June 29, 2009
Our “Driven” series highlights the several cars I was able to sample at IMPA’s Spring Brake 2009 event. These short takes are summaries of my driving impressions of the cars on the roads surrounding Bear Mountain State Park in Rockland County, New York.
The calling card for Honda’s new Insight is that this is a hybrid [...]
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June 29, 2009
Car museums can be a tad boring for kids, even those who are certified junior gearheads. All these really cool cars, but you can’t actually get in them. Of course the Porsche museum has some priceless machines and ice cream hand prints just wouldn’t do. Still, it is so important that Dad and Grandpa bring [...]
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A case for strange cars
June 28, 2009The most modern supercars seem somehow less special when you consider how cool they could have been. Maybe I’d like the Audi R8 if it had the Procon-Ten safety system instead of airbags, or UFO brakes instead of vented rotors. With the history of the “car” as we know it spanning over a century and every corner of the planet, it doesn’t surprise me that Jack Nicholson was driving around in a hydrogen-powered Chevrolet in the 70s, or that Ferdinand Porsche probably stole the idea for the Volkswagen (Beetle) from his close friend and Tatra engineer, Hans Ledwinka. Hell, Ferdinand Porsche’s first design was the Lohner-Porsche Mixte, an all-electric all-wheel drive car made in 1899. His second added an onboard generator, just like the Chevrolet Volt.