Flying Car Given All Clear for Road Use

Flying Car Given All Clear for Road Use: "

Ironically, the hardest part of building a flying car might be proving it’s capable of being piloted safely on land. The Terrafugia Transition flying car has been granted special exemptions by the Department of Transportation that allow the four-wheeled aircraft to driven on public roads. The tiny company, based just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, is the first to be granted these special dispensations.

These include special highway-rated tires that, according to Terrafugia’s website, “are not ordinarily allowable for multi-purpose vehicles.” Automotive safety glass has also given way to “polycarbonate materials,” which the company says is both lighter and safer in the case of bird impact – we’re guessing this isn’t referring to a mishap while pulling into the parking lot of the local KFC.

The Terrafugia (pronounced terra-FOO-gee-ah) was designed by MIT engineers. When not airborne, the wings fold up via controls located in the cockpit. There is seating for two and, according to the manufacturer, the 100-bhp Rotax engine returns a commendable 35-mpg on the road. A carbon-fiber safety cage and dual front airbags are there in case something goes wrong on the road. A full vehicle parachute is optional, in case you’re more concerned about encountering problems at higher altitudes.

Sales are not expected to begin until next year, with a starting price of approximately $250,000.

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Evo Driver School Gets Even Better

Evo Driver School Gets Even Better: "

Mitsubishi Motors North America and the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School have updated their high-performance driving school held at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.

Building upon the Lancer Evolution Experience I, the Lancer Evolution Experience II gives drivers even more track time in the Mitsubishi Evolution X, with a special emphasis on timed competition in Evos that are fitted with a fully integrated roll cage and a Sparco racing seat and safety harness.

Students in Lancer Evolution Experience II will revisit such critical high-performance driving criteria as line theory and driving dynamics in the classroom before several key driving exercises in the paddock with Russell instructors.

After a brief track orientation back in the classroom, the rest of the Lancer Evolution Experience II program consists of driving out on the track, with the instructors continually honing their student’s driving techniques. The program culminates with a specially-designed “Time Attack” course on the Infineon Raceway that has an instructor belted in alongside the driver during the practice sessions to provide critical driving tips and feedback.

Then it’s time for the grand finale – each student takes to the “Time Attack” track to put their newly acquired driving skills to the test against their fellow students in a race against the clock. The fastest driver from each school session will be invited back to compete in the Lancer Evolution Challenge Run Off – with the winner of this competition scoring free use of a Mitsubishi vehicle for a whole year.

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has long been a favored race car of choice in the “Time Attack” time trial racing series that originated in Japan and has found enthusiastic support in the United States in the form of the Redline Pro Time Attack and the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) Time Trial series.

The daylong Lancer Evolution Experience II program costs $1,295 and is open to any graduate of the Lancer Evolution Experience I. For more information, log on to jimrussellusa.com.

Related posts:

1. No School Attendance, No Driver’s License?
2. Mitsubishi Evo XI, a plug-in hybrid?
3. The Connection Between Mitsubishi’s Evo and Outlander Sport

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Muscle Cars Up for Auction in Des Moines

Muscle Cars Up for Auction in Des Moines: "

You’d be forgiven for thinking that only expensive vehicles get auctioned, especially after reading about the 1963 Volkswagen Microbus that went for an astounding $217,800 a few weeks ago.

If you hanker after an older car, don’t be dismayed as Mecum has a two-day auction at the Iowa Sate Fairgrounds in Des Moines on July 15-16 that should have more affordable cars.

If you’re into American muscle cars you’ll find several Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, Thunderbirds and GTOs of various vintages for sale. You can check out a sampling of the hundreds of cars going up for auction on the Mecum auction website.

It’s like going through a virtual museum of American cars and trucks of all genres, mainly from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. You’ll find some cars you might not expect to see up for auction, including a 1972 Ford Maverick 2-door coupe. Could that be someone’s dream car?

Related posts:

1. Ponzi Scheme Convict’s Cars On The Auction Block
2. Frank Sinatra’s 1986 Jaguar Up for Auction
3. ‘Lost’ Aston Up for Auction

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Mitsubishi Lowers Price of Electric-Powered i-MiEV

Mitsubishi Lowers Price of Electric-Powered i-MiEV: "

In what could mark the beginning of lower EV prices, Mitsubishi has dropped the price of its i-MiEV electric-powered sedan. The Japanese automaker is now offering two versions of the car in its home-market. The new entry-level “M” model costs the equivalent of $32,000, before factoring in government incentives that lower the price to approximately $22,240.

The catch is that the “M” version has a driving range of only 75 miles, versus the 100 miles promised by the previous version. If you really need to travel long(er) distances, the upmarket “G” variant offers a range of 110 miles. But with an asking price of nearly $50,000, the extra range hardly seems worth it.

No word yet as to whether U.S. market Mitsubishi EVs (badged as the “i”) will see any similar price drops in the near future. The Mitsubishi i sold here has a starting price of $27,990 (minus federal or state tax credits) and a driving range of 85 miles.

Related posts:

1. Driving the Mitsubishi i-MiEV: What Have We Learned From a Week with Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV?
2. Driving the Mitsubishi i-MiEV: A One-night drive… in the Mitsubishi i-MiEV
3. Driving the Mitsubishi i-MiEV: Mitsu i-MiEV flies quietly under the radar

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Swappable Battery News: Better Place Opens Its First European Station, and the Renault Fluence is Cheap in the U.K.

Swappable Battery News: Better Place Opens Its First European Station, and the Renault Fluence is Cheap in the U.K.: "

Better Place, an Israeli company that developed an automated electric-vehicle-battery swap station, expanded beyond the Middle East this week, opening its first station in Europe. The Denmark station will function as do the other Better Place stations in Israel, automatically removing the enormous battery pack from a special Renault Fluence Z.E. electric car and reinstalling a fresh unit. This holds a great deal of promise for EVs; current electric vehicle technology is limited not only by battery capacity and recharge time, but by infrastructural hurdles like a lack of available charging stations. A battery switching station—itself a gargantuan bit of infrastructure that would need to be paid for and installed—helps solve at least some of these issues by swapping the depleted battery pack out of an electric car for a fresh, fully charged battery pack in a timely manner, eliminating the typical several-hour wait for a full battery recharge.

At the same time, Renault is launching the Fluence Z.E. in the U.K., and has priced the vehicle very reasonably. How reasonably? Try £17,850 after a £5000 government grant for plug-in cars. At current exchange rates, that translates to $28,535, a whopping $5095 than a base Nissan Leaf here in the States. (More important, perhaps, is the relative affordability of the car in the U.K. A Mini Cooper S, for example, starts at roughly £18,000.) Customers are also on the hook for a $120 per month lease for the battery pack, as well.

The car that British shoppers will soon be able to buy features the same battery pack that’s compatible with Better Place’s switching stations—leading us to think that the Israeli firm has plans to expand its operations to the British Isles some time soon. Even without the station, of course, the Fluence Z.E. can recharge through a traditional power outlet, as does the Leaf. The Fluence Z.E. will feature charging ports on each of its front fenders, an electric motor that produces 94-hp and 167 lb-ft of torque, and a claimed range of 115 miles.

Better Place plans to open 19 more battery switching stations in Denmark over the next nine months, and later in 2011 a switching station is set to open in Australia’s capital city, Canberra. The Renault Fluence Z.E. goes on sale next year as a 2012 model in Europe and Australia.

Better Place—a company that builds and integrates sustainable energy infrastructures—opened its first battery switching station in Denmark today, the first station of its kind in Europe. Better Place has already begun populating Israel with battery swapping stations, and the infrastructure is compelling for the future of EVs. Current electric vehicle technology is limited not only by battery capacity and recharge time, but by infrastructural hurdles like a lack of available charging stations. A battery switching station helps solve these issues by swapping the depleted battery pack out of an electric car for a fresh, fully charged battery pack in a timely manner, eliminating the typical several-hour wait for a full battery recharge.

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Toyota to Reveal All-New 2012 Camry this Fall [Updated]

Toyota to Reveal All-New 2012 Camry this Fall [Updated]: "

Update: Toyota has released a short video of CEO Akio Toyoda assuring that the new Camry will be “the best Camry ever.” The clip shows Toyoda motioning to the new car’s headlight, which you can see above. Exciting stuff.

Car enthusiasts slam the Camry for inducing catatonic states in drivers, but the one million Americans who have bought one in the past three years tend to feel differently. (Yes, one million.) At a national dealer meeting in Las Vegas, Toyota execs told attendees that the company would be rolling out an all-new Camry this fall.

As is usually the case when Toyota introduces a new model, the 2012 Camry won’t be dramatically changed from the car it replaces. The 169-hp, 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine will probably carry over with a little bump in power, and the V-6 engine should return as an option, too. Similarly, we’ve heard nothing about Toyota developing a new transmission, so expect to see the same six-speed automatic and manual that the current cars have.

2011 Toyota Camry

While we’d love for Toyota to surprise us with news of some crazy twin-turbocharged, all-wheel-drive, stick-shifted Camry, it’s not going to happen. (Disturbing fact: There was, until a few years ago, a 323-hp version of the Camry in Australia. It routed power from a supercharged V-6 through the front wheels alone.) Instead, all the performance fun will be left to the rear-wheel-drive Scion FR-S.

For those who get their thrills from saving on fuel, there will, of course, be a hybrid version of the next-gen Camry. It’s possible this will see greater technological changes aimed at improving fuel economy and smoothing out the system’s operation.

Toyota told dealers at the Las Vegas meeting that it would be making a major push to clean up the Camry’s battered image. Advertising will largely focus on the car’s reliability and safety, both of which, ironically, were longtime strong suits for all Toyotas.

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Porsche Returning to Le Mans LMP1 Class in 2014

Porsche Returning to Le Mans LMP1 Class in 2014: "

The winningest manufacturer in the race of all races returns to defend record.

The fight for the 24 Hours of Le Mans podium has created its fair share of rivalries both personal—like the one between Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari—and between manufacturers. Lately, an unlikely fight for the overall win has involved Audi and Peugeot, and with diesel engines, no less. But someone, it seems, is tired of watching from the sidelines (or at least from the slower GT class): Porsche, the constructor with the most Le Mans victories in history.

Of course, Porsche isn’t merely concerned with having a presence in the front-running LMP1 class. It wants to add to its record total of 16 overall wins. Audi has won 10 of the last 12 races, which means that by the time Porsche returns for the 2014 running, its VW Group sibling could trail the Stuttgart powerhouse by just four victories. This year, Audi broke its two-way tie for second with Ferrari (read a recap of this year’s wild race here), and the company doesn’t seem interested in quitting there. To add a little intrigue to what’s shaping up to be the best sibling rivalry in motorsports history, consider that Audi has done much of its winning with two of Porsche’s champion drivers (Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish) and Porsche’s old LMP1 racing partner, Team Joest.

What will power Porsche’s LMP1 car, which we seriously hope won’t share a platform with the Audi? Hartmut Kristen, head of Porsche Motorsport, is nice enough to speculate for us: “After the conclusion of our works-supported sports prototype program in the American Le Mans Series we have kept up with the latest technological advances. Now we will begin with detailed research in order to evaluate the various concept alternatives for our new car. These obviously depend on how the regulations for the year 2014 look in detail. In principle, these regulations are interesting for us because the integration of our hybrid technology in the vehicle concept is one possible option.”

A diesel Audi battling a hybrid Porsche to win the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans? Hank the Deuce and il Commendatore might finally be able to agree on something—that’s completely insane. Consider us intrigued and very excited to see how it all plays out.

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Australian V8 Supercars Mess with Texas, Schedule Race in Austin for 2013

Australian V8 Supercars Mess with Texas, Schedule Race in Austin for 2013: "

GM tried it with the nuevo-GTO and then the offed-too-early G8 GXP. Ford has, rightly or wrongly—feel free to debate—never brought its Australian-market Falcon to these shores. But now, courtesy of the Lone Star State (where road signs remind one to “Drive Friendly, the Texas Way”), unadulterated Australian muscle is finally coming to American shores. On a trade mission to Austin, Texas, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced that Australia’s V8 Supercar Championship is coming Stateside in 2013 for a round at the new Circuit of the Americas.

Built to bring Mr. Ecclestone’s high-dollar F1 Eurocircus back to the U.S. next year, the new 3.4-mile road course outside Texas’s capital city also has confirmed a round of Moto GP for 2013. The five-year contract with the what-NASCAR-should-be antipodean series gives the new course three major events to anchor the track’s second season. It’s not the first time the Falcons and Commodores have escaped their home Down Under; they’ve also run in Shanghai and Bahrain, while this season’s calendar includes Abu Dhabi. We’re hyped and amped over the development. Now if Ford and GM could just get on with it and bring the Ute variants of the Commodore and Falcon to our shores; we’ll take ours with a side of pretty girls with Australian accents.

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NOKIA 5200 LED SOLUTION

NOKIA 5200 LED SOLUTION: "

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NOKIA N97 MMC PROBLEM

NOKIA N97 MMC PROBLEM: "

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