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| Lewis Hamilton - Success is a matter of attitude! Posted: 04 Jul 2008 12:31 PM CDT  Lewis Hamilton had the extraordinary honour to receive two trophies, including the one for International Racing Driver of the Year. The organizers of the ceremony had invited Viviane Lalli Senna, Ayrton Senna's sister, as guest of honor. The big moment came when from her hands, Lewis received the trophies. All these wonderful things happened at Britain’s most important motorsport awards presentation in London. I thought I should write about this subject because it’s more than a prize in this situation. We’re facing a succession here. It's a symbol. Lewis Hamilton is taking on his shoulders a huge weight. The weight to be the man that has an ethical duty starting that moment. The duty to continue to bring hope to the people. Is it too early to make comparisons between Hamilton and Senna? Yes, it is. But it isn't too early to look forward and find huge characters. "We all are dealers in hope" - Napoleon  |
| ‘87 Ford Mustang that does 110 mpg Posted: 04 Jul 2008 12:00 PM CDT  One of the competitors for this prize is Doug Pelmear, an engineer from Napoleon, Ohio, who modified the engine of a 1987 Ford Mustang, so the car now does 110 mpg. Yeah, we know, that’s really impressive and if Doug wins the prize, he sure deserves it. He tweaked the Mustang’s engine and made it nearly five times more efficient than a regular one. He said: “”We redesigned a lot of different things on the engine block. It’s still a rod-and-piston engine; it just has a lot more electronics on it.” And if you think this car is some clean hybrid that hardly moves on the street, you must know that Doug’s Mustang has 400 horsepower, goes well over 100 mph and can go from 0 to 60 mph in three seconds (we’re not really sure about this last part). The engine operates at 38 percent efficiency (8 to 10 on the regular cars) and Doug says he could increase even that number, by using regular gas instead of a mix of gas and 85 percent ethanol. Though we wouldn’t say the same, Doug said that the $10 million prize was not the reason he joined the X Prize. “I’m an optimist, and I think people need to know there is hope out there. That’s why I decided to enter the X Prize race. I could have sold this [technology] off, but then people might not have seen it. This will bring back the automotive industry when they can sell trucks and SUVs and the models that are almost dead at this time”.  |
| Posted: 04 Jul 2008 08:36 AM CDT  Our favourite TV show, Top Gear, is back with the 11th season. The second episode, which was aired last Sunday, as Jeremy, Richard and James say, they “accidently made a show all about cars; for the whole show, not one of them falls over, or catches fire, or anything”. In the first part, we find out that BBC wrote them a letter in which, with the gas prices rising, they demanded for the guys to give some advice on fuel economy and saving money. Unfortunately, the letter was opened by Jeremy who decided that the best way to do that is gathering five supercars (Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Aston Martin DBS, Lamborghini Murcielago, Audi R8 and Mercedes McLaren SLR) and race them. Yeah, we’re not kidding. However, each car had only a gallon of petrol in its tank. To see the race, click here. Next, they try something else. Jeremy tries to prove a point, that, to save fuel, it doesn’t matter what you drive, but how you drive it. So they take a Toyota Prius and a BMW M3. Yeah, we know, that’s an awkward comparison. Check out the race between these two here. We’ve also got Jeremy doing a comparison between the new versions of the Subaru Impreza WRX STi and the Mitsubishi Evo X, Richard driving the amazing 572 hp new Audi RS6 in the French Alps, James and Top Gear stuntman trying to redo on the world’s hardest car stunts, from one of the James Bond movies. In the last part of the show, we’ve got Jeremy taking the new Mercedes Benz CLK Black Series on a night drive and on the superb roads of Wales and I have to say, I also like taking my car at night and just drive, so this part I liked most and here’s the video:  |
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