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At Bonneville's speed week, taking place in August, Ford plans to join the fun by reviving and old name to set a new record. The Fusion Hydrogen 999 harkens back to Henry Ford's 999 racer, in which he set a land speed record of 91.37 mph on a frozen-over Lake St. Clair in 1904. A century later, the target is slightly higher. Ford hopes to be the first manufacturer to break 200 mph with a fuel cell-powered vehicle--the lowered, more aerodynamic Fusion you see here. It was developed in collaboration with Roush, Ballard, and, unfortunately, students from Ohio State University (hopefully that didn't hurt the project too much). All joking aside, we wish Ford and its partners the best of luck, and will be watching when speed week comes around. Discuss this in our message forums >
Other than the nutjob mental home escapees at Mallett who shoehorn Corvette V-8s into Skys and Solstices, there aren't many options for owners of GM's topless twins who want to steal a few car lengths over other owners. KW suspensions has now come to the rescue, releasing a coilover kit for Kappa cars, shown here on a European Opel GT. The stainless steel V3 kit bolts in to lower the car as much as 40 mm at the front and 45 mm at the rear. KW's V3 suspension allows drivers to separately adjust pressue and rebound damping, which translates into a high degree of customization potential for those touchy trackrats trying to find the ultimate setup. Discuss this in our message forums >
This morning, tech geeks woke to find quite a treat from Mitsubishi. While many details of the upcoming Lancer Evo X are still in the shadows, two of the car's most exciting systems have now been confirmed and detailed--Super All-Wheel Control and the Twin Clutch Sport Shift Transmission.
For the first system, the key word is active: Active yaw control, an active center differential, and active stability control all work in harmony to make what promises to be one of the best-performing all-wheel-drive systems ever made. Let the Acura SH-AWD vs. Mitsubishi S-AWC arguments begin.
The transmission won't be a talking point of Acura lovers, though, but of the VW faithful. Like that company's DSG gearbox, Mitsubishi's Twin Clutch SST uses, as the name impies, two electronically activated clutches (first, third, and fifth gear working off of one, second, fourth, and sixth off of the other) to perform lightning-quick, paddle-activated shifts. Three settings--normal, sport, and s-sport--will control throttle response and shift points. Read the full release after the jump. Discuss this in our message forums >
Compared to the media coverage of the Cadillac CTS-V and BMW M3, the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG has gone relatively unnoticed. Sure, there's been a spy photo here and there, but the wild speculation and random test car sightings have been minimal. So it seems fitting that the car made its official debut on a day when most Americans are out hearing the bang of fireworks, not dreaming of a highly-technological V-8's rumble.
Or maybe the lack of hype has been because the C63's specs--while incredible--were somewhat predictable right from the start. Under the two power bulges of the hood sits the same 6.2-liter engine found throughout the AMG range, detuned to 451 hp as to not creep too closely to the E63, and 443 lb-ft of torque. A 0-60 figure of 4.5 seconds is in line with the rest of the family, too.
Mercedes has spoken softly about this new addition to the line-up, but it will indeed carry an adequately large stick to stir up the greatest sports sedan shootout of our time. It goes on sale here in the States next spring. Discuss this in our message forums >
For decades, BBS has been regarded as one of the premier and most innovative brands in the wheel industry. It has been the wheel of choice for BMW, Ferrari, Maserati, and a number of other brands for years. But unfortunately, rising aluminum prices and recent and unprofitable ventures in the volume car segment led to BBS' fall from grace, as the company went bankrupt last month. The endless copying of designs by other companies and the countless "BeeBeeS" knock-offs available on Ebay probably didn't help, either.
Things appear to be on the up again over at BBS now, as Punch International, a Belgian holdings company, will take ownership on August first. The company announced that it plans to return BBS to the more profitable premium segment, doing away with volume vehicle contracts. Punch, which also owns ZF, has expressed plans to build a new hybrid vehicle, and sees BBS (and particularly its patented "air-inside" technology) as a valuable asset in that venture. We're just excited that the future of beautiful wheels seems safe once again. Discuss this in our message forums >
The car itself isn't the news here--the Techart GTstreet 997 was actually introduced a few months back at the Geneva Auto Salon. Don't get us wrong; it's still quite awesome, but we've seen it before. What we haven't seen is the GT3 RS-inspired lime green paint scheme, or shots of the car out in the wild and in motion. Techart, one of the world's foremost Porsche tuning firms, definitely managed to make a beautiful machine even more stunning. See more pictures by clicking the headline above. Discuss this in our message forums >
Unless you’ve been living on another planet, Cybertron excepted, we doubt you’’ve missed the hype surrounding the new Transformers movie. CGI technology and big budget, undoubtedly helped by product placement clams from GM, have re-created the Transformers universe in a way pre-pubescent boys in the mid 80s could only fantasize about. In those days when playing Pole Position on your Atari passed for a realistic driving experience, the idea of a live-action Transformers movie that didn’t suck would have been unfathomable.
Giving a car like the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 more edge is like telling a Dukes of Hazzard-buff Jessica Simpson that she needs breast augmentation. This begs the question: Can you really improve on something as buxom as the LP640, or are you left with a boob of a Lambo? It seems that German tuner Hamann thinks there’s room for improvement, carbon fiber implants and all.
It doesn't take multiple advanced degrees to decipher the origins of the names our society gives to most common items. A water bottle, for example, is obviously called that because it is used to hold water. Or a loudspeaker maybe--it allows people to speak louder. The same holds true in the automotive world. A trunk is called that because at one time, cars actually had removable trunks mounted at the rear. And headlights, well, they light up what's ahead.
Until today, we categorized "glove box" as one of these words. While it may not be as true today, that small compartment was, in fact, designed to hold gloves. But according to a survey conducted by Chrysler, 72 percent of Americans are unaware of that fact. What's more disturbing is that 44 percent of those among us may as well call it the "Please steal my car and get off scot-free box," because that's where they keep their vehicle titles.
Of course, no study would be complete without a bit of PR spin, so here you go: "The survey reinforced the Dodge brand’s move to revolutionize, or modernize, uses of today’s glove box by expanding the area to include the Chill Zone™ chilled beverage storage bin in the all-new 2008 Dodge Avenger. In fact, 88 percent of people surveyed said they would store chilled water or juice in their glove box if there was a compartment to keep beverages cooled. . ."
Well done, Chrysler. To make one small point, you've drastically lowered our hope for the success of mankind. Discuss this in our message forums >
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