Snowmobiles can fly. Anything that goes farther than the Wright brothers at Kittyhawk is really flying

On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright piloted the first powered airplane 20 feet above a wind-swept beach in North Carolina. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet.

Three more flights were made that day with Orville's brother Wilbur piloting the record flight lasting 59 seconds over a distance of 852 feet

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/wright.htm

Levi LaVallee went 361 feet on a snowmobile



From http://autozine.com.br/

This is not a successful landing, but if they practice they are going to nail this manuever, and shows will be cooler than ever!

It's pretty cool that you can see how they engineered the ramp to get the truck to flip, and that they set up a huge landing pad

found on http://autozine.com.br/

24 butterflies, 8 blowers, and makes 3400 hp worth of Nitrous powered grin... Mike Harrah's Detroit Diesel, does it make you feel a bit awed?

180 photo gallery of the intake and engine going together here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/learaviator/sets/72157623774941005


learned about it on http://www.autoblog.hu/videok/video_24_hengeres_dizelmotor.html

not much info on the www yet, but I did find that the guy is a millionaire real estate developer, and owns the biggest of the Blastolene cars (can't recall the name, it's the one with the PT boat Packard engine) and this titan engine is going into a Peterbuilt 359

Creative new idea for advertising larger than billboards, video projection, and not paying billboard companies... I'm in awe of this paradigm breaker

via http://www.autoblog.com

cool sketch art from Rulo Treviño

Enjoy the portfolio at http://trevinoart.com/

Dream Factory Blow is still making cool vehicles, and now are filmed to get a better look at how they make American trucks from Japanese econ boxes

Photos from http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4214260 and I learned of the video from http://www.ridelust.com/japanese-ingenuity-with-american-style/

Sorry, gotta jump through the link to see the video
http://translogic.aolautos.com/2010/12/13/translogic-9-1-japan-part-3-dream-factory-blow/ because the damn video won't play when I embed it.

for more photos
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/12/redefining-mini-vans-and-emulating-70s.html

Ken Block, that maniac, has a new video on a seaside dock

Via: http://www.ausmotive.com/2010/12/06/ken-block-gymkhana-grid-invitational.html in a way, they had a link to http://gymkhanagrid.com/#/videos/gymkhana-video-two and the rest is hoon history

discovery of a forgotten junkyard... on the Nature Conservatory property

read about it http://www.junkyardlife.com/2010/08/junkyard-crawling-in-wisconsin.html

barnfind 1969 396 SS Chevelle and 1970 Mach 1 Mustang

from http://www.junkyardlife.com/ /

This is no way to treat a sports car, just go get a junker wagon instead!

from the club roadster thread http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=1962&highlight=dope&page=3

1967 Trabant Kubel... somewhere a WW2 axis staff car is looking at this and thinking "I will call it mini-me! "

from http://route66bitz.tumblr.com/

A MINI is racing in the Dakar (now through South America)

Six BMW X3CCs and the brand new Mini All4 Racing will represent Sven Quandt's team on 13 timed special stages and 5,020km of competitive action in a route of 9,618km over the next 14 days across northern Argentina and Chile.

Quandt has assembled a team of over 80 personnel - the largest line-up in X-raid's eight-year history - to tackle the world's most difficult and infamous off-road rally.

to learn about the Dakar rally http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2011/us/route.html

I learned about the Mini from http://www.ausmotive.com/ but you can shoot straight to the team website http://www.x-raid.de/x-raid-news/News/mini-all4-racing-first-test.htm

I often get solicited to post someones article, list, or link to their site, but don't. Here are some I'm interested in if you want my attention

10 best websites for what ever... especially how you rank your top 10 favorite blogs
10 worst mechanics,
10 worst ripoffs in the auto world (besides Bernie Madoff),
10 hardest repairs due to engineering shortsightedness,
10 most difficult to diagnose problems with your car,
10 easiest things you can troubleshoot your self (battery dead? Voltage regulator? or Starter? is the most common problem) ,
10 cheapest insurance companies (did that myself a couple years ago),
10 insurance companies to avoid,
10 women that broke a mechaincs heart,
10 women that will destroy your mechanics ego by knowing his job better than he does,
10 best jobs in the mechanics world,
10 best auto related companies to work for (pep boys, sears, discount tire, AAA, or what?)
10 coolest bosses you've worked for,
10 best fringe benefits from working at your shop,
10 nicest people you've met while getting a quote on your repair
10 coolest conversations while waiting for your car to get fixed (mine was a WW2 Battleship gunner telling me about the USS Iowa)
10 best trades for work (spare engine for a repair on your truck?)
10 ways insurance companies screwed you out of your claim, even if it was because you weren't fluent in insurance lingo and missed the thing you could have done to save your self a headache
10 cheapest places to get new tires

Stash of Aussie Ford GT's found in South Africa

during that era a whole bunch of Falcon GT parts were exported to South Africa where they were assembled into Fairmont GTs. Recently, a large haul of Fairmont GTs was unearthed and the collector is the first commentor on the article, setting the story straight
read about it http://www.ausmotive.com/2009/02/19/ford-gt-stash-uncovered-in-south-africa.html

Lynx and Russian Cat Best Buddies

In Leningrad (St Petersburg) Zoo, the oldest zoo in Russia, an European Lynx had a frequent visitor who befriended the big wild cat and now they are practically living together. This visitor is a calico cat who has bonded with the Lynx ever since the day she entered the enclosure.

According to the local people, the calico was homeless and happened to find food in the lynx’s enclosure. The lynx did not reject her, rather she became her surrogate mother. It seems as if the calico needs the lynx as much as she needs the little cat. They spend every day together and never leave sight of each other.

The Wire's Characters