Muscle car atrophy

'67 Mustang. This was the definition of a muscle car. Photo credit photobucket.com

As James May, one of the famous Top Gear Presenters once said, “The recipe for making [muscle cars] is very simple. Massive engine, crude, simple suspension, very low price and finally some orange paint.”

By this formula, building good, solid muscle cars should be a breeze. Car makers don’t have to worry about putting new technologies like satellite navigation, or G-force readers in a muscle car because muscle cars are supposed to be simple. 

In fact all a muscle car really has to do is make a lot of noise, and go quickly in a straight line.

So what happened?

Porsche winter camp coming to Canada

Porsche's Camp4 is coming to Canada. Photo credit porsche.com

Porsche will be holding a winter driving camp in Canada for the first time in February and March.

It is called Camp4 and it gives participants an opportunity to learn about safety in winter driving while allowing them to experience what it's like behind the wheel of a Porsche.

Top Gear christmas special alert

The boys from Top Gear will be back on December 26, 2010.
Photo credit topgear.com.

While the new series of Top Gear has been delayed until next year, topgear.com has recently released news that Jeremy, Richard, and James will be back on boxing day for a christmas special.

I didn't read the whole article because it said "spoiler alert" and I didn't want to ruin it for myself.

To read more about the about the episode click here, but I should add POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT!

Words by Steven Wagers

The Aspira F620

The Aspira F620. Photo credit forums.finalgear.com.

Take a look at this here supercar. It is called the Aspira F620.

The car is made by a small British company called Aspira. If you're looking for a comparison you could say they are a bit like Noble although Noble has already solidified a solid reputation.

Aspira is basically a small supercar producing company and their latest invention, pictured above, certainly looks the part. 

Mazda's new beauty

The Mazda Shinari concept. Photo credit dieselstation.com.

Every once in a while, a car company releases a car so beautiful, that it causes the world to stop and stare while thinking "Yes. Now that is a B-A-U-tiful car."

Normally these cars are released by the Ferrari's and the Aston Martin's of the world, but this time it's Mazda who is making waves.

Mercedes concept car

The LA auto show is going on right now and there are many new cars to talk about as well as some crazy concepts.

The Mercedes Biome. Photo credit motorward.com.

There were a lot of "green"cars unveiled but I think the most out there car from a design standpoint at least was the Mercedes Biome concept.

Jag joins electric supercar club

The Jaguar C-X75 concept car. Photo credit ubergizmo.com

Well it's no secret that the automotive industry is going green, so Jaguar has created a concept super car called the C-X75 which will run entirely on electricity.

The car was announced at the Paris Auto Show in September. Jaguar says it can post a 0-60 time in only 3.4 seconds and that it will keep going to a top speed of 205 mph.

Ferrari to hit the open market

Ferrari Badge. Photo credit
iphonepartyzone.com.

According to a report from topspeed.com Fiat, the current owners of Ferrari, are planning to sell part of the Ferrari because they are planning to spend the extra dough buying up some of Chrysler.

Still though, Fiat will in all likelihood remain majority owners of the 3.3 billion dollar automaker known for making supercars that look brilliant in red.

According to the report one of the companies that may be looking at buying some Ferrari stock is Volkswagen. Volkswagen already owns Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Bentley so why not go after some of Ferrari right?

Words by Steven Wagers

F1 Fraud

Felipe Massa. Photo credit ignition.my.

Before the F1 race on Saturday Felipe Massa said that he would be willing to let Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso win the race if that's what it came down to.

According to a report from TSN, if Massa had let Alonso pass him (or if any other driver allowed a teammate to pass in order to win the race) to win, he could have been facing jail time.

Vettel named F1 world champ

Sebastian Vettel is the new F1 world champion.
Photo credit Clive Mason/Getty Images. 

After winning at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel has been named the F1 world champion for 2010.

This is Vettel's first time as F1 world champion and he is the youngest champion in F1 history at age 23.

Vettel finished with 256 points and finished 5 of the 19 races in first place and was on the podium for 10 of  19.

Vettel races for Red Bull Racing-Renault.

Words by Steven Wagers

Jeep's Special Edition Wrangler: The Call of Duty Black Ops

The Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty Black Ops edition.
Worth it right? Photo credit autoblog.com.

It's not unheard of for video games to release special edition versions of the console that they are for. For example when Halo 3 came out there was a special Xbox 360 Halo 3 edition where you got a console with special art that tied in with the Halo franchise.

Now though, according to autoblog.com, Jeep is releasing a special edition version of the Wrangler as seen in Call of Duty's latest game Black Ops.

Gran Turismo 5 release date set

Gran Turismo 5 cover art. Photo credit gamefaqs.com.

Words by Steven Wagers

The newest rendition of the greatest racing game of all time now has a release date.

According to the official Gran Turismo website, the game will hit store shelves in the United States and Canada on November 24, 2010.

Gran Turismo has been delayed two times already but it looks like this time racing fans will finally get what they've been waiting for. The game features over 1000 cars and players can also use the Course Maker to create their own tracks.

Gran Turismo 5 is exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Convertible Camaro coming soon

The new Chevy Camaro convertible. Set to be released in 2011.
Photo credit autoblog.com.

According to their website, Chevy will officially announce the Camaro convertible on November 17 at the Los Angeles International Auto Show.

BMW unleashes some competition

The Brabus E V12. Photo credit Mercedes-Benz Passion eBlog. 

Words by Steven Wagers


This is the Mercedes Brabus E V12. It has a 6.3 litre V12 engine that produces 789 horsepower and over 1000 lb ft of torque (1047). It has a claimed top speed of 230 mph and it is the fastest saloon car in the world.

Or is it?

Look out Caddies and Buicks

2010 Cadillac DTS. If you have one, it might start on fire.
Photo Credit  www.cadillac-dts-car.info

According to the Star, GM has had to recall 151 cars made by Cadillac and Buick in the Toronto area because their engines can spontaneously start on fire. Minor detail that.

The cars affected are 2010 or 2011 Buick Lucernes and the Cadillac DTS's. Apparently there is some sort of fault where power steering fluid starts to leak hits the starter or alternator cable and proceeds to go up in flames.

No cars in Canada have had this problem as of yet but apparently two cars in the United States have had this issue.

World wide, the recall has stretched to 14, 245 cars.

Belgian supercar-the shaving disease half ghost car

Words by Steven Wagers

The Belgians have created a supercar. They call it the Gillette Vertigo .5 Spirit. It's a bit of a mouthful, I know, but it has some merits. For one, the Vertigo .5 Spirit is light. Very light.

The Gillette Vertigo .5 Spirit. You'll see why I gave you
this picture first in a moment. Image from Top Gear.

In fact this particular supercar weighs less than a metric ton. It is only 950 kilograms and it has Maserati's 4.2 litre V8 which produces 420 horsepower. I know normally when you think of a proper supercar, it has 500 plus horsepower but this combination of lightness and power should make this a very quick car. It should beat the old Vertigo's 0-62 time of 3.26 seconds.

Suped-up Lambo crashes

Words by Steven Wagers

Just incase anybody hasn't seen this devastating video of a 1900 horsepower (That's right, 1900!) Lamborghini Gallardo crashing here you go. The driver walked away with a couple of bruises but was for the most part ok. The Gallardo on the other hand...

Ford introduces seatbelt airbags

Words by Steven Wagers

Has Ford invented the next new bit of technology that will save countless lives?

BMW announces its first hybrid supercar

By Steven Wagers

According to autonews.com, BMW is planning to release their own hybrid supercar. This comes just a few months after another German carmaker (Porsche) decided to go ahead with plans to make their own hybrid supercar, the 918 Spyder. It certainly seems as though this might be a growing trend amongst carmakers.