here in the US.

Sunbeam took the Alpine (known as a non-sports coupe) and changed the frame somewhat, added better suspension and used a V8 motor from Ford. However, briefly in 1966 (and why I like it better) they used V8's from Ferrari. It was much lighter and gave more bang! They made the change because Ford could not keep up with their own needs for these V8's at that time and were having manufacturing issues. Good news for an independent company who can run out and get them from someplace else...

Lord Rootes was presented the first Tiger in 1964 and simply loved it. They started making them. In 1966 the Ford motor issue arose, and approx. 33 were made with the Ferrari motors.

Fisker Karma

BEST IDEA EVER. This is a hybrid car. It has solar panels on the roof, can be plugged into a house, can run on Ethanol, NG, or Gas. This car is also a direct competetor with such vehicles as BMW 7 series, Mercedes, Jaguar, and others.

What is it? ... ... ... ... Meet the 2009/2010 Fisker Karma. http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/

What makes it so unique is the Q-Drive system. It is similar to other hybrids, but has two motors for each of the back wheels. Many of the recent hybrids have one motor powering a drive line to the wheels they power. This creates added friction - and friction wastes power and therefore destroys MPG.

I'd like to get one - anyone have $80,000 I can tie up now for a car delivered in 2010?

(The 2009 models have all been sold $120,000 ea. w/ numbered plaque 0001 thru 1,999. 2010's will be numbered 2,000 thru 6,000.)

Finally, a REAL minivan?

I don't like minivans - never had, never will. But this would be the closest to being like as a minivan in my mind.

Designed by Porsche, and co-built by Porsche and VW, it will have the VW name...

VW Routan
http://www.vwroutanminivan.com/routan/

Best Recent Supercars - Best High Price and Best Low Price

Surprisingly they both come from the same company - (parent company anyway) - VW!!!

These are NOT eco-friendly vehicles.

(1)
Bugatti Veyron -
0 to 62mph = 2.4 sec
Engine - W16 - 1001 bhp - £1.8 Million
http://www.bugatti.com/en/veyron-16.4.html

(2)
Audi R8 (built by Porsche)
0 to 60mph = 4.2 sec
Engine - V8 - 620 bhp - $109,000
http://www.truthinengineering.com/r8

OUTSOURSING OF JOBS - to the US!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7287640.stm

BMW is going to fire 8,100 people in Germany. Initially hire 500 in SC and then expand with more factories in the future... All this because it is cheaper to pay people in Dollars than in Euros. The Euro is at an all time high (again) against the weakest dollar seen in over 28 years... Thanks Bushie!

Way to get jobs to come here - make the economy so bad it's cheaper to send jobs here than keep them at home or send them to "3rd world countries"...

Porsche to buy VW

Porsche's Board of Directors has voted to go ahead and buy the majority ownership in VW! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7275703.stm

Morgan's Garage about to make comeback???

We all know them as MG's - Morgan's Garage. They're still around, allbeit not like they were. With the announcement today of a super-car powered by hydrogen fuel, they may make a comeback. There are many Ferrari and Lamborgini people who would love to have something "green" and pretentious.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7265267.stm

Therefore MG gives you the ... Lifecar. Name sucks but it rocks... Nothing but water vapor coming from the exhaust...

They should look into the way BMW gets around the splitting of H2O into H2 and O2... They use the vast areas of landfills in Germany and the South to harness energy - to the point where their factories in Alabama actually use so little of the energy from the nearby landfills which BMW bought the "air-rights" to, that many of the cities in northern Alabama are using this power all year round. Burning of landfill gases gives off HNO3, O3, and other Hydrocarbons. These are then used to generate H2, and O2 and Carbon dust which in Germany they've been using at "regular" power plants as lubricant...

Naturally if you want one of BMW's H2 powered cars, y'll have to buy a 750HL. Not cheap and they aren't imported here either...

Germany and Cars - Side note

Daimler-Chrysler is owned by several large groups, the more interesting ones are:
1) Kuwait owns 10% outright
2) Deutsche Bank owns 5% - to block Kuwait from getting a larger stake
3) UAE with 2%

The Deutsche Bank purchase also allowed the other German companies to step up and purchase stock easier and quicker. Similar to US there is a SEC which would have blocked such actions without the state bank stepping up and saying - let this happen.

Currently Daimler-Chrysler has two large German share holders (combined owning 37%) - BMW and VW. If DC were to be disolved, the following breakdown of their company portions would most likely occur. The breakup is in the stars and will most likely occur sooner than later.

1) BMW - if DC is disolved, BMW wants McLaren Group (exotic sports cars), Smart (hybrid and alternate fuels cars), Mercedes-AMG, Chrysler, Freightliner (trucks), Thomas Built (trucks buses), and Sterling Trucks. They'd also push for the Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation (canadian leader in fuel cell research / development).

2) VW - if DC is disolved, VW wants the Maybach (mercedes answer to rolls-royce), Mercedes, Mitzubishi Fuso (trucks), Western Star (Trucks), MB Buses, Orion Buses, and Setra Buses.

3) Airbus would dissolve back into EADS - European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (their parent).

4) Deutsche Bank would probably end up with MB Financial, MB Bank, and Daimler Truch Financing.