It’s 1:30 in the morning on a dead end street. A sober 17 year old doesn’t see all the dead end signs and at only 70 kmh, he jumps the curb at the end of the road and plows into a light post and a car on the lot in front of BMW Canada. The Chevy Lumina the kid was driving had to be towed.

Now I get the stupidity of a teenager. I was a teenager and I remember crashing into things because I was going too fast. That was a rally driver wannabe on a winding, deserted road. BMW Canada and the adjacent dealership are very brightly lit and the road out front is almost 4 lanes wide. The court at the end of the street is gigantic. There are Dead End signs all the way down the road.

The kid was only travelling about 70 kmh which is about 43 mph for our American readers. How the hell does one lose control under these conditions? Obviously, the kid isn’t the brightest of bulbs, as his graduated license doesn’t allow him to be out driving after midnight without a fully licensed driver in the car. Even still, he wasn’t moving that fast for the area. He was clearly way over his head, or beyond the capabilities of the Lumina. Either way this kid needs help.

Poor driver training or stupid kid? I don’t have the answer, but I suspect that if we taught car control rather than just parallel parking, we’d have less of these daft incidents.

Source Durham Region News

Spend a few days away from The Garage and the local news goes wild with automotive stuff. First, some kid crashes into BMW Canada’s lobby and then GM awards production of the new Camaro to the number 2 plant in Oshawa, just 10 minutes from The Garage.

For many years, this plant has had the highest quality ratings of any plant on GM’s roster. Not only a source of local pride, this history of quality surely influenced the decision to build the car in Oshawa. The early retirement of some 2500 employees may have saved the jobs of another 2700 workers who will now be working on the Camaro and other projects. Those other projects may come quickly, due to a 740 million reno that will allow flex production program that will allow multiple models to be built at the same time. As a casual observer who lives in the area, methinks this plan has been in the works for some time, as the expansion and building at the south Oshawa facility has been moving forward at a furious pace.
Is it a coincidence that GM chose to announce this on the eve of the annual Autofest car show at GM of Canada? I somehow doubt it. We are racing this weekend, so the schedule will be tight, but i’m hoping to drop by Autofest to grab a few pics of the Camaro as I’m pretty sure it will be on display.

Source The Star

A lack of time seems to becoming more common around here, so today i’ll just give a few mentions to some of the lucky bloggers who are out cruising this weekend.

Over at Jalopnik, the boys are cruizin’ (and jaywalking!) on Woodward Ave.
Phillip at Classical Drive has been at Monterey all week leading up to the Pebble Beach Concours and he’s got some great storys and shots. The photo above will give you some idea of the fun he’s having.

The new kid on the block at Autoblog is also at Pebble and has some great shots too.

Some GM student interns were lucky enough to head to Bonneville. I bet it changed their outlook on speed forever.

World Car Fans have a great Ferrari story from Pebble Beach.

Here in The Garage, we’re a tiny bit jealous of all of you this weekend. Hopefully our old buddy Mike will deliver the pics he’s promised from Woodward next week.

Never one to hold his tounge, Jacques Villeneuve has revealed his opinion on Michael Schumacher. In an interview for the upcoming issue of F1 Racing, Villeneuve has essentially said that Schumi is a deceptive, no personality dirtbag that the world will forget about when he’s gone. JV actually goes so far as to compare Mikey to the late, great Ayrton.

On the Ayrton topic, you have to give JV credit. Senna was up front about it when he planned to stuff someone. Mikey plays dumb, thinking the whole world doesn’t get it. What get’s me is where does JV get off thinking the world is going to remember him? Sure, he has more personality that Schumacher, but in some cases that may not be a good thing. Jacques has pissed off a lot of people, not only in the sport, but more importantly the fans. In reality, how many people outside Quebec will remember his name for anything other than his father’s son? The world has definately forgotten about the Uncle Jaques. Maybe they can race snowmobiles together!
read the full story at Pitpass

The stunning mugshot above is from autoplus

The daily grind has been tough here in The Garage the last little while, so it really cool when we come across something this funny. Over at Autoblog, they’ve found this cool South Park cd with a ton of Nineties tunes, guaranteed to make you put the pedal to the metal. This inspired the crew to compile their own fun filled lists.

Great job guys and watch back in The Garage for my own list, when I can find a few moments to collect my thoughts.

We just need to get one of these in The Garage, if only to live out some Easy Rider dreams. With “leather effect” seats and saddlebags, the biker wannabe in your house will feel right at home. Looking at the rainbow bird on the back seat makes me wonder if they were going to raffle these off during pride week.

from drinkstuff.com via Gizmodo

Kevin Kelly, from WIRED has launched a new blog called Street Use, showcasing some of the best hoonmobiles across the planet. Maybe the coolest (or most frightening) are the Iraqi gun pick ups. American pick ups that have been modded with bullet plate glass, run flat tires and turrets. Mel Gibson must be jealous.

Travelling through the north eastern States over the years, the number of little Big 3 stores are dotted around the landscape. It always seems like every little crossroads town of 1000 people has one store representing each brand. I can only suspect that they must have had the same strategy in larger cities too, as Ford has announced plans to cut back on it’s dealer body. By strengthening the stronger dealers, Ford hopes to increase market share. While the dealer body supports this action, the problem seems to be that none of them actually want to give up their store. The next 18 months should be interesting as the big fish eat up the little fish.

via Autoblog

The green monster. German super tuner Ruf has released their newest 911, the R Kompressor. The 3.8 liter flat six sports a supercharger, twin intercoolers and a new intake manifold. These upgrades, along with a modded computer and high flow cats brings power output to over 400 hp with 347 lb of torque just waiting to turn those expensive Z rated tires to blue smoke. The car receives bigger brakes and a smokin body kit.

Things have been so busy here in The Garage that the guys at Jalopnik beat me to the punch on this one.

more pics after the break

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Meet the Aptera, an 850 LB, 330 mpg concept car that should be available soon from manufacturer Accelerated Composites. Powered by a 12 hp diesel and a 25 hp DC motor, this hybrid features a CVT transmission and will accelerate from zero to 60 mph in a respectable 11 seconds. Make no mistake though, this thing is no Tesla on the road.

Time will tell if the public is ready for the look of the space age composite body.

Source Gizmodo