Cars

657 articles on Cars

• Third Rail Case Adds Removable Battery to iPhone
  The Third Rail case is much less dangerous than it sounds. Instead of being a huge metal beam that carries a gazillion volts with the dual purpose of powering underground trains and terrifying children, the Third Rail is an accessory battery pack for your iPhone. It's not just another chunky juice-pack style case, either. While the ...
  05.20.11

• Itty-Bitty Mazda Engine Gets 70 MPG
  For all the attention being lavished on hybrids and electric vehicles, the tried and true internal combustion engine isn't going anywhere. They'll be around for years to come, growing ever more efficient. Mazda's new "Skyactiv-G 1.3" engine is a case in point. The Japanese automaker says a Demio subcompact (shown) with the new 1.3-liter direct injection ...
  05.20.11

• When You're Rich, Ferrari Does Your Bidding
  There are a great many reasons the rich aren't like the rest of us, but the one that really makes us jealous is they can do things like call Ferrari and order a one-off car no one else has. That's exactly what New York collector and Ferrari fanatic Peter Kalikow did. He recently visited Maranello to ...
  05.19.11

• GM Amps Up Volt Production
  The Chevrolet Volt is selling faster than expected, so General Motors plans to pump up production -- a move that will require shutting down the production line for one month to make some improvements. The General says it will revamp the line at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant so it can increase Volt production to 16,000 units ...
  05.19.11

• Ultra-Rare AJS 'Porcupine' To Hit the Block
  The AJS "Porcupine" was designed exclusively for racing. It was a temperamental machine with finicky carbs and a penchant for killing magnetos, so it never reached its potential. But it was on its best days a fast and graceful motorcycle that gave England its first modern grand prix championship. AJS built just four second-generation E95 Porcupines, ...
  05.18.11

• Tackle Twisties on Two Tasty Triumphs
  We're suckers for old cafe racers, especially old Triumph cafe racers because they're so damn cool. But anyone who loves vintage British bike knows it is an often stormy relationship. Old Anglo iron isn't known for reliability, and it leaks like a sieve on even the best days. All but the most hardcore, then, would do ...
  05.17.11

• Hydraulic Hybrid School Bus Gets 'A' For Effort
  Students at Georgia Tech are converting a conventional school bus into a hydraulic hybrid, with a unique energy-saving drivetrain that may help school districts realize fuel and maintenance savings. The project, financed with a $50,000 grant from Ford, will also hopefully shed light on one of the least well-known alternative vehicle powertrains. Hydraulic hybrids use a ...
  05.17.11

• Video: Solar Airplane's Maiden European Flight
  It took almost 13 hours, but an airplane powered only by the sun has completed the first international flight ever made by solar power, opening a new chapter in electric aviation. André Borschberg, the CEO and co-founder of Solar Impulse, left Payerne aerodrome in western Switzerland at 8:40 a.m. local time. He touched down in Brussels ...
  05.16.11

• A Vincent Black Shadow for the Modern Era
  Ian Barry and the crew at Falcon Motorcycles have rolled out another beautiful custom, this one a riff on the venerable Vincent Black Shadow. The Black Shadow was an incredible machine that essentially set the benchmark for performance through the 1950s. It was blindingly quick, something Rollie Free proved at Bonneville in 1948. Barry and a ...
  05.16.11

• Solar Airplane Attempts First International Flight
  Pilot André Borschberg is currently flying at over 12,000 feet over the Belgian countryside in the solar powered HB-SIA airplane. The Solar Impulse pilot left the team's home airport in Switzerland early this morning for its first international flight to Brussels. Borschberg is cruising at a less than 50 miles per hour on the cross continent ...
  05.13.11

• Video: A Lamborghini Assembled Piece by Piece
  Lamborghini went more than a little nuts with the press launch of its newest car, a public relations blitz that included exhibiting its amazing new flagship at a gallery in the heart of Rome. Despite the Aventador's phenomenal handling prowess, even it could not negotiate the narrow alleys leading to the Chiostro del Bramante, so there ...
  05.13.11

• Emerson Fittipaldi's Double-Engine VW Beetle
  By Leo Nishihata, Jalopnik Brazil In 1969 Emerson Fittipaldi was already racing in Europe, but he often returned to Brazil during the off-season to avoid the cold northern hemisphere winter. His older brother, Wilson, stayed in Brazil managing the Fittipaldi team and other family businesses, which included building tuning kits, racing steering wheels and Formula Vee ...
  05.13.11

• Human-Powered Vehicles Pedal For a Medal
  College car-building competitions are commonplace, usually highlighting student-built electric, hybrid and solar-powered vehicles. A recent challenge, however, tests vehicles the students build and power all by themselves. The Human Powered Vehicle Challenge, led by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and now in its 28th year, pits human-powered vehicles from colleges across the US and from ...
  05.12.11

• Italian volcano update (May 12, 2011): Etna keeps erupting and threatens cyclists / Planning for Vesuvius' next eruption
  Last night, Italy's Etna started a new period of eruptive activity - and for those of us watching the webcams, it put on quite a show. You can see video of the new eruption at MSNBC (with quotes from a certain Dr. Behncke), the BBC and in the Telegraph, but the lava fountain and flow produced from the southeast crater ...
  05.12.11

• A 261-MPG Shuttle to the Future
  Volkswagen kicked off 2011 with the debut of the most fuel-efficient car ever, the XL1, a groundbreaking vehicle that showcases the future of individual mobility. Powered by an 800cc TDI (common rail injection turbodiesel) engine and a small electric motor, the two-seat Volkswagen XL1 consumes just 0.9 liters diesel per 100 kilometers. That¿s the equivalent of ...
  05.11.11

• Ford, Google Team Up to Make Smarter Cars
  Ford is joining Google to develop cars smart enough to know where you're going, and how best to get you there so you don't waste time in traffic. The automaker is tapping the power of Google's remarkable Prediction API to create cars that determine where you're going by examining where you've been. It's the latest example ...
  05.10.11

• SoCal Gets a Hydrogen Station Unlike Any Other
  There are a few dozen fuel-cell vehicles roaming Southern California, and today the early adopters driving them got one more place to fill up. But the nation's newest hydrogen-fueling station is unlike any other in the United States. The public station in Torrance is the first in the country supplied by an active hydrogen pipeline. This ...
  05.10.11

• Ford Finds Flower Power Making Rubber From Weeds
  The lowly dandelion, scourge of homeowners everywhere, is getting some love in a most unusual place: the auto industry, which could use the weed to make cup-holders and other interior bits. Researchers at Ford and Ohio State University say a milky-white substance in the roots of an especially hardy strain of dandelion can be used to ...
  05.10.11

• Video: Bush Pilot Contest Asks, How Slow Can You Go?
  VALDEZ, Alaska -- The crowd at the Valdez Fly-In begins to rumble as pilot Josh Pepperd approaches a set of cones and a white line on the pavement in front of them. Flying slower and slower, the nose on his highly modified blue and silver Piper rises higher and higher. With a final few bursts ...
  05.10.11

• Electric Racer to Charge Through Dakar
  The Dakar Rally is among the most grueling events in all of motorsports, a 14-day sprint through the deserts and mountains of Argentina and Chile. It is a monumental challenge for any vehicle, and Alister McRae and Tim Coronel want to do it in an EV. They're developing an electric version of the McRae ProDakar 4x2 ...
  05.10.11

• Ground Control: Celebrating Astronauts and their Corvettes
  From The Right Stuff to Apollo 13, tales of astronauts racing their Corvettes have become the stuff of American legend. The connection grew stronger during the weekend as retired astronauts took to the streets of Cocoa Beach, Florida in the iconic cars to celebrate 50 years since Alan Shepard became the first American in space. Though ...
  05.09.11

• Porsche Build's World's Coolest Steering Wheel
  By Justin Hyde, Jalopnik Leave it to Porsche to consider a Formula 1 steering wheel the mere starting point for the controls in its 911 GT3 R Hybrid racer. It's not enough for the car to feature a flywheel system so awesome it's designed to kill you by stopping your heart. No, the Germans had to ...
  05.09.11

• VW's Rally Racer Is So Cute, So Mean
  Volkswagen is returning to rallying with a pocket rocket that's cuter than a puppy and meaner than a rabid mutt. The German's won't compete in the World Rally Championship until 2013, but that didn't keep them from unveiling a racing concept based on the Polo, a sweet subcompact VW won't sell in the United States, dammit. Given ...
  05.09.11

• Jaguar's $1.1M Hybrid Supercar Is a Go
  Jaguar has leapfrogged Porsche in the race to build the world's most expensive, if not extreme, hybrid. The venerable British automaker announced today that it is working with Williams F1 to develop the C-X75, the spectacularly gorgeous supercar that dropped jaws at the Paris auto show last fall. Jag promises a car as fast as it ...
  05.06.11

• Topless Gullwing Climbs a Wall
  Mercedes-Benz is neck-deep in the development of an AMG SLS Roadster, a fact we're telling you only because it's an excuse to run this photo of the car high on a banked track. Mercedes didn't say where the pic was snapped but was quick to note testing has shown the drop-top is every bit as rigid ...
  05.06.11

• Frequently Flying Finn Finds Fun, Friendship
  If you ever pass through Finland's Helsinki-Vantaa airport, you'll probably run in to Petteri Räisänen. He doesn't work at a security checkpoint, nor is he a pilot. He's not even a jet-setting business traveler, but he's always at the gate or sitting in an airport lounge. He's a frequent flier -- but only for the fun ...
  05.06.11

• Istanbul Park's Turn 8 Is a Turkish Delight
  Anyone can drive fast in a straight line. It's the corners that matter, and Turn 8 at Istanbul Park is among the best. Oh sure, the famed Eau Rouge at Spa-Francorchamps is widely considered the best corner in all of Formula 1. Parabolica at Monza, Casino Square in Monaco and 130R at Suzuka also make ...
  05.06.11