Top Gun gets the GC SRT ready. Next stop: A certain surprise locale.]]>This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Top Gun gets the GC SRT ready.
Top Gun gets the GC SRT ready. Next stop: A certain surprise locale.]]>This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
A Trip To The NASCAR Hall Of Fame And Our First Challenges On The Road To SXSW
Let's say you have a 470 horsepower Jeep and an open invitation from NASCAR to come hang out for a few hours. What do you do? You go play on their race simulators and make an ass out of yourself practicing a pitstop. That's what you do.When NASCAR heard we were making the run to SXSW, we got a gracious offer to come hang out for an hour or so and check out the Hall of Fame museum as well as their offices.
We were greeted by something that doesn't happen very often: An opportunity to park our trusty steeds on the plaza in front of the Hall of Fame for a photo op.
So what's missing? The Viper.
We were supposed to grab the car at the HoF around noon today, but weather has thrown a monkey wrench into those plans. I'm waiting for the Viper to arrive tonight and then I'll power down to Atlanta, fueled only by Doritos, Red Bull, and NASCAR brand granola bars.
Oh. And possibly gasoline.
But we were actually here for a reason. Other than looking at the cool cars around the museum, this was the site of our first Jalopnik vs. Gizmodo challenge of the trip. We went against each other on the iRacing simulators as well as NASCAR's pit stop simulator.
iRacing was no contest. We finished first and second (I may or may not have won by an entire lap). Those boys know gadgets, but driving? Not too sure. I'm not certain either one of them completed an entire lap.
The use of gadgets does mean that they're good with their hands. So, as you might expect the pit stop contest was nip and tuck. In round one, Chris and Joel beat Matt and me thanks to a fumbled release of the jack. In round two, we fixed our bad jacking ways and got the jump on them by a second.
It all came down to this. If Matt and I won, we'd have a comfortable lead going into our next challenge in Houston. If Chris and Joel won, we'd be even.
So what happened? We left the fuel filler in the car and lost. My bum crack might also have made an appearance. I'm going to say that we lost on purpose. Y'know, to make the next challenge more exciting.
For now, that's it. If you're in the Atlanta area, come hang out with us (well, most of us, the Viper and I will be a little late), tonight at Partner's Pizza II in Peachtree City, GA. We should be there around 8 PM.
See you tonight.
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Thursday, March 7, 2013
Fleeing From Police In An Electric Toy Truck Is A Terrible Idea
We know what you're thinking: this had to have happened in Florida. For once, a barefoot drunk woman with no pants on crashing her car into a trailer and trying to ditch the cops in some kid's Powerwheels didn't go down in the Sunshine State. It happened in the Natural State: Arkansas.When they finally did catch her (maybe the toy truck's battery died a little and slowed her down), police said Jamie Jeanette Craft was "irate." She had crashed her 2001 Pontiac Grand Am into the side of a mobile home, then, in an apparent panic over causing the accident, stole the Powerwheels for her getaway.
Craft's blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit. Go figure. (Hat tip to $kaycog!)
Photo credit: Craighead County Sheriff's Office; Fisher-Price
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'Maximum' Bob Lutz Body Slams Ex GM CEO Ed Whitacre
Former AT&T boss and 10-month GM CEO Ed Whitacre has a book out about how he saved GM. I've already lampooned that notion, but it's nice to see 'Maximum' Bob Lutz chime in, if only because Lutz was there and because Lutz is a jet-flying, Global Warming-denying madman who always speaks his mind. Lutz, predictably, calls Whitacre's story a "fable."The rant over on Forbes is pure Lutz. It's self-effacing, hilarious, and even a little surprising (he says something nice about President Obama).
Here are the best bits:
Presumably, each of these pockets of ineffectiveness was cured after their encounter with “Big Ed”, and rapidly spread the gospel until all of GM’s hundreds of thousands of global employees got the word and quickly set about creating compelling new products, thus rocketing the company to financial success.
If you believe any of this, I need to talk to you about ocean front property in Nebraska.
Classic.
Ed’s most notable contribution to design was a comment I recall at a Cadillac styling session. Professing to know nothing about cars (true), he nevertheless opined that Cadillacs had the look of “old-fashioned Choo-choo trains”.
Get it? He's old and out of touch!
Ed Whitacre is a good leader and he made an incremental improvement to the organization. But to suggest that he is the architect of GM’s current success is a bit like crediting the rooster with making the sun come up.
We love you Bob Lutz.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Why Does Everybody Forget About The NSX?
With hypercars spilling out of Italy and England, it's all quiet on the NSX front. Why? While we were musing about hybrid hypercars from Porsche, McLaren, and Ferrari, reader Crossdrilled came to point out that somebody had been forgotten.
Hey guys, you forgot me again...
To which kaisermachead replied,
He still has to sacrifice himself to save Geppetto from Monstro to be a real car.
Ouch. It all kind of factors in with another comment made by Eric Sidiecki.
Ever since I started keeping up with the automotive industry, and poring over automotive blogs and such, it seems like I'm never as excited about a new car being released or unveiled as I was when I was 12 and just heard about it when it came bursting onto headlines and stuff. It really hit me this morning when I got on here to see that the F70 (I refuse to call it by any other name) had been revealed.
I got really really excited, looked at the photos, then got kind of sad that it looked essentially like what I expected it to look like (blame all the countless renderings), and I already knew many of the important details regarding engine specs and all that jazz. I suppose that's why I'm way more excited about the Veneno.
It was a complete surprise. It may not be as capable as the F70, but it's got the flamboyance that a hypercar deserves. This isn't to say that I don't think that the F70 is sex on wheels, because surely it is. I just wish I hadn't known so much about it before today.
So there's some free advice for you carmakers. If you tease a car for too long, everybody forgets about it.
Photo Credits: Raphael Orlove (top, from the 2012 New York Auto Show) Peter Orosz/Jalopnik (below, 2013 Geneva Motor Show)
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Here's More Of The Most Eccentric Car Collection In The World
When we met with longtime Jalopnik commenter/car collector Myron Vernis (aka Junkman) at his garage in Ohio late last year, we wound up with too much material to use in our Junkman profile for Jalopnik on Drive. So we pasted together some extra footage of oddball Junkman cars we had to leave out.
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Cars like the Pontiac V8-powered '62 Deutsch-Bonnet LeMans Spyder that first ran on Jalopnik back in 2007, or the batshit insane Olsen Eagle Toronado that Junkman saw here first, then bought, then asked you guys how to make it even uglier. There's also the Matra Murena with three seats -- for driver, wife, and mistress -- and an airbrushed black panther mural on the hood for added fuck-yes insanity via the previous owner.
Oh, you caught the panther-Matra connection? Good for you! That car's sister ship is the Matra Bagheera. If you'll recall, Bagheera was the name of the black panther from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Boooosh. Mind blown.
And that's not all. We could go back to Junkman's garage every year for 10 years and still not get everything. Maybe we'll try to do that. Someone has to.
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Guest column: Stay strong and say no to Keystone XL
Anne Woiwode
Anne Woiwode is the state director of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. For 30 years Anne has been a leader within Michigan environmental community, working on issues ranging from wilderness protection to regulation of toxic wastes to animal factory pollution.
By Anne Woiwode
Jobs and the economy are on everyone's minds these days. Our country needs a solid economic boost, but not one that comes with the risk of poisoned drinking water and a massive contribution to climate disruption.
Such is the threat of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Residents in Michigan can easily remember the reality of what happens with pipelines. In 2010, an Enbridge pipeline ruptured in the Kalamazoo River, spilling more than a million gallons of tar sands oil. The residents and ecosystem are still recovering today.
Throughout this spring, activists across the state of Michigan are turning out to energy forums hosted by Governor Rick Snyder in Lansing, Grand Rapids, University Center, Kalamazoo, Detroit, Marquette and Traverse City, which were set up with the purpose of collecting data and testimony on Michigan's energy issues. To Michiganders like me - who see disturbingly milder winters and Lake Michigan at the lowest levels of our lifetimes - the facts and data are clear, and time is running out to make the profound changes we must make to protect our home state.
More than 400 Michiganders boarded buses bound for Washington, DC on President’s Day weekend for the Forward on Climate rally to call on President Obama to protect their families, their environment, and their economic future by blocking the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. While we do groundwork at home to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and invest in clean energy, Senator Carl Levin must be our voice inside the Beltway and help us fight the most important battle of our lifetimes.
Actress Daryl Hannah, center, is arrested in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 13 as prominent environmental leaders tied themselves to the White House gate to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Tar sands oil is the most toxic fossil fuel on the planet. Mining and refining tar sands oil produces three times more climate-disrupting pollution than conventional oil. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that if Keystone XL is built, the climate pollution increase would be equal to adding more than 6 million cars to our roads - and that's not even including the pollution caused by then refining the oil in the U.S. then shipping it overseas.
We ask Senator Levin to call upon President Obama to reject Keystone XL, and instead encourage the U.S. to invest in clean energy. We need constructive jobs - like those being generated in the fast growing clean energy sector. 2012 marked the first time ever that wind energy was the number one source of new US electric generating capacity, with more than 600 megawatts coming online in Michigan. We can do better for our economy and future generations by choosing wind and solar power over dirty fuels.
American prosperity and economic recovery require that we get big oil out of the way of a clean energy future, which will create jobs and break Big Oil’s power grip on our public officials and on our air and water.
America is on track, we are already cutting our oil use through increased vehicle efficiency and new technologies - we need more innovation, more efficiency and more transportation choices to break our addiction to oil and build a sustainable, prosperous clean energy economy.
When we stop the pipeline, we slow the exploitation of tar sands oil and make the right choice to cut carbon pollution and stop climate disruption.
President Obama was right to deny the Keystone tar sands pipeline proposal the first time. We need Senator Levin to join us in calling on the president to do the right thing and stop the pipeline for good.
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Do you have a guest column to share? Contact MLive Community Engagement Director Jen Eyer at jeyer@mlive.com.
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