Sting Ray blow-up

We had no pangs about doing 140 on the M1. I was recalling at Le Mans the other week, with Corvette enthusiast Sean, my experience with what he thought the most desirable model of all, the split back window Sting Ray. We were kind to it in The Motor, remembering that when I was driving it on the M1 not far short of its maximum speed of 146.6mph, the 5.4litre V8 put a rod through the side. Everything locked up and there was lots of smoke and noise. The sudden stoppage rocked the car until we pulled it up on the hard shoulder. I can't say I warmed to the Sting Ray. I had driven a lot of E-types and this was a pale imitation, unrefined and noisy. I didn't much like writing, "It was the equal of any GT car to be found on either side of the Atlantic". Motor road tests were committee affairs and I was new. Still, we thought the fuel consumption "not unreasnable" at 15.8mpg.

2010 New Chevrolet Camaro Sports Car UFC Limited Edition

Most great and amazing sport elegant car 2010 Chevrolet Camaro interior design and exterior body kit design that will make you interesting. The UFC sports car maker now a days launched it is teaming up with Findlay Customs and Modern Muscle Las Vegas to release 10 Limited Edition UFC Chevrolet Camaros sports car. UFC, in combination with Findlay Customs and Modern Muscle Las Vegas will build the limited-edition 2010 UFC Camaros sports car complete with 650 Super-charged powerful engine horsepower and one-of-a-kind vehicles features which will create even the most die-hard UFC fan or gear head stand up and get notice.

2010 New Chevrolet Camaro Sports Car UFC Limited Edition

The 2010 Chevrolet Camaro sports car looks like a new vehicle, but it was built from existing GM parts from other models. They started with the chassis architecture of the impressive Pontiac G8 and engines from Cadillac and Covette. GM made the new Camaro drop-dead gorgeous, with high performance, and affordable.

The interior of the new Camaro is comfortable and materials are good, but the exterior styling is where it shines. The stitched leather wrap on the steering wheel is nice, and the bucket seats are comfortable, with decent bolstering, but may not be enough to keep an aggressive driver in his or her place during aggressive cornering. 

The front seat slides 8.5 inches, the steering wheel tilts and telescopes, and the seat can be raised up for better visibility, so drivers of all sizes will fit. The excellent leather upholstery is available in black, gray, beige and two-tone Inferno Orange.

The climate control buttons on the center stack didn't seem to be designed for ease of touch, but more for looks, but I have seen worse. Visibility through the windshield is good despite the long hood and raked windshield, thanks to careful location of the driver's seat and the ability to raise it. Rear visibility over the driver's shoulder isn't very good, but then it's impossible to make it good with a chopped roofline that gives it its sporty look.

The new Camaro sports car succeeds for all the reasons to buy this sports car, great looks and styling, a very potent and efficient engine borrowed from Cadillac, great performance and handling, and a good price point. I have test driven the Dodge Challenger SRT8, and the Ford Mustang GT. For my money I would choose the new Camaro sports car.

The first UFC Camaro will be auctioned off at Barrett-Jackson's Orange County collector car auction taking place June 25-27 at the OC Fair & Events Center.  The winning bidder will also come away with a UFC experience package that includes an inaugural drive with UFC President Dana White, backstage VIP access to a UFC event, meet and greets with UFC fighters, an autographed OCTOGON book and UFC gear.  

The Camaro is being auctioned for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, a charity dedicated to providing financial assistance to dependents of US military personnel lost in the line of duty.

Audi and Chevrolet

Electric cars have not moved on a lot since this motoring column in The Sunday Times of 14 January 1990. Hybrids may be a production reality and they are smaller, but not much lighter, than the prototype Audi, which had 181kg (400lb, 3.6cwt) of battery. Pure electric cars are still bedeviled by the difficulties Camille Jenatzy faced in 1899. As I put it 91 years later, electric vehicles can go a long way slowly or a short way quickly, but not both. A hundred and ten years further on there is a lot of talk about municipal charging stations, but California's demand for 1.7million electric cars by the year 2000, and seven out of ten on the Sunshine State roads by now remains unattainable. Government targets...

As in 1990 so also now, GM talks airily about the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid, which sounds neither one thing nor the other. CEO Fritz Henderson echoes Roger Smith 20 years ago when he claims the project is, "all-important for us." A spokesman promised the Volt was, "absolutely on target and that will not change. It is as high a priority as we have in this company." Motor industry public relations statements are high in vacuity. Output of pre-production Volts is planned at ten a week, with 80 on the road as press cars and test vehicles. It is a modest aim. One suspects GM's heart is not in it beyond an ambition to appease politicians. The Volt only does 40 miles on one three-hour charge of its lithium-ion batteries, which at 170kg (375lb, 3.34cwt) are not much of an improvement over the 1990 Audi. Volts might only cover 30 miles if there are hills or if you are in a hurry to get to the office. And at an on-the-road price of $40,000 you have to take a low-carbon footproint very seriously.