Sorry I’ve been pretty vacant for the last few days, but on Monday evening I got a call that my brother and his fiance were in a terrible car wreck down in Houston. My wife packed my stuff in about 20 minutes while I prepared and then headed out for the 4 hour drive.

It turns out that a woman ran a red light and plowed into the side of my brother’s Toyota 4Runner as he was crossing the intersection. She hit his SUV on the side in the rear, causing the vehicle to spin and then roll multiple times. The police officer later informed us that she admitted she was talking on her cell phone and not paying attention.
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This certainly isn’t new news, but the other day I was telling a friend about it and realized that most people still haven’t heard of the Michelin Tweel (Tire/WhEEL), an airless, integrated tire and wheel combination.

Michelin had this concept in development since 1995, and claim that it’s the future of tire technology with the potential to be in use on our roads by the mid 2010’s.
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The Ariel Atom is absolutely the most impractical car you’ll ever lust after. It has no trunk, roof, windshield, doors… hell, even the seats are made of plastic. But none of that matters, because it is the third fastest production car on Earth. And it’s cheap.

My favorite quote from Jeremy Clarkson’s road test of the Atom:

Over the years I’ve flown F-15 fighters and done power-slides in airboats and straffed the desert in helicopter gunships, but for sheer excitement this thing is off the scale.

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The Wrightspeed X1 Electric Supercar is completely awesome, even if it’s only a prototype and has no chance of ever moving into production.

The good news however is that they are working on plans for a real production car of which they say:

The X1 production car will be better… much better.

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This video is awesome! It pitts a little every day driver Fiat against a high performance Ferrari 360 Modena against a Formula 1 race car on a closed track. But to make things fair, the Fiat gets a 1.5 minute head start, and the Ferrari gets a 1 minute start against the Forumla 1 car.

As to what happens next, you’re just going to have to watch the video to find out…
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I’m not really sure what to call these other than AWESOME! Apparently some Swiss aviator has developed a set of jet powered wings because jumping out of a plane with a parachute was just too boring.

It’s hard to say exactly how fast he’s traveling, but considering that he’s traveling at the same speed as the airplanes he’s flying with I’m going to guess that it’s at least 150-200 MPH.
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Many of you know that one of my vehicles is an Acura NSX. Have I mentioned lately that I love my car? Yes, every single time I drive it is as great as the first.

Anyway, I came across this excellent compilation video so I decided that I’d share it.
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Wow! Thanks to Debbie for passing this little gem along. I’m simply speechless. And to think we almost bought a Prius to be “green friendly”.

Now I’m glad we opted for a totally pimped out 06′ Honda Civic. That way we actually do have one of the most “green friendly” vehicles to offset my arguably-worse-than-a-Hummer 05′ Nissan Titan!

Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage - By Chris Demorro

The Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care. Unfortunately for them, their ultimate ‘green car’ is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer.
Before we delve into the seedy underworld of hybrids, you must first understand how a hybrid works. For this, we will use the most popular hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius.
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Ever had a minor little problem with your car that annoyed you, but wasn’t worth actually taking it in to the shop to fix? Well, you need to get on over to Car-Part.com and search junkyards for replacement/used parts!

This site will actually search for both new and used car parts anywhere in North America and let you know where you can get it, how much it will cost, and even how far away it is from you. The junkyard enters the digital age…

My regular readers know that I love the British TV show Top Gear. They’ve given us such fine shows as the Bugati Veyron and Lamborghini Gallardo reviews… but now they’ve really outdone themselves.

In this episode the guys take on a ridiculous challenge to drive across Alabama in cars painted with offensive comments in order to find out what happens.

The funny thing is that you can tell at the beginning they think it’s funny and aren’t too worried. But when you see what happens later you’ll definitely understand why they are fleeing in fear of their lives…
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Now days, when I think of India I think of a hot dry climate, a billion people, call centers and engineers. But this is a country with a long, rich history that predates most Western civilizations.

Here is an interesting video which demonstrates many of the inventions from ancient India including things such as the number 0, cotton, art, and more. In fact, about 37 minutes into the video, they discuss the manufacture of Wootz - or Damascus - steel, used for making the finest swords ever created.
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If you saw my recent post of the Reno Balloon Eace, you might have wondered how the pilots made the balloons go up and come down in basically the same spot. Well, the folks over at How Stuff Works have created a little video to explain.

Hot air balloons are about as simple as flying can get - no engine, no moving parts, and very little the pilot can do to control the vehicle. Here’s how a hot air balloon works!
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