Fast Cars

If you can make it out in the picture above, the old Jeep hit a milestone on today’s commute - 200,000 miles, or roughly 8 times around the world. Not too shabby for a vehicle that was built the same year I got my drivers license. It’s still running strong too, although it does like to mark its territory with a bit of oil here and there. Every winter, suffering with its pitiful heater, I threaten to sell it off next summer; and then come summer when I pull the hard-top and slap on the bikini, I’ll think I’d be crazy to sell it.

My parents are considered somewhat “lucky” since they only lose the ground floor though it is painful. My auntie and uncle who owns a beauty saloon and a mobilephone shopped lost hundreds of thousand from the destruction and the looting. Another auntie, who just openned a car sales outlet lost all her cars from the flood. My aunt and uncle who lived in a single story house, lost almost everything. The bed, cabinet, tv, hifi, tables, sofa, clothes, everything. I am not surprised if thousands of others lost everything too.

In addition, Roy and I went to the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival. It’s basically a collection of scenes from a bunch of upcoming outdoor films to get every one psyched. It consisted mostly of skiing films, but there was some climbing, BASE jumping and kayaking that was pretty neat to watch. The drive up there was pretty fun, we a saw a car grind along the divider NASCAR style. We have now Idea how it happened, we just saw a car hit the divider, grind for about 100ft, and then pull away and drive off. I bet the were pretty upset.

How friendly though? If we compare the Pedestrian Test Rating as provided by EURO NCAP say of the Renault Scenic, which is a very popular MPV, to say the Nissan X-Trail we can see that they both have a two star rating. In fact the Toyota Rav4 and the Honda CRV both have 3 stars in this test. Admittedly, for larger Off Road style body shapes the ratings are around one star, but, for most vehicles pedestrian test ratings aren’t great, which kind of says a lot about the motor industry in general. Oh, and even though luxury cars don’t have the ‘appalling’ design flaws of BIG 4×4s the Mercedes E-Class saloon has a Pedestrian Test Rating (2003) of one star.

The Phantom is the most successful super-luxury car in the world, built using cutting edge technology and lightweight materials. It features an aluminium space frame chassis and body which weighs much less than steel, but is enormously strong to give both added safety and outstanding driving refinement, free of vibration. The engine is of the most modern design and features direct fuel injection and variable valve control, delivering excellent fuel economy for a car of its size and power, marking a significant improvement in terms of emissions compared to the previous fleet of Silver Spurs. The new Phantom offers significantly more space for passengers, delivers higher amounts of torque and power and yet consumes significantly less fuel than the previous-generation Silver Spur.

Flush with cash from strong sales of its Cayenne SUV, Porsche is looking to expand beyond its sports car roots yet again with an all-new sedan. Revealed here in our exclusive spy video, this 2009 Porsche Panamera prototype was caught while undergoing early development tests prior to its launch in mid-2009.

The new Hall of Fame Drive opened today in Knoxville. I only care because I’ve been using a detour to go to work for as long as we’ve lived in our house, and the new road should shorten my drive.

Recently I’ve been reading a lot about Richard Hammond’s crash in a race car while filming a gearhead show in the UK. They’re calling it a ‘tragedy’. Honestly I find the attention is somewhat tasteless. I mean, he did something dangerous, knowing full well it was dangerous and got hurt. That same day hundreds of people were in car accidents and many of those were acting in a perfectly safe manner and were hurt because of someone else’s negligence. But he’s a celebrity so he’s getting attention.

Most of you Mommies have had this experience but, until recently, I had not had such extensive experience with it as I have had lately. I call it the Diaper Dance. It starts with The Tot being laid down on the changing table at which time the wailing begins. Tigger or Mr. Duckie is quickly employed to curb the dissatisfaction. This works about 30% of the time. Whether or not it works, the next step: actually taking the diaper off, usually prompts another round of protest. Then cue the squirming and kicking. If there is “pooky” involved, God help us. It is then imperative that The Mommy work with the speed of a NASCAR pit crew to get the little bottom cleaned and the new diaper in place.

Since we reviewed the Ferrari 4000 last year, Acer has released a fleet of Ferrari-themed laptops in all sizes. The ultraportable of the bunch, the Ferrari 1000, has a compact chassis worthy of the sports car maker’s logo, and its speedy performance on our benchmarks would likewise make the Italian engineers proud. Unfortunately, its battery life came up short of what we’d expect from a machine that’s designed for maximum mobility. If you’re looking for a wide-screen ultraportable with stamina, check out the Fujitsu LifeBook Q2010 or the Dell Latitude D420. But if battery life can take a backseat to performance, the Acer Ferrari 1000 is a stylish speed racer.

For those of you who follow Formula One (F1) motor racing, you know that it is a sport that has traditionally been dominated by White Europeans. There have been numerous Asian drivers in the series before, most from Japan and one from Malaysia. Before the 2005 season, F1 added its first ever driver from India. Now comes word that f1 is about to have its first Black driver, Lewis Hamilton from Britain, whose grandparents came from the West Indies: