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Just a reminder, the fantastic documentary Senna will be airing on NBC Sports Network tonight at 8PM

Michael Ballaban — Sat, 25 May 2013 18:48:34 GMT

Just a reminder, the fantastic documentary Senna will be airing on NBC Sports Network tonight at 8PM EST.

Original Plans For The Crazy Advanced Dymaxion Car Found In A House

Michael Ballaban — Sat, 25 May 2013 18:00:00 GMT

We're huge fans of the crazy Dymaxion Car here at Jalopnik. It was so far ahead of its time before such a thing was even a phrase, and sadly only one survives. Now, the blueprints for this amazing vehicle have been found in a house in Dudley, Massachusetts.

It was 20 feet long, could seat 11 passengers, got 30 miles per gallon, had only three wheels, and could top 90 miles per hour. Not bad, considering it was built in 1933. The Dymaxion (its name itself was a mashup of Dynamic Maximum Tension) was conceived by architect Buckminster Fuller, who created the geodesic dome and a number of other architectural innovations.

The blueprints themselves are now going up for auction and are expected to fetch between $20,000 and $30,000, according to the SFGate.

Of the three examples built, one was destroyed in an accident, one was presumed scrapped in the 1950s, and one survives, though a replica was built a few years ago. The remaining original Dymaxion sits in a museum and is essentially priceless, but for the price of a new Subaru you can get all the original plans to build your own.

If you do buy the plans, and build your own, shoot me an email. I want to drive it.

H/T to Andy!

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

What's The Most Advanced Technology Used In Racing History?

Michael Ballaban — Sat, 25 May 2013 17:00:00 GMT

This weekend features two of the biggest events in motorsports, the Indy 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix. With all that heritage, though, has come some pretty whacky automotive experiments. And let's face it, the cars these days are so rule-bound that they're not exactly always on the bleeding edge of technology.

I always liked the idea of turbine-powered cars pounding around the Brickyard, as the near-constant demands for speed give an advantage to the constant power flow of a turbine engine. Plus, it's like having a jet strapped to the back of your car in many ways. The Lotus 56, pictured above, married the insanity of a turbine engine with four wheel drive, and it managed to lead a few laps at the Indy 500 before reliability issues knocked it out and rule changes made it obsolete.

So what do you think is the most radical innovation in racing history? Is it the beryllium pistons they attempted in Formula One? The Chapparal 2J sucker car? Or something else? Let us know in the comments!

'Thong Cape Scooter Man' is Perfect, Legal

Max Rivlin-Nadler — Sat, 25 May 2013 16:03:00 GMT

"Thong Cape Scooter Man," is a 56-year-old man who, when the weather gets nice, rides around Madison, Wisconsin on a scooter while wearing only a thong, a helmet and a black cape. It's a perfectly reasonable reaction to the long-awaited arrival of springtime in the Midwest.

But the Madison celebrity got into a bit of hot water (which, btw, he is perfectly prepared for) last week, when he rode by John F. Kennedy Elementary School just as students were walking to a bus after school. Teachers called police to complain about the actions of Thong Cape Scooter Man (his real name is unknown, just like all superheroes), and police investigated the incident.

They paid a visit to the home of Thong Cape Scooter Man and had a discussion with him.

“He said he exercised poor judgment by going by the school at that time of day, it was unintentional and he just happened to be traveling through the area,” police spokesman Joel DeSpain said.

Police looked into whether the thonged-rider had broken any laws, which he hadn't.

“The sergeant told the school staff Thong Cape Scooter Man was free to ride on,” DeSpain said.

Ride on, Thong Cape Scooter Man. Ride on.

[Via Crosstalk's GLIBANDBITCHY]

I Had Tequila And Watched 5 Fast & Furious Films So You Won't Have To

Michael Ballaban — Sat, 25 May 2013 16:00:00 GMT

The new Fast and Furious movie, Fast and Furious 6, is coming out this weekend, and seeing one of these movies for the first time can you leave you feeling a little lost. Luckily, I sat down with a bottle of tequila and watched all five previous films, so that you don't have to. Good times naturally ensued, all captured on video.

It took too much tequila and way too many hours, so that may explain why I look like a bit of a sweaty hideous mess. Then again, franchise director Justin Lin is the 21st-century Truffaut, so it was clearly totally worth it. That being said, I really don't recommend doing this, if for nothing else than your health.

A big thanks to my friend Jesse Casco for helping me throw this all together, and for helping me get through all that tequila. After five of these things, the tequila was very necessary.

Lewis Hamilton and George Lucas have been spotted talking at Monaco.

Michael Ballaban — Sat, 25 May 2013 15:12:26 GMT

Lewis Hamilton and George Lucas have been spotted talking at Monaco. #LewisHamiltonForLukeSkywalker?

If Mark Webber Wins The Monaco F1 Grand Prix You Know Why

Matt Hardigree — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:50:43 GMT

So, Bill Caswell is now causing chaos around Monaco as part of his '13 Motorsports Road Trip. He was nice enough to take a break from cavorting to give this guy some advice.

This Magic Bus Rules the School Yard

MatthewTheCarGuy — Sat, 25 May 2013 00:26:00 GMT

While Mark Stevenson is content to ride the short bus, Matthew the Car Guy shows how it's really done.

Unsurprisingly, the owners of this fine machine do a metric ton of custom work, mostly of the off-road variety. As you read this, they're busy stuffing a 602 cubic inch V8 into a 30 year old Silverado, getting it ready for some major mud bogging here in Nova Scotia on June 15th.

They drove this thing in the Christmas parade last year. Predictably, all the kids in attendance were having a collective brain aneurysm, bemoaning the fact their actual school bus was nowhere near as cool.

An endless font of auto & auction knowledge, Matthew enjoys driving, fixing, selling, and racing cars (not necessarily in that order). He is fond of making money and offering loud opinions. Check him out on Twitter @matthewkguy

Buy A Used Cadillac, Not Now, But Soon

Michael Ballaban — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:00:00 GMT

These days a Cadillac from the 1950s will go for quite the pretty penny, especially in mint condition. They're known for being big and flashy symbols of classic Americana, but that wasn't always the case.

With all that gleaming chrome, those wraparound windshields, and those big fins its hard to believe there was once a time that these "used" Cadillacs needed advertising to find buyers. But advertising there was, and it's oddly familiar to anyone who's seen the used car ads of today.

In addition, there's its great practicality. Many one-owner, low-mileage used Cadillacs are priced considerably less than many medium- or low-priced new cars that are not their equal in prestige, fleetwood luxury, and safety features.

Granted, that list of "safety features" is limited mostly to glass that won't try to stab and kill you from every single conceivable angle in the event of a crash, but hey, that was a pretty neat idea at the time. Steering columns that didn't impale you were also certain to be right around the corner.

The announcer goes on to tout how economical the Cadillac is, what with its V8 only using up only eight gallons per mile. At the time I'm sure that was impressive, but tastes were changing and these cars had to have something going for them that wasn't chrome.

In this day and age Cadillacs of that era are going for a little more than what they were selling for back then, but with more than 50 years of wear and tear on them, I'd suggest buying one now. You know, rather than "soon."

Does anyone else find that announcer's complete lack of urgency off-putting compared to modern day commercials? Or is that just me? That whole "soon" thing. Weird.

The 2014 Corvette Stingray Power Specs Are Here, And It's A Lot

Michael Ballaban — Sat, 25 May 2013 13:45:00 GMT

We knew that the new 2014 Corvette Stingray was going to have big horsepower numbers, but we didn't know they'd be this big.

We're talking 455 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque out of its 6.2L V8 engine, all connected to the wheels by a transmission with active rev-match technology. That's definitely a nice little bump from the 450/450 numbers that General Motors originally estimated.

What's perhaps even more impressive, though, is that GM says that expect to improve upon the previous-generation C6 Corvette's 26 MPG on the highway.

When you consider that the new Corvette should only set you back about $52k, suddenly it really seems to look like a serious bargain for some serious hoonage potential.

Then again, that's what the Corvette's always been about.

See the full spec sheet from GM here.

H/T to the Corvette7.com forum!

Photo credit: GM

Elon Musk Gets All Hopped Up On Pain Meds, Imagines Tesla Pickup

Michael Ballaban — Sat, 25 May 2013 12:54:00 GMT

Have you ever taken all the drugs, and then all the thoughts come out? And then you posted all those thoughts on Twitter? Oh, and you're also the multi-billionaire CEO of a multi-billion dollar car company? No?

Oh. Because that's what Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, did.

Had a minor operation, so am in bed in meds. Probably shouldn't be tweeting :)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 25, 2013

Last night Musk decided that the best thing to do after getting surgery to correct a deviated septum, was to field questions on Twitter despite the pain medication. When asked about a Tesla pickup truck, Musk actually seemed to like it, in his drug-fueled haze:

Would love to do a pickup truck. Something w ultra low cg for sports car handling, dynamic air suspension & mega torque.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 25, 2013

A pickup truck with a low center of gravity, huge torque, and sports car handling? Sounds like a Ute to me. Perhaps the best part of all this, though, was the reasoning for the the evening festivities:

Was beat up pretty badly as a kid & left me w jagged septum. Harder to breathe as I got older, so time to fix.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 25, 2013

They do say that living well is the best revenge.

We should remember that this isn't the first time Musk has stated his desire for an all-electric pickup, as he told the Automotive News back in April that he'd like to build a pickup:

"I have this idea for a really advanced electric truck that has the performance of a sports car but actually more towing power and more carrying capacity than a gasoline or diesel truck of comparable size," Musk said. "That could be really cool, and I think that would probably make sense to do that at a new plant."

Let's just hope he wasn't on all the droogs at that time either.

I think a Tesla pickup would actually be pretty sweet, and would make a lot of sense around construction sites and whatnot where workers wouldn't have to drive very far. It could go a long way towards cleaning up the air around work sites, as well. What say you though, yay or nay? Think a Tesla pickup is a good idea?

Photo credit: JD Lasica

Weekend Motorsports Roundup, May 25-26, 2013

Michael Ballaban — Sat, 25 May 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it, and where you can talk about it all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend?

Racing this weekend... let's see... racing this weekend.... Is there any racing this weekend? Oh right! It's only the BIGGEST racing weekend of the entire year! From Indiana to the shores of the Mediterranean, there's great racing all over the place.

Let's start off with the two big heavy hitters in open-wheel motorsports this weekend. In Indianapolis, Indiana, there's the storied Indy 500. I'll be rooting for Gil de Ferran, even though he's long retired, as he was such a nice man to come down and answer questions for the fans yesterday. A world away in ritzy glitzy Monte Carlo, there's the equally storied Monaco Grand Prix. I'll be rooting for everyone, but for Kimi Raikonnen's mouth especially. Hopefully it'll say something hilarious. In case you need any help catching up on track info or the history of the race itself, remember to check out Peter Leung's incredible Monaco Grand Prix infographic.

If you don't like open wheel racing, there's a replay of the WEC race in Belgium from earlier this month, and of course the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 in North Carolina.

And if you have a burning hatred of all things with wheels that also go on roads, you are weird. But there's racing for you, with a replay of the Stadium Super Truck series in San Diego and a live motocross race in Colorado.

At this rate, I might as well keep the TV on all weekend. Please use our new-ish (and still fancy-ish) image annotation tool on the map above to show us races we might have missed, where they're being held, and where we can livestream them. Get it while it's good.

All times Eastern.

Now this is a Fusion

Dan Mosqueda — Fri, 24 May 2013 22:19:12 GMT

My job can be pretty awesome. Today was one of those really special days. I visited the Air Force Research Laboratory's Shiva Star. It is the Air Force’s largest pulsed power system. Shiva Star will store nearly 10 million joules of energy (equal to 5 pounds of TNT). It produces a pulse of 120,000 volts and 10 million amps in one millionth of a second to produce a power flow equivalent to a terawatt.

Shiva Star has evolved from a 1 mega joule system in 1975, a 2 mega joule system in 1979, to its final form as a 10 mega joule system in 1982. Shiva Star has been used over the years for many different types of experiments such as pulse compression to increase energy in the pulse, plasma liner implosion for production of xrays, solid liner implosions to compress matter to high density and pressure, compact toroids for generating high energy plasmas, and simulation of explosive pulsed power generators. In addition, the facility is used for diagnostics of high-energy pulsed power systems by using magnetic probe arrays, laser interferometry, time and space-resolved optical spectroscopy, x-ray grazing incidence, photodiode array spectroscopy, x-ray pinhole photography, and fast optical photography.

Today they were setting it up to conduct an experiment where they will attempt to fuse plasma and aluminum and achieve fusion. It's not easy. And this device can make quite a boom. On one occasion the Shiva Star facility's roof was partially blown off. "Oops, we might want to dial that down next time."

It was truly fascinating to watch these scientists and researchers work hard to understand fusion science.

At $190,000, GRID 2: Mono Edition Is The World's Most Expensive Game

Patrick George — Sat, 25 May 2013 00:55:47 GMT

Unless you just stick to playing Super Nintendo ROMs on your laptop like I do, you know that video gaming isn't a cheap hobby. The system, the games, the peripherals, the downloadable content... it all adds up quickly. Take Grid 2: Mono Edition. It will put you out a whopping $190,000!

You read that right: $190,000. For the price of a 2014 Aston Martin DB9, you can buy this... video game. Right now, you're probably thinking you aren't in the right tax bracket to play this one. It is Guinness World Records-certified as the world's most expensive commercially available video game.

But Codemasters' Grid 2: Mono Edition may just be an outstanding deal, and here's why. They're only making one of them, and it comes with a race car, a racing suit and a helmet.

The car in the photo above, a BAC Mono, is a British-made racer with 280 horsepower that weighs only 1,190 pounds. If you're the one lucky person who is selected after pre-ordering the game online, you get the Mono, a PlayStation 3, the game, a tour of the BAC factory, a Bell Racing helmet, and a racing suit with gloves and boots.

All that for $190,000 actually sounds pretty sweet. But even if you don't get selected to win the prize package, you can still own Grid 2 when it goes on sale next week. Travis played it back in February, and he found it to be a solid competitor to the Forza series.

Anyone willing to throw their hat in the ring for Grid 2: Mono Edition? It may just be worth it.

Joe Strummer Lost His Dodge in Spain

MoparBlog — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:20:00 GMT

The Clash was on a downward spiral in 1984/5 and Joe Strummer went to Spain to get away for a while. During that time he acquired a Dodge 3700 GT, which he later lost in a parking garage in Madrid.

The story of the lost Mopar has inspired a documentary film by Nick Hall, who is looking for funds to finish the sound mix and help pay for music licensing. Check out the teaser trailer at MoparBlog.

This Is The BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé

Jason Torchinsky — Fri, 24 May 2013 22:01:06 GMT

BMW Design and Pininfarina have teamed up to make this striking-looking one-off, the Gran Lusso Coupé. Revealed today at the Concorso D'Eleganza Villa D'Este, the apostrophe-laden fancy car show by Lake Como in Italy, the gran Lusso may hint at future BMW design directions.

While it's still clearly a BMW, incorporating the kidneys and kinks peculiar to the marque, it diverges pretty significantly stylistically. The strong forward rake of the front end does suggest the wonderful old sharknose BMWs from the 70s and 80s, though the almost-fastback shape is something not normally associated with BMWs.

This also may be the first BMW to proudly tout a plaid headliner, and, actually, this may be the most I've read about a headliner in any one-off:

The roof liner of finest Italian virgin wool features the striking “Principe di Galles” pattern. This grey plaid strikes a bold contrast to the traditional materials used for the doors and dashboard. The brown leather seats also pick up on the pattern in their all-round piping. Allowing extra light into the interior is an oblong aperture in the roof liner which is additionally illuminated by white LEDs.

The concept uses wood interior accents, but if you think this is made from the same kind of wood (or "tree meat") that you and I may encounter, you're sadly and brutally mistaken:

All the wood elements in the cabin are sourced from a single piece of kauri wood selected by the Italian timber experts of Riva 1920 exclusively for the BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé. Kauri wood has a unique grain and shifts in colour from gold to red to brown, depending on the incidence of light and angle of view. Simply polished and oiled, it exudes a particular warmth and naturalness in league with the exclusive leather surfaces of the interior. Native to New Zealand, kauri wood is among the rarest timbers in the world. Its special character derives from the fact that the toppled kauri trees have been preserved in swamps for millennia and can be processed like fresh timber after being retrieved from the fossil swampland.

That's right, it's all from one piece of wood hand-selected by some Italian wood-elf on his deathbed or something. Doctors suggest placing your unclothed groin in contact with it to prevent prostate cancer, I believe.

It's a handsome, bold looking car, that's for certain. The long wheelbase, wide stance, short overhangs, and lovely sculpturing of the flanks certainly make the over-wrought press release hype more palatable.

Although statements like

... the road-focused headlights with their suggested twin circular look reveal at a glance the family bond with BMW...

do make me wonder. "Road-focused" lights? Is there any other location headlights are focused? And "suggested twin circular" is odd, considering the lights aren't circular. Do shapes that aren't circles suggest "circular?" Well, maybe. Octogons, I guess. Still, it's weird.

Anyway, enjoy these pictures.

Everything You Need To Know About The Monaco GP In One Infographic

Raphael Orlove — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:00:00 GMT

The Formula One Monaco Grand Prix is this weekend. It is the most glamorous, prestigious race in motorsport's most glamorous, prestigious series. Here's everything you need to know.

This infographic was put together by excellent Peter Leung on Richland F1. It covers the past seven winners of the race (and how many won from pole position), the track records, the number of gear changes per race (4,200!), as well as every turn on the legendary track, largely unchanged since its Pre War inception.

Now's the time to start booking tickets for 2014, folks.

Photo Credit: Peter Leung

Greetings From Italy And The Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este!

Máté Petrány — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:30:00 GMT

Today, Attila Nagy of Gizmodo and I drove for ten hours through sunshine and rain to get to Lake Como in time. The Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este starts tomorrow morning, and you will see everything that matters. We have plenty of cameras to make sure of that.

Our ride on this journey is a BMW 116i hatchback which you will hear about later, but there's another BMW in town that's worth a look: the Gran Lusso Coupé by Pininfarina.

As far as the conditions go, this is our parking lot:

This was our dinner:

And these are some of the things that will grab our attention in the next two days.

Fingers crossed for the weather!

Photo credit: Attila Nagy and Máté Petrány

The Classic Car Club's London Collection Is As Classy As You'd Expect

Patrick George — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:30:00 GMT

I can personally attest that our pals at the Classic Car Club Manhattan have a wildly eclectic collection that includes old and new exotics, classic American iron, and tons of racing cars. But what about their counterparts in London?

Turns out it's just what you would expect: classy as all hell. After all, it's London, baby. You've gotta roll like a proper gentleman or lady in this town, and if you're a member of the club, you can do exactly that whenever you want.

In this video, the folks at XCAR go for a night drive with the Classic Car Club in London, and it's a tour de force of grade-A car porn. A 1973 Rolls-Royce, a 1975 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, A Mercedes-Benz 450SL, a TVR Chimera (!!!) and a Volvo P1800S are just some of their fantastic offerings.

Wonderful menu you Brits have. I'd be happy to take any one of them for a spin, let alone several like XCAR did.

Which would you take home?

Coordinated Car Crash Attempt Ends Unsuccessfully In Car Crash

Raphael Orlove — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

What happens when pro drifters Ryan Tuerck and Chris Forsberg attempt a coordinated car crash? They crash out both cars, just not in the way that they'd planned.

One of the coolest moves in drifting is crashing your rear bumper along the wall as you slide. Tuerck and Forsberg stuck some armco onto a ex-cop cruiser and tried to do a wall grind on the moving target.

They don't quite get any perfect slides, and with the light fading they try one more time, only to completely crash out both cars, just about wrecking the drift Nissan.

Who could have seen that coming?

Why The BMW 1-Series Is The Next Great Future Classic

Patrick George — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:30:00 GMT

Last week, the first uncovered photos of the BMW 2-Series hit the web. I like it. But it got me thinking about the outgoing BMW 1-Series, and why years from now, it may be the most sought after Bimmer of our time by enthusiasts, weekend racers and hoons on a budget. Now might be the ideal time to snatch one up.

In this age of hybrid drivetrains with silent engines, too-numb electric power steering, engine sounds piped in by computers, overly intrusive safety nannies and ever-increasing curb weights, it's hard to find cars that could qualify as legitimate future classics. The 1-Series may just fit that definition, and here's why.

You see, the future doesn't look all that great for the number 1 in North America. BMW isn't bringing us the new hatchback 1-Series that dropped in Europe in 2011, and they probably aren't bringing over its successor that's currently in the works, either. At best, we can hope for the forthcoming 1-Series GT variant that is said to be front-wheel-drive.

I can't see too many enthusiasts lining up at BMW dealerships for that.

Instead of the 1, we Americans are getting the 2, and we got the best look at that car to date when the spy photos of the M235i hit the web last week. It's a handsome coupe with a much sleeker silhouette than the 1-Series, which was often maligned for its awkwardly tall roofline.

But here's my issue with the 2-Series: it's bigger than the 1-Series. At least, it certainly looks that way in the photos, and we have several men standing next to it to give a sense of scale. Without seeing any exact measurements, it appears to be longer than its predecessor. It makes sense, given the creeping size increases in BMW's new models.

I don't doubt that the 2-Series will perform well, but I will miss the tossability of the compact 1-Series.

The 1-Series is that rarest of creatures these days: the small, rear-wheel-drive coupe. It's the kind of car you barely see anymore, and one that harkens back to BMW's own glory days with the New Class cars of the 60s and 70s like the famed 2002, as well as the everyone-and-their-mother-loves-it E30.

Here's what I'm thinking: some 10, 15, or 20 years from now, the 1-Series may be what the E30 is to buyers today. It will be for people who want a small, purebred sports coupe with impressive performance for not a lot of money. If you find one that hasn't had the crap kicked out of it, it will make for a fantastic enthusiast bargain.

Like the E30, the case could be made that the first set of 1-Series owners, by and large, didn't appreciate what they had. Don't get me wrong — there are tons of 135i and 128i owners out there who enjoy autocross, track days, or just a great back road when there aren't any cops around. Go on just about any BMW forum and you'll see tons of 1 owners having a lot of fun with their cars.

But when even BMW admits that famously 80 percent of 1-Series owners believed their cars were front-wheel-drive, you know the masses aren't really getting the most out of this great machine. So one day, years from now, the 1-Series will really shine in the hands of the Bimmer guy (or gal) who buys one used on the cheap.

You could also argue that the 1-Series is one of the the last of the "pure" BMWs. At the moment, you can't even buy a new 3-Series sedan anymore with a naturally aspirated straight-six engine. That lineup has gone to two turbocharged fours (which are great engines) or a turbocharged six (which is also a great engine.) Presumably the 2-Series will get the same turbo-centric powerplants, or at least some of them.

But the 128i comes with a regular, silky smooth, naturally breathing straight-six, just like the BMWs so many of us grew up with, as well as a turbo'd variant if more power is required. All of this is true of the outgoing 3-Series Coupe, due to be replaced soon by the 4-Series, although I like the 1 better because it's smaller.

With "only" 230 horsepower to play with, some speed freaks have overlooked the non-turbo 128i, but I feel like one day, the car's purity will get the attention it deserves. And of course, the turbo 135i is absurdly fast, so that will be one hell of a deal when it comes down in price a bit.

And then there's the bad boy, the powder maker, the torso taker, the Puff the Magic Dragon of the 1-Series family. I am, of course, talking about the turbocharged, 340-horsepower 1 Series M Coupe, which got saddled with a ridiculous name because of BMW's devotion to the M1 supercar from the 1970s. This thing should have been called the M1, because it had the performance to back it up.

Universally loved by damn near everyone who ever drove it, the 1M was only ever made as a limited-edition car in 2011 and 2012, and only about 6,000 or so were ever sold. This car has the potential to be this generation's E30 M3 or 2002tii, though admittedly, it lacks the motorsports heritage of those two models. I have a feeling that one day good 1Ms will be going for a lot of money on the auction block.

In fact, I have a good feeling about this entire family of cars. I think that a generation from now, when my son Kanye Lannister George is writing for the 3D holographic Jalopnik, the 1-Series will make it onto some "Answers of the Day" list about cars future people wish they could buy new today.

So current 1-Series owners, take care of your cars. The future track rats who will buy them at 1/4 their original value will thank you for it.

Graphic credit Raphael Orlove

WTCC Champion Rob Huff Involved In Wreck With Possible Street Racers

Jason Torchinsky — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:05:00 GMT

WTCC World Champion Rob Huff seems to have been involved just minutes ago in an accident caused by a pair of street racers. Huff, who was driving his Camaro in England, was an unlucky an innocent victim here, as the two probable street racers collided in the opposite lane, which sent them careening into Huff's Camaro.

Huff was not injured, though his Camaro has been pretty dramatically re-styled by the impact. The condition of the other two drivers isn't currently known, but the state of their cars certainly doesn't look good.

We'll update as we get more information.

(Thanks to Robb Holland for the tip and information! Photos from Rob Huff's via Facebook)

Meet The Nürburgring 24 Driver With The "Zeppelin-Sized Balls"

Mike Spinelli — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:58:00 GMT

Leh Keen may not be a household name, yet. He's the driver whose heroics caused major sphincter-clenching among those who saw his Nürburgring 24 performance in the rain on Driver's Eye this week. Here he is.

Keen, a championship GT racer, appeared with Leo Parente on this week's /SHAKEDOWN to talk about his career and that wet-weather lap of the Green Hell that's made more than 100,000 laptop pilots soil their "fire suits" (aka pajamas).

"I love moments like that," Keen says of getting the opportunity to race in the dark, wet conditions during his overnight stint at this year's Nürburgring 24, "it brings everything you have as a driver out of you."

The Renault Twin'Run Races Its Big Brothers In Block Racers

Patrick George — Fri, 24 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

What's this? There's more to the hot, mid-engine Renault Twin'Run concept that just some photos and a press release? It seems it may be starring in a short film from Renault where it faces its predecessors, the Renault 5 Turbo and Clio V6.

Not much is known about this film yet. The clip above seems to be a preview for what I'm guessing will be a longer short film (ha!) called Block Racers starring the 320-horsepower Twin'Run and its big brothers.

The trailer is nice because it shows how cool the Twin'Run looks in motion, but I definitely get a "What did I just watch" feeling afterward. It looks like gangs of women who drive a Clio V6 and Renault 5 Turbo are forced to square off against the new car in a race, and they get more than they bargained for.

Interesting. I hope the full version comes out soon. I want to see more of the Twin'Run.

BMW Concept Ninety: Past Style, Modern Performance

Wes Siler — Fri, 24 May 2013 18:27:48 GMT

“The BMW Concept Ninety resurrects this spirit of the emotionally charged superbike”, says BMW of this new concept bike built by Roland Sands. Could it point the way for a future production model?

“This is a modern reiteration of the traditional essence of the motorcycle: the harmonious unison of man and machine,” continues BMW. “It’s a sporty boxer with a battery of sophisticated details. Its basic proportions clearly take their cue from the forebear that inspired this concept: the fairing, tank, seat and tail instantly signal its family bond with the BMW R 90 S. The BMW Concept Ninety also picks up on the demarcation of the bike’s proportions that was a hallmark of the time. The upper ergonomic and aerodynamic bodywork is visually separated from the black engine and chassis. The bodywork is hand crafted from aluminium. Its brushed areas can be seen in the tinted areas of the front fairing and tank, as well as at the tail. The rich orange shade of the BMW Concept Ninety is also a nod to the legendary Daytona Orange paintwork of the BMW R 90 S.”

“Today BMW motorcycles stand for perfection and function. That is what we have worked hard to achieve and something we are very proud of,” explains Ola Stenegard, BMW Motorrad’s head of design. “But we want more than that. With the BMW Concept Ninety we want to show how reduced and pure an emotional BMW motorcycle can be.”

“The BMW Concept Ninety delivers a very sporty interpretation of the front fairing. But whereas halogen was technically cutting-edge in the BMW R 90 S era, contemporary LED elements light up the face of the BMW Concept Ninety, honouring its ancestor with a round headlamp design. Seamlessly mounted behind it, the dynamically shaped tank ensures an optimal connection between rider and machine. Further along, the tank and seat melt harmoniously into each other. A steadily ascending line from the handlebars to the tail creates a slight wedge shape, lending the BMW Concept Ninety an almost ready to attack stance when viewed from the side – like a sprinter about to explode into action. Below the bodywork sits the air-cooled flat-twin boxer engine. Entirely in black with contrast cut details this section of the bike symbolises concerted power, precision and performance. The mechanics and technology as a whole are purposely rendered visible and reflect a keen attention to detail.”

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