By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

March 18 turned out to be a pivotal day for the famous McLaren team. The day was marked for the launch of their new supercar, the McLaren MP4-12C – announced as a concept last year and now about to be unveiled for the first time in public at the architecturally stunning McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey. But amazing as the car is in its own right, it also marked a huge shift for the team as they announced they were entering the shark-infested waters of becoming a car manufacturer. The MP4-12C is going to be the first in a line of McLaren street cars. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Jonathan Moore

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

You know the drill: Come up with a caption for the picture below by noon PST next Thursday. If you submit the funniest one, we’ll send you some CarDomain swag. Three entries per member max. Good luck!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Reportedly rubbernecking the film crew, this dummy slams full-tilt into a rockslide in Tennessee. Yeah, that’ll buff out.

Drunk Driver Slams Into Rockslide

By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

No matter how many times I’ve seen it done in the movies, or crudely done on Mythbusters, I still think life-size remote control cars are cool. Apparently, one person out there is even smart enough to build one without being funded by a military contract or production company. That person is Dave Phipps. Dave is the kind of guy who has his irons in two fires–he’s an electronics whiz and a car nut.  So when Dave bought this 1969 GTO convertible for $400 25 years ago, he saw a clean slate to combine the best of both worlds. Using a wireless controller called “Redeye” synced to his iPod Touch, Dave is capable controlling all sorts of functions on his GTO: he can fire up the ignition, rev the 428ci engine, open the servo-actuated doors and trunk, roll down the power windows, put the convertible top down, adjust the radio settings, and arm his car alarm.  Sadly, steering and braking aren’t yet on list, but give this guy time, I’m sure it’s coming soon. For more of the details and a video on how this all works, Ben at Jalopnik has you covered.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Everyone always thinks electronic surveillance and intervention in cars is such a swell idea, with programs like GM’s OnStar having nearly become standard issue. But then something like this happens, and you just have to laugh. A car dealership in Texas that uses an online remote vehicle disabling service as an “alternative” to repossession for customers who don’t make their car payments found itself in an embarrassing situation this week when a disgruntled former employee got into the system. And wreaked havoc. Omar Ramos-Lopez allegedly accessed customer files using a stolen password and disabled over 100 vehicles, randomly killing ignitions and setting off honking horns to the point where many customers had to disconnect their batteries to make it stop. Hmm, what’s the take-home message here? Full story at Wired.

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

The standing mile run Porsche record was recently broken by Eddie Bello and his Porsche 911 turbo. Setting the new top speed at 236.61 miles per hour, Eddie is going to run again in the near future using more boost and larger injectors thanks to his new racing fuel “Ignite“. Read more about the record breaking at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Most of the time, I spend the first few sentences of this post just blathering on about random stuff. But right now, it’s so gorgeous here in Southern California that I don’t really want to spend even one extra second in the office. Anyway, this week’s winner is Ciscos00ex, who came up with; “I like my wheels like I love my women!” Congrats man! Tune in tomorrow for the next installment of our sunshine-infused Caption Contest!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Today’s pic is from Putranto’s Volkswagen Beetle ride page. I almost thought it was a toy car at first! Keep those photo of the day PMs and e-mails coming!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Check out the city of Chicago rounding up all the supposedly unsafe jalopies for a mass slaughter! While this particular “Jalopy Parade and Bonfire” took place in September 1948, similar events were common across the country back in the day, often heavily sponsored by new-car dealers (wait a second–sound familiar?). I’m glad this doesn’t happen anymore–the whole village-square-witch-burning vibe is creepy, what with wrapping the cars in banners proclaiming their sins and so forth. Still, there’ve been numerous instances when I was working in the garage and wanted to smack some cheapskate customer who insisted on driving away in a patently unsafe vehicle instead of doing the necessary repairs, so I can kind of relate to the impulse. But turning their ride into a marshmallow roast hardly seems an appropriate response. Check out more pics at Jalopy Journal.

Continue reading "Blast From The Past: Government-Funded Jalopy Bonfire" »

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

There are a lots of perks that come with being a professional drifter, and getting to smoke the tires on closed sections of public roads is one of them. Watch as Tanner Foust takes his V8 Scion tC for a spin on LA’s legendary Mullholland Drive!

Tanner Foust Street Drift: Mulholland