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Friday, February 28, 2014

North Dallas Hooptie LeMons Inspections: ’75 Civic vs Buick Century, Solara vs Corvette

We're back at Eagles Canyon Raceway in Texas for the fifth annual North Dallas Hooptie race, and for Saturday morning's green flag we've got some matchups that the racing world has been waiting decades to see.

Since the very earliest days of LeMons racing, we've been waiting for a genuine first-generation Honda Civic. We'd seen a single second-gen Civic (this '83, which didn't so so well in the 2010 Colorado race), but what about the little car that really put Honda on the map for Americans? A team called The Resistance found a '75 Civic hatchback, complete with 63-horsepower EB2 engine, caged it, put '91 Civic brakes on it, and are eager to dominate Class C with it.

With such excellent taste in race cars, plus this introduction-to-the-team video, the LeMons debut of The Resistance has gone very well so far. Will the EB2 hold together under endurance-race conditions, or will it succumb to the head-gasket maladies that have knocked out so many newer Hondas?

Part I of the soon-to-be-storied first-gen Civic-versus-A-body Buick Century rivalry will take place this weekend. We'll keep you updated.

Speaking of Class C battles, Little Buckaroo, a Baja Bug that competed in the very first Texas LeMons races, is back after a several-year hiatus.

This time, though, Little Buckaroo no longer has its unreliable Type 1 air-cooled engine in back. This Beetle has been upgraded— if that's the right word— to a 1600cc water-cooled engine yanked out of a Mk1 Rabbit. We've seen this swap work out very poorly for a Porsche 914, but perhaps it will enable the Little Buckaroos to run away with Class C.

Returning for another shot at Class C glory after their Dodge Daytona Shelby Turbo Z's 14-lap fiasco at the Gator-O-Rama last fall, Team Bad Science has the horsepower edge in their class.

Speaking of horsepower, the C4 Corvette owns a thoroughly miserable record in LeMons, in spite of conventional wisdom telling us (over and over) that this car should wipe the floor with all comers in our sort of racing. Here we go again, with a team digging up an ugly '87 C4, selling off a bunch of allegedly valuable interior and trim pieces, and showing up with a quasi-believable budgetary story. What the LeMons Supreme Court ought to do here is bury the car under penalty laps… but we just can't resist a gamble in a situation like this.

Will this car follow LeMons Corvette tradition and barf engine parts all over the tarmac and/or get yanked off the track due to red-misty bad driving, or will it simply run away with the race and cause jubilation in Corvette-land? We'll find out this weekend, because the LeMons Supreme Court has rolled the dice with zero penalty laps for the Wycked C4.

In fact, we feel confident that the Corvette will get smoked by this car: a Toyota Solara with four-cylinder engine, automatic transmission, and super-squishy stock suspension.

True, the Team Wine-O Solara does have Hella Sweet Dominator tires.

Not to mention Air By DOM-N-8-ER. This beef will be settled on the track, starting Saturday morning.

Of course, the LeMons Supreme Court did hand out some penalty laps. Team Sensory Assault has made their burn-victim Mazda RX-7 FD pretty quick with a turbocharger upgrade, and so the LSC talked about handing out a few laps, maybe a half-dozen or so.

In that case, said the Sensory Assault team captain, we want the all-time record for penalty laps. The earlier record was two billion, given to the Holden My Crank 2004 Pontiac GTO. To beat that, Sensory Assault received 2,000,000,007 penalty laps, which we calculate should take about 1,900 years of racing at Eagles Canyon to get the car to zero laps.

Because the LeMons Supreme Court respects the guts of the Texas Communist Party (and because Texas racers fear communism even more than they fear the United Nations), our BRIBED stencil for generous teams at the '14 North Dallas Hooptie features Karl Marx in a cowboy hat.

As you might imagine, the ideals of the TCP run somewhat counter to those held by many Texas racers.

Luxurious, status-enhancing Mercedes-Benzes are always welcome in the 24 Hours of LeMons, and everyone at Eagles Canyon is very happy to see The Syndicate's 1976 450SL ready to race. This car failed to get through tech in time to hit the race track at its last race, but on Saturday it should be on the track when the green flag waves.

The Syndicate was heavily involved with the worst car in 24 Hours of LeMons history last year, so any laps for their R107 will constitute a victory this weekend.

Naturally, we've also got the usual large numbers of Texas-style Fox Fords competing, and there's always a chance that a Mustang or Granada will triumph at the North Dallas Hooptie. But that's not the way to bet.

What will happen during Saturday's race session? Check in Saturday night to find out!

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Google Lobbyists Wage Battle on Eight States Looking to Ban Google Glass

With bills pending in at least eight states that would outlaw drivers from using Google Glass, the tech monolith is trying to convince politicians that its dorky video contraption will make us all better people. According to Bloomberg, Google lobbyists are trying to kill bills in Wyoming and Delaware, two of eight states that have drafted legislation to ban the device and others like it. Google Glass, a Bluetooth headset with a camera that can beam images, video, and all sorts of functions to the user's right eye via a prism-like display, has been both loved and loathed since the first 8000 "beta testers" starting wearing them last year.

"We find that when people try it for themselves, they better understand the underlying principle that it's not meant to distract but rather to connect people more with the world around them," a Google representative told Bloomberg.

But while Harman recently unveiled a concept that would send collision and lane-departure alerts to Google Glass, hardly anyone knows what the device can or can't do. Some states, following the federal government's insistence to reduce distracted driving, aren't waiting to find out.

In March of last year, West Virginia became the first state to draft a bill that would ban drivers from "using a wearable computer with a head-mounted display." By June, Delaware and New Jersey followed in tow with proposed $100 fines. But as written, these three bills would let drivers like Cecilia Abadie—who practically became a martyr last fall when she was cited in California for wearing Google Glass in the car—get off the hook without question. Last month, Abadie did just that since the police couldn't prove her headset was even on, let alone what she may or may not have been staring at.

Four more states filed anti-Glass legislation in the months following Abadie's first outcry on her Google+ page. In December, the Illinois legislature drafted a bill to ban any driver wearing a "mobile computing headset" (whether or not it was switched on) and would call for a stiffer charge if a Glass wearer caused a serious accident.

In January, New York called out Glass by name and explicitly wrote that "using" and "wearing" were the same thing, but unlike in Illinois, the bill would assume the driver was using the device even in stopped traffic. Missouri would ban any driver from trying to "operate or wear a head-mounted display" and would call for a 30-day license suspension on the first offense. Maryland's bill would make similar assumptions and order a $75 fine, but would allow such use for GPS navigation. None of the eight bills have made it to a vote.

No one knows how this will play out, or if a similar law might get written in Washington. But we've realized one thing: Disney's vision of our future highways in the film WALL-E—crowded with obese Americans watching video screens on autonomous hovercrafts—doesn't seem at all far-fetched.

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BMW i8 Intenders: Don’t Forget to Buy This Fitted, Extra-Pricey Carbon-Fiber Louis Vuitton Luggage

What is true luxury? For some, it's that which isn't easily attained, like an ancestral property with a 250-year old oak tree just outside the window; the free time to relax on a porch, favorite beverage in hand; or a timepiece inherited from your grandfather. For others, the term is defined by brands that peddle mass-produced goods available to anyone who can afford them. These items aren't an especially strong statement of individuality, but they do easily classify one as a high-income individual. Commodities produced by the luggage and accessory maker Louis Vuitton certainly fall into this category.

In a way, this approach corresponds to modern-day luxury cars. Unlike, say, a classic Bentley, Lamborghini, or even BMW, they don't require either the disposition to suffer the occasional mechanical hiccup nor an elevated level of driving skill. It is fitting, perhaps, that BMW has announced a tailor-made luggage set by Louis Vuitton for its plug-in hybrid i8 sports car.

Designed to make the most of the i8′s limited luggage space, Louis Vuitton has designed four different bags to fit onto the its trunk, rear shelf, and rear seats. They are made of a carbon-fiber textile—a nod to the eco-friendly BMW's carbon-fiber structure. Says chief designer Adrian van Hooydonk: "BMW and Louis Vuitton share both a profound appreciation of tradition and a commitment to constant further development."

At a lofty $135,000 or so, the i8 won't be available to everyone, and the Louis Vuitton luggage—"available upon request in a selection of Louis Vuitton stores worldwide"—will set customers back many more thousands of dollars. At least the investment can be spread out: The bags will be available starting April 1, many months before the i8 will be rolled out at dealerships. Status-seekers, it's time to swipe those credit cards.

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Škoda VisionC Concept: A7 Looks, Golf Bones [2014 Geneva Auto Show]

Despite being one of the oldest names in the car biz, Škoda is barely a blip on the radar of most North American car fans. And although parent company Volkswagen would be hard pressed to make a rational business case to introduce the brand here, we'd welcome Škoda with open arms and wallets if its swanky VisionC concept were to be part of the deal. READ MORE ››

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2015 Lexus RC F Sport’s a Little Bit RC, a Little Bit F, and a Whole Lotta Sporty [2014 Geneva Auto Show]

Lexus's RC coupe hasn't even gone on sale yet, but already the automaker is declaring the lineup complete with the debut of the RC350 F Sport. The sporty-but-not-too-sporty stepping stone between the regular RC coupe and the BMW M4–fighting RC F, the F Sport is the Goldilocks just-right middle ground, and, fittingly, it's being revealed alongside the hard-core RC F GT3 race car at the 2014 Geneva auto show.

Just like the IS350 F Sport and GS350 F Sport models, the RC350 F Sport sprinkles more athletic zest over the RC while stopping short of full F-car status. Think of it as mirroring BMW's M Performance models, like the M235i—hot, for sure, but not full M-car hot. To that end, the RC350 F Sport gets the same 306-hp 3.5-liter V-6 as its pedestrian sibling. But the coupe does get standard 19-inch F Sport wheels that are absolutely stunning, a unique mesh grille filled with tiny Fs, silver interior trim, and an exclusive Rioja Red interior color.

Performance-enhancing bits include Lexus's adaptive dampers and an available Dynamic Handling system, which includes a variable steering ratio and four-wheel-steering setup. The rear wheels can be steered up to two degrees, turning opposite the fronts at low speeds and turning with them at higher speeds. Unfortunately it appears as though for now, the RC350 F Sport is automatic-only, but we can always hold out hope Lexus sees the manual-transmission light. Lexus doesn't say when the RC350 F Sport is specifically going on sale here, but look for it to arrive alongside the regular RC350 later this year as a 2015 model.

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2015 Chevrolet Tahoe First Drive: Still Makin’ It Rain

The Tahoe is one of Chevrolet's primary rainmakers, a truck packed with greenbacks that still rules a segment competitors have let languish. The Tahoe and its larger Suburban sibling alone account for nearly 50 percent of full-size SUV sales; mix in the numbers generated by the GMC Yukon models and the market dominance becomes a smackdown. Because of course it did, Chevy launched the new Tahoe in Lake Tahoe, California, and, Chevy's rainmaker even brought some much-needed precipitation to the drought-ridden area. (It was in the form of snow, but the region will take it.) READ MORE ››

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OBD-No-Way: Automatic Is the Do-It-All Connected Diagnostic Device of the Future

It was only a matter of time before someone thought of something productive to do with cars' OBD-II diagnostics ports, and Automatic has a pretty worthwhile new piece of hardware and a corresponding app. While similar to Delphi's connected diagnostics dongle, Automatic's piece takes things a step further with a slick user interface and a gaggle of potential features waiting to be unlocked by third parties.

Simply plug the Automatic dongle into your OBD-II port (most 1996-and-later models are compatible), and let the Bluetooth low-energy connection to your Automatic app–equipped phone do the rest. Via the app, drivers can keep track of their driving habits, run vehicle diagnostics (or have notifications sent automatically when something's amiss), and even tap into location data to find their car in a parking lot.

But the real potential, as Wired first reported, is in Automatic's recent addition of IFTTT (if this, then that) internet protocols, which really open up a world of previously unimaginable connected-car possibilities. IFTTT is a service that, as Automatic puts it, "lets you create powerful connections between triggers and actions on the internet." For example, this allows users to set up cloud-based actions tripped by location-specific vehicle moves, like turning the car on or off, completing a trip, and more.

We could go on, but the most common examples include having your house lights turn on when you cross a so-called geofence as you approach home, or automatically logging mileage data to a spreadsheet for easy trip reimbursement from your employer. One avenue even includes setting up automatic text and social-media messages, like sending your significant other a text when you're leaving work. We advise anybody with sketchy extra-curricular activities not to set up such alerts for reasons that should be fairly obvious.

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Friday, February 28, 2014

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