In 18 years of testing the famed Nürburgring, no Subaru has done better. None has gone faster. And none has exuded more confidence under extreme conditions.

 

That’s how Subaru is billing its April 16 blitzing of the arduous Green Hell in a fleet 7 minutes, 55 seconds in a 2011 WRX STI sedan. New video of this test is an enthusiast’s dream, offering the view from the cockpit as this lithe Subie strains and streaks through the forests of Germany. In the right-hand-drive car, the acceleration, gear shifting and odometer are all present. It’s punctuated by imposing engine sounds and break and tire squealing.

 

The point of this is to demonstrate the intense chassis upgrades of the 2011 STI, which helped the car best the previous Subaru ’Ring record by four seconds. The vehicle height was lowered 5 millimeters for maximum lateral g. Power was drawn from the turbocharged boxer four-cylinder that works in tandem with a six-speed manual transmission.

 

To achieve this blistering time, the test vehicle was augmented with a larger turbocharger, six-piston brakes, flexible tower bar and front lip spoiler. It also received a roll cage, a five-point safety harnesses and aluminum fenders.

 

It’s every young parent’s nightmare. You’re driving down the road with your newborn or toddler strapped into the child safety seat in the backseat. Suddenly, some idiot cuts you off and your vehicles collide. During the impact, the child seat comes loose, flies through the air and slams hard into the back of the seat in front of it.

 

By far the most common types of injury accident involving children are those that also involve motor vehicle collisions. According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, nearly 250,000 children are injured every year in car accidents. This means that on any given day, nearly 700 children are harmed due to accidents on our roadways. Of the 250,000 kids injured each year, approximately 2,000 die from their injuries. In fact, for children between 2 and 14, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death.

 

This is why every state requires the use of approved child safety seats for children under 5. Child safety seats reduce the risk of death in passenger cars by 71 percent for infants (under 1 year) and by 54 percent for toddlers (ages 1 to 4 years).

 

Unfortunately, there is only a 90 percent compliance rate with respect to using approved safety seats for children under this age, according to the NCSA. In addition, child restraint systems are often used incorrectly. One study found that 72 percent of nearly 3,500 observed car and booster seats were misused in a way that could be expected to increase a child’s risk of injury during a crash.

 

So how can injuries to children in motor vehicles be prevented? You can start by buying a car that makes it easy to securely install a child seat.

 

Forget infotainment systems that read incoming Tweets aloud -- I want an in-car tech application that's really useful, and time-saving to boot. Looks like Ford has created such an app with its Send to Sync feature for Google Maps.

Using Send to Sync, Ford drivers can take directions from Google Maps, found on their Bluetooth-enabled phone, and send them directly to the in-car system via the cloud-based Sync Traffic, Directions & Information app. On the way, the directions are processed into audible turn-by-turn directions, eliminating the need to print maps and keeping the driver's eyes on the road. 

A mere several days after announcing recalls due to sticky accelerator pedals, Chrysler is once again putting its hand up for call backs. This time, the problem with about 285,000 Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivans (2008 and 2009 model years) is faulty wiring. From The New York Times "Wheels" blog:

"Chrysler told [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] on June 1 that 'an improperly routed wiring harness' can be rubbed by a sliding door. That would wear through the insulation and possibly cause a fire inside the door. Chrysler said it has 57 reports of vehicles having 'thermal damage' but knows of no accidents or injuries." 

 

 

We’ve seen many special-edition Dodge Vipers for the car's final year--the ACR-X, the Vooodoo Viper, the 1:33. It's almost as if every Viper is a special edition.

 

With that in mind, Chrysler is now letting dealerships get into the act. Just 50 total Vipers will be made under a  program that allows dealers to make the dreams of their best customers reality. The dealer and the customer essentially come up with their own limited-edition-model Viper.

 

The first three are a black and race yellow Viper heading to a Nebraska dealer, a snakeskin green and black model going to Texas and a black and plum crazy purple Viper going to Illinois.

 

Whatever color scheme they choose, enthusiasts will get a 600-hp V10 underhood.

 

On the surface, the Lexus LFA is something of an odd duck. While Lexus has occasionally flirted with performance in the past, it has never gone so far as to dive headfirst into the supercar pool, as it has with the LFA. With a $375,000 price tag that borders on the insane and a Yamaha-tuned (as in musically) 4.8-liter V10 engine that does its best to make the hefty price seem worth it, the car could just as easily be a product of Maranello. Lexus parent company Toyota originally set aside a mere 150 examples of the car for U.S. sales, but that figure has been boosted by 21 units on strong demand. 

 

 

Named for the people from the south-central Abruzzo region of Italy, the Abruzzi draws its inspiration from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the car is making its world debut on Tuesday, and its styling from the 1935 Delahaye Type 135 tear-drop coupe.

 

"It is about the true spirit of Le Mans, a car you can drive from home to the racetrack, race it, and then drive home again," Panoz chairman and American Le Mans Series owner Don Panoz said.

 

A three-year production run for the Abruzzi "Spirit of Le Mans" road car begins late this summer, and Panoz said his company will build just 81--equal to the number of 24-hour races run at Le Mans since 1923. Each will carry cues from an individual Le Mans race year.

 

Panoz will homologate the car for Europe, and it will be sold in European countries only, priced at 400,000 euros ($480,000). Panoz refused to comment about whether he plans a U.S. version.

 

When a good friend says, "Come to Shanghai" and offers a place to stay -- not to mention that said good friend, who's been living there for three years, is leaving the country for good in a matter of weeks -- you tend to want to say, "OK." Which is what I did, which is why, by the time you're reading this, I'll be on a 14-hour plane ride to one of the craziest cities in the world.

It is, however, a working vacation, or rather a vacation during which I'll be working. There are plans for some Shanghai-specific content (more on that later), but for the most part the blog will go on, business as usual, with the caveat that content may be showing up at odd times thanks to the 12-hour time difference between Shanghai and the East Coast of the U.S.