Mallard

I agreee. Check out the Buell pages on the engine technology. The motor looks VERY nice, and has good linear power (flat torque).

GM and Ford give A LOT of money back to the communtiy...they just don't publicise it nationally. (Just like no one outside of Marysville knows the contributions that Honda has made to the communtiy) Bob Lutz said about a year ago that Toyota will donate $1 million for a cause, then spend $10 million advertising it to everyone. He said the GM puts more money into the communtiy, but the fanfare is less. I would have no problem buying a Honda, due to the contributions they make to Ohio's economy. But I live outside of Detroit and work in the auto industry. I see the direct impact of the tough times the automakers are going through. If buying a car I would do everything I could to support the US companies and my local economy. Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Nissan etc. all make cars in the US, but GM is still one of the largest employers in the US. They are putting plants in other countries to avoid the union's, get cheap labor, and make things more cost effective. China has made the tarrifs on imported cars extremely high, so the automakers made the componenets elsewhere, shipped them, then put an assembly plant in China. Then China decided to highly tax the 'kits.' (I'm not sure if this was eventually shot down) This ment that automakers needed to produce more of the vehicle and assemble it in China if they wanted to compete in that market. There weren't high import taxes in the US on goods from China...so I think you can see where this is going. Basically, they need to raise the import tariffs, highly reform the union (which has started to happen in the new contracts), and make the plants more flexible. Although, right now the US dollar is so cheap compared to the Euro that we are seeing the next gen models being built in the US and exported to Europe. But to answer your question, yes, I would still buy from GM, Ford, or Chrysler before I'd buy anything from a foreign automaker. (And in the past I have driven a Nissan, Mazda, and my parents have an Acura and Toyota) I don't like anything Chrysler though, so my next car will be a GM or Ford.

Honestly, who cares who said what to the police? Who knows if that's how it even happened. It could have been Brian Spilner infiltrating an underground street racing ring for all we know. The bottom line is street racing is something illegal, that gets a lot of media attention, has gotten more attention since the George Staton accident, and they do it in the same place/same time every week. This was bound to happen. (and yes, I just repeated the same thing xxx# people have already said)

Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing. Bosch sensors come with almost anything...all AEM widebands are Bosch sensors, and I thought the Innovative widebands were the same.

No. I want to buy from an American company that supports American workers. There are so many people unempolyed in Michigan right now, and the dollar is so cheap, that is doesn't make sense to me. GM is actually going to be building cars in the US and exporting them to Europe. After saying that, nothing is 100% made in America anymore. But I would pay more attention to the content percentages on the window sticker when buying. In the end, the money would come back to an American company no matter where it's built, so to me it's better to buy a GM car made in China vs. a Chery (when they start selling here).

The lead car definitely sounds like Linn, and there are 2 different white Corvette's on here... Hopefully Channel 4 posts the video so I can see the report. And yes, I'm shocked it took this long for a bust to happen too.

or a Cobalt SS/SC...

They don't use engine coolent, it's a separate volume of water that is circulated through a heat exchanger. Air-water set ups are more efficient than an air-air, the intake temps are more stable, and you have the ability to cool the intake air below ambient temp (if you have a reservoir that you can put ice in).

I don't think they have more 'work' put into them than any other application. Every car goes through several tire designs before choosing what goes to production. Even after that the OEM can go back to the tire manufacturer and ask for more changes. If only you have seen the nimber of tire iterations we've gone through one one project (and that's a sub-par 4-door sedan) I have no issue with the rest of what you said because I don't know that much about the GTR's run at the 'Ring. But, after watching the video I feel there is definitely time left on the table.

ALL OEM cars have tires specifically developed for them. Nothing is off the shelf.

The value of the dollar isn't the whole story. Here's something from my financial advisors newsletter:

Well under some test condition it was deemed necessary or else an OEM would not pay to put it on the car. Weather the driver will ever notice it being removed is probably a very, very small possibility. But the pulses in the rail caused by the injectors opening and closing are thoroughly investigated before going to production, including computer modeling. Companies go crazy over a couple cents savings per car, so the cost of the damping chamber would have to be justified due to some observed condition, IMO. The Cobalt SS/SC has one too (forced induction, port injection, returnless rail).

They're back on certain applications, namely anything direct injection. Looks to me like it's a damping champer too. Everytime your injectors open and close they cause a pulse to go through the rail. Rubber hoses and return lines help to damp out the pulses. Some cars have an additional damping chamber in line before the fuel rail.

The airbag is not a solid object, it will deform and it's only there to slow down your head/shoulders more gradually. The seatbelt is holding back your body during the accident (once it locks, which should be quickly). I don't see a helmet causing your head to snap back, unless you're not wearing a seat belt...which you should be anyway. Because no racing series uses 3-point seatbelts with no other type of restraints. Is a race car your body is strapped down, you have a HANS device, you have seats with supports on the sides of your helmet, and/or you have nets on either side of your head. EDIT: It COULD happen if you were seated too close to the wheel. I would need to see a crash test vid of someone wearing a helmet to change my opinion otherwise.

This isn't even a 2010 GTO. I hate it when everytime some hack with Photochop makes a picture and bases it on a GM car everyone jumps acts like it's actually an official GM concept. This is fake, it sucks, and has nothing to do with GM. Now lets go back to flaming "alittlelessordinary."

Why? All I have ever heard is some propoganda the SCCA tried to release, that I thought was later retracted. I still see no reason why wearing a helmet with no airbag is safer than a helmet with an airbag. My fiancee designs airbags, so I guess I'll have to ask her after work. and yes, Kenny should always wear a helmet.

Yes, it was bone stock. Tires, Alignment, pressures, weight, etc.

What did it run? What was it timed with? By hand?? That car isn't even production yet, who knows what spec it was running and what tires were on it. If the ZR1 were on more aggressive tires it could lap faster too.

Are you stealing all of Kyle's rides?

It just ran the 'Ring in 7:26.4 http://blog.gmnext.com/?p=194

Yeah, it looked like a neat project. You can follow his entire build in a thread on the Grassroots Motorsports forum.

Yes it is. Supposedly the dealers can't keep them in stock though, so I doubt it's part of the 0% deal.

It's a sale that starts today and runs until Saturday (I think). You can get 0% for 72 months on select models (80% or GM vehicles are included) and if you choose to buy instead of lease you get another $500 cash back. For the 2009 model year all prices are going up an average of 3.5%.

I heard about this yesterday since he's a friend of a co-worker. Very sad indeed, but it's not the same Dino Crescentini that drove in the Speed World Challenge. Amazingly there are two racers with the same name. The best pics of the wreck I've seen are on the Corvette Forum.

Yeah, it's just sad that it takes a death for people to wise up. A friend of mine did this as a design project in his crash safety class.