Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Hybrid Racer Debuts, Fails To Charge Audience

Photo Source: Motor Dude

Recently, Peugeot unveiled their new green Le Mans contender, the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Hybrid Racer. Although heralded as a major achievement in the racing industry and praised for its environmental progressiveness, I am not enthused. If an automobile doesn’t translate into a real world application, like the Peugeot 908 hybrid racer largely fails to do, then I’m just not interested. To be perfectly honest, I think dropping that kind of cash to engineer a top performance race car that stores any unused kinetic energy is a waste. When was the last time a Formula 1 racer interrupted his crew chief by saying, “Well yes Hank, 0-60mph in under 3 seconds is very impressive, but what kind of gas mileage does it get?”

I’ll hand it to Peugeot though, the design department did a hell of a job creating an aesthetic for the 908 HDi that was both sleeking and imposing, in an impending-alien-probe sort of way. Bottom line: if this were street legal, I’d be all over it, but as it stands, it doesn’t seem particularly exciting.

Related posts:

• Quel Sacre Numero: Peugeot 205 Defies A Speeding Locomotive! [Classic Ad Watch]
• 2010 Bentley Mulsanne
• Top Gear Season 12 Starts Tonight On BBC America
• Commenter Of The Day: :-( Edition [Commenter Of The Day]
• Automated Cars To End Traffic Jams

Related posts:

• Fireball Spots a U.F.O.!
• Bugazzi, Fronty Ford, headed to RM’s Hershey auction
• Jaguar To Re-Enter Le-Mans
• Video: More Speed Racer Movie Teasers with Video Trailer to Boot!

The World’s Smallest Car: The Nanocar

This is NOT the World’s Smallest Car

The illustrious title of World’s Smallest Car, sought by many, but held by only one. And who is that one? No, it’s not the car above, or the Smart ForTwo, or the Tata Nano; not the obscure Waaijenberg Canta or even the Peel P50, no matter what the Guinness Book of World Records says. Those cars are giants compared to the real smallest car.

So what is it? Check out the REAL picture after the jump:

It’s the Rice University Nanocar, and it’s the size of a single strand of DNA. It measures just 4 x 3 nanometers (A nanometer is equal to one billionth of a meter or one millionth of a millimeter). A human hair is about 80,000 nanometers thick. But it’s not just bullshizz nonsense made up by grad students with too much time on their hands…this thing actually works like a car. It has a chassis, axles, a pivoting suspension, and the wheels are buckyballs (aka Buckminsterfullerenes, which are tiny spheres of pure carbon - named after R. Buckminster Fuller, one of the coolest dudes ever).

It’s apparently hard to make a nanoscale object roll, but they’ve done it. And why? Well, the eventual goal is the create nanoscale trucks that could carry atoms and molecules around in miniature factories. It’s one step closer to tiny autonomous self-replicating machines doing our work for us at the nano level. End of the world Grey Goo, here we come!

Related posts:

• Toyota iQ is Coming to the LA Auto Show as a Scion
• A look back at the AMC Eagle and the mini-tank that was
• 2009 Kia Borrego Receives NHTSA's Five-Star Crash Safety Rating
• Audi R8: The Ultimate Driving Machine?
• Redesigned Chevy Volt on Schedule for 2010

Related posts:

• Pat Ganahl’s 1932 Roadster
• Harley-Davidson Iron 883: No Frills
• Spyker Laviolette GT2 R
• New York City Hero Gets Free Jeep Patriot
• Guinness makes it Official: SSC Ultimate Aero IS the worlds fastest production car

Sebastian Vettel Wins the Italian Grand Prix: Youngest Winner Ever

Today on the rain soaked track in Monza, Italy, Sebastian Vettel made history by being the youngest Formula 1 driver ever to win the Italian Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old rookie, driving a Toro Rosso (the team is co-owned by Red Bull), beat runner-up Heikki Kovalainen to the finish line. Back in 2003, Fernando Alonso set the record for youngest grand prix winner when he captured the Hungarian Grand Prix at only 22.

“Unbelievable,” Vettel said at a post-race news conference. “The whole race we had no problems, the car was working really fine. I had a fantastic race with a very good strategy.”

After a rainy start, race track conditions began to improve after the first 10 laps. By the 30th lap, Vettel held a 12.5-second lead over Kovalainen.

Robert Kubica, Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld completed the top-five finishers. Hamilton finished seventh and retained a one-point lead over sixth-place finisher Felipe Massa.

Related posts:

• Backyard Ferrari Of The Day: 1980 Corvettari Daytona [Backyard Ferrari Of The Day]
• GM Announces Employee Pricing for Everyone
• Goodbye-amino? Pontiac could kill G8 ST; become one-car brand
• 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP Priced At $39,995...Plus $695 For The Manny Tranny [2009 Pontiac G8 GXP]
• 2010 Pontiac G8 ST To Get the Same Direct-Injection V6 as the Camaro

Related posts:

• Spy Photos: Acura's Newest Crossover Caught Testing at Night
• A Look Back: The Pontiac Stinger Concept is soooo ’80s
• Review: 2008 Pontiac G8 Test Drive...A Bargain for Only $30K?
• 2007 Chicago Auto Show: 2008 Pontiac G8
• Pontiac Mulls the Idea of a V6 Powered G8 Sport Truck aka El Camino

New Jersey Police Use 1HP, Green Vehicle To Catch Your Reckless Ass

For those of you who are not familiar with the fetid armpit that is the state of New Jersey, drivers here tend to adhere to Azubuike Igbo’s Rules For Third World Driving, stopping only if human appendages have sufficiently wedged themselves far enough into the transaxle to prevent a smooth ride. According to the Star Tribune, parks are no exception, and to combat this frightening trend, the Morris County Park Police have begun placing horse-mounted patrol officers in park areas known for high volumes of traffic. Said one mounted patrol officer, “Drivers just don’t expect police to be here, on these roads…once they get off the main roads, they think it’s free and clear for driving. But we’re watching.”

While officers admit the horses do provide a certain intimidation factor, their goal is not to “hammer anyone with a ticket unless they’re going really fast…We just want them to slow down.” Morris County is among only a handful of departments in the state who outfit their horseback officers with handheld radar units, and is only 1 of 2 counties with any park patrol unit at all. The second park patrol unit is located in Camden County and polices parks in the South Jersey region. Unfortunately, the Camden County park patrol must be severely understaffed because recently, park patrons have been subject to repeated harassment from the most incredibly disrespectful, insubordinate, loitering - and apparently unsupervised - teenagers. Obviously, passive tactics like watchfully idling in police cruisers are not cutting it, so we’d like to casually suggest that Camden County investigate the possible benefits of employing the use of high-caliber sniper rifles to enforce the peace…

But we digress.

Morris County’s horseback campaign has been met with success, thanks in part to both unaggressive patrons [unlike Camden County] and friendly, laid back officers. Typically preferring to give speeders written warnings, park officers say they’ll generally only issue a major citation if a driver is speeding excessively [according to the article, a man on a crotch rocket was clocked doing 68mph through the park...that one was probably citable]. Explained county park commissioner David Helmer, “The idea is to slow traffic down. You are inside a park. People are walking and running, riding bikes and horses. You want them to be safe…And isn’t it better to slow them down with patrols on horses rather than…idling in a car and using up gas?”

Related posts:

• KBB Picks Best Redesigned Vehicle for 2007
• Janelle Ha: Has The Last Laugh
• BMW 1-Series Caught in LA
• Commenter Of The Day: :-( Edition [Commenter Of The Day]
• HUMMER H3T declared Pickup Truck of the Year by Four Wheeler

Related posts:

• Cadillac production Provoq and CTS Coupe coming in 2010
• 2010 Cadillac CTS Wagon details and images leaked?
• Cadillac CTS Coupe Concept will be Released for 2010
• PCH, Get Rich In The Limo Business Edition: Nun-Stretched Dart Wagon or Monster Cadillac? [Project Car Hell]
• GM Cancels Next-Generation Suburban, Tahoe, Yukon and Escalade SUVs

Global Production of The New Ford Fiesta Begins; Only Shriners, Clowns Rejoice

New 2010 Ford Fiesta

On Thursday, Ford Motor Company began global production of the new Ford Fiesta, the B-car intended to serve as the “blueprint” for Ford’s new “Global Ford” program. Ford, publicly struggling to tread water in the midst of rapidly sinking SUV and truck sales, announced months ago plans to condense its global market and shift priority focus to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. 

Launched in 1976, the Ford Fiesta was a hit with the part-time-job-at-The-Gap tax bracket in the United States until production was officially cancelled in the U.S. in 1997. Obviously huge fans of fruity little cars, the European market continued to prove receptive to the Fiesta long after it had run its course in North America. Now, with 2/3 of Detroit looking towards to the fuel-efficient, compact car European market success for financial salvation at home, Ford has decided to bring the whole operation back home to roost with the 2010 Ford Fiesta. 

In December of 2009, Ford will begin reconstructing its truck plant in Cuautitlan, Mexico to prepare for the mass production of the Ford Fiesta in the United States. In early 2010, the newly assembled models are anticipated to hit showroom floors nationwide. According to Ford, the new Ford Fiesta will serve as direct competition to other small cars like the Toyota Yaris and Nissan Versa, and is described as”crucial” to Ford’s competitive edge. Being incredibly optimistic, Ford also revealed that in five years, they plan to build about 1 million vehicles a year globally using the Ford Fiesta platform. Now, if you don’t mind, please excuse us while we go sob quietly into the steering wheel of our F-150.

Related posts:

• Burning 11,000 gallons of fuel in a Prius could get Pitt all the way to ...
• Subaru Releases a Teaser Image of the All-New 2009 Forester
• 500 Horsepower Audi R8 V12 TDI Le Mans Unveiled in Geneva
• Japanese CEOs sitting out Detroit show, scale back the glitz
• Infiniti G37 Sedan on the way for 2009

Related posts:

• Jaguar Dealers Really Satisfy
• Daimler split from Chrysler
• Ford Seeks the Best Quality in the Industry With the New Fiesta and Focus
• Musclepalooza IX: barn-find Yenko Deuce?

Repo Man Attempts to Repossess Lil Kim’s Bentley: Too Many Possible Filthy Bylines To Pick One

Apparently, a recessive economy isn’t just hurting the little people. According to a report run by the CW11, rapper Lil’ Kim was paid a visit by the Repo Man back in late April after missing 4 payments on her silver Bentley. Declining to hand over the keys to her ride, Kim assured the Repo Man that she’d “have her accountant look into it” [read: Reality show time!]. 

After the story aired, Lil Kim’s rep [she has a representative? Ah, cute little allusions of grandeur] responded to the story by explaining that the $250,000 Bentley was in fact a gift bequeathed to her four years ago by hip-hop music producer Scotty Storch. It was Storch who apparently defaulted on the payments [guess that Brooke Hogan and Paul Wall collabo didn't hit as big as he thought it would...tough break, kid], prompting Tracy Nguyen [Kim's rep] to explain to E! news that the matter was “completely out of Kim’s hands.” 

To view full article and video footage from the CW11 expose, click “Read More”

[full article: CW11 News]

Lil Kim\’s Bentley Repo\’d

Related posts:

• Land Rover celebrates 60 years, hints at production LRX
• MotoCzysz E1pc: Fully Equipped
• Land Rover 7-seater to be called Ventura, hybrid LRX on the way
• Extended Warranties for Your Car: Worth Buying?
• 2010 Land Rover Range Rover

Related posts:

• Andy Weighs In On Women On Top Gear
• Vanity Plates at Meguiar’s Motorex
• 2009 BMW 7-Series
• IISI's vision for the development of a Future Steel Vehicle clearly addresses ...
• Gallery: 2010 Mazda3 [Source: Mazda] Continue reading LA Preview: 2010 ...

Stile Bertone’s B.A.T.-mobile

While the manufacturing arm of Bertone – Carrozzeria Bertone – sits in the tangled web of Concordato Preventivo, Stile Bertone is reviving the family name with the North American debut of the Alfa Romeo Bertone B.A.T. 11 concept.

The B.A.T. 11 is a remake of the 1950’s Alfa Romeo Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica [B.A.T.] car, and seems to be just what the doctor ordered for the ailing Bertone family. The partial brainchild of [and funded largely] by dentist Gary Kaberle, the B.A.T. 11 is based on the platform of the Maserati GT and is ultimately intended to be a longer version of Alfa Romeo’s 8C Competizione.

The B.A.T. 11’s original debut was planned for the Geneva Auto Show back in March, but was instead revealed at a private party separate from the showroom floor. At first blush, the design flaws were obvious and a lot of engineering clean-up was needed before the B.A.T. 11 would be ready for its Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance run in August. Squashing fears that it wouldn’t be completed in time, the B.A.T. 11 was revealed to the press on Tuesday, July 29th.

Although admittedly not the sexiest piece of machinery Stile Bertone has ever designed, with the kinks worked out, the B.A.T. 11 is certainly an engineering marvel worthy of the Bertone name.

Related posts:

• A look back at the AMC Eagle and the mini-tank that was
• Hemmings Challenge Vintage Car Rally Day Two
• The asking price was a more than reasonable $5,900.
• 2025 Sunbeam Tiger LSR Concept

Related posts:

• Chrysler and Fiat reported to be talking again
• Bill Burke bellytank re-creation hits the salt
• Ferrari California GT Convertible - New Media Photos!
• Yahoo Coming to a Dashboard Near You
• Pay raise for federal judges and tax shelters snuck in Auto Rescue/Bailout bill