Chevrolet’s special edition Jay Leno Camaro was unquestionably one of the highlights of the SEMA auto show in Las Vegas and rightfully so. As one of the coolest cars to hit SEMA this year, the buzz surrounding the Jay Leno Camaro was more than justified thanks in part because of the added touches Chevrolet put on it. This includes a pair of Turbonetics T-3 turbochargers the 3.6L direct injected V-66 delivering a total of 425 hp, which if you don’t know, is around 40% more powerful than a standard Camaro LS or LT.
Here’s a video of Jay Leno himself taking a closer look at the car Chevrolet named after him.
General Motors may be in the works of introducing an in-car Internet service for a number of its brands, but Chrysler is mixing in their cars with some technological firsts of their own, namely, in-car live television.
The FLO TV Auto Entertainment, as it has come to be known, will be offered by Chrysler through its Mopar aftermarket unit in over 100 metro areas, as well as a number of interstate highways. The in-car live TV service goes for$629 with a monitor unit coming in the form of a seven-inch DVD screen courtesy of Audiovox. FLO TV also comes with up to 20 different channels, including the likes of CBS, CNBC, Comedy Central, Fox
News, MSNBC, MTV, NBC 2Go and Nickelodeon; it remains to be seen whether new channels and programs will be added in the future.
Those interested in availing the new feature for their Chryslers will be given a free 12-month subscription with a monthly subscription – Chrysler is pegging the number to be around $9 per month, depending on how negotiations with FLO TV progresses - kicking in after the one year free period expires.
The in-car live television feature for Chrysler vehicles is just the latest technological advancement in the pursuit of bombarding cars with as much entertainment as possible. GM’s in-car Internet service was the first salvo and, thanks to the in-car live TV feature, Chrysler has given GM a pretty resounding response.
The US launch of the new McLaren MP4-12C may have hit a pretty serious stumble block after Inside Line reported that concerns over the car’s viability in the US has turned off a number of US dealership networks into giving the MP4-12C the green light in the US.
Taking the stance of these dealers and given the penny-pinching a lot of Americans are doing these days when it comes to their next auto purchase, the feasibility of selling a supercar – and a six-figure McLaren at that – in the US just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
McLaren was supposed to bring the MP4-12C to Los Angeles for the L.A. Auto Show in December, but with the recent turn of events putting a cloud on the car’s future in the US, the UK-based company has decided to cancel its appearance in the event, giving further credence to the growing uncertainty of the MP4-12C’s future across the Atlantic.
All things considered, the car is still scheduled to make its arrival in the US sometime in the middle of 2010, although expectations should be tempered. For now, at least.
Yesterday, we talked about a group of scientists from Stanford’s Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Laboratory that have been working on an robotic Audi TTS and their ambitious attempt at running the fully automated vehicle at the Pikes Peak climb.
It turns out that the Audi TTS isn’t the only car these geniuses have been working on. In addition to the Audi TTS, the scientists also have a standard-looking VW Passat in tow, and while it looks unspectacular, to say the least, the Passat also comes with the some highly-advanced computer gear in the trunk that allows the car to park itself without any manual assistance.
Amazing as it sounds, the technology does have a few catches of its own. For the technology to show off its true worth, the car needs to have a layout of the area where it’s parking and, in addition to that, the computers inside the Passat have no means of detecting outside forces that may obstruct the car from parking on its own.
Nevertheless, a car that parks by itself is still something none of us have in our garages and it’s worth noting that in the event the technology goes mainstream in the future, you should know that the whole genius of an idea was made to fruition by these guys over a Stanford.
As expected, the Cadillac CTS-V dominated the challenge that bears its own name after seven of the top 12 fastest laps recorded came from the CTS-V.
Guess that means GM boss Bob Lutz will have to eat crow at another day.
The CTS-V’s dominance was apparent from start to finish. Six of the top seven cars were CTS-Vs, with the notable exception being a BMW M3 Sedan owned by one Michael Cooper, which placed fourth in the overall standings. Bagging the top spot was former GM Performance Division Executive, John Henricy after posting a lap time of 2m and 46.56s.
As for Bob Lutz, his lap time earned him a seventh place finish with a fastest lap time of 2m and 56.231 seconds, although it’s worth mentioning that out of all the CTVs that finished in the top 12, his finished second to last, beating the CTS-V driven by Chris Fairman (10th overall) with a fastest lap time of 3m 14.292s
Well Bob Lutz laid down his V-Series Challenge and Cadillac seems to have retained their title of the world’s fastest sport sedan, with a little help from their friends of course. Owners of factory tuned fast four doors were invited to the Monticello Motor Club just outside of New York City and take on the CTS-V in a fast lap competition against the General Motors Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, as well as a few seasoned racers and friends of GM like Brian Redman, Aaron Link and John Heinricy. Throwing a wrench into Cadillac’s plans was Skip Barber graduate Michael Cooper and his four door BMW M3, although the New York native is no professional, he did manage to finish right behind GM’s trio of road course ringers. Either way Cadillac did prove that the CTS-V can go fast, even with Bob Lutz behind the wheel, and everyone in attendance had more than they can seem to remember. In a time where consumers are more concerned with efficiency than outright lap times, it is nice to see that there are still automaker’s that are giving high performance driving enthusiasts exactly what they are asking for. Even more importantly, it shows that they still know how to have fun.
This is such a waste of a perfectly good Ford Mustang – and one that was even featured in the cover of 5.0 Mustang at that.
We’re talking about the Hallett/Car FX project Mustang and whatever status symbol it had within the Mustang community all came flipping over just this weekend.
The said Mustang, which was racing at the Hallet Circuit in Oklahoma a few days ago, met a sudden and untimely demise after the driver lost control of the car, hitting a tire wall in the process. The brief – and violent - encounter with the tire wall was all it took for the Mustang to hit its nose into the ground and flipping over in dramatic fashion.
Miraculously, the driver and the passenger of the car came out of their unexpected thrill ride with just a couple of minor scrapes. Unfortunately, the Mustang wasn’t as lucky after its roof was completely pancaked as a result of its unexpected tire wall cartwheel.
Just goes to show that even the most celebrated vehicles out there aren’t invincible, and the proof of that lies in the flattened state of the ‘cover boy’ Mustang.
Anytime you’re stopping on a red light and you see an Audi TTS beside you with no driver in sight, then consider yourself one of the lucky few to have seen the robotic Audi TTS that was developed by a group of scientists from Stanford University.
We all know that Stanford has had a long history of producing robotic cars but their latest pet project is far and away the most ambitious undertaking they’ve ever done. To be clear, the robotic Audi TTS is far more than just your run-off-the-mill robot vehicle – if you can even get away saying something like that. The folks from Stanford who created the technological marvel have plans on entering their autonomous ride to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, a rigorous twenty-kilometer race for a car-driven driver, let alone a driverless vehicle. Ambitious as the challenge may be, the robotic Audi TTS clearly has something going for it, not the least of which is posting an ‘unofficial’ speed record for an autonomous car after posting speeds in excess of 130 mph.
We all keep talking about the future of vehicles, but advancements regarding automated driving have never reached this stage so you can bet your bottom dollar that this will not be the last time we hear from those folks from Stanford.
Brazilian Formula 1 race car drivers are among the best in the world with champions like Emerson Fittipaldi, Rubens Barichello, Nelson Piquet and of course Ayrton Senna still described today as one of the best F1 driver ever.
A new generation of brazilian pilots is for sure coming with drivers like Tony Kanaan (winner of the 2004 IRL IndyCar Series championship driving Andretti Green Racing’s 7-Eleven sponsored car) or Mario Moraes.
Mario Moraes (20, born in 1988 in Sao Paulo) is a brazilian professional race car driver, his career is short but he already showed a lot of talent and impressive performances. He is currently racing with KV racing team, car N0 5 in the Indy Racing League (IRL) IndyCar Series.
He spent the all day and evening at the W Hotel with Izod "In pursuit of Fast" event and the other drivers to celebrate the Indycar Series Championship Week, we took this opportunity to ask him few questions on the sunny beach of Miami Beach in between two catch and throw of volley ball.
Ford’s global headquarters emitted a different hue as dusk settled in last Monday, October 26. Instead of the traditional blue the company has long been associated with, the home of the Blue Oval lighted their headquarters in a pink lighting scheme in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.
Beginning on October 26, the Ford HQ will remain wrapped under pink lights until the next day as a sign of support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a cause that Ford has been a tireless advocate of, having donated well over $100 million to the Susak G. Komen for the Cure foundation ever since the foundation was started 15 years ago.
For 15 years, Ford has been committed to fighting breast cancer, standing up for the cause no matter the month. Tonight’s ceremony is designed to show our support for all those affected by the disease,” Mark Fields, Ford Vice President of the Americas, said.
Through the company’s “Warriors in Pink” initiative, which preaches the vital importance of early detection in raising survival odds for cancer patients, Ford has spent years advocating the cause of raising funds in fighting the deadly disease that has victimized millions of women all over the world, one of which is their tireless support for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. As part of Ford’s program in assisting the foundation, for every car that is test-driven from now until the 31st of December, Ford will be donating $20 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation on behalf of those who test-drive any of its vehicles.
Lighting their global headquarters in pink may be a simple move for Ford in establishing its support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but it’s a gesture that goes a long way to all those affected by the disease. As far as Ford is concerned, those fighting breast cancer are not alone in their plight, because the Blue Oval has, and will always have their backs.
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