Chinese driver rolls big-rig in traffic – Click above to watch video
Running a red light in your standard passenger vehicle is never a good idea. Trying to rush a trailer-laden semi-truck through a busy intersection is far, far worse. Such a machine has a lot of weight to throw around, as one Chinese driver recently learned. Physics strikes again!
The truck ends up on its side, but this crash could’ve been a lot worse. A quartet of two-wheeled traffic-goers hit the brakes at just the right time, and fortunately, a nearby cyclist was also paying rapt attention to the wayward cargo-hauler.
BMW M3 vs. BMW S 1000 RR – Click above to watch video
Common logic says that where two wheels are good, four wheels are better. That’s especially true when the skies open up and the track turns wet. BMW Motorrad wanted to put that logic to the test, so the company recently lined up two of the meanest pieces of machinery in the German manufacturer’s stable: the mighty and the sinister S 1000 RR. Thanks to some tinkering by Akropovic Evolution, the 4.0-liter V8 engine in the M3 now kicks 442 horsepower to the rear wheels with a curb weight of 3,571 pounds.
The BMW S 1000 RR, meanwhile, was strung out to around 198 horsepower while weight was stripped down to a mind-boggling 434 pounds soaking wet. The two were made to square off on opposite ends of the same track. The first racer to catch the other won bragging rights for not just themselves, but the auto or moto faithful as well. How’d it go? We won’t spoil it for you, but we will say it took the victor just 15 laps to reel in his adversary. to check it out for yourself. Thanks for the tip, Craig!
Ford Mustang Boss 302 Crate Engine – Click above for high-res image gallery
Last year Ford made the . Shortly thereafter, many of them . Now, Ford Racing is offering the Boss 302’s 5.0L V8 as a standalone purchase through its performance parts catalog, allowing anyone to put the 444 horsepower engine into their own project car.
The difference between the Mustang’s standard 5.0L V8 and the Boss 302 variant is more than just 32 horsepower. The Boss 302 features a new high-flowing intake manifold; CNC-machined cylinder heads; upgraded exhaust valves; forged pistons, connecting rods and crankshaft; a more aggressive camshaft and more. All of those upgrades cost a pretty penny, though. Ford Racing lists the Boss 302 V8 crate engine at $11,999.00, while the standard 5.0 will cost you just $6,999.00.
Follow the jump for a full list of features, or let us know what vehicle you’d drop a Boss 302 into via the comments below.
What We Like: The at BMW. After more than a year of with “Joy” as a lead ad positioning, a new marketing team at the German automaker is re-emphasizing “The Ultimate Driving Machine” as the brand’s central positioning. The 30-second ad contains what many BMW followers like – a fast car and a big plane. No, the plane, which looks to be a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, is not hovering so close to the 5 that it could fill the guy’s coffee cup. But the CGI is good enough to pull off the visual trick.
What We Don’t Like: Not much at all. Getting a story and message across in a 30-second TV ad is not easy. But BMW and this ad agency, Grey West, did a nice job of conveying a fuel efficiency story.
Strategy: BMW marketing chief Dan Creed, who took over at BMW North America a few months ago, is all about re-affirming “The Ultimate Driving Machine” as Bimmer’s main message. At the New York Auto Show, he walked us to the front of BMW’s stand to look at a giant rendering of the ad slogan, which dates back to the early 1970s. At last year’s show, there was a giant banner that proclaimed “Joy of Driving.” “We know there is a lot of joy in driving a BMW, but we are going to show it in pictures and film rather than say it,” says Creed.
It’s worth noting that as fun as this ad is, the message is about the 5 Series’ fuel economy, not the horsepower. BMW is trying to broaden its message to be more inclusive of men and women, as well as tell its story about its investments in the South Carolina plant that produces and . But Creed also wants the brand and the cars to show some leg when it comes to marketing and advertising. BMW remains an exciting brand, and a premiere stable of driving machines. That shouldn’t be lost when telling the broader story.
BMW is kicking off a review for a new ad agency. It parted ways with Austin-based GSD&M late last year. New York-based Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners produced . Grey West, which has handled BMW’s retail and pre-owned advertising since 2008, produced the ad and will presumably get a crack at the whole enchilada.
Grade: A-
Watch the commercial and give it your own grade below.
“Refuel” reintroduces us to The Ultimate Driving Machine
More new CARS 2 characters from England – Click above to view them all!
The real Royal Family may be grabbing all the headlines today with the wedding of their Prince William to commoner Kate Middleton, but another Royal Family deserves some attention as well. We’ve learned that Pixar will be introducing a new Royal Family in , set to open in theaters nationwide on June 24th.
The Royal Family in CARS 2 will be represented by The Queen (voiced by Vanessa Redgrave) and Prince Wheeliam. The Queen appears to be a stately old of sorts with a diamond-encrusted crown on her roof and royal blue-and-white two-tone paint job. Prince Wheelium, meanwhile, appears as a sharp -like machine. Both Royal Family members in CARS 2 are particularly excited to play their part as hosts to the final stage of the World Grand Prix on the streets of London.
Joining them on screen are a few more Brits, including a double-decker bus named Topper Deckington III, a traditional London cab named Chauncy Fares and a royal guard named Sgt. Highgear. Check out all five new characters in our gallery below. All of the English automobiles in CARS 2 will no doubt be rooting for one of their countrymen, either or , to take the checkered flag in the World Grand Prix.
It looks as if may be toying with the notion of bringing hybrid technology to the motorcycle world. According to Motorbiker, the Japanese manufacturer filed a patent for a hybrid bike complete with a detailed drawing of the machine. The interesting part is that the line sketch fits pretty well with the profile of the company’s Goldwing; a bike that’s built for sucking up mile after mile of comfortable interstate cruising. As Motorbike points out, most hybrids are happiest off of the highway, which makes the big cruiser an odd platform choice for a battery pack.
We would have thought that the company’s CBR250R would have been a more fitting bike to bestow the glory of electric motivation upon, but that’s just us. The small commuter is built to spend time in stop and go traffic and field quick runs about town, which would be perfect for the fuel-economy optimizing attributes of a hybrid. Of course, all of those battery packs have to fit somewhere and a Goldwing has plenty of space on board. Head over to to check out the patent drawing and the full patent for yourself.
What happens to former movie cars? If they weren’t turned into a balled-up hunk during the on-screen action then they’ll most likely find their way to a sales lot. A good place to find vehicles for sale is AutoTrader.com, so it’s no surprise that a few star cars have found a home on site’s servers.
With the release of Fast Five (the fifth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise), the folks at AutoTrader decided to pull out a few fast and curious vehicles that have graced the silver screen. The list ranges from a 1996 Acura Integra GS-R to a replica . to sample the furious machines.
Bentley edition Carte Blanche book – Click above for high-res image gallery
While you might associate James Bond with , it’s been a few years since we’ve seen 007 piloting his on the silver screen. And it’ll be at least another year until the 23rd Bond film makes its debut, if not longer. In between, fans can keep up on the spy’s adventures through the pages of new Bond novels, in which the secret agent drives a . And so to commemorate the launch of the latest volume, Crewe has designed a special edition enclosure for the occasion.
Now Bentley, of course, is in the business of making cars, not books, so you know that when they were brought on board to make this unique edition of the latest Bond novel, , it’d have to be something a little more unique than the paperback you’d find at your local drug store. And indeed it is: the special edition is printed in red and black ink on ivory paper, book-ended, as it were, by red leather endpapers, and covered in white Nappa leather into which the title and logos are embossed.
Very nice and all, but what really sets this edition apart is the polished aluminum case – crafted on a machine specially commissioned for the task – which represents the form of the new that Bond drives in the story. And for one last special touch, the pages are pierced by a “bullet hole”, in which sits an individually-numbered and polished 9mm round. Only 500 examples will be made, each fetching £1,000 (approximately $1,650). Follow the jump for the official press release, and check out the images in the gallery below for a closer look.
If you have no interest in motorcycles, mechanics or old machinery, it’s probably best you skip this post. You see, the short film is perhaps the best depiction of the highs and lows associated with those three horsemen that we’ve ever seen on screen. The video features plenty of lengthy shots of a motorcycle single dashing across the open country side. It’s exactly what every motorcyclist thinks of when the words “perfect” and “ride” worm their way into conversation. There’s no traffic and no foul weather – just miles of meandering asphalt and nowhere to be.
But our hero rider runs into a bit of a mechanical hiccup when he stops for a spell. Fuel floods the cylinder, and despite his best efforts, he’s reduced to a raving ball of frustration after frantically trying to get the bike to start. As the crew at Visordown accurately point out, the scene is the visual embodiment of Robert M Pirsig’s famous line, “If the machine produces tranquility it’s right. If it disturbs you it’s wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed.”
We won’t spoil the ending for you, but if you’ve ever found yourself in a similar situation, you know the elation of victory all too well. to check out Blazer for yourself.
DiRT 3 and Traxxas team up to wreck our wallet – Click above to watch video
The third installment in the DiRT video game franchise, DiRT 3, hits stores on May 24, 2011. It will cost you $59.99 for a copy, which is steep, but completely in-line with the pricing for today’s video games. If you have a few extra coins hiding under the couch cushions, however, then . Spend $299 to reserve a copy of DiRT 3, and you will also get the .
If you were already considering buying the radio-controlled gymkhana machine, then this is a great deal, because it essentially throws the game in for free. If, like us, you were thinking of buying the Codemasters game, and you currently have , this deal means you have to explain to your wife why the American Express bill shows a GameStop purchase for nearly five times the previously discussed amount.
to see why sleeping on the couch will be worth it come May 24. Thanks to all for the tips!
Land Rover Defender Vineyard edition by Fuoriserie Torino – Click above for high-res image gallery
There are any number of remote locales you’d expect to see a Defender. Crossing the desert. Traversing a battlefield. Climbing a mountain. Strolling through a vineyard? Okay, sure… why not. But this particular Defender isn’t just taking the weekend off. This is where it belongs. Or at least that’s what Italian customizer Fuoriserie Torino would have you believe.
Now we’ve seen plenty a Land Rover with teak panels. Like , or Land Rover’s own . But those put the nautical-themed veneers on the inside. Fuoriserie puts ‘em on the outside where you’d expect to find diamond-plated aluminum brush guards. Of course that’s not the extent of it: it has also slathered the machine with a pseudo-camouflage paint scheme of purple leaves. You know, in case someone was to bomb the vineyard from the sky.
The bottom line? The Vineyard edition Defender appears to have been carried out with exceptional attention to detail, and there’s certainly something to be said for originality – which this custom clearly has in spades. But for our money (and you can bet this conversion job cost a pretty penny), we’d sooner take .
Corvette Racing Long Beach – Click above to view video
Corvette Racing went into the ALMS round in Long Beach, California ready for a fight. Coming off of the , the two-hour slam around a concrete-lined street course promised a new challenge for the team and drivers. As promised, the race was a hard fight, demanding the drivers stay vicious and focused from beginning to end.
Despite a lackluster last-place qualifying effort for the number 3 machine, car number 4 managed a second-place grid spot. Ten minutes in, Corvette Racing had first place, though they were only able to hang on until around minute 40. Despite its less-than-desirable start, car 3 managed to work its way up the ranks to a respectable finish.
Both cars came away with the scars of an all-out street race, but managed to finish near the top of the heap. Racing now heads into LeMans with a renewed focus and the momentum of two positive results in California. Click to see the team’s results and get a closer look at the action.
Fiat Qubo test mule – Click above for high-res image gallery
It looks like and have been busy working on the American manufacturer’s upcoming compact CUV. Our tactical squad of spy photographers managed to capture a few images of a Fiat Qubo test mule running around in upper latitudes of Sweden. Apparently the baby widebody tester is our first glimpse at the small Jeep CUV set to debut in 2013. The machine will use a host of bits and pieces sourced from the Fiat parts bin, including a range of Italian powerplants like the company’s 1.4-liter Multiair gasoline engine. In addition, 1.3-liter and 1.6-liter diesel mills will also be available. Power gets shipped to the front wheels, though an all-wheel-drive option should also be available.
Aesthetically, odds are the production version won’t share too many lines with the mule you see above. The Fiat/Jeep team is likely using the Qubo chassis to put the drivetrain through its paces. Jeep CEO Mike Manley has made it clear that the newest addition to his company’s stable will feature the same round headlights and vertical grille as the rest of the line, and we’d expect similarly masculine bodywork as well.
At last week’s Where 2.0 conference in Santa Clara, CA, and a team of tech elites crowned four students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the winners of the inaugural OnStar Student Developers Challenge.
The competition tasked five universities to create the next great app for OnStar’s latest voice-controlled telematics system, and the crew from MIT beat out teams from Carnegie Mellon and the universities of Michigan, Texas and Toledo with its EatOn app. The app is essentially a mobile-friendly version of Yelp, allowing users to search for nearby restaurants, get ratings, make a reservation through OpenTable and send navigation instructions to the vehicle while alerting their friends and followers through text messaging and Twitter.
The four-member team from MIT were selected by a tech-savvy panel of judges, including Daniel Jacobson of NetFlix and the interminable Robert Scoble, and awarded a $10,000 “Developer Dream Package” consisting of an Apple iPad, MacBooks and a host of other geeky goodies. for the full details.
1964 Alfa Romeo TZ Coupe (above) and 1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ “Coda Tronca” (below right)
Click either image for high-res image galleries
The more things change – or so the saying goes – the more they stay the same. Half a century after the originals graced the open roads and the auto shows of the early 1960s, two classic coachbuilt Alfa Romeos have been reborn in modern style. We’re talking about the Alfa Romeo TZ and the Coda Tronca – the former now heading into its fourth iteration in the form of the , and the latter just recently remade as the . And now their progenitors are set to cross the auction block.
Regarded in the same light by Alfa aficionados as the 250 GTO is by the faithful, the original TZ (so named for its tubular space frame and Zagato coachwork) made a remarkable 1-2-3-4 class finish upon its race debut at Monza in 1963, complimented the same year by class wins at Sebring, Le Mans and the Nürburgring as well as an outright win at the Alpine Rally the following season. Only 112 examples were made, and this particular model – chassis #750006 – was prepared by Autodelta (the same Alfa tuner still operating in the UK) and fully restored to its original 1964 Le Mans condition after single-family ownership of 23 years.
Likewise bodied by Zagato, this 1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ “Coda Tronca” (chassis #0184) is one of only 30 such examples made out of 200 total SZs. Its Kamm-tailed body gave it its name, a shape which its original designer Ercole Spada reprised for his eponymous modern -powered special and which led to the development of the aforementioned TZ.
Both of these historic examples feature DOHC four-cylinder engines (1.6 liters and 150 horsepower for the TZ, and 1.3 liters and 135 hp for the Coda Tronca) mated to five-speed manual transmissions. They’re set to join the and the at RM’s forthcoming auction at Villa d’Este, where the TZ is expected to fetch €475,000-€575,000 ($690k-835k) and the Coda Tronca €260,000-€300,000 ($377k-435k). With their modern successors destined for the garages of the extremely fortunate, we could hardly imagine better stablemates to join them. Have a closer look at each in the galleries below and delve further into their histories in the backgrounders after the jump.
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[Source: RM Auctions Images: Dirk De Jager, Simon Clay/RM]
There are few things more satisfying for a younger sibling than besting their older kin. Be it a hard-fought round of Stratego or a bare-knuckle brawl, putting an elder brother or sister in their place can be more satisfying than winning the lottery. In this spirit, German magazine Sport Auto just finished pitting the new up against BMW’s venerable . The pair locked horns around Hockenheim in a battle for ultimate supremacy that saw the M3 do the deed in 1:14.2. The M Coupe, meanwhile, managed to lap the track a hair quicker at 1:14.1.
That gave the newcomer to the game the overall win and put it just one tenth of a second behind metal like the on the famous track. Is this conclusive evidence that the 1 Series M Coupe is the better performance buy than the legendary M3? Not necessarily. After all, this is just one comparison with one magazine. Still, the fact that the baby can get within striking distance of its predecessor with two fewer cylinders is a testament to the vehicle’s prowess.
2012 BMW 1-Series M Coupe – Click above for high-res image gallery
There are few things more satisfying for a younger sibling than besting their older kin. Be it a hard-fought round of Stratego or a bare-knuckle brawl, putting an elder brother or sister in their place can be more satisfying than winning the lottery. In this spirit, German magazine Sport Auto just finished pitting the new up against BMW’s venerable . The pair locked horns around Hockenheim in a battle for ultimate supremacy that saw the M3 do the deed in 1:14.2. The M Coupe, meanwhile, managed to lap the track a hair quicker at 1:14.1.
That gave the newcomer to the game the overall win and put it just one tenth of a second behind metal like the on the famous track. Is this conclusive evidence that the 1-Series M Coupe is the better performance buy than the legendary M3? Not necessarily. After all, this is just one comparison with one magazine. Still, the fact that the baby can get within striking distance of its predecessor with two fewer cylinders is a testament to the vehicle’s prowess.
Oullim Motors Spirra build process – Click above to watch the video
Supercar manufacturers are in a very exclusive club that really isn’t all that easy to get into. After all, it’s hard to get a buyer to fork over a couple hundred thousand dollars for a two-seater, no matter how quick it is.
Those obstacles didn’t stop Oullim Motors from developing the hand-made Spirra, and we’re kind of glad they did. The Spirra’s design isn’t revolutionary by any stretch, but a 2,600-pound supercar with routed to the rear wheels sounds pretty good to us.
And if you just want to look like you own an exotic, you can even opt for a run of the mill, naturally aspirated 2.7-liter V6 variant with 175 horsepower. We have no idea why anyone would do that, but the option is available.
to watch a three-minute video that shows some of the care that goes into building the Spirra. There are no assembly lines, materials are sewn with only a human and a sewing machine and the designers apparently started with a pencil and a piece of paper as opposed to a bunch of modeling computers.
Maserati GranTurismo MC – Click above for high-res image gallery
At the Paris Motor Show last year, pulled off the – the fastest roadgoing Trident this side of the Enzo-based MC12. And while Maserati won’t be selling the MC Stradale on the Western shores of the Atlantic, it has done the next best thing.
The US-market GranTurismo MC is nearly identical to the European-market MC Stradale, save for two key differences: for one, it replaces the Stradale’s sequential gearbox with the smoother ZF automatic transmission from the standard , and for another, puts the rear seats that were deleted for the Stradale back in place.
Otherwise it’s the same machine, packing the same 450-horsepower 4.7-liter V8 as the MC Stradale (which also powers the new ) and the same aggressive aerodynamics package.
Maserati unveiled the GranTurismo MC (as well as the GranTurismo Convertible Sport, as the top-of-the-line convertible is known over here) at its new TriBeCa showroom in Manhattan on the eve of the New York Auto Show. Get a closer look at the GranTurismo MC in the gallery below and follow the jump for the full details in Maserati’s press release.
Jet-powered golf cart – Click above to watch video
There are plenty of fine reasons to play golf. Everyone needs an excuse to get outside and stretch their legs, and smacking the life out of a little white ball is a socially acceptable way to relieve stress with a club. But for many of us, the only reason to get on the green is to get behind the wheel of a golf cart. Our short game may be the living definition of embarrassing, but we’d like to imagine we could execute a fine handbrake turn behind the wheel of an electric rental.
If that’s not entertaining enough to wet your whistle, you can always add the thrill of a turbine engine to the mix. We’re not exactly sure where the gentleman in the video after the jump got the idea to strap a small jet engine to the back of his custom golf cart, but we like where his head’s at. Odds are the other players may have a small problem with the racket that his contraption makes, but that’s their problem, right?. to check it out.
