The first production LS3 Twin Turbo 1200 HP Hennessey Performance Venom GT was delivered to its new owner in Dubai by Sir Alfred J. DiMora, Founder of DiMora Motorcar, the exclusive distributor for Hennessey supercars in the Middle East and India. The Venom GT is powered by a Texas-built, twin-turbocharged Hennessey Chevrolet LS-series aluminum V8 engine. It can go from zero to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. The final assembly is completed at Silverstone, England.
Hennessey Performance is planning very limited production per year of these vehicles. Available in both left- and right-hand drive configurations, the Venom GT has three engine options at 725 HP, 1000 HP, and 1200 HP. Prices for the Venom GT begin at $890,000.
Photo: Hennessey Venom GT X1 Prototype via DiMora Motorcar
What if tomorrow everyone's car suddenly disappeared? This is what it might look like. This video, Running on Empty by Ross Ching, shows what L.A. might look like if there were no cars.
This concept design for a 2020 version of a Harley Davidson motorcycle was designed by Jonathan Russell. The bike includes laser-etched perforations in the aluminum that were inspired by the Apple Macbook Pro. Yanko Design has more photos of the concept design here.
There is a debate on Dvice about whether the bike looks more like Batman's motorcyle or the bikes in Terminator 4: Salvation. Most people think it looks more like the Terminator 4Moto-Terminator bikes, pictured below.
A huge massive sinkhole tswallowed a car in Richmond, California. Fortunately, no one was inside the vehicle when the sinkhole formed. The sikhole is 30 feet deep and 50 feet wide. Take a look:
Fox Boston reports that a study on how people perform while driving and talking on a hands-free cell phone found that most people did not drive beteer. However, the study found a very small percentage (2.5%) of people actually drive better when talking on a hands-free cell phone.
Results showed performance suffered while driving and talking on a hands-free cell phone.
This was not the case with the small number of participating supertaskers, who showed no impairment in any of the tests. In fact, researchers found these individuals’ performance was even better.
"There is clearly something special about the supertaskers," says Strayer. "Why can they do something that most of us cannot? Psychologists may need to rethink what they know about multitasking in light of this new evidence.”
The problem with this supertaskers discovery, if it is true, is that too many people are going to think that are supertaskers and convince themselves that they can do what the vast majority of people cannot do.
The driver of this semi-truck in Spokane, Washington made the unfortunate mistake of trying to fit under an overpass that was too small for his truck. The truck ended up getting pinned under the overpass. The driver, who has over 30 years of experience, was unharmed. Take a look:
A 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO is pictured above. It was part of bankrupt Kroyman's Ferrari collection sold in a deal brokered by Thomas Hamann. The collection of vintage and collector Ferraris was salvaged from bankruptcy wreckage and sold by Hamann Classic Cars of Greenwich, Connecticut. Founded in 1902 by the great grandfather of current Chairman Frits Kroymans, Kroymans was the exclusive Ferrari Distributor in Holland. The $3 billion automobile empire ended in early 2009, when the company filed for bankruptcy.
"We are thrilled to be a part of the salvation of this very important collection of vintage Ferraris," said Thomas Hamann, Owner of Hamann Classic Cars and Chairman of the New York City Concours d’Elegance, who brokered the deal between the European banks and Tom Price, a prominent classic car collector from Northern California.
Shelby American is returning the legendary Shelby GT350 to its lineup of American performance cars. The Shelby team unveiled a supercharged concept version of the Mustang-based 2011 Shelby GT350 at the Barrett-Jackson Auction Opening Night Gala to honor the 45th anniversary of the first GT350 and first Shelby big block Cobra. Each GT350 will be clad in traditional white with Shelby Guardsman blue Le Mans stripes and feature the new Ford V8 coupled to a 6 speed manual transmission and center exit exhaust.
"The 2011 GT350 balances heritage with modern necessity," said Shelby American president Amy Boylan. "Former Hot Wheels and Ford designer Larry Wood joined Vince LaViolette, Walter Cardenas, Andrew Smidt and the rest of our Las Vegas team to help integrate 1965-1970 Shelby styling cues with modern aerodynamics. We worked with Ford Racing to supercharge the engine with a goal of 500 horsepower, as well as to sharpen the handling. Baer Brakes helped engineer the fantastic brakes and we shod the GT350 with 19" modern Cragar wheels and super sticky Goodyear tires. This Shelby is truly a complete performance package."
You can find more details and see a photo gallery here.
Reuters reports that a speeding Swiss motorist was fined 299,000 Swiss francs for speeding at 100 miles per hour in his Ferrari Testarossa.
A court in the northeastern Swiss canton of St Gallen gave the millionaire the hefty penalty, which outstripped the previous record of 111,000 francs handed a Porsche driver in 2008 in Zurich, after a string of previous traffic offences.
"The accused ignored elementary traffic rules with a powerful vehicle out of a pure desire for speed," the court said in its judgment of the motorist, who clocked speeds of up to 137 km per hour on country roads, said daily Blick.
The St Gallen Cantonal Court ordered the man to dip into his 23.3 million franc fortune, which included a villa with a garage containing five luxury cars.
It goes without saying that that is a very expensive and exorbitant ticket. 100 km per hour is only a little over 62 miles per hour. It does not even seem excessive.
The Wall Street Journalreports that revenues for Porsche plunged over 30% in the luxury automaker's first quarter. As awful as that sounds Porsche is actually optimistic for 2010.
Porsche said car sales slumped 40% from a year earlier to 11,385 vehicles in the three months ended Oct. 31, reflecting the woes embroiling the luxury-car market.
"A look at the four-month figures suggests that the economy is gradually bottoming out and recovery is in sight," Porsche said, referring to a 25% decline to 18,764 cars in the August-through to November period. Porsche said it expects car sales "to pick up over the year 2010," driven by the new Panamera model.
Porsche may be correct about the trends and luxury automobile sales should begin to climb slowly over the next couple years. However, the merger with Volkswagen could make for a complex and confusing time period for the company.
The Affective Intelligent Driving Agent (AIDA) is a robot head that mounts on your dashboard and attempts to help you with navigation. AIDA is a collaboration between Volkswagen of America and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SENSEable City Lab and Personal Robots Group of Media Lab). Crave writes that AIDA "incorporates an expressive 'face' that can smile, look sad, show warning signs, and even wink at you." That sounds like it could be a little distracting to have a cute face looking at you while you drive but AIDA's purpose is to help you. Warning signs appear right on the robot's head as you can see in the image on the right. AIDA's intelligence also learns about your driving habits and builds knowledge about them over time. Take a look:
A driver reportedly drove his $1.7 million Bugatti Veyron sports car into a salt marsh because he was distracted by a low-flying pelican. You can see the car crash in the video below. Another video here shows the car being dragged out from the salt marsh. The Christian Science Monitor has a story about the crash here.
Wow. A driver of a BMW wagon inexplicably drives over two other cars in the parking lot. This was a parking lot outside of a fitness facility. Take a look:
The Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition is the ultimate in over-the-top SUVs. Dvice says the $1.6 million vehicle comes with gold-plated bulletproof windows, an exhaust made with tungsten and diamond encrusted gaugges. The RussoBaltique vehicle also has those whale penis leather seats you always wanted but were afraid to request at the dealership.
Crunchgear reports that a Japanese company named Sankyo Tateyama Aluminium has started selling solar powered carports. The company claims its M.Shade carports can generate enough electricity to cut a household's electricity bill in half.
The so-called M.Shade carports can accommodate two cars maximum and come with extra-strong pillars that support the weight of the solar panels on top of them. Home owners get total of twelve solar panels (5.6×5.4m) that provide 2,235kW per year. Sankyo says this is enough to cover about 50% of what a typical household needs on a yearly basis.
That sounds great until you learn that the solar-powered carports cost $40,000. When the price comes down this idea will become more commonplace. New apartment complexes could include them as a way to help tenants save money on their electricity bills.
The Affective Intelligent Driving Agent (AIDA) is a robot head that mounts on your dashboard and attempts to help you with navigation. AIDA is a collaboration between Volkswagen of America and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SENSEable City Lab and Personal Robots Group of Media Lab). Crave 
