Not wanting to stand by the sidelines watching the Mazda Miata and Pontiac Solstice take all the glory in the small roadster segment, Dodge will show their own version at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
The Dodge Demon is powered by a 172-horsepower 2.4 liter engine driving the rear wheels. The power rating seems quite respectable considering the engine will only have to move 2600 pounds of car.
The Demon is "designed to be an attainable dream car," according to Principal Exterior Designer Jae Chung. In purely styling terms, it sure looks like a more affordable version of the Dodge Viper. Or S2000. Hmm, some Audi TT as well.
With the F1 season still weeks away, most F1 fans (myself included) are still replaying old races in order to ease the symptoms of race withdrawal. But you can only watch youtube clips of Juan Pablo Montoya getting attacked by a cameraman so many times before it starts to get repetitive, and you soon find yourself looking for other things to keep you entertained. Like cleaning the bathroom or wondering whether to do taxes early this year.
So that fellow racefans won't have to suffer from those indignities, I decided to make it easy and have collected some of the most entertaining F1 clips available to man. And by entertaining I mean "embarrassing", because there is something satisfying about seeing talented and well-paid individuals fail like the rest of us. In no particular order:
1) Montoya attacked by cameraman or "You broke my f**king head!" Nothing else needs to be said about this that hasn't been already said in countless internet forums.
2) Gerhard Berger breaks mirror on Benneton There are some things on you don't do when you're starting a new job, and breaking the mirror of your new team's racing car is probably somewhere on that list. The look on Berger's face as he realizes what he has just done is priceless.
3) David Coulthard hits a wall during a pit stop while leading the Australian GP David Coulthard showed a lot of promise and speed in 1995 when he raced with Williams, but mistakes like this made for embarrassing moments (f1rejects.com ranks this as the most embarrassing moment in F1 history).
4) Mika Hakkinen almost takes out half the pit crew This moment is more embarrassing for the mechanic who let Mika out of the pits before checking that the car was clear of any tools. In any case, Mika's incident most likely didn't make for a very happy Ron Dennis (someone who is a self-admitted control freak).
5) "Wanker!" - an angry Heidfeld insults the wrong driver Sure, we've all insulted someone we thought had done us wrong and later found out that that it was all a silly misunderstanding. But we are blessed with not having a camera shoved in our face during those moments. Angry about a dicey move Takuma Sato made on him during the 2006 Chinese GP, a confused Nick Heidfeld walks to the Super Aguri Racing pit and starts insulting an even more confused (and innocent) Yamamoto.
To his credit, Heidfeld did apologize to Yamamoto after he was told of his mistake.
6) Michael Schumacher knocks over front jackman Sure, it didn't happen during race conditions, but the idea that the highest-paid and most successful driver would make such a mistake is too perfect.
7) Mansell's wheel comes off after pitstop After a pitstop during the Portugese GP, Nigel Mansell finds himself missing one wheel. Unfortunately for him racing cars work better with four wheels instead of three.
8) Kimi and #2 So it's not really an embarrassing moment, but Martin Brundle seems to be embarrassed for Kimi Raikkonen when he responds to Brundle's question.
9)"Monacogate" I won't even comment on this because this has been talked about ad nauseam.
10) Not F1, but perhaps the most embarrassing moment in open-wheel racing... Bjorn Wirdheim's embarrassing moment at the F3000 race in Monaco is just mind-boggling. Having controlled the race and certain of winning the prestigious event, Wirdheim slowed down to wave to his pit-crew thinking he had already crossed the finish line. Of course, that's not what happened...
During the January 30 Valencia F1 test, Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer gets a friendly nudge from Fernando Alonso. And we thought we were going to miss out on the on-track antics with Michael gone...
What do you do when your company has just announced its largest loss ever? If the company is Ford and your name is Allan Mulally, you spend a day with the troopers in the showroom floors.
According to CNN, Ford chief Allan Mulally will work as a salesman for a day at a to-be-announced Ford dealership. The experience will give Mulally a better understanding of the company's sales problems.
The plans were apparently born during conversations with Ford dealers at a recent National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Las Vegas.
The Toyota Prius has always been a little quirky. From its futuristic exterior body styling to its space-ship dash, Toyota's best-selling hybrid can only be described as "unique" (I'll leave the interpretation of the word to the readers). But Prius owners who encounter snow days have learned that the car's quirkiness extends beyond the superficial.
According to this article, a Prius owner has noticed that the car will come to a complete stop under snowy or icy-road conditions. Even with tire chains, the slip in the wheels is enough to activate the traction control in such a way that the car will refuse to move. The symptoms were duplicated by his Toyota service manager when two other Prius cars were tested on level surfaces covered with snow.
A study conducted in the London (link to the paper here) concludes that drivers of "four wheel drive vehicles" are less likely than drivers of "cars" to follow UK traffic laws on seatbelt and cell phone use while driving.
The researchers explain the difference in driving behavior by citing "risk compensation", a theory proposed in 1975 by Sam Peltzman which claims that individuals make choices based on perceived risks. In the case of this study, the theory would predict that drivers in larger cars (presumably the "four wheel drive vehicles") compensate for the perceived safety of their vehicles by taking more risks while driving.
In case you haven't seen it yet, Honda debuted an Accord concept (you can see it here) that sports an almost truck-like face. At first glance it seems like the Honda stylists got lazy and decided to graft the front end of a Honda Pilot to the passenger compartment and rear end of an Infinity G35 coupe.
Okay, maybe it doesn't look that bad. But the blunt and almost vertical "face" of the concept car is a departure from the low-profile and aerodynamic hoodlines that have long characterized cars in the Honda family. While the change in styling direction may simply be a way for Honda to incorporate consistent styling cues to all its cars, the way in which it is being done is just another example of how new European safety regulations are having a dramatic effect on the design of the latest generation of cars.
Because the regulations are aimed at reducing the number of pedestrians killed by automobiles every year, they have had a direct impact on the styling of hoods and fascias - the parts of a car most recognizable to observers. Lessening the force of impact between pedestrians and cars can only be achieved by adding more crush space behind the bumper, grille, and hood. However, because space under the hood is already at a premium, the only way automakers have been able to achieve this is by making deeper bumpers, bigger deformable grills, and taller hoodlines.
The effect of the new standards can already be seen in European-market cars. Audi, for instance, dramatically changed its corporate face when it started incorporating a supersized grill (first seen in the Nuvolari concept) to all its cars. Although the new "Nuvolari-nose" was conceived as a new styling direction for Audi, its wider surface area also makes for a safer car in the event of a collision with a pedestrian.
Other cars have also been redesigned with the new pedestrian safety standards in mind. The latest BMW 7-series, the Mini, and Mercedes C-class all feature blunt front ends and bulbous hoodlines that are taller than those from the previous versions.
The stylists have for the most part done a respectable job of designing good-looking cars within the constraints of the regulations. But aesthetics will take a step behind safety once the pedestrian safety standards take full effect. The Pontiac Solstice is not sold in Europe because it does not meet the stringent requirements. To make it eligible for sale in the EU, the next generation Solstice will have to be reconfigured with a higher hood, which will surely spoil the roadster's low-slung design.
Maybe not, but the car revealed by GM CEO Rick Wagoner in this interview certainly shows a mug and the wheels- pushed- to-the-corners-look that is reminiscent of the current E90 BMW 3-series.
According to autoweek, the vehicle is in fact the new Pontiac G8 - a rebadge of the Australian Holden Commodore SS. The rear-drive sedan would be priced at $25,000 if it does make it to Pontiac dealerships.
In the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale, Daniel Craig's 007 arrives at the Ocean Club in a silver Ford Mondeo. A pedestrian 5-door sedan may not seem like the type of car suited for a double-O agent, but it is apparently on the wish list for Ford's top executive.
When asked about the possibility of bringing the European-market Mondeo to the U.S., Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally responded: "When I went to see the James Bond movie and I saw that Mondeo, I wanted it." Mulally hinted at the possibility of the car appearing in the American market, saying that the Mondeo is "a neat vehicle for commerce in the United States."
Business plans aside, Does Mulally really want the Ford Mondeo? It is a handsome car and heads and shoulders above it's American counterpart - the Ford Fusion - in terms of design and sophistication. The Mondeo takes lots of design cues from the Iosis concept car revealed at the 2005 Frankfurt auto show and if it ever arrives at American shores it could only do good for Ford's troubled lineup.
On a related note, Ford reportedly paid Casino Royale producers $24 million in product placement fees to ensure Bond was seen behind the wheels of the Mondeo...
Oh, and he also won the 2007 Rolex 24 hour at Daytona, along with Telmex Chip Ganassi teammates Scott Pruett and Salvador Duran. The race was the first 24-hour sportscar endurance event for Juan Pablo, who shocked the F1 world when he announced his switch from F1 to NASCAR during the 2006 season.
The Rolex 24 win makes Monty the first driver to win the 24-hour Daytona race, a Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500, and a Champ Car championship. Now, if he could only repeat his winning record when he starts at the Daytona 500 in a few weeks...
As Ford tries to stop bleeding red ink, a top executive will stop using the corporate jet and will begin flying commercial flights (paid by Ford) for his weekend trips home in South Florida.
Mark Fields, executive vice president and head of operations in the Americas, had arranged for the corporate flights as part of his employment contract. But the perk has now raised some eyebrows in light of Ford's current financial troubles.
It is estimated that the voluntary move will save Ford just over $800,000 - a drop in the bucket for Ford, but an important symbolic gesture as Ford tries to turn around by cutting jobs and closing plants.
By the time Oldsmobile was killed off by parent General Motors in 2004 due to falling sales, the brand had become associated with old and stodgy cars. Overly-enthusiastic re-badging of other GM automobiles played a role in the declining sales, but the brand's image as an "old-person's" car worried the marketing folks enough that they launched a PR campaign touting that Olds were “not your father’s Oldsmobile.”
Analysts are now warning that Toyota should take heed of the fall of Oldsmobile. According to data crunched by consulting company Global Insight, the average age of Camry buyers in the U.S. is from the low to mid 50s, with the average age of buyers rising by one year for every new model year. The Camry is in danger of becoming the next Oldsmobile unless the Japanese automotive giant takes steps to make a connection with younger buyers.
