Pod Rods: A new comedians car show; a steering wheel falls off; and good and bad news about some British sports cars
Pod Rods brings you weekly updates on car news, automotive rumors and all the car events happening in the area.
This time, a premature celebration and a steering issue gone very wrong round out our videos, while we show a sneak peek at the next Vette.
Plus, don't forget to check out Ken Block's wildest ride ever - think Bullit - at our news partner's First Coast Gears. Now here's some automotive news:
OK, what would you do if your steering wheel fell off during a race?
Take a gander at this guy, who had that misfortune, yet rallied on to race, hammer down, as he calmly reinserted the offending wheel. The video was posted on Autoweek.?
Five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell returned to the iconic French race circuit last weekend to drive a 1920's-era 4.5-liter Blower Bentley at the Le Mans Classic. This classic racing event puts classic race cars of the legendary 24-hour race back on track. Bell was supported by a 3-man pit crew from Mission Motorsport, a British charity that rehabilitates seriously-injured military personnel by involving them in motor racing challenges. Bell and co-driver Martin Overington secured a 15th spot out of 69 entries in the Saturday race.
Fuel economy of all new vehicles sold in the United States dropped for the third month in a row, likely reflecting the continuing reduction in gas prices according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. Average fuel economy of cars, light trucks, minivans and SUVs purchased in June was 23.6 mpg, down from 23.7 mpg in May, 23.9 in April and 24.1 in March. The newest number was still a 17 percent increase (3.5 mpg) from October 2007, the first month of monitoring by university researchers.
Autoblog and Autoweek had this teaser from an apparent internet mistake that reveals what may be the nose of the next-generation C7 Corvette. It's an engineering drawing done on a CAD system, so you can't see much. But it gives another hint at what the future Vette might look like.?
Retired New York school teacher Irv Gordon's 1966 Volvo P1800S is closing in on a major milestone. The little red coupe, which had 2.1 million miles on it in 2004 when he visited Jacksonville, is just 34,000 miles away from the 3 million mile mark, according to the AP. The 72-year-old Bay Shore, N.Y. man has driven it into the Guinness World Records mark for High Mileage Vehicle. And after driving through the United States, Europe and England and a visit to friend Dave Montgomery's home in Jacksonville, he told the Times-Union that he just loves to drive.
"The second million was a lot more fun because I retired seven years ago and I had more time. I could stay on the road longer and do more sightseeing, " he said in a 2004 interview. "I enjoy driving, so if you give me an excuse to go somewhere and I can afford to go, I go."
Gordon should get to that 3 million mile mark next year, since he averages 85,000 to 100,000 miles per year.
Yet another comedian is doing yet another car show. Some of you might be familiar with comedian (Man Show) Adam Carolla's The Car Show on Speed, where he has fun with classics, race cars and exotics with the help of auto journalist Dan Neil and "TheSmokingTire.com" founder Matt Farah. And Tonight Show host and mega car collector Jay Leno weekly on the web with Jay Leno's Garage Web show. Well, noted Porsche collector Jerry Seinfeld, who has shown some of his early rare race cars and street cars at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in recent years, has his own show coming up. It's called Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and it will premiere July 19 on the Crackle channel on YouTube. Here's the promo as posted on Autoweek.?
Lotus' new Evora 414E Range Extender Hybrid Electric Vehicle has started its dynamic and durability testing in England. The series hybrid sports car can hit 60-mph in 4 seconds, with a top speed of 130-mph and a combined gas/electric rating of 408-hp. Powered by two electric motor packs driving the rear wheels, a 3-cylinder range extender engine charges the batteries and runs on gasoline, methanol or ethanol. It will run purely on electricity stored in the battery pack for up to 30 miles.
There's some other sports car news from England, good and bad.
Britain's Autocar says an electric sports car is coming ? from Toyota. Naohiko Saito, Toyota's handling guru, has said the electric powertrain previewed in the Toyota 2000GT EV at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is "an early part of the development process involved in refining the technology". He added that the technology would be seen first in a city car before being developed for a sports car.?That could involve mating a manual gearbox to the electric drivetrain, something which is being developed in the 2000GT EV. It channels power through an electric motor and works in conjunction with an inverter that alters torque levels being sent to the wheels depending on the ratio chosen.
Hiroyuki Ogawa, Toyota's advanced drivetrain engineering chief, said there was "a desire to use a manual gearbox in our electric and hybrid sports cars."
And the venerable and quirky British sports car maker TVR is no more ? again. The company, started by Trevor Wilkinson in 1947 (TreVoR), built fierce little two-seat coupes and convertibles using other company's engines. Jacksonville resident Jack Griffith modified one of the TVRs into the Ford V-8 powered Griffith in the 1960s. Martin Lilley took over the company in 1965, then it went to Peter Wheeler in the 1980s, where some sleek handbuilt V-6 and V-8 cars were built. In 2004, Russian millionaire Nikolai Smolenski took TVR over and split it into pieces. But according to Autocar, the dormant car company is no more. Smolenski told the magazine that it doesn't make financial sense to revive the car company anymore, so he plans to build portable wind turbines.
Finally, Motorcycle racer Riccardo Russo really thought he had won the recent 2012 Italian CIV championship race in Mugello, Italy ? really. It's interesting that as he fist-pumped and did some happy acrobatics, he didn't notice that everyone else was racing past his Yamaha on his "victory lap." See what happened in this video posted on Autoblog.?
Lots of cruise-ins this weekend:
Florida cruise-ins:
? Informal cruise-in - 7 to 9 a.m. every Saturday at the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop at 11117 San Jose Blvd. in Mandarin.
? Automotive Addicts Cars and Coffee - 9 to 11 a.m. today, at Wild Wing Cafe, 4555 Southside Blvd.
? First Coast Car Council - 5 to 8 p.m. today at the shopping center at 445 Florida 13 at Race Track Road in Fruit Cove. The cruise-in returns to the same center at the same time on the fourth Saturday of each month as well.
? Sunshine State Chevelles - 4 to 7 p.m. today at Bono's barbecue at 4907 Beach Blvd.
? North Florida Street Rod Association - 5 p.m. today at Gorgi's 2 barbecue, 1018 Cassat Ave.
? Ancient City Auto Club - 5 p.m. today at Steak n' Shake, 1760 U.S. 1 S.
? St. Augustine Cruisers - 5 to 8 p.m. today, Ponce de Leon Mall at 2121 US 1.
? Jacksonville Truck Nights - 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. the first Thursday of each month at Round Boys Grill, 11629-8 San Jose Blvd., and 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at Brewer's Pizza, 14B Blanding Blvd. in Orange Park.
Georgia cruise-ins:
? Southeast Georgia Car and Truck Club cruise-ins - 6 p.m. the second Saturday of each month at Sonic's, 395 Charlie Smith Senior Highway, St. Marys; and 6 p.m. on the fourth Saturday of each month at the Millhouse Steakhouse, 1215 East King Ave. in Kingsland, next to Interstate 95.
? Bike Enthusiasts show - 7 p.m. the first and third Thursdays, Cavagnaro's restaurant at 1810 South GA Parkway W. in Waycross.
? Zaxby's Car Show - 6 to 9 p.m. the third Saturday of every month, Zaxby's at 2316 Memorial Drive in Waycross.
Please send information on cruise-ins and automotive and motorcycle events to dan.scanlan@jacksonville.com or Dan Scanlan, Florida Times-Union, 1 Riverside Ave., Jacksonville, Fla. 32202
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