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In a recent column, I detailed my experience driving the Switzer P800 Nissan GT-R. This outrageously powerful vehicle was as fast as any reasonable person could possibly want… but there was something missing. What was it? Perhaps it was the frisson of complete and utter terror. If that little chill is what you seek, Switzer is now ready to provide it in their “P800″ conversion for the Porsche GT2. Continue reading If 800 Horsepower Was Fun Before, Imagine It In A Car That Wants To Kill You!
Back on April 1st, an article appeared on NewsTimes.com claiming that Saturn had found a suitor. While many initially dismissed it as an April Fool’s joke, Saturn of Danbury owner (and early Saturn insider) Todd Ingersoll was telling anybody who would listen that a deal was in the works that would assure Saturn’s long-term future. While Ingersoll didn’t come forward with the specifics of the deal or the name of the interested party (or parties), it seemed like an honest attempt at reassuring consumers that Saturn wasn’t a dead brand walking. Weeks have come and gone, however, and nothing seems to have come of it. Meanwhile, the Pontiac and Hummer branches have been lopped off the future GM family tree, and Saab and Saturn have degenerated to sell or scrap status. While GM’s overall attitude toward a potential sale of the Saab brand seems fairly positive, the future of Saturn doesn’t look so rosy. Earlier estimates predicted the Saturn network would stay around until 2011 or 2012 — plenty of time to court new ownership — but GM is now saying that it’s on the chopping block for the end of this year. So what is the key to Saturn’s future? It all comes down to Chrysler. Continue reading Lord Byron — French Bread, Italian Spices and Tupperware Forget the break-in period and suggested care instructions from the owners manual. When you have a hot car in your hands like the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS, the first thing you should do is take it immediately to the drag strip. That’s exactly what the guys down at Hennessey Performance did yesterday as they got a baseline for their new Camaro build. We’re heading over to the Hennessey facility on Friday to get some driving impressions before the Camaro begins it’s transformation into a 550+ horsepower monster.
Hello boys and girls! You’ve heard of the North American Car of the Year, right? Well, a fellow named Keith Griffin has just started up juried award called the Internet Car and Truck of the Year. Not only that, but he asked yours truly to be one of the twelve judges. Woo! Why? Keith will tell you it’s because of the quality of my writing. However the truth is much more likely to be the quantity of my writing, as I’ve written about cars for TTAC, Jalopnik, Autofiends, Autoblog, Motive, 0-60, ClunkBucket and of course Speed:Sport:Life. I believe it was Joseph Stalin that said, “Quantity has a quality all its own.” As you may have deduced from the name, seeing that this here is “teh internets,” the voice of the people counts. Meaning that not only will us 12 expert judges get to voice our totally enlightened opinions, but you — the lowly website reader — get to chime in with a vote as well. Fun? Wicked fun. Follow all the action as it develops on the website. Otherwise, I’ll keep you posted.  Click for Larger Image We’re a pretty diverse group here at Speed:Sport:Life, no matter whether you’re talking about race, religion, politics, or sanctioning-body affiliation. In fact, if you were to tally up all of our votes, we probably canceled each other out. If we’d all agreed to stay home, we could have saved a few hours of line-trudging boredom back in November. But while we’ve refused to “pick a side”, President Obama has just come down firmly on the side of the car-haters. According to the New York Times, our new leader has ordered the EPA to “aggressively review” the application by California to set its own “emissions” standards. In this case, “emissions” means CO2 emissions, which are directly linked to fuel consumption. The plain English? California’s going to require 35mpg fleet average by 2016. But they won’t be alone. There are thirteen other states — hereby dubbed the “Trotsky Thirteen” in honor of Lenin’s old pal — which would like to follow California’s lead. Together, they account for about half of the American automotive market. One phrase that’s being thrown around is “the involuntary hybridization of America’s automotive fleet”, and that isn’t too far off the mark. A mandatory average of 35mpg will strip American consumers of the freedom to choose vehicles as diverse as the Nissan GT-R and the Ford Flex. Depending on the violence of the penalties applied to nonconformists, this could force Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Jaguar, and several other manufacturers out of the United States. It is also likely to kill enthusiast vehicles such as the Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, Nissan 370Z, Subaru WRX and STi, and even the Honda S2000 (which doesn’t come close to 35mpg). Obama’s immediate action on this is supposedly designed to “give the automakers time to tool-up for 2011″. Hello? Has anybody involved with this decision bothered to read the news? Who has the money or ability to retool for this mandate right now? Even Honda and Toyota will be in a pickle; they’ll have to force mandatory hybrid powertrains on their bread-and-butter Accord and Camry consumers, raising the average transaction price on Accords and Camrys into the $30,000 range, right in the middle of the worst economy since Jimmy Carter. President Carter, some of you will recall, also hated cars and used the full power of the government to regulate, humiliate, and assault the auto industry. President Obama has promised to be different, to bring “hope” and “change” to America. It won’t come from crippling our already strained economy and auto industry in the name of “preventing climate change”. Talk to your representative today. Let him or her know that you don’t support this mandate. Make no mistake: in the world envisioned by Obama and his brain trust, there’s no room for anything faster or more exciting than a Prius. If you disagree, let the man know, and let him know pronto. Coverage begins at 9 AM, and will be updated through the day. Click the Play button on the top left to view video clips, and use the left and right arrows to navigate between slides.
By Byron Hurd GM’s press conference on Sunday was not the most depressing of the day’s events (See: Chrysler), but it certainly wasn’t the most inspiring either. Wagoner’s communications team set him up with a healthy four hundred words that had nothing to do with GM’s financial trouble. Now that’s a solid corporate communications strategy when everything is business as usual, but when you’ve just been floated a loan by some 300 million of your peers, a little humility may be in order. (See: Chrysler — sensing a pattern?). But while ChryCo’s conference may have been the most depressing of the bunch, it was the non-event that was Pontiac’s presence at NAIAS that depressed, disturbed, and frankly offended me as both an enthusiast and as “member” of the press. If you’ve ever shown up to a party where you’re surrounded by dozens of people who were your friends just days before and suddenly don’t want to talk to you, look at you, acknowledge you, or even share the same hundred-square foot area of their apartment, then you know what it’s like to be Pontiac. You don’t know what you did (or didn’t do), but suddenly you’re the fattest, pinkest, most foul-smelling elephant ever to be under the table.
Yesterday’s Senate Banking hearings were less chiding and venomous than expected — but I still arrived at the finish line suitably toasted. Today, as Detroit presents their case to the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee at an even earlier hour, the goal is to stay out of my roommates’ liquor stash. The rules have changed slightly: - One sip of wine for each incorrect quality jab lobbed at the manufacturers. 08:31 CDT: Here we go. Continue reading Last Stand on the Hill: Burnin’ Down the House
The sleepless nights are over. Today, we’ll be able to tell whether the most important domestic manufacturing pillar will be afforded a lifeline — and whether millions of jobs will be saved. To soften the seriousness of the Congressional proceedings, I’ll be employing Northern California’s finest, cheapest Cabernet Sauvignon in a drinking game that only Speed:Sport:Life has the dignity to broadcast live.  Here are the rules: - One sip of wine for each incorrect quality jab lobbed at the manufacturers. 09:08 CDT: Here we go. Continue reading It’s My Country, I’ll Liveblog if I Want To: Serious Business  Story by Adam Barrera Last week, in front of Congress and C-SPAN, Detroit forgot to bring their collective homework to class. As if a governmental grounding wasn’t enough, socially clairvoyant Saturday Night Live filled in Detroit’s blanks with a parodic infinite timeline of exorbitant quarterly bailouts. Today, the Detroit Three’s real roadmaps robbed the SNL skit of truth. Ford isn’t even asking for cash up front, just access to a loan in case the downturn worsens. Chrysler needs $7 billion by the 31st to stay in business — and isn’t speculating beyond that figure. Unlike SNL’s parody, the General asks for just two tiers of assistance in the most detailed — and realistic — outlook offered by the industry. Continue reading GM Contingency Plea: Prelude to a Drinking Game |
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