Hilton Head! And a belated bit of pictures and such from York on Wheels

Well tonight I'm off to Hilton Head Island for the concours and race. Unfortunately I miss the first bit of racing today, but should still be some good stuff tomorrow.
Will update next week!
http://www.hhiconcours.com/

Back in September my wonderful girlfriend decided to take me to a car show for my birthday, and we went to York on Wheels in York, PA. It was supposed to rain all weekend but ended up being an absolutely perfect day. Just a nice hometown style car-show with a baffling array of cars from a 1990 Buick Park Avenue (in maybe average condition, looked to be a daily driver) to a brand new Corvette ZR-1. A couple of Ferraris, Porsches and other exotics peppered throughout.

Recession? What Recession?

Got a few interesting updates today.
Apparently the super rich (or perhaps just the companies that cater to the super-rich) aren't aware that there's a global "economic downturn" as my company's management is so fond of reminding us.

Lexus deemed it an excellent time to announce a limited run of 500 $375,000 supercars due out in 2011. Apparently it will feature a 4.8L V10 with around 560HP, and top out over 200mph. Unfortunately for any actual car enthusiasts, it only has an automatic transmission. Leave it to Lexus to make something that looks cool absolutely useless. (disclaimer: I'm not exactly fond of Lexus or any Toyota products.)

If that's not enough, Ferrari tuner (yes there are aftermarket tuners for Ferraris.)Novitec Rosso thought it would be a brilliant idea to put some superchargers on a 430 Scuderia for a total of 747HP boosting top speed a little over 20mph above the standard, run of the mill, pedestrian 430 Scuderia. No information on cost here, but the Scuderia will run you over $300,000 to start with, and they're only making 3 of these, so I expect it to have an equally rare price tag.

Then down a few stratospheres in price, but still equally unobtainable to most people (especially those of us in the US) is the Lotus Exige Stealth/Scura (depending on market. Scura is apparently Italian for "dark"). Again this is a very limited edition, at 35 units worldwide, and not available in the US. Lotus used a "rubberized" paint that is apparently much more durable than standard matte finishes. It features the same drivetrain as the common Exige (260HP 1.8L 4cyl, derived from a Toyota engine) but is about 22lb (10kg) lighter than the standard one.

And last but not least, what would the world be without some new $8,000 watches designed by car designers and CNC crafted from aluminum?
http://www.industrialnorth.co.uk/

More info, 2011 Caprice

Just discovered a relative gold-mine of information on this car. It does appear that there are no current plans for a civilian version, which is unfortunate, but at least used public auction vehicles should come available in a few years.
Doesn't look as good as the G8, but should perform the same..
http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f70/breaking-chevrolet-caprice-cop-car-84762/

2011 Police Caprice

Looks like another GM flip-flop, now they will be producing a Commodore based Caprice for police use. Don't see any indication of a civilian version, but at least we might be able to pick one up at the public auction in a few years.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=158468?mktcat=enabler&AID=10364102&PID=3193616&kw=N&synpartner=edmunds&mktid=cj260233

Another sad day in the life of a car guy

I see today that Roger Penske has canceled his plans to take over the Saturn brand. While the only Saturn I have cared about was the Sky, Saturn represented a unique interpretation on American cars. Something that would be a good top quality vehicle at a minimal price. Of course that was the theory not necessarily the execution, but when it was announced that Penske was taking over the brand I had high hopes that he would bring some new enthusiasm to the brand. Penske of course being one of very few remaining "car guys" in the automotive industry. While I'm sure there's more to it than most of us understand, I don't see why he didn't look into picking up an idle GM, Ford or Chrysler plant and producing his own vehicles. More capital up front I know, but it shouldn't be as hard to accomplish as what GM is already trying to do. Start from scratch, except you already have a dealer network and decent reputation.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/30/news/companies/penske_saturn/index.htm?postversion=2009093019