This is the Rally Fighter, a kit car built by Local Motors, an upstart builder based in Massachusetts. Unlike most of the other custom-built cars at SEMA, the Rally Fighter was designed entirely through the use of crowd sourcing.
Through competitions on its Web site, Local Motors asked users to submit designs and let the community choose its favorite. The Rally Fighter came out on top, so Local Motors commissioned the build and used crowd sourcing for everything from the engineering to the materials.
It uses a BMW twin-turbo diesel power plant and various off-the-shelf parts to keep costs down. Local Motors says it plans to eventually build as many as 3,000 Rally Fighters and sell them for around $50,000 apiece. Other models are expected to follow, all chosen and designed by committee.
It's an interesting idea and the Rally Fighter looks to have turned out well. But to be clear, the Rally Fighter is not a car, and Local Motors is not a new kind of car company. At least not yet. Click through to find out why.
Continue reading Local Motors Rally Fighter at SEMA: A Good Start, But....
Categories: Diesels,SUVs,Tuners and Modifications
After the resounding/inexplicable success of the last installment of the Fast & Furious series, work has now started in earnest on yet another chapter in the lucrative franchise.
Care to guess the plotline?
IL News: Fast & Furious Five Starts Pre-Production
Categories: Celebrities,Classic Cars
Next summer's Concourso Italiano held during the Pebble Beach weekend in August will feature a gathering of Ferrari F40s to celebrate 20 years in the U.S. There's actually a Ferrari F40 Reunion Group and it's aiming to attract as many as, wait for it, 40 F40s to the Laguna Seca Golf Ranch on August 13th.
Concorso Italiano
Categories: Classic Cars,Coupes,Ferrari,Luxury Cars,Sports Cars
Yep, you read that right. According to Sky News, Cha Sa-Soon of South Korea has been taking and failing driver's tests daily since 2005.
It has cost her nearly $4,000 over the years, but she never gave up, finally passing with a reassuring 60%.
Oh, and this was just the written part. She still has to take the actual driving test before getting a license.
Sky: 950th Time is a Charm for Leaner Driver
Categories: Trends
Why did these people spend nearly four months trying to push this dump truck off the fourth floor of the abandoned Packard building in Detroit?
Because it was there and no one was around to tell them not to.
It's just one part of a Wall Street Journal article about how Detroit has become a vandal's paradise thanks to an endless supply of empty buildings. Quite the uplifting read. Video after the break.
WSJ: How Do You Put the Dump in Dump Truck? Push It Off the Fourth Floor
Continue reading Video: Dump Truck Pushed Off Fourth Floor of Packard Building in Detroit.
Categories: Auto Industry,Trends
While the large auto alarm companies were nowhere in sight at SEMA, some smaller upstarts were there to pitch innovative products. One of the coolest we saw was from Blackline GPS, which has teamed with radar detector icon Escort for the Entourage system.
It's a location-aware security system that allows you to track your car online or on a mobile phone. It has a GPS receiver and an accelerometer to allow an owner to track a car and also send an alert via text message or email if the car has been moved. It's available in two versions: The Entourage PS portable ($349.95) and Entourage CIS hard-wired model ($399.95). Both require an annual service plan that starts at $120.
Reporting by Doug Newcomb, Senior Editor, Technology
Categories: Car Tech
So there I was walking the halls of the SEMA show when, from nowhere at all, I was assaulted by a hogpen of ugly cars. Turns out, every one of these nasties was there to "make green cool." Or at least that's what the banner said.
Truly awful autos after the jump. Look out!
Continue reading Making Green Cool Zone -- AKA: Where Cars Go to Get Ugly.
Categories: Concept Vehicles,Hybrids,SEMA Show
We knew the Cash for Clunkers program wasn't perfect from the beginning, but one particular section caught our attention more than others. Section 1302, subsection (b), item 1, sub-paragraph D was its official name.
Read through the legalese and it basically allowed truck owners to trade in their clunkers for new trucks even if the newer vehicle didn't necessarily get better mileage than the trade in.
Green Car Advisor has been following the issue for some time and weighed in on the matter today with a detailed analysis. It didn't exactly call the program a total farce, but it does make you wonder how well it was planned.
GCA: Clunker Program Allowed Some Truck Trades for Less Efficient Vehicles
Categories: Auto Industry,Trucks
Sitting in the middle of the GM booth at SEMA is Robby Gordon's Hummer H3 Dakar racer. This tube-frame, carbon-fiber-bodied beast uses a LS7 V8 and sequential gearbox to drive the rear wheels. And it looks utterly bad ass.
Gordon's third place finish in this year's event means he's a real contender for the 2010 edition which starts on January 1.
More photos after the jump.
Continue reading Robby Gordon's Hummer H3 Dakar Racecar.
Categories: General Motors,HUMMER,SEMA Show
Yes, that's right, the BMW M3 GTS isn't going to be available to U.S. customers. BMW gave no explanation in its announcement of the stripped-down weekend racer, but it probably has to do with making the thing legal for U.S. roads.
So yes, the M3 GTS can be set up for road use, but its primary purpose is serious track work. With that in mind, BMW's Motorsport division stripped the car of its rear seats, interior trim and pansy stuff like the air conditioner and stereo. They then added a roll cage, mounts for six-point seatbelts and a titanium exhaust system. Total weight is less than 3,300 pounds according to BMW.
Less weight wasn't enough though, so the Motorsport engineers also punched the V8 out to 4.4-liters. They say it makes around 450 horsepower now. Sadly, a double-clutch automatic will be the only transmission available although BMW says it was recalibrated for race use.
The chassis also received a round of race-oriented upgrades like adjustable dampers, fixed subframes and upgraded brakes. The front air dam and rear spoiler are also adjustable for tailoring the car's aero to different tracks.
Categories: BMW,Coupes,Motorsports
