Ken Block is renowned for his driving skills and this time around its not different. Its amazing what he does with this car, he barely fits it in between construction equipment. If he makes any mistakes that cars is going crumble against those big blocks or construction equipment. Now that is one hell of an advertisement for a product. I want to be the guy shooting the paint ball gun, he is always so damn close to touching the things he is drifting around, just an amazing driver.
Emil Baddal is an Iranian designer who has put together an interesting portfolio of vehicles. These are the two designs which I really liked, nobody would think that these designs aren’t from a firm based out of Europe or the US. I really like the beemer, its better looking then the revised M1 that they came up with last year. I really think that BMW could take some points from Emil in design a monstrous super car that can handle. With Ferrari this would be one hell of a divertion from their designs, I think they could only benefit from this difference in design, it spices thigns up.
Thanks Camil
Link: CarScoop
The Air Force wanted to show case their technology and power so they decided to work on making two supercars and worked with Galpin Auto Sports. They decided to work on one Ford Mustang and another Dodge Challenger, I’m more interested in the USAF Challenger Vapor, it looks like a scary machine, even the internals of it looks like a jet fighter, with thermal imaging, long range camera, and fully integrated controls, and stealth mode. A heads up display the covers the whole windshield, solid carbon fiber discs, this machine can sneak on KITT and make him look like a punk. I ‘have always liked the challenger but this machine is really something else, they have turned it into a dark stealth machine to be afraid of.
Link: Air Force Supercars
Link: Galpin Auto Sports
Filling for Chapter 11 is what they were looking for, the government won’t let them falter because they have too much invested and a good portion amount of the population is part of their workforce or tied to that industry.
Chapter 11 in this situation means they can ditch their bad debts and keep their good assets.
Hello:
- Chevrolet
- Cadillac
- Buick
- GMC
Bye bye:
- Hummer
- Saab
- Saturn
- Pontiac
Ownership of the company, split very nicely. The Government won’t interefere but they will check up on their progress, I wonder how they plan on doing that.
The government is basically giving GM about $50 Billion but because of the bankruptcy they will agree to dropping that figure to $6.7 Billion
The Labor people or UAW, instead of $20 Billion pay out which GM owed them they took a 17.5% stake of the new company. I have a feeling its not going to be worth the same amount.
Dealers are out, only 3,605 by 2010
When GM is in chapter 11 they can pretty much restructure what ever they want without any litigation risks. Even the UAW is accepting less pay, job cuts, and plant shutdowns for the sake of keeping what jobs they do have.
Lets think about this way, a GM worker makes twice the amount Toyota Worker does in the US while only being 25% as productive as the Toyota worker. Seems GM is gonna be trimming some fat and cutting back on the feed.
Will GM survive, I think they will, but it shall grow to be a different creature.
Link: Autoblog
I’m not the biggest fan of F1 racing, but I do respect the drivers and especially the teams. But this probably the funniest thing that I have ever heard the F1 drivers say.
Drivers complained during qualifying that a billboard advertisement located just after Lowes hairpin and before the tunnel was distracting them. The advert was for Martini, the “Italian winemaker founded in 1863 and famous for its iconic vermouth” (according to Luxist), and featured the enchanting gaze of model Jessiqa Pace.
With all the women these men probably see I didn’t think an advert of an attractive woman would have an affect such as this. I think they needed an excuse for the slow lap times.
Link: Autoblog
I have always been a huge fan of the Mitsubishi Evolution, the last one EVO X was an interesting machine. A lot of people didn’t like that it wasn’t as aggressive as the previous ones, I’m still a fan of the EVO 8. But this iteration of the EVO 10 looks promising with the FQ400, the best thing about this machine is that the engine can handle all these modifications and I bet it handles as good as it looks. Too bad its only sold in the UK.
Link: Autoblog
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Other then the lime green look of this machine, its a rocket on wheels. With 890 bhp and 694 ft-lbs of torque coming from the Twin Turboed Z06 engine, you don’t know what to expect of this machine. I do like the rear of that car, the hood doesn’t seem too appealing, but what a monster coming from a German firm. Too handle all this power they have upgraded the brakes, installed a carbon fiber drive shaft, upgraded the clutch to handle this amount of power. I’m honestly surprised that a German company would be so interested in American machines, but the Z06 is one interesting car.
Link: Autoblog
I got my Flip MinoHD a while back now but I didn’t have a chance to really use it except a little recently. The box is nice and compact, comes with a few wires, a pouch, and the manual. The camera is smaller then I expected, its smaller then my Blackberry 8900, fits very nicely in my hand. Switched it on and it has some very simple settings, and you pretty much point and record right away. It records at 720p video which you can connect to your computer through USB, the USB connector is built into the Flip MinoHD, its at the top and flips out, then you connect it to your computer to either take the videos or charge it, to charge the Flip you also connect it to the USB.
It has very simple operations when recording, you just have one big red button to record and point in the direction that you want. There is a simple built-in software which I used to create the test video below. The sound recorded quality is excellent and so it the video quality, if you are looking for a simple point and shoot video camera for under $200 then this is the perfect camera. I was looking to use a camera to mount to my bikes while riding and mount it to the car while driving to make some fun videos, and it really did the job. You can do edit the video insert any effects but that must be done in something like Adobe Premiere.
- Holds 60 minutes of HD-quality video (1280 x 720 resolution at 30 frames per second; 16:9 widescreen) on 4 GB of built-in memory
- Weighs only 3.3 ounces, sleek design, fits into your pocket or purse
- Features one-touch recording and digital zoom
- Flip-out USB arm plugs directly into your computer to launch built-in FlipShare software
- FlipShare software lets you save and organize your videos, simple editing, make movie, email, or upload online
Flip MinioHD Test from Marzouq on Vimeo.
I honestly think they did a great job with this camera targeting a specific usage for it. I do think there is room for improvement but I gave it high marks because of the video quality I kept getting and sound capture, and overall extreme ease of use. Now you can the Flip UltraHD which does a little bit more for the same price, so I would go for this one at this point.
Price: $199
Link: Amazon
Rated:
Now BMW has really come out of no where this design, I wasn’t really expecting this from BMW. I’m a person who has always been a bit annoyed with the Z3/Z4 but this time around they have taken the right step. they have modified and expanded the car to make it a luxury roadster of sorts, I was a huge fan of the BMW Z8 and still think of it as an amazing vehicle and the dimensions of the new Z4 is very similar to that of the Z8. The body and look has a very nice flow to it with a very nicely thought out interior and amazing interior.
You can choose between the “Z4 sDrive30i” and the “Z4 sDrive35i.” Simplified, the sDrive30i is the entry-level model with the normally-aspirated powerplant and an abbreviated list of standard features. The sDrive35i gets the two turbochargers, bigger brakes, a larger tire contact patch out back and more standard creature comforts. Visibly differentiating the two are the accents on the front grille (silver treatment on the sDrive35i), the exhaust outlets (dual chrome exhaust on the sDrive35i), and fancier wheels.
Engine:
- SDrive30i – 3.0liter inline-Six (255bhp/220lb-ft of torque) with a six speed manual or six speed automatic (0-60 mph of 5.6 seconds for the manual and 6.0 seconds for the automatic)
- SDrive35i – Twin Turbo 3.0liter inline-six (300bhp/300lb-ft of torque) six speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox (DSG)(0-60 of 5.1 seconds with the manual and 5 seconds with the DSG)
Link: Autoblog
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Aritsan worked with Turbochargers.com to come wih the solution for the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS. Using tow turbos, cat-back exhaust, intercooler, modified ECU, 14 inch SSBC Big Brake Kit, 1.5 inch body flars, 21 inch in the front and 22 inch in the rear. All these modifications make this one very mean looking car and the whole thing costs $69,000 for the SA-600 available from Atrisan.
Link: Autoblog