It's the end of the day on Friday, and you know what that means: a video, courtesy of Jalopnik, of the 2011 BMW M5 burning some rubber around the Nurburgring.

Unlike most spy shots or videos, the camouflage here is half-hearted at best, and a swirly, Trapper Keeper-like exterior pattern at worst. That being said, the exterior of the 2011 iteration of the M5 was not going to be revolutionary to begin with, and worrying too much about the sheet-metal specifics detracts from watching this machine pull some serious Gs around the corners.

A short video, but enjoy: 

Here's a bit of trivia: Did you know that the same Russian manufacturer that produced the AK-47 machine gun (also known as the Kalashnikov) also put out one of the highest number of motorcycles, per year, of any factory in the world?

The motorbike concept you see to the left is an updated version of one of those motorcycles -- the Izh-1 -- called the Izh 2012, and it is all about safety. The concept has an incredible amount of features designed to keep drivers safe -- many of which we don't normally associate with motorcycles, such as the dual front airbags you see in the image.

In addition, a crumple zone is built into the skeleton fork design, not to mention the type of crazy electronics you'd expect to see in the latest Volvo. From Gizmag:

"Like some systems in high-tech cars, the bike would be able to detect vehicles braking suddenly in front and automatically apply the brakes safely. It would also include proximity side sensors to detect blind spots, and the handle bars vibrate to warn riders of potential collisions."

Check out a video of the Izh 2012 concept, after the jump. 

Honda is recalling about 167,000 TSX models from its luxury badge, Acura, due to a potential fire hazard. This is the fifth such recall for similar problems in Acura vehicles, pushing the tally to almost 500,000 vehicles affected by the issue.

According to The New York Times "Wheels" blog:

"The automaker said 'prolonged under-hood temperatures' on the TSX may cause a hose to the power steering to crack and leak fluid, which could catch fire. The automaker told the [government] it first had a report of such a fire last September and began an investigation leading to the recall. However, the company is not unfamiliar with such problems on other models."

 

A draft of new auto-safety legislation, by one of the House committees investigating the Toyota fiascoes, was released yesterday, and it calls for both increased safety measures and greater punitive powers bestowed on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Brake override systems -- like the ones already seen on many German luxury cars and what Toyota has pledged to install on all vehicles going forward -- and "black box" event data recorders are among the mandatory safety features outlined in the bill. (Editor's note: Not to get nit-picky, but isn't a black box a "safety" feature in the same way an autopsy would be considered one? Figuring out what happened after the fact by definition isn't a real-time safety feature for a driver.) 

Toyota has resumed sales of the 2010 Lexus GX 460 SUV, two weeks after it announced a recall of the 9,400 models already sold.

The Japanese automaker stopped sales of the vehicle after Consumer Reports magazine declared the SUV a safety risk, warning readers that it was prone to oversteer in turns.

 

Anyone looking for a new car is lucky to find himself in the middle of an incentive war kicked off by manufacturers such as GM and Honda looking to poach Toyota customers in the midst of that company's safety and recall fiascoes -- incentives that Toyota was then forced to match. Since then, plenty of automakers have jumped into the incentive game, and the results have been pretty much what you'd expect -- zero percent financing, rebates, that sort of thing. Suzuki, though, is taking a somewhat different approach: free gas. 

One of the oft-cited problems with building an effective recharging infrastructure for electric vehicles is the peak-hours problem; that is, given a high enough percentage of EVs on the road, everyone gets home, plugs in their car and -- wham -- overloads the power grid.

According to Gizmag, a German engineering group called Frounhofer has come up with a potential solution to this problem in the form of a smart charging station that powers up the vehicle when demand is otherwise low. It works like this: You clock out, head home and plug the car into the charging station -- just like everyone else. However, you have two charging options. The first is to charge immediately; the second is to let the system wait to charge until the local power grid is under the least load. To side-step the problem of waking up to an uncharged car because the system is still waiting, you simply enter the time you'll need your vehicle again, and the system will pick a time beforehand. 

The Chrysler Sebring will reportedly get a new name later this year: Nassau.

The midsize sedan is due for a freshening, including an updated interior, along with its Dodge sibling, the Avenger. The Detroit Free Press, citing anonymous sources, says the new name will be Nassau. Chrysler is not commenting on the possible name change.

"[We] definitely don't have anything to announce about the possible name change later this year," spokesman Rick Deneau said.

The Nassau moniker should ring a bell with car fans. It was the name of Hemi-powered, four-passenger luxury concept shown at the 2007 Detroit auto show. With striking looks and a prominent grille, the concept displayed a dash of panache--potentially for a future Chrysler. The concept rode on a 120-inch wheelbase and was meant to look more visually compact than a comparable Chrysler 300C, summoning the style of a shooting brake.