Automotive Addicts

Automotive Addicts

The Smoking Tire Drives The Art Morrison 3G Corvette

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:30 AM PDT


If you own Gran Turismo 5 for the Sony PS3, chances are good you've seen the Art Morrison 1960 3G Corvette. You may even own it, if you've got a bank account big enough, or you may have simply looked it over and opted to buy something more contemporary. After all, who wants a fifty-year-old relic when you can buy something really fast, like a Nissan GT-R, for less money?

Watch Matt Farah drive the Art Morrison 3G Corvette in The Smoking Tire episode below, and you're likely to come away with an entirely different perspective. First, the only thing the Art Morrison Corvette has in common with an original 1960 Corvette is the body style. Underneath, the 3G Corvette rocks a modern chassis, modern suspension, modern brakes and a seven-liter V-8 good for 538 horsepower. It's got 50 / 50 front to rear weight distribution and and extremely low center of gravity, so it's going to hold its own against a lot of cars on the racetrack.

Some would say that cutting up a survivor 1960 Corvette is an act bordering on blasphemy, but I'd beg to differ. Art and Craig Morrison have taken something and improved it in every way, and there are plenty of low mileage, trailered-to-car-shows 1960 Corvettes to gawk at. Their 3G Corvette took over 3200 man hours hours to build, and the result is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece of design and engineering.

Video: Undercover 2012 Nissan GT-R Law Enforcement Vehicle Outfitted by EVI

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 07:00 AM PDT


No one ever takes pleasure by getting pulled over by a cop car, no matter how minor or severe the crime, unless your call-sign is "The Bandit". If you are an avid car enthusiast, you may take pleasure seeing a new 2012 Nissan GTR in your review mirror until a series of blue and red LED lights start flashing. It seems an unknown law enforcement agency or police force on the east coast just got a new 2012 Nissan GT-R ready to put to rest any unlawful activity or speeding vehicle no matter how fast it is.

With 530 horsepower on tap, you would be hard pressed to find anything on the road that can outrun a new 2012 GT-R. The new Dodge Charger V8 pursuit vehicle may be the fastest new "common" cop car but the lucky SOB that gets to lay down the law in a new 2012 Nissan GT-R reigns as king. Of course this is not the first GT-R police or law enforcement vehicle we have seen. The force in Abu Dhabi beat everyone else to the punch in selecting a Nissan GT-R as a new pursuit vehicle back in 2009.

Check out the video of the new 2012 Nissan GT-R decked out with flashing LED lights installed by the company Evicorp.com (Emergency Vehicle Installations Corp).

[source: Honda-tech forum]

GM To Partner With BMW On Fuel Efficient Designs

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 06:30 AM PDT


The 2012 Chevy Silverado Hybrid, result of GM's first collaboration with BMW. Image: © GM Corp.

While GM and BMW are both automakers, you'd hardly consider them rivals. GM builds, among other things, cars and trucks for the masses. BMW builds cars for the masses in Europe, but in the United States the Bavarian automaker is seen as a luxury brand and is priced accordingly. In regards to fuel efficiency, BMW builds more advanced gas and diesel engines than GM. When it comes to extended range EVs, General Motors has the superior technology.

These are difficult times for automakers, since regulations here and in Europe are requiring cars to be ever cleaner and more fuel efficient. Partnerships between automakers seem to crop up on a regular basis, and now GM has let slip that it's working with BMW to design more fuel efficient vehicles. GM will get the benefit of BMW's advanced engine designs, while BMW will benefit from GM's battery, extended range EV and fuel cell research. Typically German, BMW's response is simply, "we don't comment on speculation."

As Forbes points out, the partnership will also allow both companies to realize a savings in research and development, critical at a time when all automakers are looking to contain costs. This isn't the first collaboration between BMW and GM; in 2005, GM, Daimler-Chrysler and BMW worked together on a project called Global Hybrid Cooperation. Ultimately, this led to the development of the two-mode hybrid system still used by GM on its hybrid pickups and SUVs.