Showing posts with label Offbeat News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Offbeat News. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

NASCAR Driver Kyle Busch Loses License for going 128MPH in a Lexus LFA Tester



Oh the irony…Less than 24 hours after Toyota released a new promotional video with NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Kyle Busch promoting the new 2012 Camry Hybrid on the Daytona race track, the 26-year old is making headlines again, this time for losing his driver's license for 45 days for speeding in a Lexus LFA test car.

Busch pleaded guilty to speeding and no contest to reckless driving in North Carolina after he was nabbed earlier this year by the Iredell County Sheriff's department going 128mph (205km/h) in a 45mph (72km/h) zone. Busch was caught in a brand-new Lexus LFA he had taken to test drive for 24-hours.

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

In the Spotlight: How to Overkill a Ferrari 458 Italia



Electric lamps are so passé these days. The way of the future is LEDs or Light-emitting diodes that can be found just about everywhere. Lately, LEDs have taken the automotive industry by storm with carmakers offering them either optionally or standard on most of their models.

But it’s not only regular carmakers that have adopted the new lighting technology; so has the tuning industry which discovered a new toy to attract consumers. The results, as you can see from this example of a Ferrari 458 Italia slathered in LEDs, aren’t always graceful. Video follows after the break.

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Video: It’s a Dog's World in Russia



And Honda though it discovered the wheel with its canine-loving equipment package for transferring man's best friend in the Element crossover

Over in Russia, a crafty Lada owner improvised a…tailored setup to allow his pooch to travel in its own compartment separated from the passengers by –literally-cutting up a space in the boot. Watch the clip after the break.

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Video: Just Another Drifting Day in the Middle East



For those of you that think driving through the congested roads of Manhattan or Paris is bad, maybe you should take a look at the following video, which seems to have been shot somewhere in the Middle East (if you happen to know where, leave us a comment below).

In broad daylight and while normal drivers are using the road, numerous wannabe drifters, mostly in American and Australian rear-wheel drive saloons like the Ford Crown Victoria, Chrysler 300 and the Holden-based Chevrolet Caprice, are showing off their rides slideways.

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Mercedes-Benz Teams up with LEGO to Create the Largest TECHNIC Model

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When it comes to building LEGO, size does matter and with an impressive length of 38.6 cm (15.2-inches) from bumper to bumper and more than 2,000 pieces, the 1:12-scale Mercedes-Benz Unimog will surely be one heck of a challenge to build.

The LEGO Unimog 4000 was created to celebrate the Mercedes-Benz truck's 60th anniversary this year and it is available to buy from Argos and LEGO stores with pricing in the UK set at £154.99 (about €177 or US$255).

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Monday, August 22, 2011

Oh NASCAR…Driver Steve Wallace gets his Hair Pulled from a Crew Chief



If you though hair pulling is a girls sport only, then you probably missed out on the events that took place at last Saturday's NAPA 200 race in Montreal, Canada.

It all started when Nationwide Series driver Steve Wallace came in contact with Canadian driver Patrick Carpentie on a very tight corner sending him spinning out of the race.

Carpentie, who was running for Pastrana Waltrip Racing, had previously announced plans to end his 27-year motorsport career after the Montreal race. Understandably, this wasn't the way Carpentie or his crew wanted him to retire so tempers were at the flashpoint.

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Ferrari 458 Italia Xbox 360 Steering Wheel Brings Some Maranello Magic to your Playroom



Chances are most of us will never have the opportunity to drive, let alone own, a Ferrari 458 Italia. But a racing game for a gaming console like Microsoft’s Xbox 360, is certainly within the reach of most.

Even though you will have to do without the hand-stitched cream leather of the interior, the actual G’s squeezing your body in corners and, of course, the gorgeous bodywork, Thrustmaster wants to bring the 458 experience closer to with the Ferrari 458 Italia Racing Wheel for the Xbox 360.

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Chilling Mazda MX-5 Touch and Roll Over Accident



The accident you are about to watch in the video after the break occurred during the third race of the Ma5da MX5 Mk1 Championship at the Snetterton circuit in the UK.

It all went down when the Jamie Ingram (car No.108) lost control of his Mk1 MX-5 and hit Mark Leach's blue MX-5 (car No.16), who at the time was passing on the right. Leach's car was launched into the air and then rolled over seven times before coming to halt.

Fortunately, despite the severity of the accident, Leach made it out alive but not without some injuries including a bruised lung, some whip lash, and a broken arm.

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Dutch Facepalm: Mutant Opel Astra Station Wagon



Of all the excessive custom creations that we've shown you through these pages over the years, this 1999 Opel Astra Station Wagon from Holland must be one of the most bizarre –and that's an understatement- ever.

While keeping the standard model's…82HP-strong 2.0-liter diesel engine, the owner modified the late 1990s Astra estate with anything he could find including an Audi front end, a wide body kit with excessive wheel arches and more vents than a cheese grater.

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Friday, August 19, 2011

Vancouver Riots Victim will Continue to Pay for her Burned Down BMW M5!



We suspect that you remember our story about the young woman trying to save her E60 BMW M5 from the manic hooligans during the Vancouver riots that erupted in June after the Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup.

As seen on several videos, the young woman, who was later identified as Jazmin Perez, tried in vain to save her BMW M5 from being destroyed. Perez had parked her car outside a store in downtown Vancouver, and when she returned, she found the mob burning down her V10-powered bimmer “to silver metal” as she told CBC News.

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Driver Tries to Stop Runaway Pickup Truck Fred Flintstone-Style



A driver using his feet to stop a vehicle is something you expect to see in the Flintstones movie or a comic strip and not in real life, yet this actually happened when a 24-year-old Detroit-area man literally used his feet to try to bring his runaway truck with faulty brakes to a halt.

The comical scene was captured on police video by a patrol car that had been called in to help. According to the Detroit police, the man was aware of the problem as he had previously stopped to check his pickup but instead of calling for a tow truck, he continued on his way.

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Video: This is What a 30,000 Watt Audio System Does to Your Hairdo



If you ever wondered what's the purpose of fitting an insanely (and unnecessary) powerful audio system into your vehicle other than bragging about output numbers to your friends and if you're a professional, winning specialists awards, follow the jump to see how a certain Steve Meade makes use of 30,000 watts of sound to –ahem- blow away the girls. Read more »

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Louisiana Scientists Turn Alligator Fat Waste to Biodiesel



Scientists are constantly warning us that oil supplies are running out, therefore we should look for alternative sources of energy. Electric vehicles are all good and well, but they require a completely new infrastructure on a global basis, something that’s not likely to happen very soon. Moreover, they are expensive and have many limitations – but that is a different story.

So far, the prime replacement of fossil fuel is biodiesel oil, which is made of soybeans. The problem is soybeans are also used for human and animal consumption.

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Abstract Thoughts: Is Your Car Better than Dad's?



Recently, I stumbled upon an article on Popular Mechanics with a list of 23 reasons why today’s cars are better than your parent’s. The gist is that today’s cars are safer, smarter, cleaner, more comfortable and require less maintenance than the cars your parents would have driven. This is undoubtedly true.

Today’s cars have antilock brakes, electronic stability control, satellite navigation, clear-coat enamel paint and engine immobilisers. We also have climate control air conditioning, electric everything, in-car stereos and many other things that were once cost options; a modern small car has much of the same equipment that luxury cars thirty years ago had.

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Fiat Abarth Girls Dance it Off on Camera



Leave it to the Fiat Group to turn a vehicle presentation into a girls gone wild part – not that we are complaining, mind you…

We don’t have any information regarding the clip that popped up on Youtube other than a vague description that says "FIAT girls dancing at FIAT Grande Punto ABARTH S2000 LIVE!", so if you happen to know more, just leave us a comment below.

And if you're looking for something a bit more spicier from the Italians, you may want to check out this video from the Fiat Group presentation at the 2006 Poland Auto Motor Show.

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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Ford Obliterates Chevy in Monster Truck Tug of War



Have you ever played 'tug of war'? Well, if the answer is yes, just imagine that instead of having one or more people pulling on either side of a rope, you have a pair of monster pickup trucks battling it out for who is the brawnier of the two.

The epic battle involved a modified Ferd Ford pickup truck and what you could call a […] homemade Chevy. Follow the break to see how this works out.

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GM’s EN-V to Replace Cars in Tianjin, China’s Futuristic Eco-City



At the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, General Motors (GM) unveiled a trio of two-wheeled neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) collectively named EN-V to the world.

Unlike the brand’s mainstream models, these concepts were lightweight and compact EVs for an as-of-yet unrealised city of the future. With a host of telematics and cameras to avoid other EN-Vs, pedestrians and other obstacles on the road coupled with a highly accurate GPS system, these concepts were theoretically accident-proof and self-driving.

Now a consortium from China and Singapore are drawing up plans for Tianjin Eco-City: a large-scale prototype for the sort of sustainable, high-density communities we’re expected to see in the coming decades.

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The Dark Knight and Catwoman Show Off Their New Rides



Work on Christopher Nolan's next Batman film called "The Dark Knight Rises" is well underway with the movie crew currently filming in Pittsburgh.

To our delight, we now have some fresh footage of Batman's new toys that include the never before seen Batwing hovering or rather being carried around by a large truck, as well as his trusted Tumbler.

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FAIL: Harley Davidson Biker Goes from Tough Guy to…Funny Guy



A Harley Davidson biker apparently wanted to impress his friends outside the bar by burning some rubber as he turned his motorcycle around to exit the parking space, but the outcome wasn't exactly what he expected. How so? Follow the break to find out… Read more »

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Car Spotting: Mini-Brabus Smart with SLR-Like Nose



For a great number of reasons and after the initial enthusiasm wore off, the Smart Fortwo never really picked up momentum in North America. Nevertheless, the Lilliputian model that began life as the brainchild of the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Swatch Group, the late Nicolas George Hayek who passed away last year, continues to draw attention on the road. Read more »