Carbage in, carbage out

Grab a car, grab your tools, ignore all common sense and bang bang till you think it looks cool.

That's how most carbage comes to be. For the owner, it's the greatest thing that ever rolled on a road. For the rest of us, we don't know if we should laugh or cry.

Here are a few examples of cars butchered and murdered by their $&%@# owners.

Well hello there, I heard you like big suspensions...

Blow up Chevies

Thinking of buying a brand new Chevy Cruze? It sounds like a good deal. A well sized car with enough room and a good price tag. Not horrible looking, either.

But wait... there might be a problem. GM is recalling around 475,000 cars because they might have the slight problem of catching on fire and exploding.

"Our engineers have found about 30 fires in total, most of them are related to oil or improper parts"

2012 Sports cars

Around this time last year I made a round up of the up and coming supercars for the year. These are the ones I could find which are either going into production or expected for the rest of this year. Enjoy the sexiness.

Toyota GT - 86

After a lot of back and forward with the possible specs of this car, a couple of concepts, it was finally confirmed and released. It will boast around 200 horse power from it's 2 liter four cylinder engine which will certainly carry the slim car around well. It is meant to be a driver's car, fun to throw into the corners, light and agile, rear wheel driven. Technically more like a sports car rather than a supercar, but let's start slow.

Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Thrown into the public knowledge by the Transformers movies, the new Camaro will see a more sporty variant with this version named after the 1969 car which was fitted with the all-alluminium ZL1 engine. This car shares the powerplant with the very good Cadillac CTS-V. By fittin magnetorheological shock absorvers the makers are saying they care about handling and not only sheer power as it's often the case with american muscle cars.

McLaren MP4-12C GT3

I never really covered the MP4-12C, made by british racing team McLaren, famous for their Formula 1 exploits and success. This version is not really a super car for the road, but the GT3 version, for professional motor racing. It will encounter its arch enemies, the Ferrari 458 and the 911 GT3 RS in the championships around the world. We'll see how it fares.

Porsche 911 (991)

Yet another version of the longest running family of super cars, this new 911 takes a small step forward while going back at the same time. What I mean is the design looks different than the previous generation, and in turn, it looks a little like the earlier 911 designs. The headlights are round, for example. The performance is enhanced a little bit, however the electro-mechanical power steering has been reported to "remove" some of the excellent steering feeling the 911 is known for.

Aston Martin V12 Vantage Zagato

"The V12 Zagato is the pinnacle of the Vantage range", claimed the official press release from Aston Martin when they showed the world the car designed by Zagato based on their V12 Vantage. Certainly a looker, there will be 150 made, making this car extremely rare and equally desirable. It will become a 'classic' many years from now, for sure; "a celebration of both Aston Martin's heritage and future".

Lamborghini Aventador J

After a year drooling over the regular Aventador, Lamborghini decided it wanted more drooling people so they released these concepts of the convertible version of it, and my, does it look stunning. That helmet should come with the car, and if you get it in black, you can pretend you're Batman.

BMW M6

This car is here because of the rocketship that will have for its engine, like it's four door brother the M5. A five hundred and sixty, twin turbo, BMW engine. Being another product from the M line, it will be beautifully engineered with German precision. From zero to a hundred in around 4.2 seconds, I consider this a supercar. While it might look tamer than the traditionally flamboyant supercars, never judge a book by its cover.




Well, that's it for now, other cars not included here, I'll talk about them in future posts. I hope I'm not the only one wondering, why are all of these release photos either red or maroon? I had to dig some to find other colors to put in here. Damn.

Tribute to Ferdinand Alexander Porsche

When someone thinks of fast cars and iconic designs, it's impossible not to think Porsche 911. German engineering with a twist, an unmistakable shape, and blistering performance.
The guy who designed this car was the grandson of none other than Ferdinand Porsche himself, who started the company and is famous for his tank designs and the Volkswagen Beetle. The 911 was meant to be the new flagship model for the company and boy did it become so. Arguably the most successful sports car ever, with many iterations but maintaining the original design. Introduced in 1963, to this day it is impossible to mistake it's shape with any other cars (save other Porsches which borrow a little from it), and it would be rare to find a high performance touring race without one of these rolling around.

So I wanna leave my respects to Ferdinand Alexander Porsche for designing one of the icons of the 20th century. He passed away thursday and we should all know who he was.

(photos include a Porsche 904, which was also designed by him)

Ferrari F12 Berlinetta

Or like Jeremy Clarkson will probably describe it whenever he reviews it: The most powerful production Ferrari ... in the world!

When the ruling word over car engineering is "eco", it is weird to see an announcement for a brand new V12 engine, the most powerful Ferrari engine ever. Weird and exciting for petrolheads all over the world. Yesterday it was at last unveiled, not only the engine, but also the car that will benefit from it's extreme performance.
Here it is, and it's a gem.

Car of the Year, 2011

As you all know, I love cars. But what I love the most is a car that goes much faster than what it looks. Huge backwheels and exposed, fire breathing engines don't impress me, but if a normal looking car drives as fast and as nimbly as a supercar, then that's a big plus in my book.

So my car of the year is one that does exactly that.

BMW 1 M Coupé

I have to admit I was never a big fan of the BMW 1 Series. I always thought they looked a bit wrong, and were a bit pretentious. As usually BMWs are, the 1 series was much more expensive than similar products from other brands. The back side was all wrong and it looked like a giant had parked it's butt on the roof and squished the sides.

However the 1 M styling follows a more aggressive line, as it should be for a performance model, and uses the coupé model instead of the hatchback (the difference is the ugly rear is gone in favor of a more traditional boot).

Powered by a very quick 3.0L Inline 6, twin turbocharged engine, producing 335 horsepower, it deals with the 0 to 100 km/h sprint in under 5 seconds, and will keep steadily accelerating to it's electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h.
One of my favorite features is that the only available gearbox is a 6-speed manual, making this a proper driver-car.

(read more in this excellent piece on TopSpeed)

Other mentions go to the newly updated Nissan GT-R, for the same reason of being much quicker than many more expensive models.

And finally the McLaren MP4-12C, which is completely asphalt burning quick, but lacks a bit of supercar flair and passion.

I hope there is two without three

This month I've covered a lot of motorsport and car related subjects on the blog. Some have enjoyed it while others want me to go back to writing about random interesting stuff, and I will, but bear with me on this one.

It is with a saddened heart that I write about the untimely departure of two talented racers, which lost their lives a week apart, these past two Sundays.

Dan Wheldon

Dan Wheldon was born in England in 1978. He started karting at the very early age of 4 and continued racing throughout his youth and teens, even crossing paths with Jenson Button, before moving to America to compete in the lower ranks of open wheeled racing, but it wasn't too long before his talent was noticed and, eventually, earned him a seat at the pinnacle of competition, the Indy Racing League, in which he won Rookie of the Year award in his first full season. A year later he was 2nd overall, and the next year, champion.

In 2011 he was replaced at Panther Racing by rookie J.R. Hildebrand, and was without a drive for most of the year. Ironically, he did enter the mythic Indy 500 with Bryan Herta Autosport, and beat Hildebrand to the finish, after a mistake by the rookie saw him crashing into the wall in the last corner of the race.

F1 2011 Gameplay video

Just wanted to add some video to the previous review. Enjoy!

F1 2011 Review

After a long, long stint of not having an official, licensed Formula 1 game in the PC platform and having to make-do with modified sims like rFactor or Grand Prix 4, it was announced last year that Codemaster, the company behind such fun titles as GRiD, Dirt and Dirt 2, had been given the rights to exploit the F1 brand, and was working on a racing game for all the fans and those who didn't even know what F1 was.

Wallpaper day

I wanted to start the month with a post, but I can't find anything that good to report on.
My lazy side took over and then an idea hit me... why not add some wallpapers of my choice every now and then? Perhaps make Saturday Wallpaper Day.

Today's theme is cars. Who doesn't love a sexy sports car and why not stare at it while you work?

Audi R8, one sexy piece of german engineering

And boom goes the car

Just a short car post to finish the month with. It's a video I recorded from today's Grand Prix, in Hungary.
It might persuade more of my american readers to start watching Formula 1, as I understand, they look for excitement, crashes and mechanical failures (yeah, stereotypes! I'm just kidding with you all).

Anyway here's a video of what happens when one of the most advanced high performance engines goes a bit wrong.


Nick Heidfeld Lotus Renault blows up - Hungary - The best home videos are here

So, hope he has his car insurance papers ready, cos an F1 engine costs 150 thousand. Not to mention on last week's race he went a little airborne when trying to overtake another car:

Poor guy. Here's to hoping his car at least ends the next grand prix whole.

Karting for 4 hours, fun!

This past saturday some of my friends decided to enter a local amateur motor racing competition: 4 hours go-kart endurance race. Their team was all made up so I joined in as the official pit-boy, controlling their times and helping wherever I could. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and we all had a good time.

Friday night:

Arrived at the place. In week days, it's a big market, but for the coming weekend it had been transformed into a kart track/expo center for cars. I had a couple of beers with the fellas and paid a little fee to get 10 minutes around the track. We usually go to the local indoor go-kart track, which is ran by the same people who were organizing this event, and I have to say running them outdoor a lot more fun.
There was a limit of 4 pilots per car and my friends had already organized a nice team so I couldn't run with them, however I offered my services of time keeping and organization, based entirely on theoretical knowledge of racing since I'd never done this before.

Dirt 3: Review

As you might know by know motor racing is one of my favorite sports. I like seeing sport cars going around tracks at speeds that would make most people pee their pants, and one of the most terrifying must be Rally. Those four wheel drive rocket ships going around impossible corners at break neck speeds, powersliding on loose gravel or drifting around tarmac like agile cats.

As with any sport that has exposure and excitement, there have been a good number of games about it. One of the most successful franchises in the genre is the Colin McRae Rally series, which sprouts 9 titles for different platforms over 13 years. However, of those, the first games dealt exclusively with rallying, while lately there has been a small deviation from that into more off-road, x-games, etc. style. So this is the first game in the series to not have the McRae name attached to it. It is simply called Dirt 3 and it just hit the shelves, and I’ve been playing around with it.

Ayrton Senna; 17 years without the Genius

May 1st is certainly a well known date for everyone who calls themselves a "worker" out there. It's a day to relax and maybe have a barbecue, if spring weather allows it.
For motorsport fans however it marks the anniversary when one of it's biggest stars was suddenly extinguished.

There's nothing factual I can say about this person that hasn't been said and documented a thousand times before. He was a natural driving talent and a great personality loved and respected by many, transcending the universe of motor racing into the lives of millions of people. This is a very short in memoriam of Brazilian three times World Champion, Ayrton Senna da Silva.

Second place at a pouring Monaco, 1984

Interested in racing since being a child, competing in karts from age 13 and winning the South American championship, he moved to Europe to pursue his career in open-wheel racing. Soon he was going through the ranks of Formula 3, winning the British - one of the most competitive - championship.
He was soon testing at the pinnacle of open wheel series - Formula 1. Various teams were interested in signing the young talent, among them multiple championship teams such as Williams and McLaren, who unfortunately had no available spots for the year of 84, so he finally landed on a very low end team called Toleman. What he did that year opened the whole world's eyes to his skills, taking second place in a very wet Monaco grand prix and a couple of third places in Portugal and Britain.

2011 Supercars

As most of you must have deduced by now, I love cars. So without much further ado, here is a list of the 2011 expected or upcoming supercars!

Lamborghini Aventador

As per Lamborghini tradition, this car is named after a fighting bull from Spain. It is the replacement for the Murciélago and I think it looks rather conservative, in the sense that it looks a lot like the Murciélago, not taking great risks or chances. That doesn't mean it looks bad at all, it's fantastic to look at and I bet it will sound like the Thunder God himself being angry.

 

Pagani Huayra

After the unexpected appearance of Pagani in the Supercar club with their funky, mad, crazy Zonda, the Argentine-Italian carmaker now brings the Huayra (hard to pronounce, right?). The name itself comes from native Argentine mythology, after a God of Wind. The car itself looks like a more grown up, serious version of the original Zonda, which I am not sure if it's a good or bad thing, since it was the craziness that made the Zonda stand out. 

Cars that help the driver... or not.

Some time ago, car maker Mercedes Benz was proudly introducing a system that would brake for the driver in low visibility conditions if an obstacle presented itself in front of the car. It used radar to see through the mist, and it was an excellent idea.
So they gathered a bunch of journalists, explained what was going to happen, and then created artificial mist to obscure the drivers vision. Then, on with the demonstration:


What was the problem here? Apparently the driver forgot to turn the system on.

Need for Speed: Shift 2

Good gracious... where do I begin?
This game fucking sucks.

Some years back, EA, the inventor and owner to the rights of the Need for Speed franchise, announced that the series would take a turn towards simulation, after being something like "Fast and Furious: The Game" for like 5 years.
The result of such statement was Need for Speed: Shift, and it was not really a simulator. It was a game that rewarded you for things like shoving cars off the road. For this review it shall be called Shift 1, to not mix them up with the newest offering of the series: NFS: Shift 2. The name is fitting, because you can just think about it as "shit too".

Shit Too was overly hyped in the past year as the new benchmark for all racing simulators out there. It was being designed with a big budget, all the driving physics would be 100% real, aided by professional racing drivers, engineers, car designers, team managers, mechanics, the Queen of England and even the Pope.
Well folks, it's a huge disappointment. Seriously bad.

Where speed lives

I don't follow many sports - in fact you may say I don't follow any - but the one I do follow, I do so religiously. To prove my statement you should have seen where I was at 6:40 in the morning today: getting ready to watch the first race of the new year calendar. That's right, it's a racing sport. And they use engines, so it's a motorsport, but not just any. The mother of all motorsports: Formula One.

I'm not entirely sure how acquainted any of you is to F1 so, assuming you aren't at all, here's a little intro.
Formula One is a team motorsport with the simple goal of getting to the finish line first. Pretty simple huh? Well it isn't.
The cars have to respect a certain amount of building rules - that is, a Formula - regarding size of the car, weight, engine size and displacement, etc. These design rules are strict enough so cars follow a similar format, but not so strict as to make all of the cars equal. There is still some ground for designers and engineers to fiddle around and try to find performance advantages, and that is what the team vs. team struggle is pretty much.
As it couldn't be any other way, the drivers are a key element to the racing. There are tens or hundreds of thousands racing drivers in the whole world; only 24 will be racing any given weekend in F1. You have to be that good (in theory).

Mainly what distinguishes F1 apart from other racing series is the brutality, the sheer performance of these cars. They are the engineering peak of what can be done inside a racing circuit. They are specialists of acceleration: positive forward acceleration, getting from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in under 2 seconds, reaching 300 km/h (186 mph) in less than 9. Deceleration, that is, braking, is so extreme that it generates 4 or 5 Gs of force in the drivers' bodies: their lungs hit their ribcage and they exhale involuntarily.