McLaren Hybrid Tests on the Space Shuttle Runway
Yes, if you’re going to test a car that goes 250 mph, odds are you want something straight and smooth to run it on
Gary S. Vasilash
Editor-in-Chief, Automotive Design & Production
Competition vs. Collaboration in the Auto Industry
Questioning competition in general, in our new emerging age of global awareness.
Penske Buys Indy Speedway, IndyCar Series
Penske Entertainment Corp. has acquired the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway—home of the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400 races—and the NTT IndyCar open-wheel racing series from Hulman & Co.
Renesas, EVs and Racing
Yes, racing leads to commercial products
The Unstately (But Remarkable) Performance of Bentley
Who knew that a Bentley could be so brisk—and bold?
Designing & Engineering Safety for Racing
Think of it as “safety fast.”
Racing to Advanced Manufacturing
Brad Keselowski, who drives for Team Penske in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, is taking what he’s learned about the importance of advanced technology on the track to manufacturing.
Porsche versus Ferrari in 1970 Retold
Drive, driver, driven
Gary S. Vasilash
Editor-in-Chief, Automotive Design & Production
The Racing Special: Shelby Mustang GT350 & the Detroit Grand Prix
Does anyone who has any interest in performance vehicles not want to learn more about the 2019 Shelby GT350 Mustang? Does anyone who has any interest in NASCAR or IndyCar not want to learn more about Team Penske, the team extraordinaire? There’s more right here.
Racing to Additive
A number of race teams are finding that 3D printing and rapid prototyping is a means to an end—and that end is winning races.
How Long Is the Monaco Circuit?
For motorsports enthusiasts, this weekend is an extraordinary one, with the Indianapolis 500, the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 and the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix all occurring on the 26th.
Looking at the Renault R.S.19
As the Formula 1 season is now underway, it is worth a moment to consider the technology of the type of vehicle that is exotic yet, in the words of Jérôme Stoll, president of Renault Sport Racing, “a laboratory for our future road-going technology.” If you have to test the tech out somewhere, the premier motorsports stage certainly isn’t a bad venue.
Scanning at la Sarthe
3D scanning system keeps competitors honest.
Chevy Develops eCOPO Camaro: The Fast and the Electric
The notion that electric vehicles were the sort of thing that well-meaning professors who wear tweed jackets with elbow patches drove in order to help save the environment was pretty much annihilated when Tesla added the Ludicrous+ mode to the Model S which propelled the vehicle from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds.
Roborace Takes Guinness
Not driving in a fast car. . .
Gary S. Vasilash
Editor-in-Chief, Automotive Design & Production
Really Fast VW Jetta
People like cars that go fast—really fast, as in setting land speed records, as a 2019 Volkswagen Jetta did at the Bonneville Salt Flats, setting a record in the Southern California Timing Association’s Blown Gas Coupe class (no, we didn’t know there was such a thing, either), 210.16 mph, besting the previous record of 208.472 mph.
Zanardi’s BMW M4 DTM
One of the all-time best—and nicest (based on having had the pleasure of meeting and talking with him some years ago, when he was running in the CART series: he won the championship in both ’97 and ‘98)—racing drivers is Alex Zanardi.
VW I.D. R & 3D
The Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak race car didn’t set the record for just electric vehicles. It set the record, period.
Creating a Record-Setting Porsche Hybrid
Thirty-five years and 31 days after Stefan Bellof set a lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife race circuit, it was bested today by Timo Bernhard, who lapped the 12.94-mile course in 5 minutes, 19.55 seconds in the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo, a time that was better than the late Bellof’s by 51.58 seconds.
A Lesson from Le Mans
“I wouldn’t say we had the speed to win but we had the team to win.”
Cadillac Super Cruise Explained
Although there is a lot of talk about “autonomy” and “hands-free driving,” when you get right down to it, there is more verbiage than there is reality.
Mazda Sales Weaken But Racing Spirit Is Strong
Even though its U.S. sales aren’t doing particularly well, Mazda has launched a new Mazda3 for customers who happen to participate in an international touring car series. Honest.
Gary S. Vasilash
Editor-in-Chief, Automotive Design & Production
More Power for IndyCar in 2021
It used to be that attendance figures for the Indianapolis 500 were never officially announced.
Superb Auto History About the Chevrolet Brothers
Last week, in a piece noting that a Chevrolet Corvette is going to serve as the pace car (again) for the Indianapolis 500, some historic notes regarding the Chevrolet brothers (Louis, Arthur and Gaston) were included, as those three had an abiding interest in not just automobiles in the early years of the 20th century, but in automobiles that went really fast.
Volkswagen Going High with Electric Vehicle
Volkswagen Group is on record indicating that it will be launching at least 30 battery electric vehicles (EVs) by 2025, which is not all that far away by any reckoning.
Indianapolis and the Chevrolets
When it comes to the auto industry, you’ll often hear “It’s all about the product.” But arguably, it is really all about the people in a way that generally isn’t the case with other industries.
Range Rover Sport SVR Sets Low(ish) Speed Record
This is an interesting record: a Range Rover Sport SVR, which can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds and has a top speed of 174 mph, was recently driven by Ho-Pin Tung, a Chinese-Dutch driver for the Panasonic Jaguar Racing team, on a road in the Hunan Province in China, and set a new record of an average speed of 42.8 mph.
CES, Auto Shows & Other Automotive Items
Steven Sinofsky, former president of Microsoft Windows Division and present board partner at investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, posted a long story on Medium in which he detailed his impressions of the 2018 CES.
