Shelby has a new car and the goal is to be fast. Apparently they want to be the fastest, which means topping the Veyron’s 253MPH. There is a claimed average 2 way speed of 255, so, I guess they’ve done it.
Mr. John Kanzius said he put sea water in a test tube, applied a radio-frequency field, and then lit the sucker on fire.
Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist and founding member of the Materials Research Laboratory and expert in water structure, said Mr. Kanzius’ discovery represents “the most remarkable in water science in 100 years.” Dr. Roy said the salt water isn’t burning per se, despite appearances. The radio frequency actually weakens bonds holding together the constituents of salt water — sodium chloride, hydrogen and oxygen — and releases the hydrogen, which, once ignited, burns continuously when exposed to the RF energy field. Mr. Kanzius said an independent source measured the flame’s temperature, which exceeds 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, reflecting an enormous energy output.
So, perhaps in the future there will be one more reason to move to the coast… Read more
Lexus is getting much closer to shipping their halo car. Read more
HWA - which is the company formed by one of the former AMG partners - is building a “SLR Light”. This is supposed to be a spy shot of some sort of tester car in the desert. The car is supposed to be a less expensive version of the SLR. HWA is building it, but it will be called an SLC AMG. Daimler bought out the remaining bit of AMG and its their marketing badge for benzo-performance. Read more
GM is to release a plug-in hybrid. Toyota used to say it was a dumb idea, but now appears to be ready to ship one. Enviro-crazies in California have been breaking the warranties on their hippie-cars for some time now.
Quarterly earnings are flat - but that’s a very good thing. At least they’re positive. $891 million in the black is so much better than last year’s loss of $3.4B. So it all looks like good news. Except that there are rumors of plant closings and possible product shortages next quarter. Only rumors though.
GM sold 2.4 million unit, but market share slipped from 13.7% to 13.3% globally with the loss centered on the NA market. Hopefully the upcoming launches of these promised rear-drive cars will help that situation out.
Click to read the details…
Ford made a profit. That’s what they’re saying. Pretty good sized one too: $750M.
So, I guess their plan is working, eh? Still not sure what that plan is - something about renaming cars? They did close some factories. And they also sold Aston. Maybe they can sell Jaguar this quarter. And Rover the next. Then Volvo - shoot that’ll bring them 4 black quarters in a row. Otherwise, you’re left with the big North American operation as a $280M/Q cost center.
They do claim to be reducing rentals (by 30%). And the Ford Credit business is booming ($1.3B). Sales in Euroland are actually up 5%. Why can’t we get that Mondeo here in the US?
Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH is a German company with a spectacular name. The Gumpert Appollo is the creation of Roland Gumpert, a former Audi employee who claimed many rallying successes working as competitions chief in their Quattro division. Gumpert’s partner is Roland Mayer, the boss of German tuning house MTM.
Is there a Lamborghini Gallardo V8? Apparently seen testing at the Nürburgring race track. From the video, the V8 Gallardo sounds a lot like the Audi R8. Parts-bin-gineering - but in this case, it’s probably okay.
Assumed to have the V8 engine from its R8 cousin. The Gallardo, sort of an entry-level Lambo, will slot bellow the current V10 model. That V8 should make over 400 hp, but the car will obviously weigh less than the Audi (which isn’t saying much). Whatever, I want one…