. The Viper Is Back
The Mustang is, arguably, the iconic American pony car. The Corvette is, unarguably, the iconic American supercar. The Viper? Well, that's the iconic American car for lunatics.
For a while, the doors had been shut on Arkham Asylum, with the last hurrah of the ACR Viper quietly posting up some superfast Nurburgring times that most folks ignored. Well, just try ignoring this.
An 8.4L V10 engine pumping out 640hp and 600lb/ft of torque. Enhanced torsional rigidity with extra bracing and available adaptive suspension packages. Carbon-fiber and aluminum construction, shaving precious kilos to make it the lightest Viper yet, with a power-to-weight ratio that's decimal points off the million-dollar Veyron, and trumps the mighty Corvette ZR-1.
And the interior's nicer too, with more luxurious accents and standard cruise control. Hmmm... doesn't say anything in the press release about the seats being absorbent for when you wet yourself. I'm sure that's something they'll need to rectify.
. The Fall of a Giant: Ferdinand Alexander Porsche Passes Away
All across the world, the roar of flat-sixes mark the passing of one of the most influential automotive icons of the last century. F.A. Porsche has died in Austria, aged 76.
Best known for his work in bringing about THE Porsche -the 911-F.A. Porsche also had a hand in developing many of Porsche's class-winning race cars: the 804 F1 car and the 904 GTS. He also founded the Porsche Design brand, which now produces everything from kitchenware to racing shoes.
The 911 has just been released in its seven th generation, having grown in size and speed from that original hand-sculpted model that first bowed as the 901, in 1963. If you're lucky enough to own one of these special cars produced in the now49-year run, be it a GT3, Turbo, or even just a basic 912, a moment of silence please, for the man that made it happen.
. World's Largest Tire Manufacturer Celebrates 50 years of production
Never mind Pirelli or Michelin or General or Kirkland (would you buy tires from a company that makes toilet paper? Really?), the biggest tire manufacturer in the world is... Lego!
Yes, it's the Danish toymaker-best known for brick-based interpretations of everything from Harry Potter to Star Wars- that celebrates 50 years of making tire and wheel packages, stretching back to a kit released in 1962. In the following years, the popularity of wheeled Lego has grown to the point that they pump out 380 million little black tires every year.
Naturally, this gives rise to the question: what if they made a full-size lego tire? Personally, I feel like the traditional Lego bump pattern would make for one heck of a snow-tire.
Follow Brendan on Twitter: @brendan_mcaleer, or submit your own auto oddities to [email protected].
