news:

Helio Castroneves may have parked money offshore

The Internal Revenue service wants to have a chat with racecar and reality show champion Helio Castroneves to see if the two-stepped his way out of paying some taxes. A grand jury in Miami yesterday in indicted the two-time Indy 500 winner with tax evasion charges. It seems that over $5 million may have illegally pitted in offshore banks during a five-year period beginning in 1999 (this covers the period of time when he won both Indy 500s.) The Miami-area resident is expected to turn himself in to authorities later today.

But just like Dancing With the Stars, Castroneves be nothing without his partner(s). The driver’s sister, business manager and attorney were also indicted.

FREE CAR MAGAZINES — plus no paper cuts

A true car lover may find it hard to store (or afford) all the magazines he/she truly wants. Thanks to Mygazines.com your bookshelf and wallet can now be spared. They have almost all of the recent issues of almost all of the main car magazines. So enjoy and share while you can because you know someone will try to spoil the fun soon.

Also, just because you can now read more car mags at work doesn’t mean you should stop reading/contributing to your favorite car blogs!

U.S. Government car collection reaches 642,233

Who knew the Government were such a bunch of car nuts? The government fleet includes 642,233 owned or leased sedans, SUVs, trucks, limousines and ambulances for over three dozen government agencies. According to the General Services Administration data, the operation of the vehicles (maintenance, leases and fuel) cost tax payers $3.4 billion last year. The government feels they need the cars to operate, while watchdogs feel differently stating that there is a lot of wasteful spending. For instance the driver for Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt earns about $90,000 a year. Government drivers salaries start at $46,000 a year. Many agencies also have cars that are rarely used, being driven once every few months, and the VA had a car disappear several months ago.

Oh and one last fact, none of this includes the Congress’ fleet of cars. Congress does not need to report their annual fleet cost and inventory to the General Services Administration.

Driving emotions absent in Nissan GT-R?

Acclaimed Los Angeles Times journalist Dan Neil’s claim is interesting. He’s not just another journalist and sports car enthusiast. He won the Pulitzer prize in 2004, an American award considered as the highest national honor in print journalism. He says the Nissan GT-R is not fun to drive.

Does the GT-R need any introduction? Thousands of blogs have written thousands of write-ups on this lively ’budget’ sports car let alone the monthly car magazines which go bonkers over it. People who even haven’t driven it accept it to be one of the best sports cars available in the market today and treat it with the same respect as they would treat any Ferrari or Porsche.

Dan Neil’s comments the GT-R is really fast, efficient and powerful, the three attributes that can’t be taken away from it. But more importantly he says "because there are so many layers of electronic self-preservation, there isn’t much frisson or fear. Without fear, there is no fun."

This comment is similar to the one Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson made when comparing the latest Ferraris with the earlier models a while back on the show. He said there was too much electronics in the latest Ferraris and he would any day prefer the older ones.

Dan Neil gets a little worked up in the course of the review and says "Despite the GT-R’s official nickname, "Godzilla," it’s more like 2 tons of fluffy kitten." Is Dan trying to play Clarkson or was he just having a bad day? We’ll let you decide

2007 Nissan (Skyline) GT-R preview Picture Gallery

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50% chance of Audi R8 diesel meeting production

Audi says there is a 50 percent chance of the oil burner to be put into production. If it were to ever reach that stage, it will sport an all new gearbox. The prototype that the lucky blokes at Auto Week tested was "amazingly civilized" and everything in it worked well.

Auto Week drove the unparagoned machine two laps around an old airport runway (Sebring) with strict instructions to keep it under 50 mph. The car they tested processed power through an A4’s transmission and also wore a two-tone paint job-the disguised version of the same car present in Detroit.

Audi reckons that the production version of this concept would return 25 miles to the gallon given the fact that it bears a six-liter V12 engine that generates a whirling 1,000 Nm of torque. 0 to 60 mph comes up in about four seconds and has enough grunt to propel itself to the magical 200 mph mark.

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