Posts Tagged ‘motorsports’

Bachelor/ette parties, Check!

Here is the latest addition from our wedding blog. read up and comment often. Visit the RyandJay.com and read about what went in to the event of the century, happening this Friday at the Garden Room on Dickson Street in Fayetteville!

29695137Who else had a great time this weekend? As many know and some were in attendance for, this weekend was the last hoorah for FMT and my self and I might have to concede defeat to the girls. My night out was actually an overnighter to my favorite woods and the girls did Dickson Street. Exact details on the Bachelorette party will have to come from Ryann but I am led to believe that there was a hospital visit made. Sorry Kim.

A small group of guys took off for Huntsville early Saturday morning, set up camp and started running four wheelers. My Brother in law, best man, and another friend had their first shots of Jegermeister around the 11 o’clock hour with me, officially starting the party. That bottle, a smaller version of it, and many beers were gone before dark, as were the friend and brother in law. We were joined by my step father briefly and by my new friend Ben a little later, keeping the crowds constantly changing and fun.

Mark brought some killer smoked chicken and corn for lunch and dinner was provided by Scott, deer stew/chili that was un-friggin-believable. I was gone by midnight. I did forget to change into my jeans before riding so my calf is about medium-rare right now. I also broke a clutch linkage inside the case on my quad, which has to be fixed before this weekend, and I hurt pretty much all over. So there’s a rough recap, forgive the lack of details as they’re still coming back to me and thanks to everyone that was involved. I had an awesome time. It was perfect.

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend. We’ve already received our first out-of0-town guests and the rest of them should start trickling in tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday so the houses should be full pretty quickly. See you all soon! Wish me luck on getting everything done before Friday.

Vroom turned bzzt!

dodgecircuitev

Looking eerily like the Tesla Roadster that Daimler just bought into and almost performing to those same numbers, I introduce the Dodge Circuit EV. Part of Chrysler’s “building a new car company” process, I think I like it. Yes, I’m a gear head. Yes, I love the smell of high octane racing fuel, running rich through open pipes, but yes, believe it or not, I’ve got a little hippie in me. It’s that part of me that gets hot when I see someone throw a beer can out the window of their truck near the property where I ride gas guzzling ATV’s. I’ll let that one soak in for a minute.

Back to the car. I’m curious to see how much, if any, of it is sharing platform or components with the Tesla/Lotus. That might make for an interesting marriage between Chrysler, Fiat, and Lotus-via-Yank-volt-heads. Performance specs are better than most and you even see a 20hp (15kW) bump in horsepower. Acceleration is a second slower than the Tesla as well but then we look at market segments. Dodge, hopefully, isn’t going to try to market this one to the supercar crowd as diligently as Tesla motors. Range is approximately the same but the Top Gear crew found out that in hard driving situations, don’t count your 150-200 chickens. It’s closer to 60. Here are Chrysler’s stated performance specs.

Performance

  • Power: 200 kW (268 hp)
  • 0-60 mph: Less than 5 seconds
  • ¼-mile Acceleration: Low-13 seconds
  • Top speed: Greater than 120 mph
  • All-electric range: 150-200 miles

There are goods and bads to any performance car. You buy the Lamborghini for the speed, the 500SL for its style, and the Atom to scare yourself. Either might not be the ideal replacement for the previous and this little hair dryer might not replace the Viper, but I’ll bet your fuel bill it will be a lot of bang for the carbon credit.

Finally, somebody sees the light!

Leave it to those crafty Germans to be the first to get onboard with Tesla. I can’t wait to see what these geniuses can do with German money. Here’s the story:

Daimler buys 10 percent stake in Tesla
San Francisco Business Times – by Steven E.F. Brown

German carmaker Daimler AG bought a 10 percent stake in electric car business Tesla Motors Inc.

San Carlos-based Tesla had already been working with the Stuttgart giant to improve battery technology. Daimler, which used to own troubled U.S. car company Chrysler, is making electric versions of its popular two-person smart car.

Daimler, which puts out the Mercedes-Benz brand, put Herbert Kohler on Tesla’s board of directors.

Tesla, started by Elon Musk, has been looking for money. Last year it abandoned plans to build a new head office and factory in San Jose. It’s been waiting for some $350 million in loans from the U.S. government to pay for a new factory, probably in Southern California.

Low gas prices combined with a recession mean Tesla is having to work hard to promote its vehicles. So far, it only sells a $109,000 sportscar, which has been pooh-poohed by some critics as just a showy, expensive toy well out of reach of the average driver. As of mid-April, it had delivered 330 of the sportscars.

Last month Tesla said it had taken 711 reservations, at $5,000 each, for its four door sedan model, due out in late 2011, though Musk said this boost from Daimler might speed that up. Although that adds up to some $3.5 million for the business, those $5,000 reservation fees are refundable.

By 2011, several competitors, including Nissan, Ford and Chevrolet, may have competing electric cars on the market.

Ford said May 6 it will spend $550 million to retool a factory in Michigan to start making electric versions of its Focus sedan in 2011, the same time Tesla’s new car hits the market.

Tesla’s sedans will cost about $57,500 each, although owners will be eligible for a $7,500 tax credit, cutting the cost to about $50,000.

Using a $4.25-per-gallon guess at future gas prices, Tesla’s math says the sedan “is equivalent to a gas guzzler with a sticker price of about $35,000.”

Daimler is testing 100 of its electric smart cars in London right now. Its factory in Hambach, France, will start making up to 1,000 of the electric smart cars later this year.

A battery-powered Mercedes is due out next year.

Daimler has a stake in Li-Tec, a German battery business, and it plans to make all its own vehicle batteries by 2012.

Another Tesla rival, Irvine’s Fisker Automotive Inc., started selling its hybrid Karma model in San Jose this week. The four-seat Karma, which costs about $88,000, gets around 100 mpg using batteries and two electric motors.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said his city is “working regionally to make the Bay Area the electric vehicle capital of the world.”

Count the doors…

ctscoupe

Caddy is finally chopping the CTS down to a more fitting size. While, yes, the saloon has been a great car and the v8 CTS-V is well beyond a performance sedan, I’ve been waiting for a coupe for a while. Look at their competition to date:

BMW – well known for their performance sedans like the 330i and the M-5, they’ve also always offered a sportier 2 door in one size or another like the M-3 and the infamous 6 series.

Mercedes – like the bimer, they’ve always complemented their line of full sized sedans with those crowd-pleasing coupes. Remember the old gull-wing SL’s? Alright how about the newer SEC’s and CL’s… most of which were also offered in convertible versions like BWM.

Where do we go from here? How about a drop-top CTS coupe v8. We’ll call it the CTS-CI. Ahh, one can dream I suppose.

Audi Type-D Concept

audiconceptSadly, it’s not going into production but this Czech designed audi concept is based off the Auto Union races of old. Now imagine those old racers chocked full of carbon fiber and stuffed with 500 hp. Builders suggest it will spin the tires at 100mph… and that’s exactly what I’m talking about.

In looking through the pictures I’m seeing some nice little effects like the stabilizer-fin-meets-spoiler on the rear, coil-overs all around, oversized wheels, and sweet tires that look pretty sticky. Now I’ve got to figure out how to steal this thing.

Well, one day maybe…

F-150Ford was finally going to bring a more fuel efficient diesel to the F-150 lineup but due to fuel cost slumps look like they’re putting it off until at least 2013. I guess one day our manufacturers will get their heads out of their proverbial bottom-sides and look to more efficient engines… one day.
The planned engine was a 4.4 liter diesel V-8 that would produce more power and torque than the gas 5.4 liter V-8 and at a 20% lower fuel cost. Too bad we’re so preoccupied with 15mpg trucks…

Can I borrow $100k?

lotus1So apparently some fellow lunatic has started putting v8’s in the Lotus Exige and broken the 3 second barrier in 0-60 numbers.  Did I mention its got a carbon fiber body and will do 200mph?  Compared to the 4 cylinder’s numbers of 3.8 seconds to 60 and a top speed around 150 there’s a marked improvement.

My concern is that they’re tipping the scales a little.  Yes, it’s insane but to date, the lotus has been a street legal go-cart with enough power to scare you into church without putting you in the trees.  Now those crazy Brits might have gone and done it… an over-powered go-kart with a taste for blood.  But who’s got time for concerns at 200 mph?  Sign me up.

More info here. http://www.pistonheads.com/lotus/default.asp?storyId=19286