Kia has revealed another picture of the Track’ster, a coupe concept based on the Soul wagon that’s set to debut this week during the Chicago Auto Show Not only has Kia discarded the Soul’s rear doors, the Track’ster sits noticeably lower and has a chopped roofline. The Track’ster could represent an upcoming performance variant of the Soul, or it could hint at a total redesign of the hamster-friendly wagon.
Seen from behind, the Track’ster has a pair of exhaust pipes peeking out from the rear bumper. The fenders are pushed out much further than in the Soul, and the hatchback has been reworked into a much smaller and stylish rear window flanked by boomerang-shaped taillights. Large brake ducts and chunky tires hint that something much more potent than the Soul’s current 1.6 and 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engines might be lurking within.
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The 2012 Chicago Auto Show opens its doors to the public this Friday and runs through Feb 19. Thanks to the Internet you can watch live as the finishing touches are made to the exhibits via several webcams located throughout the mammoth show floor at McCormick Place.
This year four manufacturers have planned indoor test tracks where visitors can try out cars. In addition several manufacturers have also promised to set up test tracks outside, weather permitting. At present Chicago is enjoying balmy winter weather – hopefully it will stay that way for the next couple of weeks.
No doubt it seemed like a fine idea at that time…
Turns out that for the past 10 years anyone could pay some $390 to get naming rights to weather fronts in Germany. Actually $390 for a high front, $260 for the more common lows, to help fund the Berlin Free University’s Institute of Meteorology.
So someone at BMW decided to plunk down Euros and name the recent stormfront through Germany and Europe “Cooper.”
Cute, until it turned out to be a record-setting snow-and-freeze front that has crippled many countries on the Continent. Villages in Eastern Europe have been isolated and travel at a standstill.
BMW may be a strong company, but even it can’t affect the weather, so no blame there, just back luck. The company issued this statement: “It was not intentional and you cannot tell in advance what a weather system will do. That it took on catastrophic proportions and left so many victims, we do regret very much.”
But hold onto your hats because at the same time they bought the Cooper rights they paid for an upcoming low front to be called, “Minnie.”
See the original article here:
Mini Cooper: Storm Front Backfire
Adding the Nurburgring moniker to any car, let alone a hot hatch, is asking for trouble. Add to that a lary burnt orange paint job and a body kit full of flares, spoilers and wings and the result is, usually, an asthmatic sham that is more RuPaul than Usain Bolt.
Combine that with 18-inch lightweight alloy wheels shod with rubber band thin 225/25 R18 tires and suspension that’s nearly an inch lower than the VXR it is based on and it reads for a recipe that results in a ride with all the finesse and charm of a skateboard.
These sporting metaphors continue in the car’s cabin, with the thin-shelled Recaro hip hugging seats and the flat bottomed steering wheel. So is it all show and no go?
On paper it shouldn’t be with 202 bhp poured into the front wheels from the 16-valve 1.6i turbo engine, plus 184 lb.-ft. of torque from 2250 to 5500 rpm could spell traction problems with all the cornering ability of my Golden Retriever on ice. However, Opel/Vauxhall’s performance division has seen fit to install a torque-sensing mechanical limited slip differential to help counter all that power, along with lightweight Brembo discs breaks and inverted Bilstein monotube dampers.
The verdict? For once this is a car that lives up to its predictions. The motor is smooth and tractable, at ease poodling around in high gears, or being thrashed to within an inch of its life it never becomes harsh or booming, just a steady flow of power and torque. What’s more the LSD contains the power and torque remarkably well, even on the greasy roads I drove the car over; it has traction aplenty and if you pile on power mid corner, the nose simply tucks in tighter to the apex and then hauls the car away from it without a sign of breaking traction.
Combine this with taut body control and these GM engineers have created nothing less than terrific little car and, what’s more it feels fairly pliant and comfortable across the pock marked roads in the UK.
At a shade over $35k it is not exactly cheap, but in this instance the price tag is justified.
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We were at Dan Gurney’s All American Racers recently and there, shop apron on, hard at work, was Phil Remington.
We should mention that Remington just turned 91 years old.
Anyone who has followed racing as defined by the post-World War II hot rodders who went on to create world-beating road racers knows about Remington. Scarabs, Cobras, Ford GTs, Indy-winning Eagles, the Eagle GTO and GTP- victors…they are all on this genius fabricator’s list. He can design, make or fix just about anything on a race car and has been doing so for decades.
Sign on to the All American Racers website to get the full story, posted last year when he was a mere 90.
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View article:
Phil Remington: Behind-the-Scenes Hero
