 |
| |
 |
 Are you a dyed-in-the-wool car freak, like me maybe? Classic cars, muscle cars, sports cars, sure. And, of course, how to treat 'em right. Like adding Motor Silk to your engine. And let's not forget car racing, Formula 1 to be exact. Plus tips, tricks
and everything driving. All right here.
_________________________
MEMBERS! Post your own stories or articles you've come across [give attributions!]. Tell everyone about your first car or that lemon you can't unload. Just click on Submit Story across the top of the page. You can also give your own two cents to any story. Click comments? at the end of each article.
|
Morty's Cabin: All About Automobiles
[ Go to Home | Select a New Topic ] |
|
Published April 17, 2009 by CNN -- www.cnn.com
Andy Grove on battery power
When gas was topping $4 a gallon last summer, the urgency to find alternative sources of energy to power cars and trucks became clear to most Americans. But with oil prices toppling since, the push for new energy technologies is being shoved aside by the nation's other economic woes. That is a mistake that could cost the United States everything - especially if this recession is followed by a period of fast growth.
Economic growth requires energy. When the world economy starts to grow again, all countries, and especially China and the U.S., will be competing for the same finite supplies of oil and gas. If we had the ability to use varied sources of energy to power transportation, we would have a competitive advantage. We would also have a degree of resilience in the face of threats. And they exist. Just this past year Russia sent tanks into oil-rich Georgia, and an oil tanker was hijacked off the coast of Somalia. In addition, climate change demands that we harness new, renewable sources of energy. Here, too, electricity is key.
|
Published April 17, 2009 by CNN -- www.cnn.com
Pay up or your car engine will stop
by Gary Hoffmann
(AOL Autos) -- With consumer credit ratings plummeting, more American car owners could soon be driving around with an electronic Big Brother on board.
Business is booming for makers of shut-off devices, which turn engines off when car payments are late. Sales at one manufacturer, Littleton, Colorado-based Passtime, are up 33 percent over last year. CEO Stan Schwarz says the company is cranking up production to meet the demand.
"Right now, we are moving about 2,000 units a month into the marketplace," Schwarz says. "I fully expect by the end of the year we will be up to 14,000 to 15,000 a month."
|
|
Its Muscle Car Glory Faded, Pontiac Shrivels Up
|
|
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
With its history of building muscle cars like the GTO and the low-slung Firebird, Pontiac had good reason to take pride in its best-known marketing slogan from the 1980s, “We Build Excitement.”
Lately it has been using “Pontiac is CAR,” a phrase more likely to catch the attention of grammarians than car buffs.
And on Tuesday, when General Motors asked the federal government for more bailout money, it also announced a reorganization plan that included demoting Pontiac to a “focused niche brand,” signaling that its lineup of vehicles would shrink and that it would no longer be a separate division.
To industry analysts and Pontiac’s longtime fans, the downgrade provides a case study of the product missteps that helped put G.M. in its precarious state, and a reminder of the dangers in straying from a successful formula.
|
Published December 8, 2008 by The Independent -- www.indpendent.co.uk
Button remains optimistic despite Honda crisis
PA
Jenson Button insists he "can't believe" Honda would be unable to attract a buyer for their Formula One team, which has been put up for sale by the Japanese manufacturer.
Honda, citing difficult financial conditions, made the announcement on Friday. Their F1 operation has been given until January to find a buyer or face closure.
The news has thrown the future of Button and Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello into doubt, but the Briton believes the team's state-of-the-art facilities in Brackley will make the operation attractive to interested parties.
|
Posted by Virge on Monday, December 08 @ 11:30:16 CST (205 reads)
(Read More... | 1868 bytes more | Score: 0)
|
|
|
Rethinking the Automobile
|
|
Published December 7, 2008 by the guardian.co.uk
Detroit has run out of road. The car's future lies in Europe
Will Hutton
The car was the symbol of the prewar 20th century. Henry Ford's Model T, Volkswagen's people's car and even Britain's Morris Oxford were more than just industrial products. Suddenly, industrialisation was able to offer the mass of consumers cheap, convenient and individual mobility. The car changed industrial civilisations and their cultures.
Detroit was the undisputed centre of the industry. It manufactured more cars than anywhere else - four out of five across the globe as late as the mid 1950s. Its cars shaped American society. Americans yearned to climb into its Buicks, Cadillacs and Mustangs. The cars denoted your identity and your ambitions. The mobility spawned America's vast, sprawling suburbs. 'What is good for General Motors is good for America,' said its then chairman and chief executive Charlie Wilson. He captured an important truth.
|
Posted by Virge on Sunday, December 07 @ 15:08:20 CST (208 reads)
(Read More... | 7104 bytes more | Score: 0)
|
|
Published December 6, 2008 by The Independent -- www.independent.co.uk
Formula one heading for a crash
After Honda's pull-out yesterday, where now for the motor sport famed for its lavish budgets and hedonistic lifestyle? David Tremayne reports
The snows of Formula One's winter of discontent deepened yesterday, amid fears that Honda may not be the only team in trouble in the economic blizzard.
As the Japanese team outlined in Tokyo the reasons for their shock withdrawal, fears increased of a scenario from Agatha Christie's novel, Ten Little Indians, and a domino effect sweeping through the sport.
|
Posted by Virge on Saturday, December 06 @ 10:48:44 CST (218 reads)
(Read More... | 11063 bytes more | Score: 0)
|
|
|
Financial Crisis Also Hurting Formula One
|
|
Published December 5, 2008 by the Independent -- www.independent.co.uk
Potential buyers eye up Honda F1 team
By Rosamond Hutt, PA
Potential buyers have expressed interest in the Honda Formula One team, its chief executive said, after the car giant announced it would pull out of the sport without a new owner.
Three possible bidders have come forward in the last 12 hours, Honda chief executive Nick Fry told Radio Five Live, as he called the team a "desirable asset".
Even if a buyer is found, job losses among the 600 workers at the team's headquarters in Brackley, Northamptonshire have not been ruled out, a Honda spokesman said.
|
Posted by Virge on Friday, December 05 @ 11:11:45 CST (218 reads)
(Read More... | 2879 bytes more | Score: 0)
|
|
Published October 19, 2008 by The Independent -- www.independent.co.uk
Hamilton wins Chinese Grand Prix
AP
Lewis Hamilton drove a near-perfect race in Shanghai today to win the Chinese Grand Prix, bringing himself closer to a first world championship.
Hamilton won by 14.9 seconds from Ferrari's Felipe Massa to move to the brink of the F1 title with only one race remaining. Hamilton claimed his fifth win of the season and ninth of his 34-race career, and goes into the Brazil Grand Prix in two weeks' time with a seven-point lead.
|
Posted by Virge on Sunday, October 19 @ 12:41:55 CDT (269 reads)
(Read More... | 3045 bytes more | Score: 0)
|
|
Published August 3, 2008 by The Independent--www.independent.co.uk
Kovalainen wins Hungarian Grand Prix
Heikki Kovalainen became the 100th winner in Formula One history with the first victory of his career to cap a surprising Hungarian Grand Prix.
The triumph was totally unexpected as Felipe Massa was on course to comfortably take the chequered flag, only for the engine in his Ferrari to blow just three laps from the finish.
The bitter blow for Massa means Lewis Hamilton now has a five-point lead in the title race from reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen as the young Briton could only finish fifth due to another tyre problem.
|
Posted by virge on Sunday, August 03 @ 15:08:25 CDT (268 reads)
(Read More... | 6282 bytes more | Score: 0)
|
|
Published July 20, 2008 by the Times Online--www.timesonline.co.uk
Brilliant Lewis Hamilton claims victory at Hockenheim
Lewis Hamilton snatched the outright lead in the Formula One World Championship with a dramatic victory in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
The McLaren driver took his second successive championship victory, holding off Nelson Piquet and Brazilian Felipe Massa who finished third. Hamilton led from the off but a seemingly comfortable victory was almost jeopardised by his team's decision not to bring him into the pits following the introduction of a safety car, after Timo Glock's crash almost brought the race to a standstill.
Hamilton eventually pitted as the race got back underway, but by the time he emerged from his stop he had dropped back to fourth. However, the young Englishman soon passed Heikki Kovalainen, his team-mate, before he produced a thrilling overtaking manoeuvre to first edge past Felipe Massa and then Renault's Nelson Piquet to take the chequered flag.
|
Posted by virge on Sunday, July 20 @ 14:07:35 CDT (320 reads)
(Read More... | 4395 bytes more | Score: 0)
|
|
[ Archives ] | |
|
|
