Jalopnik.com Updates

This is the LaFerrari: A 950 HP Hybrid Hypercar. More info...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 04:33:09 -0500

This is the LaFerrari: A 950 HP Hybrid Hypercar.

More info here: http://jalopnik.com/laferrari-is-this-it-451065608

The Paul Harvey Ram Ad was beautiful.

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 22:19:58 -0500

The Paul Harvey Ram Ad was beautiful.

bmwusa: Let’s help a young car enthusiast see his idea come to...

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 06:54:08 -0500

bmwusa:

Let’s help a young car enthusiast see his idea come to life. In this Jalopnik article, 4-year-old Eli concepts his dream car with the help of his Uncle. One of Eli’s stipulations? It has to be a BMW. Use Eli’s specs and show us your interpretation of this one-of-a-kind car. And don’t worry, we’re sketching one too. http://awe.sm/rcKA

Information In America Moves 33,480,000 Times Faster Than It Did 200 Years Ago

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 13:32:19 -0500

Information In America Moves 33,480,000 Times Faster Than It Did 200 Years Ago:

“Occasionally, after a day immersed in reading about cars, writing about cars, driving in cars, sobbing in cars so no one can see my shame, and generally having my brain defined by cars, I’ll have to step back and remind myself just why we even have cars at all. To get our asses and our information from one point to another.”

Find the full article here.

How To Watch An F1 Race If You’re A Clueless...

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:22:20 -0500

How To Watch An F1 Race If You’re A Clueless American

Formula One, the world’s premiere motorsport, is returning to the United States this weekend after a five year absence. Watching F1 is different than watching any other form of motorsport. It’s faster. It’s technical-er. And to the outsider, it’s boring-er. It doesn’t have to be this way. F1 can be absolutely incredible to watch if you know what you’re doing. Here’s are a few simple tips on how to enjoy the first United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas this Sunday if you’re like the potentially large number of American viewers who will suddenly want to pretend that they’re F1 experts.

Prologue: What is Formula 1?

Many of you may be tuning in to an F1 race for the first time with this USGP and have no idea what F1 is. In short, it started in 1950 and is the premier form of motorsports in the world. The F1 circus is comprised of 12 teams, each with two cars. The teams build their own cars and get engines from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, or Cosworth. Budgets for the teams can reach and exceed $500 million per year as they work to beat everyone else. Teams travel the globe from March until November on a 20-race odyssey that includes locales like Italy, Germany, Bahrain, Japan, and Monaco. All along, the teams are vying for two major championships: One for the driver and one for the team. The champions not only earn bragging rights, they get millions of dollars and a place in the history books.

1. Don’t expect NASCAR

Worldwide, F1 is the most popular form of motorsports. In America, it isn’t close. That’s NASCAR’s domain. If you come into F1 with the mindset that you’re going to be watching cars bumping and banging into each other for three hours, you got another thing coming. Crashes do happen, and yes, there is wheel-to-wheel action, but there won’t be crashes every eight laps or ‘green, white, checkered’ finishes. What it is about is precision and strategy. Just because there are no passes on the track doesn’t mean there isn’t a ton of action going on. It’s a different sort of action. Just watching the leader set incredible lap times that can’t be matched by anyone else is amazing in itself.

2. Pick your driver

If this is your first race, chances are you have no idea who these drivers are, and they have names that scare and possibly confuse you. A great way to have a vested interest in the race is to pick a driver. It gives you someone to root for and follow the entire time. The best part is that battles occur throughout the field, so if you pick a mid-pack driver, you aren’t necessarily going to be bored out of your gourd for 2 hours. I typically try and follow three drivers in a race: Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, and Kamui Kobayashi.

3. Learn the intricacies

F1 has a few little idiosyncrasies that every viewer needs to learn. First, F1 has a little device called KERS, or the “Kinetic Energy Recovery System.” The system stores energy lost during braking in either batteries or a mechanical flywheel (No teams currently use the flywheel due to packaging issues). The driver can then activate the system to have an 80 horsepower boost for nearly seven seconds per lap. Another system, DRS, or “Drag Reduction System,” was implemented to aid passing. If a driver is within one second of the car in front of him on certain parts of the track, a flap in the wing can be opened. This reduces wind resistance and increases top speed, which makes passing easier. Finally, F1 cars don’t refuel, so pit stops are ludicrously fast. Like four tires changed in 2.3 seconds fast.

4. Get on Twitter

This is a newer development, but one that I find adds a lot to a race. Behind the scenes access to F1 teams used to be hard to come by, but now Twitter has opened everything up. Teams will tweet when they’re pitting, interesting tid bits on strategy, weather forecasts, tire choices, and more. While the commentary teams on TV do a pretty good job keeping you up to speed, they cannot get the tiniest little nuances. Hearing commentary from team personnel straight from pit wall adds a whole new dimension to the race coverage. As a starter, follow a couple teams that pique your interest on Twitter. If you’re more interested, there are some great insiders to follow. Caterham Technical Director Mike Gascoyne is a good source of info as are Will Buxton from SPEED’s F1 team and journalist Ian Parkes. Part of the fun is also discovering your own insiders to follow and getting the right mix of commentary and humor. Experiment with it.

5. Get your seat set

Make sure you have some snacks, since an F1 race is a two-hour ordeal from flag to flag. I like to set up a “command center” that typically involves coffee, my laptop, the remote, and some sort of snack. Since F1 start times are usually in the morning, a breakfast treat is my normal fare for watching a race.

6: Turn on the TV

You knew that, right? Put on SPEED if you’re in the US, since that’s the only place to watch the races until next year.

7. Settle in for the race

You’ve chosen a driver, you’ve gotten on the Twitter, and you’ve learned about the little bits of the racing. Now what you need to do is watch. The race will begin with a standing start. I suggest turning up the volume as loud as it’ll go because F1 cars sound unbe-freaking-lievable. After that I can guarantee you that anyone will find the race exciting for at least the first few laps, as the field is close together. But then they typically start to string out. And that’s ok! That just means there are different strategies playing out. You get to start guessing at what someone might be up to. Do they have a problem? Are they conserving tires? How many pit stops are they making? It’s like a game of chess, except a really exciting one at 200 MPH. Also pay close attention to the precision of the driving. I find how the drivers reel off perfect lap after perfect lap for two hours mesmerizing and quite incredible. These are the best drivers in the world at the top of their game. Like any sport, just watching an athlete in their prime is an experience in itself. It’s no different in F1, except they are matching the incredible skill in the cockpit with some of the most advanced tech to ever hit the road. What are your tips for getting the most out of an F1 race?

Photo Credit: Getty Images, Shutterstock, AP

Remote-controlled helicopters make desert racing look just like...

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:04:35 -0500

Remote-controlled helicopters make desert racing look just like Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s Super Off Road. Rad, dude!

3,000 pounds of freshly-revealed Mercedes SLS AMG Black and 400...

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:13:44 -0500

3,000 pounds of freshly-revealed Mercedes SLS AMG Black and 400 pounds of motor. Nice.

The One Where Jeremy Clarkson Straps Rocket Launchers To A...

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 18:01:10 -0500

The One Where Jeremy Clarkson Straps Rocket Launchers To A Porsche 944 Turbo

Welcome to Sunday Matinee, where we highlight classic car reviews or other longer videos I find on YouTube. Kick back and enjoy this blast from the past.

There’s no need to make a fancy headline for this story. What we have here is a clip from Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s 2008 DVD “Thriller” where he straps homemade rocket launchers to the sides of a Porsche 944 Turbo and drives around blowing shit up.

That should be all you need to read before you start watching.

If I were to make a list called “Great sports cars I want to buy for cheap but would deeply regret later,” the 944 would be somewhere near the top. It has a potent four-cylinder turbo engine, a Porsche badge, and looks that hold up pretty well today. As for long-term reliability, well… that’s another story.

Mechanical issues aside, the 944 is the ideal car for experiments with illegal homemade projectile explosives. Watch as Clarkson uses the devices to take out traffic cameras, a police SUV, and even a bus. I’m pretty sure that last one was a staged explosion, but I won’t argue because it looked so awesome.

And because I love you guys, I went ahead and posted the entire “Thriller” movie, not just this clip. Enjoy yourselves!

Tell us — what car would you strap a rocket launcher to, and what would you blow up?

No, Nissan, Having A CVT Will Not Improve Your Sex Life In their...

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:15:42 -0500

No, Nissan, Having A CVT Will Not Improve Your Sex Life

In their new ad campaign for the redesigned 2013 Sentra, Nissan focuses on all the ways the car’s features will improve your game with the ladies. We’re going to have to call out one of the ads today because it just doesn’t pass the truth test.

The campaign focuses on an ordinary-looking, clumsy, awkward schlub and his attempts to date a woman who looks like she could be a model. (Realistic, right?) This guy’s not very smooth, so Nissan advises he put some extra smooth in his life by getting the new Sentra with the continuously variable transmission.

I’m just gonna say it straight up: A CVT will not improve your dating life.

We recently reviewed the Sentra (I’d love to dig it up but it’s in server hell with the rest of Jalopnik) and while we gave it high marks overall, it lost a bunch of points because its transmission was so hugely disappointing.

My girlfriend owns a 2007 Sentra with a CVT, which means I have to drive it from time to time. I can personally tell you that attempting to coax anything close to meaningful acceleration out of that car is like trying to teach a puppy to do long division. It’s ultimately pointless.

So fellas, why would a CVT help your game? Don’t you think the ladies would be much more impressed if you opted for the Sentra’s available six-speed manual gearbox?

Shifting your own gears shows her you’re a man with incredible skills who knows what he’s doing behind the wheel. A man to be taken seriously. And what if your date can drive stick herself? You think she’ll be impressed by the lame-ass CVT?

This goes for the ladies too. I find a woman who can drive stick to be incredibly sexy, and I think most of you would agree. It shows she’s independent, can handle a car just fine, takes care of herself and pays attention when she drives. All of those things are great qualities in a mate. (My lovely Sentra-driving girlfriend has since learned to hoon my five-speed manual WRX as well as anybody, in case you’re wondering.)

So if you’re looking to buy the new Sentra — a perfectly fine small car — do yourself a favor and get the stick. Your sex life will thank you.

How Much Would You Pay For Paul McCartney's Sweet Aston Martin DB5?

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:30:52 -0500

We brought you some celebrity car news earlier today with Bristol Palin’s Dodge Challenger apparently being for sale, but this piece of news offers a much higher quality of both car and celebrity.

It seems that Paul McCartney’s sexy navy blue 1964 Aston Martin DB5 recently sold for auction in London for £307,000, which is about $490,000 in ‘Murrican money, according to this report in CarsUK.net. It’s a great time to unload such a car, considering the fact that the original DB5 is apparently making a comeback in the new 007 film “Skyfall.”

Of course, McCartney’s former whip is loaded with all the accoutrements you’d expect from one of the world’s biggest rock stars. It has a leather interior with music notes stitched in, a Motorola radio and a built-in record player that could spin 45s. (I wonder why in-car vinyl hasn’t made a comeback, especially among the hipster crowd.)

This Aston’s pretty hot. How much would you pay for one?

Photo credit CarsUK.net

H/T Autoblog

Used Car Face Off: Safari-Mobile Or Luxobarge, Which Rover Is Right For You?

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 15:10:09 -0500

Welcome to Used Car Face Off, where we find two similar or similarly priced used cars and ask you which one you would buy. Choose wisely!

You never know when you’re actually going to need a 4x4. I tend to mock people who buy something four-wheel drive with locking diffs and crap like that just to go to Whole Foods. But after seeing what Sandy did to the East Coast, New Jersey in particular, all of those people who’ve never used low-range gearing before might actually find it useful. If their Range Rover hasn’t been submerged already.

Even Jeep fans have to commend the capabilities of a Land Rover (Rover boss Maurice Wilks basically copied a Willys-Jeep to make the original Series I Landie in 1948) and the Range Rover is the ultimate refinement of the line. The new gen-4 model is being thrown around by reviewers right now. Trouble is, it’s going to start uncomfortably close to $100,000.

That’s why a quick poke around eBay finds lots of much cheaper Range Rovers to choose from, and gas prices are probably doing their fair share in keeping those trade-in values down. I found this special edition 2002 Range Rover 4.6HSE in a particularly fetching shade of yellow.

No, this generation Range Rover isn’t as advanced as the one that just ended production, but it does boast all of the requisite modern touches: air suspension, push button-easy four-wheel drive system and lots of leather and wood. And 10 years on, this Range Rover still looks good because it’s free of the trendy design touches that have kind of sullied the more recent models.

At 10 grand, it’s dirt cheap too.

OK, so you have a sometimes-disastrous combination of Lucas and BMW electronics mated to legendarily shaky British build quality. And if you’re the kind of person who thinks a 4x4 shouldn’t have anything resembling a sat nav or automatic AC, you’re going to like this V8 Defender 90 a whole lot more.

The Land Rover Defender is really the icon and a somewhat rare car in the US. The 110 station wagon was sold here in 1993 with the 3.9-liter Rover V8 and a five-speed manual. The shorter, two-door Defender 90 replaced it in 1994. But for ‘97, Land Rover upped the power to 4 liters and added an automatic in an attempt to civilize the old beast. I like that idea. But the reality is that they put the heart of a Range Rover into the mud-ready Defender.

Sure, it’s probably less comfortable than even a Jeep Wrangler and is as useful on Main Street as an ATV. But it looks great, especially with the contrastic hard top. And there’s no friggin’ way you’re going to get stuck.

Trouble is, Defenders don’t come cheap around here. This one has more than 100,000 miles and is still going for about 40 large. While a Defender is the iconic Land Rover, the drug dealer-yellow Range Rover is nice in its own right.

I happen to like the color a lot, and would gladly welcome it into my garage for the day some earthquake decides to make the highway not so driveable.

Which one would you pick, Jalops? Let is know on our Facebook page.

-Zac Estrada

Photos credit eBay

Need A Gas Station In Jersey? Check Out This Map Made By Kids

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:01:19 -0500

Have no fear, gas-seeking people of New Jersey. Your high school students have come to your rescue. Check out this map they put together of stations that still offer fuel and ones that are sold out.

According to the Huffington Post, IMSOCIO, run by Franklin High School in New Brunswick, launched this map Wednesday because their students thought New Jersey drivers needed a way to find out if gas stations were open and if there was any gas in people’s neighborhoods following the shortages and power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy.

From their website, IMSOCIO “is an organization working with high school students to help them achieve success before, during, and after college.”

And getting them involved in mapping because, let’s face it, maps are cool. And it’s a double bonus when they’re useful, too.

How is the gas situation for everyone in New Jersey this Saturday?

-Zac Estrada

This Saab Is The Most Obscure James Bond Car Of All Time

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 12:30:50 -0500

Want to go for the most obscure James Bond car? It isn’t the Toyota 2000GT that they specially turned into a convertible so Sean Connery could fit. But it is a car that, deep down, I know everyone likes.

The Saab 900 Turbo was never actually in a Bond film, but 007’s car in the John Gardner James Bond novels starting with License Renewed.

A Saab sounds like a strange choice from a man you picture to drive an Aston Martin DB5. It’s sort of on the Lotus Esprit-side of eccentricity. But unlike an Aston or even a Lotus, a Saab isn’t going to attract unwanted attention. Exactly what a spy needs.

Eventually dubbed “The Silver Beast,” CommanderBond.net says the Saab coveted by the ’80s yuppie was considered to be the necessary upgrade Bond needed in the novels to transform the character into something more modern.

The timing was kind of perfect, since the 900 Turbo was launched in late 1978 and Gardner was just about to start writing License Renewed. Gardner went about fitting the Saab with really useful gadgets befitting of a Bond vehicle, from this list at JamesBondLifestyle.com.

So aside from the practical features of the stock 900 Turbo that included heated seats and power mirrors, the Silver Beast boasted a remote starter, bulletproof glass and tear gas that would come out of the back of the car. Oh, and its stock 2.0-liter four-cylinder had more turbo boost that brought top speed up to 170 MPH. Aston, what now?

Saab went so far as to building a living, breathing example of The Silver Beast. And it’s all there, with bits and pieces from the Saab law enforcement package, run-flat tires way before any sports car had them, a head-up display (born from jets, for real this time) and the engine boosted to 240 horsepower.

Let’s not think about the epic turbo lag and torque steer that would come from that power and this front-wheel drive chassis. The end result is not a professor’s car, but a stealthy machine that would sneak up on villains and overtake them with its epic amount of boost. I just love the idea of it.

I’m probably blinded by my Saab love, but this is the Bond car that got away. Were it not for weird product placement deals with other carmakers, 007 would definitely have driven The Silver Beast on the Silver Screen.

It’s less jarring to imagine seeing Moore, Dalton, Brosnan or Craig driving something comparatively plebeian as a Saab when you remember the first three Brosnan films were sponsored by BMW, which provided the Z3 1.9 and 750iL. Boooooring. And as we know, Saabs are driven by cool people like journalists. I don’t know, I think Roger Moore should’ve driven this if they could have figured out how to make it into a submarine.

Photo credit JamesBond-Shop.com

-Zac Estrada

Wanna Buy Bristol Palin's Dodge Challenger?

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 11:01:19 -0500

Apparently, Bristol Palin’s car is for sale. And on Craigslist of all places.

This post in Phoenix describes what must be Sarah Palin’s daughter’s white 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T for sale, also with a picture of Bristol’s son.

As far as the car, it has 14,000 miles and the five-speed auto and looks pretty stock and in good condition. Credit the statement it’s kept in an air conditioned garage to stop the Arizona heat from melting the car. But why is it on Alaskan plates, then?

If you have any doubts that this is in fact Bristol’s muscle car of choice, look no further than the Internet’s leading investigative journalist, Perez Hilton. He says it’s legit.

So Bristol wants $27,500 for her two-year-old Challenger. KBB says a basic 2010 Challenger R/T with this mileage should go for about $24,000 in good condition and $25,000 in excellent condition.

Unless star power from someone who had a low-rated Lifetime reality series or was a Dancing with the Stars contestant means something to you, maybe you can haggle Bristol down a little.

-Zac Estrada

If This Foot Race Is Any Indicator, Traffic At Austin's F1 Race Will Be Obscene

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 10:01:07 -0500

On Saturday, about 5,000 runners made a go of the Circuit of the Americas racetrack southeast of Austin for the first ever Formula Run race. (Yes, people in Austin do that kind of thing.) I’m no runner myself, but considering the elevation changes at that track, this was probably a lot of fun as well as one hell of a workout.

But that’s not the story here today. The story is that if this foot race is any indicator at all, traffic for the U.S. Grand Prix the weekend of Nov. 16 will be a massive, massive clusterfuck.

As reported by Austin American-Statesman editor and F1 reporter Dave Doolittle, heavy traffic congestion at State Highway 130 (the insane 85 mph toll road we’ve written about) and FM 812 (the small county road leading up to the track) forced participants to wait more than an hour and a half. Many runners showed up after the race started.

Keep in mind that was only for 5,000 people — what’s it going to be like when some 120,000 people show up for F1?

A spokesman from the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, whose deputies were directing traffic, told the Statesman that the heavy fog was part of the problem, but some runners reported seeing no deputies directing traffic.

Sheriff’s and circuit officials say they’ll use this situation as a learning experience for race day, where they will have more traffic controls in place but still expect travel times to be in the three hour neighborhood. They will also be bussing fans from downtown and East Austin.

More telling to me is that SH 130, the toll road, was backed up too. I wasn’t quite expecting that to happen because it hasn’t been used very heavily yet.

If you’re headed to Austin in a few weeks for the Grand Prix, you should check out the Statesman’s report. And plan to leave very, very early on race day and expect to take a bus.

Photo credit Statesman F1.

This Lincoln Continental Mark III Is A Massive American...

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 09:00:53 -0500

This Lincoln Continental Mark III Is A Massive American Pimpmobile

Welcome to Found Around Town, where we feature cars we find in a city where interesting ones are rare because everyone drives a Prius or rides a bicycle: Austin, Texas.

We may be a little more limited than usual on Tumblr, but that won’t stop me from bringing you some photos of this awesome Lincoln I found in the parking lot of the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse a few weeks back.

This isn’t a Lincoln like today’s Lincolns. No, sir. This is a hulking, old-school, unapologetically huge American luxury automobile, a Lincoln from a time when that badge actually meant something.

I can’t stress enough how huge this thing is — about 20 inches longer than a modern Ford Explorer. You could practically park your Yaris on that bench seat.

The Mark III was made from 1969 to 1971. There are some great Neo Baroque styling cues involved here, because that was what American car companies thought people wanted at the time. If you’re a fan of vinyl roofs, white wall tires, pop-out headlights and fake spare tire bulges on the trunk, this is the ride for you.

It’s a great reminder of just how large and cool-looking American sedans and coupes were at one time. Unfortunately, that pesky gas crisis came along and forced big them to downsize (very slowly and begrudgingly, anyway.) They don’t make ‘em like they used to.

Your Ridiculously Awesome Integra Type R Wallpaper Is Here

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 18:01:00 -0400

Who among us hasn’t lusted after an Integra Type R at least once? And we were right to do so. If you were to make a shortlist of all the greatest front-wheel-drive cars of all time, surely the ITR would be at the top, or at least near it.

Essentially a street legal racecar from the get-go, the Type R had tons of engine, suspension and transmission goodies that lesser Integras had to do without. Featuring a 1.8-liter B18C5 straight four with 195 horsepower and an astronomical 8,400-RPM redline, this car was built to wail.

And it was built to corner, too. A couple years ago when Edmunds tested the Integra Type R against the last generation Civic Si, they noted the car is “absolutely scalding” in the handling department. “Some exotics and the Corvette ZR1 will beat it through the slalom, but not much else,” Edmunds wrote. That’s absolutely insane for any car, let alone a FWD-er with economy roots.

While it’s tough to find an Integra Type R today that doesn’t have purple paint, a carbon fiber hood and neon green underlighting, our friends at RaySean Production in Australia are happy to show us what a proper one looks like.

Tell us — would you rock an Integra Type R?

Photo credit RaySean Production. Click here for a ginormo-desktop version.

How Will The New York Subway Tunnels Get De-Flooded?

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 17:00:00 -0400

The flooded subways have essentially crippled transportation in New York City and some of the surrounding areas. So how are recovery workers supposed to get some 400 million gallons of water out of the tunnels?

The answer, according to this article from Wired, is giant pumps that will be used to suck the water out and send it back to sea. Using two types of pumps — including one that could go as much as 100 feet deep and — the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will start with the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, the major thoroughfare between Brooklyn and Manhattan. They expect to pump out 10 million gallons of water from that tunnel alone.

But it’s going to be a painstaking process, according to Wired. The pumps will have to be repositioned constantly.

“And not only will the pumps have to be repositioned as the water in the tunnels recede, the Corps crews will have to go slowly as they pump the water out. ‘These large tunnels take large capacities of water,” says Curry Graham, a Corps official in Washington D.C. ‘We can’t de-water quickly because that could cause damage to the structure.’”

But as you’ve probably read by now, pumping out all the water is just one of many steps. Crews will have to go in and clean the tunnels and assess any damage done to the subways’ electrical systems. From a Washington Post story in the Boston Globe:

“‘Thousands of connections in signal systems will need to be cleaned and tested before trains can run again’, said Mortimer Downey, a former MTA executive director and current board member of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

‘It’s an enormous amount of wiring and an enormous amount of connections that go to what’s called relay rooms,’ Downey said. ‘They’ve got to turn the system on, and if it seems to be working I think they’ve got to go to every component and check it and get rid of all the salt. What you don’t want is a short circuit that causes the system to fail.’

Such a failure caused the deadliest crash in the history of Washington’s Metro system in 2009, he said.”

Our collective hats are off to the folks involved in getting New York up and running again. The task ahead of them is nothing short of gargantuan.

Photo credit AP

Scion FR-S Gets Butched Up For Pirelli World Challenge Series Duty

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 16:01:10 -0400

The Scion FR-S its identical cousin the Subaru BRZ had a pretty strong showing at this year’s SEMA show. However, this one may just be the coolest because it’s an honest-to-God race car and not just a street car gussied up with stickers and carbon fiber.

As reported by Motor Authority, this is the FR-S that will compete in the 2013 season of the Pirelli World Challenge series. The car will be piloted by Robert Stout, who won the Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car championship in a Scion TC in 2010.

Stout’s FR-S will have some pretty slick accoutrements, including a full roll cage, a prototype TRD supercharger, and a race-grade suspension and brakes.

It’s probably not as hardcore as the Subaru BRZ that races in the Japanese Super GT series, but I wouldn’t kick it out of my garage.

Photo credit Motor Authority

Sebastian Vettel To Start At Back Of Grid In Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:02:00 -0400

Huge breaking news out of the qualifying round today for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: reigning Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel will start the race at the back of the field after a qualifying violation, according to news reports.

ESPN reported that Vettel’s Red Bull car failed to return to the pits under its own power during qualifying. The cause of that was ruled “force majeure,” but apparently race officials needed a one liter fuel sample from the car and Vettel only 850 milliliters onboard, which resulted in the penalty.

The BBC reports that it’s a huge blow to Vettel, who went in to Abu Dhabi with a 13-point lead over his title rival Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. Vettel has won the last four races of the season and originally qualified third here.

“The F1 rules require the car to return to the pits with at least one litre of fuel on board - running less fuel gives a performance advantage,” the BBC’s chief F1 writer Andrew Benson wrote. (More on the rules can be found at the UK’s F1 Fanatic blog.)

Lewis Hamilton will start in first place tomorrow, and Alonso will start in sixth.

Photo credit Getty Images