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A driving wheel sounds like a nice addition for any racing video game, but in reality it might not work as well as you hope. You have to find a place to mount the wheel and a make sure your pedals aren’t sliding around the floor. It’s not that much of a hassle, but a dedicated space for both wheel and pedals would be nice… throw in a racing seat and the virtual-racing ante has officially been upped.

But where would you store something like that and how do you craft it so as not to be a total eye-sore? Austrian company Race-Star has the answer and it comes in the form of the ConverTTable.

What appears to be a fairly basic box table actually hides a special gaming secret. The ConverTTable unfolds to reveal a driving wheel, adjustable pedals and a track mounted racing bucket. You can slide it in front of your TV and the Nürburgring on Gran Turismo 5 goes from a controller-hucking experience to a carousel-shredding event. When it’s time to shut down the fun, simply fold the table back up and it turns right back into drink-holding furniture.

The price for a Race-Star ConverTTable setup is listed at €4,999, which translates to about $6,605 USD. That is a lot of coin for something you might be able to engineer in your garage. Can you produce the same level of fit-and-finish as Race-Star has achieved? Probably not, unless you are used to working with high-quality plastics. Regardless of the price, the Race-Star ConverTTable has earned its place on our Autoblog Holiday Wish List.

Hop the jump to see it in action.

[Source: Race-Star]

Continue reading Video: Race-Star ConverTTable may be the coolest coffee table we’ve ever seen

Video: Race-Star ConverTTable may be the coolest coffee table we’ve ever seen

Strapping a car to a dyno and giving it the boot is not as safe as it might seem. Sure, the car is not actually going anywhere, but a lot of forces are at play in the drivelline. The owner of this particular Shelby Mustang GT500 in the video available after the jump, learned this firsthand when his prized pony when boom.

No postmortem discussion is available to find out what happened, and we’re not sure what (if any) modifications were done to this previous-gen GT500, but it certainly sounded pretty mean right until it barfed up a lung. Hop the jump to check out the unfortunate carnage. Thanks for the tip, Brent W!

[Source: YouTube via Mustang Evolution]

Continue reading Video: Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 dyno run goes boom in spectacular fashion

Video: Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 dyno run goes boom in spectacular fashion

This is an ad for the all-new 2012 Audi A7 Sportback in Berlin. It looks perfectly normal, but would you believe that it’s nearly 10,800 square feet in size? How about the fact that it was painted with 200 cans of spray paint and took 14 days to create?

Translated to English, the billboard roughly reads, “Nothing is more inspiring than a blank sheet of paper. It is the opportunity to create something unique.” Unique, indeed, and very fitting for a vehicle as segment-warping as the new Audi A7 Sportback. It’s Audi’s answer to the Porsche Panamera, and if we’re honest, we find it absolutely stunning.

Follow the jump to watch a video showing how Audi’s latest (and largest) marketing campaign came to life.

Photos copyright (C)2010 Chris Paukert / AOL

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Audi spraypaints massive new A7 billboard

Video: Audi spraypaints massive new A7 billboard

The overpriced custom chopper fad seems to be over, but that doesn’t mean enterprising individuals aren’t still welding together custom motorcycles in an effort to stand out from the crowd. Exhibit A: The $55,000 custom Tron Light Cycle replica from Parker Brothers Choppers in Florida.

The standing-out-from-the-crowd part is easy enough… just looking at this thing in the garage is likely enough of an enticement that the builders will be able to sell the 10 machines currently planned for production. The actual act of riding one of these suckers, though, looks to be the significantly more difficult part of the equation.

Want proof? Check out the video after the break, where a couple of guys (presumably the builders) take their creation out for a quick spin in a parking lot. First, note how wide the bike is, both in the middle where the rider’s legs are splayed and at the front, where the clip-on handlebars are wide enough to clip side mirrors down a narrow street – necessarily so due to the ridiculously wide tires. Looks comfy, no?

Power comes from a 1,000cc liquid-cooled V-twin cribbed from a Suzuki TL, which means the Light Cycle replica should be plenty fast in a straight line. With 474 pounds of mass, a 100-inch wheelbase and those aforementioned steamroller tires, we’d bet that handling won’t exactly be this machine’s strong suit. See for yourself in the video after the break.

[Source: Parker Brothers Choppers via Wired]

Continue reading Tron Light Cycle Replica: Apparently street-legal, somehow [w/video]

Tron Light Cycle Replica: Apparently street-legal, somehow [w/video]

Now matter how you slice it – and no matter how many of us admit to doing it – distracted driving is pretty dumb. At first blush, then, it seems odd that a new poll commissioned by InsuranceQuotes.com indicates that well-educated and well-to-do American drivers are the most likely culprits of distracted driving.

When you consider that drivers in higher income brackets are more likely to have electronic gadgetry inside their cars with them at any given time, you begin to understand why drivers with a college degree that make more than $75,000 per year are the highest offenders of talking on cell phones or texting while driving. Or worse.

Not that the picture is particularly rosy for the rest of the class… a full 93 percent of responders admit to driving while distracted, regardless of age or class, and 40 percent report that their habits have gotten them into trouble, be that by being cited with a ticket, getting into a near-miss or even a full-blown accident. Indeed, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 16 percent of all fatal crashes in 2009 were attributable to distracted driving, and we’d only expect that figure to get worse as more distracting devices hit the market. Hit the jump for the full press release.

[Source: InsuranceQuotes.com Image: Corbis]

Continue reading Ironic: Study says distracted drivers more likely to be well-educated

Ironic: Study says distracted drivers more likely to be well-educated

Audi has issued a press release announcing that it will advertise during the Super Bowl for the fourth consecutive year. Buying ad time is usually a non-newsworthy affair, but a single 30-second spot during the Big Game represents a financial commitment of $3 million or more. That’s a fairly hefty chunk of Audi’s annual ad spending budget here in the States, so why do it?

Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer, Audi of America, says that buying ad time during the Super Bowl has led to “record levels of awareness and showroom traffic with national consideration numbers showing significant spikes post game.” That’s a big deal for a luxury automaker looking to grow big during the next few years. The four-ringed automaker has managed to achieve record sales in the U.S. over the past few years in spite of the down market for autos.

Past Super Bowl commercials from Audi include the “Green Police” ad featuring the A3 TDI and a 2009 spot featuring Jason Statham chasing down luxury competitors. Audi isn’t talking about the theme for the 2011 spots just yet, but we’re going to go ahead and place our bet on the 2012 A6 making its way to the big stage. Hit the jump to read over the press release from Audi.

[Source: Audi]

Continue reading Audi signs on for fourth consecutive Super Bowl ad

Audi signs on for fourth consecutive Super Bowl ad

	First Chevy Volt charity auction has 12 days to go, but it’s already up to $180,000 That’s like one-and-a-half Tesla Roadsters.		Report: First Nissan Leaf delivery to a U.S. customer happening very soon It’ll happen somewhere in California.
	BAIC to roll out 30 electric cars by year’s end; produce 3,500 more in 2011 China’s EV numbers keep growing.	Other news: Infiniti turns up hybrid volume with pedestrian warning system Hire Electric installs Washington’s largest solar-powered charging station Video: Hyundai launches Save the Asterisks campaign for 40-mpg Elantra

AutoblogGreen for 12.03.10

Denis Malevanyi is one skilled hot shoe and he can hustle a BMW M3 around the ‘Ring with the best of them. He’s also pretty good at driving virtual cars in simulation series like Race2Play, as well as in Gran Turismo 5. We’ve seen how a virtual driver’s skill can translate when placed into reality, but Malevanyi already knows what he’s doing behind the wheel. He recently captured video of himself running the Nürburgring in an E92 M3, both in reality and the digital world, and stacked the footage together.

Hop the jump to see how he does in both versions. Thanks for the tip, Daniel!

[Source: Youtube]

Continue reading Video: GT5 vs. Real Life, Nürburgring Edition

Video: GT5 vs. Real Life, Nürburgring Edition

Susie Stoddart is a professional race driver who hails from Scotland, and has moved up through the motorsports ranks to arrive in the DTM world. Getting started in karting before moving on to Formula Renault and then Formula 3, Stoddart has been driving a Mercedes-Benz for its DTM team since 2006. Driving a Benz has its privileges, of course, and that’s even more true when you’re a factory race driver. In this case, while Stoddart’s normal racecar is a DTM-prepped C-Class, she recently got to spend some time behind the wheel of the SLS AMG GT3.

In the video, Stoddart tells how she became a professional driver because of the encouragement of her father. He instilled a strong sense of determination and will, and Susie takes time to thank him. The highlight of the clip, however, is watching Susie pilot the SLS AMG GT3 around the track. She scored her first points in a DTM season this year and she has come a long way from the kart track.

If that is not enough SLS AMG – or the lovely Ms. Susie Stoddart – action for you… we also have video footage of her flogging an E63 AMG wagon. Before you jump off, however, click past the break to watch pilot the SLS AMG GT3.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz via YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Susie Stoddart drives the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3

Video: Susie Stoddart drives the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3

Signs To Watch For As The Cycle Repeats

Detroit’s automakers are starting to beat their chests in exultation, and who can blame them? The last 16 months have been nothing short of a miracle. Who would have believed they could recover so quickly?

Dial back the clock to last summer, June of 2009. Chrysler had just clawed its way out of bankruptcy, GM was still bankrupt. And Ford just barely avoided filing, saved only by borrowing heavily before the credit market collapsed.

If someone had come up to you then and said that in less than a year Ford would be earning over $7 billion and that it would surpass Toyota and Honda in quality, you would have said it was not going to happen.

If they had told you that General Motors would be earning over $6 billion in profits, you would have called them crazy.

If they had told you Chrysler would report an operating profit and come within a whisker of catching Honda in market share, you would have said they’re mad.

And if they had told you that Toyota would be battered by criticism for all its defects and quality problems, you would have said that’s impossible.

But here we are a year and a half later and the American auto industry has been completely transformed. The Big Three are more competitive than they’ve been in nearly four decades. Even more amazing, the good times are just getting going. The next five years could be phenomenal.

Continue reading…

John McElroy is host of the TV program “Autoline Detroit” and daily web video “Autoline Daily”. Every week he brings his unique insights as a Detroit insider to Autoblog readers.

Continue reading Big Three Have Five Years of Prosperity Until Party Ends

Big Three Have Five Years of Prosperity Until Party Ends

The new 2011 BMW 5 Series Touring has been subjected to the AC Schnitzer tuning machine, with the result being the “Power Treatment,” making the load-lugging forbidden fruit even more desirable than before. Under the hood, horsepower jumps range from 34 extra ponies for the 520d (going from 184 to 218 horsepower) to 41 additional horses for the 530d (from 245 to 286 hp).

Looks to match the go-fast come by way of an aero package that affixes lower front spoiler lips that bookend a bigger air inlet, new side skirts and a revised rear end treatment. Throatier sounds come courtesy of the in-house exhaust with chromed twin pipes and rear silencer. And the new suspension and steering components will keep the 20-inch five-spoke alloys rolling straight and true. Follow the jump for the full press release and video, and you can find all the angles in the gallery of high-res photos below.

[Source: AC Schnitzer]

Continue reading AC Schnitzer tunes up BMW’s latest 5 Series Touring [w/video]

AC Schnitzer tunes up BMW’s latest 5 Series Touring [w/video]

Hyundai has noticed an alarming trend: the needless wasting of perfectly good asterisks on window stickers all over the country.

The Korean automaker notes that some competitors create a special trim level for certain models that’s designed specifically to score a great fuel mileage rating from the EPA, while the other volume trim levels return a few miles per gallon less across the board. Since Hyundai won’t name names, we’ll do it for them: Chevrolet Cruze (Eco) and Ford Fiesta (SFE). Every single version of the 2011 Elantra, however, will achieve 40 mpg, as Hyundai likes to keep reminding us. No asterisks required.

It also bears mentioning that starting with the month of November, 2010, Hyundai is the first automaker to specify the actual number of vehicles it sells that achieve or exceed the 40-mpg benchmark on its monthly sales report. For those keeping track, the figure from this past November was 192 vehicles – expect that number to rise dramatically in the coming months when the new Elantra goes on sale.

Great fuel economy is only one part of a much larger puzzle to marketplace success. Fortunately, we’ll have a First Drive report of the new 2011 Elantra to share in short order, so we’ll have a better understanding of what, if any, concessions were made to manage its laudable efficiency metrics. Stay tuned for that, and check out Hyundai’s Save the Asterisks video after the break.

Live photos copyright (C)2010 Drew Phillips / AOL

[Source: Hyundai]

Continue reading Video: Hyundai launches Save the Asterisks campaign for 40-mpg Elantra

Video: Hyundai launches Save the Asterisks campaign for 40-mpg Elantra

	Report: GM studying how to double or triple Chevy Volt production At a cost of $40,000 per Volt, economies of scale can’t grow fast enough.		Cracker Barrel to install high-speed plug-in vehicle charging stations at 24 Tennessee restaurants Fill up while you fill up.
	Audi e-den blends old school and the future for electric vehicle charging It’s a, ahem, paradise for EVs.	Other news: Race of Champions adds Tesla Roadsters to roster Video: Assembling the 2011 Chevrolet Volt Report: EU’s goal to slash emissions will be offset by China’s growth

AutoblogGreen for 12.02.10

We know what resident lucky bastard Autoblog contributor Rex Roy thinks about the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. Now we get another perspective on the hypercar courtesy of EVO magazine’s Chris Harris. His thoughts? Occasionally frustrating, yet worth every penny. Harris laments that he gets an amazing sensation of speed yet he has to be off the gas almost as quickly as he gets on it. The 267-mph Veyron Super Sport just moves too quickly for everyday situations.

Since it is Chris Harris behind the wheel, we’re treated to a nice patch-laying takeoff before he launches into a discussion of the car. The clip, which you can find after the jump, also treats us to a little over a minute of no talking… just footage of the car. Wonderful.

[Source: EVO via YouTube]

Continue reading Video: EVO’s Chris Harris takes on the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

Video: EVO’s Chris Harris takes on the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

Review: 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX

Just over an inch of extra width makes all the difference to the 2011 WRX.

Video: Translogic goes to Japan, checks out its modding culture

Our in-company pals at Translogic decided it was time to add a new stamp to their passports, so they gathered up their video equipment and hopped on a plane to Japan.

A Conversation with Saab’s Victor Muller and Jan-Ake Jonsson

Saab’s rebirth is in full swing and we sit down with two of its principles to see what the future holds.

Also of interest:

• Toyota suing Old GM over shutdown of NUMMI plant?
• Video: New Hyundai Azera/Grandeur caught in motion
• Rinspeed previews BamBoo well ahead of Geneva debut
• Next Dodge Viper confirmed for 2012 rollout, won’t be Alfa 8C-based
• Study: Auto bailout saved over 1 million jobs

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Daily U-Turn: What you missed on 12.1.10

If you haven’t seen parts one, two or three of Ken Block’s Gymkhana clips, then this must be your first time on the internet. First off, thanks for checking out Autoblog.com and second, you should probably click links one, two and three from the previous sentence… sorry, a “link” is one of the underlined words. Okay. Block is looking to expand Gymkhana from the solo event that we have now seen and turn it into a head-to-head automotive showdown, complete with tire-smoking, limiter-popping action.

The Gymkhana GRID, which will take place December 3 and 4 at the Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California, is a one-on-one showdown where two drivers attack mirrored examples of a course designed by Ken Block. A host of hot shoes will be on hand to try and knock Block off the top of the podium, including Tanner Foust, Vaughn Gitten Jr. and Andrew Comrie-Picard. Notably absent is one Travis Pastrana, which the video uses as a chance to call him out for making the move to NASCAR.

The Gymkhana GRID nonetheless sounds like it will be a rather fun event to watch – especially because of the level of talent taking to the track. Grab the e-brake and slide across the jump to check out a trailer for the event (*WARNING: language may be not safe for work).

[Source: Ken Block via YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Ken Block hypes Gymkhana GRID Invitational

Video: Ken Block hypes Gymkhana GRID Invitational

General Motors continues to clean up its ledger book, and the latest transaction has GM wiping $1 billion off the table. In Korea, the GM Daewoo Auto & Technology subsidiary, otherwise known as GM Daewoo, plans to pay back the 10-figure debt it owes to its Korean revolving credit facility. The debt will be paid in full by the end of this month. Perhaps a commercial thanking the Korean credit market is in order?
[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading GM repays another billion of its debt

GM repays another billion of its debt

Our in-company pals at Translogic decided it was time to add a new stamp to their passports. They gathered up their video equipment and hopped on a plane. Destination: Japan!

Bradley Hasemeyer and the Translogic team descended upon the Asian island nation to film a multi-part adventure, exploring different facets of the unique culture. First up on the agenda is the subject of modification. Hasemeyer kicks his trip off by checking out a group of folks who love tricking out their scooters. The mods add up quickly and the 250cc “Big Scooters” are fitted with everything from neon lighting to full air suspension setups.

Moving on from the new-school world of scooter modding, Translogic examines the more classic Kaido Racer scene. This very unique styling endeavor gets its inspiration from the old-school FIA Group 5 racing league that included such legendary cars as the Porsche 917, Ferrari 512 and the Ford GT40 Mk 1. Now, the Japanese have obviously taken serious liberties in their own four-wheeled homages, but the result is a style that is nothing if not distinct.

After scaling up from scooters to cars, Hasemeyer gets even bigger and shifts his focus to the van modding world. Starting with such a large canvas, the Japanese van culture goes absolutely crazy and transform their vans into creations that defy explanation. You’ll have to hop the jump and watch the video to see the owners explain their obsessions.

[Source: AOL Autos Translogic]

Continue reading Video: Translogic goes to Japan, checks out its modding culture

Video: Translogic goes to Japan, checks out its modding culture

We’ve seen spy photos of it running through Europe and renderings of what it will look like unmasked. Now we have clear footage of the 2012 Hyundai Azera/Grandeur as it rolls down the highway. The lines stay very true to what we saw in the rendering and the result is a uniquely-Hyundai, stylish full-size sedan. The big Hyun’s ‘fluidic sculpture’ design language comes through without being shoved in one’s face and the overall aesthetic of the car is quite appealing, with a look that reminds us of a slightly larger and more refined Sonata.

We’re really looking forward to seeing this one in the flesh, but for now all we have is the video that is waiting for you after the jump.Thanks for the tip, Paulo!

[Source: YouTube via Blog.Naver.Com - Korean Language website]

Continue reading Video: New Hyundai Azera/Grandeur caught in motion

Video: New Hyundai Azera/Grandeur caught in motion

	Chevrolet Volt production officially begins today, GM auctioning first one for charity Math and science students in Detroit are the winners.		Al Gore admits supporting corn ethanol subsidies was a mistake He just wanted the votes.
	Plug In America dishes out some beefcake with Fabio in latest electric vehicle PSA Hey Ladies, anyone want to go plug in?	Other news: Australian-designed, Chinese-built EDay electric hatch to be priced at $9,625? [w/video] Gen Y doesn’t care about cars; will plug-ins attract them to buy one? GM adding 1,000 jobs to advance next-gen electric vehicle development

AutoblogGreen for 12.01.10