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The 70s were a definitive decade for music and movies. Fashion and cars, not so much. The 80s corrected one of those oversights, an era of ethereal supercars like the Porsche 959, game-changing exotics like the Ferrari Testarossa, and, best of all, everday cannons that offered mortals a generous portion of lairy thrills, such as Chris Harris’ 1986 e28 BMW M5.

In 1986, a 3,100-pound, 286-horsepower luxury sedan straight from the factory that could also handle was as rare as a goose with lips. Sure, there was a more powerful AMG Mercedes-Benz E-Class but it didn’t want to get into a lengthy conversation about handling, and there was the AMG Hammer, but that was a terrifically expensive tuner special. The M5 weighed the same as the 1986 Chevrolet Corvette and had 225-section rear tires just like the ‘Vette, but the M5 had 36 more horsepower. And it had four, leather-covered seats. And it could corner.

All of which has to do with why Drive’s Chris Harris spends eight minutes explaining, and showing, why he loves his personal M5 so much. Scroll down to learn about the sedan that compels him to say “it’s the best money I’ve ever spent on a car.”

Continue reading Chris Harris explains what makes his own 1986 BMW M5 so special

Chris Harris explains what makes his own 1986 BMW M5 so special

There’s something about the boffins over at Nissan – particularly those working at its racing headquarters in the UK. We’re not quite sure what it is. Oh, right: they’re bonkers. Absolutely off their rockers, in the best way possible. How else would you explain the decision to take an entry-level crossover and swap out its powertrain for that of a supercar?

We’re talking, of course, about the Juke-R, the 480-horsepower demon cockroach from hell. After racing it against a field of supercars in Dubai, Nissan has taken the Juke-R to a decidedly different setting – an ice track near the former Winter Olympics site in Lillehammer, Norway – and set it loose.

And if that wasn’t quite enough, the Japanese automaker didn’t put it in the hands of an veteran ice racer – say, the four-time Formula One World Champion who drives for its sister company in the Andros Trophy, they gave it over to its gamer-turned-racer Lucas Ordonez who, being from Spain, had never driven on ice before. Sounds sane to us. Scroll on down to see the results in the brief video clip.

Continue reading Nissan Juke-R goes ice fishing in Norway

Nissan Juke-R goes ice fishing in Norway

The day has finally arrived. Porsche cars have returned to the Forza Motorsport series on XBox 360 with the availability today of the Porsche Expansion Pack for Forza Motorsport 4. Pony up 1600 Microsoft Points ($19.99 in real world money) and you’ll get 30 new cars, 20 new events, 10 new achievements and a Porsche-only Rivals Mode. Developer Turn 10 says that seven of the cars (scroll down for a full list) are all-new to the Forza series, which brings the game’s fourth installment – including all of the vehicles released via downloadable content – to a grand total of 625 cars.

We know what you’re thinking. Twenty bones is a lot to drop on a single chunk of downloadable content when you’ve already paid $60 for the game itself and another $30 for the Season Pass, the latter of which has already filled your virtual garage with dozens and dozens of extra cars to drive. That’s all true, and no one would blame you for passing on this Porsche DLC, especially considering that Porsches were included with the price of the game in Forza 1, 2 and 3.

Consider this: 959, 962, 911 Sport Classic, GT2 RS … Those are just four of the thirty cars from Stuttgart that you’ll be passing up the opportunity to drive (digitally) if you say no to the Porsche Expansion Pack. So now that you’re armed with all of the info, you can make the decision that’s right for you while we go download our decision.

Scroll down to check out the official gameplay trailer that shows all 30 vehicles in action, as well as the full list of all 30 vehicles included in the Porsche Expansion Pack.

Continue reading Porsche Expansion Pack available today for Forza Motorsport 4

Porsche Expansion Pack available today for Forza Motorsport 4

The fourth installment of Ken Block’s Gymkhana series was aptly subtitled “The Hollywood Megamercial.” We know Ken needs to sell some DC Shoes apparel to pay for these lavish drifting productions, but the sales pitch stole the spotlight from the action in Gymkhana 4. Ever wonder what the video would have been like without the special effects and clothing commercials?

It took them the better part of a year, but DC Shoes has finally released a bonus edit that removes the “Hollywood” parts of the video, leaving just the gymkhana parts that we all clicked Play to watch in the first place.

Cutting out the special effects and infomercial aspects shortens the video from a weighty 9:16 to a lithe and focused 5:11. The difference between the two vids is most apparent by comparing when the Ford Racing rally Focus leaves the starting line. Original video: 1:25. New edit: 0:09. Over a minute was saved just by cutting the clip of Ken Block on fire and nixing the opening credits for his wardrobe. Another two minutes was saved at the end by leaving the Bollywood dance on the cutting room floor.

Scroll down to watch the new bonus edit that lets the viewer better appreciate the skill required to perform such stunts, as well as the original version. You can also click here to watch a YouTube Doubler of the videos playing side-by-side.

Continue reading Ken Block’s Gymkhana 4 re-edited with less “Hollywood”

Ken Block’s Gymkhana 4 re-edited with less “Hollywood”

The overhaul of General Motors‘ marketing battle plan isn’t finished. The Wall Street Journal reports that Joel Ewanick, GM’s global marketing chief, is giving the brand a hiatus from Super Bowl advertising, believing it’s just got too expensive and that variety is called for. Thirty-second spots for next year’s big game are projected to cost $3.8 million.

The development comes quickly after GM decided to stop buying ads on Facebook citing a lack of effectiveness (to which Ford responded), and comes during a year of realignment efforts throughout the company: a global review of accounts began earlier this year and some were quickly let go, a brand new agency was created for Chevrolet and set up shop in Detroit, and personnel are being realigned.

The General’s global ad spend in 2011 was $4.7 billion, and word is that GM doesn’t plan on spending less, it only wishes to spend better – Ewanick says the changes made so far will net the company $2 billion in savings over the next five years. It’s clear he’s looking to unlock more efficiencies; observers say that GM is also trying to improve its ad performance overseas and find better ways to reach demographics that have migrated in all directions and to all media.

GM pulls advertising from next Super Bowl after Facebook exit

There are driving simulators and there are racing simulators. They tend to cross over, but what divides them are the types of cars and the types of roads used in the game. Drive racing cars on digitally recreated racing circuits and you’re looking at a racing sim. Street cars on public roads (whether simulated or replicated) and you’re playing a driving game. The Forza Motorsport franchise has always been more of a racing simulator than a driving game, but the minority of open roads that have appeared in the four iterations of the series so far are about to jump into their own game altogether with the launch of Forza Horizon.

Having made the initial announced back in March, Microsoft hand Turn 10 Studios have now released the box cover art and a single frame of in-game footage, both depicting the new SRT Viper on the open road. The cover, as you can see, shows a yellow Viper with black stripes speeding out of a mountain town, while the screenshot shows us a metallic Viper – like the one we saw at its unveiling in New York – on a desert highway in what looks like Carburator County from Pixar’s Cars.

About a year and a half (if you can believe it) since the launch of Forza 4, the arrival of Forza Horizon will surely come as welcome and eagerly anticipated by the legions of racing and gaming fans that have enjoyed the various iterations of the franchise until now. All we know about its release is that it’s coming sometime in the fall, but with the E3 gaming convention just a couple of weeks away, we should have more to bring you soon, so watch this space.

Forza Horizon coming this fall with hot Viper action on the open road

Video games are already an easy target for politicians, what with their amazing ability to turn both brains and muscles to jelly while also promoting violence and other sociopathic behaviors. So we can only wonder at the political grandstanding that might accompany this development: The Nintendo DS can now be used to control a Toyota navigation system.

Yes, that’s right, if you can pull yourself away from drawing evil kittens on your DS – and you live in Japan – you can pair it via Bluetooth, and use it to input destinations and display a speedometer on the DS, according to Kotaku. The Kuruma de DS game card also gives your handheld gaming device the ability to broadcast its audio through the car’s stereo system.

The software is designed to be used by passengers – of course – but we’re sure it’s only a matter of time before Japan experiences its first I-was-just-using-my-DS-to-program-my-nav crash. Kotaku says the game card is being sold by Toyota dealers for about $92.

Toyota turning Nintendo DS into navigation system

It’s one thing to protect yourself on the road against bad drivers who might cut you off or ride your bumper on the highway. It’s quite another to do that when those drivers have guns and want to kidnap the diplomat in your back seat. While the latter scenario may sound unlikely, many drivers in law enforcement, security and the military go through training to prevent the success of just such an attack-on-wheels.

Learning how people in the protection business escape an automotive attack is on our list of 1,001 Car Things To Do Before You Die, which means it’s on Jessi and Patrick’s list too. We sent them to the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving to enroll in its four-day Executive Protection/Anti-Kidnapping program. Their course instruction includes valuable skills like what to do when your driver’s been shot, the proper way to do a J-turn and how to perform a textbook PIT maneuver, among other things.

Even if your life isn’t in jeopardy from a phalanx of baddies in hot pursuit, the end game here is a finer understanding of using automotive physics to one’s advantage and improving one’s car control skills.

Click here to watch The List #0187: Escape an Automotive Attack.

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Click here to learn more about our hosts, Jessi and Patrick.

Continue reading The List #0187: Escape an Automotive Attack

The List #0187: Escape an Automotive Attack

Yesterday’s Spanish Grand Prix was an enormous cause for celebration for Williams. The Formula One team that was once at the very top of its game hadn’t won a race since 2004, but it broke that losing streak when Pastor Maldonado claimed the checkered flag for the team against Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen and against all odds. But the celebrations in the team’s garage were cut short when a massive fire broke out just after the race.

The fire erupted an hour and a half after the grand prix’s conclusion as team members were toasting their victory in the garage on pit lane, sending smoke billowing out over the track. Members of other teams – Force India and Caterham chief among them – quickly sprung into action to help their comrades put out the fire. A total of 31 people were subsequently sent to the emergency medical center on site, with all but one treated and released. The remaining Williams team member is being treated for burns suffered in the incident and is expected to be sent back to the UK for further treatment in the coming days.

Officials are still looking into the cause of the fire, which reportedly emanated from the racecar that Bruno Senna drove until it was disabled in a collision with Michael Schumacher that took both cars out of the race. Suspicions center around a malfunction in the Kinetic Energy Recovery System. The incident is not the first time a Williams facility suffered from a fire, the factory back in Grove having caught on fire a few years ago. Scroll down to watch video of the incident in Barcelona this weekend.

Continue reading Dramatic garage fire clouds Williams celebration at Spanish Grand Prix

Dramatic garage fire clouds Williams celebration at Spanish Grand Prix

The BMW M135i is still doing development laps, but that hasn’t stopped BMW from getting prospective buyers ready for it. In a 1:44 promo called “It!”, two adults play the kiddies’ favorite game in the hot hatches through the container-box lanes of an empty port at night.

If you’re dead-set against the car then this probably won’t make you like it, but this does lay down the first promotional marker in the 1,000-horsepower M135i/Mercedes-Benz A25 AMG/Audi RS3. battle. Take a look below to watch.

Continue reading BMW plays tag with its new M135i

BMW plays tag with its new M135i

Running a high-end automobile manufacturer like Bentley or Bugatti has got to be a dream job for most any business executive. And Wolfgang Dürheimer gets to run them both – but not for much longer, according to the latest reports coming in from trade publication Automotive News Europe.

According to ANE, the former Porsche development chief is set to move to Audi in a broad management restructure aimed at reducing the average age of Ingolstadt’s seven-member management board. In his new capacity, Dürheimer (53) is tipped to replace Audi’s current development chief, Michael Dick (60), who is expected to retire later this year.

Along with Dürheimer, Volkswagen marketing director Luca de Meo (44, formerly of Fiat) is expected to replace Audi sales chief Peter Schwartzenbauer (60), while Volkswagen purchasing manager Bernd Martens replaces his Audi counterpart Ulf Berkenhagen, who will take up the same role at the group’s commercial vehicles division. Audi production chief Frank Dreves is also expected to leave his post, though no replacement was named in the report.

Of course with any game of musical chairs – or “Reise nach Jerusalem” as they call it in German for some reason – replacements will need to be found for the positions being left vacant. We’ll be watching who is named head of Bentley and Bugatti, both roles that Dürheimer assumed from Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen (pictured above at right), who last we heard was still in the group organizing its classic vehicles division.

Bentley/Bugatti chief Durheimer moving to Audi in management shake-up

Watch out, Wayne Gerdes, there’s a new hypermiling crew in town.

John and Helen Taylor – Volkswagen calls them “mileage experts” and “the world’s most fuel-efficient couple” – recently drove a stock 2012 Passat TDI SE all the way from Houston, Texas to Sterling, Virginia without refueling. That’s 1,626.1 miles from just 19.3 gallons. Bad with numbers? VW has done the math for you: it’s 84.1 miles per gallon (we came up with 84.2, but who’s counting?).

The three-day trip happened earlier this month, and it turns out that the Taylors are not new to the high mileage game. They have previously set the “48 Contiguous U.S. States Fuel Economy Guinness World Record.” Still, the new Passat TDI record is impressive and it mimics some of the ways that Gerdes runs his hypermiling trips. As you can see in the gallery, the gas tank was filled to the brim with gas (see here) and there was a LOT of documentation going on during the trip. These sorts of things are important, since the Taylors often run workshops on driving efficiently and have, over the years, “collected more than 90 world fuel economy and vehicle-related records from drives around the globe.” They run the website Fuel Academy.

Continue reading High-MPG Taylors drive a Volkswagen Passat 1,626 miles on one tank of diesel

High-MPG Taylors drive a Volkswagen Passat 1,626 miles on one tank of diesel

If you read the owner’s manual of your car you’d begin to realize how much of your own vehicle you didn’t know about. If it’s a car made within the past few years, then the owner’s manual covering the dirty bits will be joined by an even thicker manual that covers just the infotainment system. Cadillac, however, has a better way for buyers to learn the CUE-powered mysteries of the $44,995 XTS: give owners an iPad with the car, loaded with tutorials on how to get the most out of the Cadillac User Experience system.

Yes, when the Hyundai Equus was introduced it came with an iPad installed with a multimedia version of its owner’s manual. Based on Wired’s discussion with Cadillac, however, this is much wider implementation, with each Cadillac dealer required to have two “certified technology experts” on duty, plus a CUE call center for owners, an online media team looks for CUE questions to answer, and a mobile CUE specialist who makes house calls. The point seems to be that this isn’t about getting an iPad with your car, it’s about understanding ever tech thing your car can do. If you still don’t know how to access the full power of your XTS, it will only be because you don’t want to.

Scroll down for General Motors’ official release.

2013 Cadillac XTS to come standard with iPad

If you’ve been sniffing around the PlayStation Vita debating whether to pull the trigger, Scion has an offer for you: buy an iQ and you’ll get the Vita free. This isn’t the first tie-up with the little car and the little console: the iQ was one of the available vehicles in the MotorStorm RC game.

The offer is good only until June 31, 2012, so you’ve got some time to think about it. Sure, this will add (just) $15,700 to the price of your portable gaming station… but at least you’ll have some way to carry it. And when you’re finished making that deal, can we interest you in a Mercedes for the low low price of $1 million? But first, scroll down for a read of the Scion press release with details.

Continue reading Buy a Scion iQ, get a free PlayStation Vita

Buy a Scion iQ, get a free PlayStation Vita

As much as we love games like Forza and Gran Turismo, these driving simulators are hobbled by one glaring omission: peripheral vision. Driving requires a view from more than just the windshield, and while Forza 4 and Gran Turismo 5 have made steps toward giving players a better a better look at the track around them, the nature of a flat screen is cursed with limitations. Of course, if you have the cash, Motion Simulation has a solution for you. The company’s new TL1 simulator was built in cooperation with none other than the minds at Ariel. You know, the folks responsible for the mighty Atom.

The system uses three high-definition projectors to give the view a complete view of the virtual track ahead. What’s more, the simulator is compatible with consoles like the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Unfortunately, the kit is prohibitively large and expensive. If you want one, you’ll have to fork over $18,600 at current conversion rates, along with a big portion of your living room. Considering that kind of cash will buy you a very nice used sports car, we’ll have to take a pass on this one.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a video of the actual Atom simulator available just yet, so for the moment, you’ll have to content yourself with footage of the company’s great-sounding Touring Car simulator. Check it out by scrolling below.

Continue reading Ariel Atom simulator is ready to dominate your living room [w/video]

Ariel Atom simulator is ready to dominate your living room [w/video]

UPDATE: The Focus ST has officially been added to Ford’s configurator. Click here to build one yourself.

Well now, the inexpensive performance game just got considerably more interesting. Ford has officially dropped pricing on its upcoming 2013 Focus ST, and it starts at $24,495 (*including a $795 delivery charge). That kind of coin will net you a EcoBoost 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine good for a whopping 252 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque, along with a torque-steer compensation system that works in conjunction with electronic power steering to keep the nose pointed in the right direction. If you’re keeping track, those power metrics are slightly north of the figures Ford had previously released. A variable-ratio steering rack toes the line between sport and comfort while the sport suspension sits the chassis 10 mm closer to the ground than the stock configuration.

That fire-spitting four-cylinder breathes easy through a free-flowing exhaust, and interior options like Recaro bucket seats give the cabin a little pedigree. Of course, massive wheels and plenty of aero work are both part of the package as well. What’s more, Ford says it will give early buyers a GoPro HD Hero2 Motorsports camera when they pick up the keys. Sweet.

The entry price puts the Focus ST well below fellow front-drive competitors like the Volkswagen GTI and Mazdaspeed3, but within spitting distance of playful hardware like the Toyobaru twins and the all-wheel drive Subaru WRX. Suddenly, it appears we live in a world where cheap speed is in abundance. Head over to the Ford site for a closer look and be sure to click past the jump for the full press release.

Continue reading Ford prices 2013 Focus ST from $24,495* [UPDATE: Configurator launches]

Ford prices 2013 Focus ST from $24,495* [UPDATE: Configurator launches]

Well now, the inexpensive performance game just got considerably more interesting. Ford has officially dropped pricing on its upcoming 2013 Focus ST. That kind of coin will net you a EcoBoost 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine good for a whopping 252 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque, along with a torque-steer compensation system that works in conjunction with electronic power steering to keep the nose pointed in the right direction. If you’re keeping track, those power metrics are slightly north of the figures Ford had previously released. A variable-ratio steering rack toes the line between sport and comfort while the sport suspension sits the chassis 10 mm closer to the ground than the stock configuration.

That fire-spitting four-cylinder breathes easy through a free-flowing exhaust, and interior options like Recaro bucket seats give the cabin a little pedigree. Of course, massive wheels and plenty of aero work are both part of the package as well. What’s more, Ford says it will give early buyers a GoPro HD Hero2 Motorsports camera when they pick up the keys. Sweet.

The entry price puts the Focus ST well below fellow front-drive competitors like the Volkswagen GTI and Mazdaspeed3, but within spitting distance of playful hardware like the Toyobaru twins and the all-wheel drive Subaru WRX. Suddenly, it appears we live in a world where cheap speed is in abundance. Head over to the Ford site for a closer look and be sure to click past the jump for the full press release.

Continue reading Ford prices 2013 Focus ST from $24,495*

Ford prices 2013 Focus ST from $24,495*

Sponsoring most events is pretty straightforward for any company: fork over the right sum of cash and you’re the new official automaker/timekeeper/jelly donut of whatever the event is. But for BMW, its status as Official Automotive Partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is a bit more complicated.

Even pledging to fork over a massive fleet with 4,000 vehicles to the organizing committee wasn’t enough for the German automaker to secure its status. BMW also had to meet the committee’s stringent emissions requirements: while the average emissions of vehicles in the UK comes in at 138 grams of CO2 per kilometer, the automaker supplying these Olympic games had to come in below 120 g/km – which BMW did at 116 g/km.

To get there, a portion of the cars BMW is supplying are electric vehicles: 160 units of the 1 Series ActiveE and 40 of the Mini E, with another 40 of the 5 Series Active Hybrid. The rest of the fleet is comprised of the 320d EfficientDynamics (1,550 vehicles), 520d Efficient Dynamics (700), X3 xDrive 20d (17), X5 xDrive 30d (10) and Mini Countryman Cooper D (200 vehicles), plus another 25 R1200 RT motorcycles and 400 BMW Streetcruiser bicycles.

Wondering what they’ll be doing with all those cars? They’ll be used for everything from shuttling around the athletes, officials, medics and journalists to hauling boats out of the water. Scroll down below for the full details.

Continue reading BMW unveils armada of vehicles for London Olympics

BMW unveils armada of vehicles for London Olympics

A mullet-wearing Travis Pastrana had three goals for his first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway: to finish, to do it on the lead lap, and to do it in front of Danica Patrick. He achieved one of them, crossing the line in 22nd place – two laps down on winner Kurt Busch. His only real incident was getting busted for speeding in the pit lane, which dropped him further down the order.

Pastrana plans on running seven Nationwide races and nine races in NASCAR’s lower-tier K&N Pro Series East. This one at Richmond will have been the hardest Nationwide event because it was the first, but having brought the car home at all will be a boost and should get him cleared by series officials to run the high-speed track at Charlotte on May 26.

This was Pastrana’s overdue intro to NASCAR after he broke his ankle at the X Games last year and had to abort his 2011 schedule. He pledged to stay off the bikes for two years to give stock car racing a real shot and said he wants to be in the top 20 this year, top ten next year, and fighting for wins the year after. As for that target he put on Danica Patrick’s back in Richmond, no doubt he got a good look at it since she finished a spot ahead of him in 21st. He’ll get another shot at the Nationwide race at Darlington on May 11th.

Travis Pastrana’s NASCAR debut didn’t quite go according to plan

Imagine you’re a spy shooter at the Nürburgring. You’ve got your ancient Ford Scorpio parked nearby, but you’ve hoofed it up to the top of a hill in the hopes of getting the perfect angle on the track. Three heavy cameras are strung about your body like you’re a contestant in The World’s Strongest Man competition. It’s early and you are tired. And cold. The morning temperature was in the single digits Celsius, and while you’re not exactly sure what that translates to in the Fahrenheit scale, this certainly ain’t Miami.

Your job is boring. Boy racers driving all manner of would-be performance cars squeal by, inexpertly holding a line that betrays their inexperience. “Go back to your video games, kids,” you think as you nurse your cramped and sore legs. You shift your position and the wait resumes. Sport bikes zip by and the wail hurts your ears. You get up and stretch before resuming your regimen. A momentary break in the traffic causes you to do a mental rehearsal, double-checking your gear.

Then you hear it: The tires, disembodied from the roar of an engine, but creating their own telltale sound. You reach for the camera with the longest lens and barely get it up to your eye as the electric sports car whooshes towards you, followed by the loud rumble of something more internally combusted. The camera is now firing on all cylinders as you expertly track the car’s pace for the few seconds it’s in your field of vision. A Porsche enters the viewfinder and you exhale, lowering the camera and turning your back to the track.

The Audi R8 E-Tron will take just one lap of the Nürburgring that day, but you were there to capture it. It may not surface again before it goes on sale next year, but you don’t care about that. You need to hustle back to the car to download the images, so the world can see what an R8 without exhaust pipes looks like, so the fanboys can obsess about the extra cooling vents in the hood for the batteries and the blacked-out rear window.

You will e-mail the photos across the Continent, across the ocean, back home. You’ll get a few bucks deposited in your German bank for your trouble, but that won’t happen for a while yet. By then you will have taken more photos and sent more e-mails.

And drank countless lagers. It is still early, but you think of the cliche about it being noon somewhere and head off home. Nobody will be in your favorite expat bar at this time, but you think there must be at least one bottle left in your refrigerator.

Audi R8 E-Tron test mule does quick but quiet hot laps on Nürburgring