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
If you've ever faced the prospect of driving through snow in a Subaru WRX STI with stock summer tires, you will really appreciate the TRAX STI. And you will also realize that Ken Block's chutzpah is bottomless. He'll try anything once. Now he's gone and put snowcat tracks on his STI rally car.
This is the preview video of a test run near his Utah mountain home. A longer, more death-defying video is undoubtedly in the works. 
In addition to the special (and specially awesome at that) tracks, the TRAX has a reworked suspension (shocker) with Group N-type dampers made by the UK-based company EXE-TC, along with a version of the 2.5-liter turbo boxer four good for 400 hp -- and, no doubt, a great deal of torque. The transmission is a 5-speed dog 'box.
Not shown here is the optional sleigh that hitches to the back of the TRAX STI and transports up to four snowboarders and their boards. Snowboarding, you'll be unsurprised to learn, is another of Block's passions.
This past Monday Top Gear's James May (That's the slow one with the funny hair.) wrote his column for the Telegraph.co.uk about it being the right time for him and everyone else to run out and buy a Ferrari 308.
"I've decided it's time to be a modernist; time to view motoring in a progressive light, which means, if my contentions of last week are correct, I should have a supercar," wrote May. "Clearly I can't put my name down for a new Ferrari 458 Italia or a Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni, so it will have to be something old with the spirit of a supercar, if not the actual trousers to live up to the name these days."
"And after quite a bit of thought I've settled on the GRP-bodied Ferrari 308."
And we agree with every word. Trouble is, Mr. May is more than a year late with this revelation. You see Inside Line bought a 308 during the summer of 2007 and we drove it, loved it and reported on it for 12 months. In fact, that's me in the photo enjoying our 1984 308 QV on the famed Mulholland Hwy.
So Mr. May, please get off of our bandwagon. Or at least give us a shout out.
Yes, the A-Team movie is already in production and now you can see who will be playing your favorite characters.
Hangover star Bradley Cooper is Face while UFC star Quinton "Rampage" Jackson does his best Mr. T imitation as B.A. Baracus. Some guy name Sharlto Copley who starred in District 9 is playing Murdoch while everybody's favorite Jedi master Liam Neeson will lead the crew as Hannibal.
The A-Team is scheduled for a June 2010 release.
Late last Friday, Cadillac unveiled its short list of participants in the CTS-V challenge. After receiving over 100 entries, the Cadillac brain trust narrowed the field down to three journalists and four consumers.
Cadillac provided brief descriptions of the four consumers and their cars while the journalists were also given token summaries. Cadillac says it may add additional entrants later, but the contest is Thursday, so assume this is the list for now.
Who would you put your money on to beat Bob Lutz?
Consumers:
Tom - Audi RS4
Michael C. - BMW M3
Michael M. - BMW M5
Chris - Cadillac CTS-V
Journalists:
Wes Siler - Jaguar XFR
Jack Baruth - Jaguar XFR
Lawrence Ulrich - TBD
At the swank "Rusnak Jaguar Reveals - A Night of Luxury" event at Universal Studios back lot on Saturday, we rubbed elbows with Miss California, Natasha Henstridge (Species), some actress from Desperate Housewives (not one of the wives) and even good ol' Scott Baio of Happy Days' Chachi fame. There were complimentary cocktails from Effen Vodka and Courvoisier as well as Maddalena wines to make things interesting for the well-heeled masses as they carefully negotiated the cobblestone streets. A cigar lounge welcomed those who wanted to puff on the free stogies from Cigars by Chivas. And at the end of the night, this "California chic" attired crowd enjoyed the Kevan Hall fashion show.
Yes, a fashion show. At first, we, too, thought that this seemed an odd thing to pair with a luxury car reveal. But then it made sense. Much like designer fashions, luxury cars connote high-quality and the best there is to be had. To own these items shows the world that not only do you have a well-padded bank account but that you possess exquisite taste. So it was no wonder that after each reveal of the 2010 Jaguar XJ, Porsche Panamera and the Rolls-Royce Ghost, party guests swarmed the luxo-cars for their chance to get in the driver seat; well, except the Ghost, whose doors remained locked. It was difficult to get close enough to the cars to even sniff their sumptuous leather interior, let alone check our reflection in their windows.
In any case, it was a fun albeit surreal way to see how enthusiastic the other half gets over cars.
More pictures after the jump.
Continue reading Rusnak Jaguar's Night of Luxurious Reveals.
The New Year's Eve stunt show theatrics will continue in 2010 as Travis Pastrana plans to jump a rally car from a Long Beach pier onto a floating barge. The stunt is being billed as the world's longest jump in a rally car and will span roughly 250 feet of open water.
Pastrana told the Associated Press, ""Our goal is to make this as authentic as possible. I want to use a really close-to-production Subaru, not some super high-tech ramp or super high-tech car. Just a full-on, old-school stunt. And definitely I want to drive out of it, too."
AP: Pastrana to jump from pier to barge in record try
Not content with its current campaign, Cadillac has officially dumped its advertising agency and put the account up for grabs.
"As we continue the renaissance of the Cadillac brand, we are looking for the best agency partner to deliver outstanding advertising that attracts the luxury vehicle buyer," said Bryan Nesbitt, the designer turned general manager of Cadillac.
The announcement comes as somewhat of a surprise as Cadillac's advertising was generally considered the best creative within GM. Not sure what direction Nesbitt is expected to take, but it will go down as one of his first big decisions as the new general manager.
Photo source: Geoff Robinson Photography via Daily Mail
It happened during filming of a stunt for Top Gear, of course, and James May was aboard a camper van held aloft by an airship, or blimp, or if you prefer, dirigible. Strong winds blew the blimp off course, and it ended up on its side in a farmer's field off the A428, the Daily Mail reported. May emerged unharmed, but the winds evidently precluded shooting another take. Thanks to Bob Holland for the tip.
Citroen WRC driver Sebastian Loeb has confirmed he will drive a GP2 car in an official test session for the DPR team in Spain on October 8. There has been considerable speculation that Loeb would like to drive for Formula One, and this would be a step toward that goal. The Spain test is said to be a preparation for a more serious test on the Abu Dhabi circuit in early November.
A WRC press release reports that Loeb has modified his training regimen to be ready for open-wheel racing, apparently wearing a weighted helmet to strengthen his neck muscles.
You can always count on TMZ to be where it probably shouldn't be, but these clips show a side of the Volvo C70 you may not have seen before. This C70 isn't cruising around with its retractable hard top folded down. It's being pushed around a bit and Tom Cruise is at the wheel, apparently doing his own tire squealing and handbrake turns.
What's he doing in an electric car anyway?
Top Gear is asking viewers worldwide to submit ideas for the gold envelope challenge. Naturally, it's a little more involved than dropping Jeremy Clarkson an email; you'll need to make your own YouTube video. Winners will earn a pair of tickets to one of the stops on the Top Gear Live tour (London; Birmingham, UK; Dublin; Johannesburg; Sydney; Auckland and Hong Kong) -- 5 pairs per city.
Any questions not answered in the above video can possibly be found on Top Gear's YouTube channel homepage. Your deadline to dream up a torturous challenge for James May is October 14.
Well, Leno's Green Car Challenge course isn't as fast as Top Gear's, but at least there are a few technical turns. We'd like some commentary on how the Ford Focus BEV drives, though.
A couple videos of the electric Ford Focus participating in Jay Leno's celebrity Green Car Challenge have been posted ahead of Drew Barrymore's inaugural run. The first one from Ford shows the Focus BEV running through an autocross course at Ford's Michigan proving grounds. Ford says the course is modeled after the actual competition course built next to Leno's studio. Naturally, we're disappointed it's not a real road course, as is used for Top Gear's "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" competition.
The video after the jump was apparently shot with a hand-held cam by someone from the media. It offers a look at the battery pack and electric drivetrain innards, plus some views of the interior. The cabin is not gutted, which is a bit surprising, given the 3,421-pound curb weight Ford has claimed for Leno's Focus BEV. Usually, the addition of laptop batteries adds more weight than that (a stock Focus ST 5-door is just under 3,200 lbs).
Continue reading Video: Leno's Ford Focus BEV on the Move, Plus Interior Views.
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