Devil boy

Spooky.

From X-pics mid-la...

It was a dark and stormy night

…And I drove the XKR anyway.

With the little snowflake on the dash flashing and, on top of the mountain, the snow coming down heavy, I drove like a little old lady with a nervous bladder and a trunk full of angry, nitroglycerin-soaked badgers. Why, with “CATS” active yaw control, stability control, etc, etc? Look at those rear meats: Those are 285/30R20s on the two-piece alloys. Not what you’d call all-season rubber. That is, in fact, why the car’s been parked for the last week. But that was only the mountaintop, and thanks to St. Callum, it was clear and dry in the valleys.

All the ingredients were there for me to hate the car: Active handling aids up the wazoo, paddle-shifter automatic, a 38-pound wheel and tire combination. This stuff normally drives me nuts. But oh man, is this one fantastic automobile.

Start with the exhaust note. This is the car with a little tube running from the engine compartment to the dash, to pipe in the engine sound. I don’t care. Push the Start button, and it barks and trembles, the idle rises and falls a little, it sounds every bit the exotic. And it should, with the old AJ 4.2 running at a supercharged 9.1:1 compression. That’s way up there, and get on it a little and the growl rises, the supercharger starts to whine and it sits back on it’s Kate Winslet haunches and flat scoots.

The dubs don’t do the handling any favors; with a distinctly handling-biased suspension setup, you really feel them whanging heavily around down there–no matter how nice they look, stick with the stock 19s. And believe it or not, the paddle shifters actually work. It holds a gear, it shifts nearly as quickly as a manual (especially upshifts), and a two- or three-gear dropdown for passing is always at your fingertips. Do that and bring the tach up towards the 6,250 rpm power peak, and you will run out of road anywhere in the Eastern US before the XKR runs out of breath.

But don’t think you’re going to get away with doing that unnoticed. The Junior Aston look snaps necks around as much as any new car we’ve ever driven. Go ahead and drive a new 400hp Corvette around, and while not an anonymobile, you won’t get eyeballed. Take the XKR for a spin outside of Palm Springs, the Hamptons or Miami Beach, and it’s like standing on a parade float. You will get looked at. Don’t stop. All they want to do is to put their grubby little mitts all over her Liquid Silver thighs, stroke her bonnet…she’s supposed to be yours, you feel the connection, the deep seats are holding you just right…

$85,000? Will you take a post-dated, out-of-state third-party starter check? No?

CHASSIS

Riveted and bonded aluminium

ENGINE

Cylinders/valves per cylinder - 8/4

Bore/stroke - 86/90.3mm

Capacity - 4,196cc

Compression ratio - 9.1:1

Maximum power - SAE bhp (kW) 420 (313) @ 6,250

Maximum torque – EEC lb ft (Nm) 413 (560)@ 4,000

TRANSMISSION

6-speed automatic

Jaguar Sequential Shift with steering wheel-mounted shift paddles

Gear ratios

1st - 4.171

2nd - 2.340

3rd - 1.521

4th - 1.143

5th - 0.867

6th - 0.691

Final Drive - 3.31:1

PERFORMANCE (Manufacturer’s figures)

0-60 mph (0-100 kph) - 4.9 (5.2) seconds
50-70mph – 2.5 seconds

1/4 mile – 13.3 seconds
Top speed – 155 mph (250 kph), electronically limited

AERODYNAMICS

Cd - 0.341

STEERING

Ratio - 17.1:1

Turns lock-to-lock - 2.77

Turning radius - 10.97 meters (33.4 feet)

FUEL ECONOMY

Combined – 22.9 mpg (12.3 L/100km)

CO₂ Combined – 294 g/km
Fuel tank – 71.1 Liters

WEIGHT/DIMENSIONS

Curb weight – 3,671 lbs

Weight distribution – 53.4/46.6

Length – 4,791mm
Width – 1,892mm

Height – 1,322mm

Wheelbase – 2,752mm

Front/rear track – 1,560/1,608mm

WHEELS/TIRES

Front: 255/35R20

Rear: 285/30R20

We're One! of 89...

And you thought you'd heard the last from FANUC Robotics America, Inc. Hooray.

FANUC Robotics America, Inc.

Honored by General Motors as a

2006 Supplier of the Year

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich., April 10, 2007 – FANUC Robotics America, Inc., the world’s leading supplier of industrial robots, was presented the General Motors 2006 Supplier of the Year award for its overall business performance in providing GM with world-class parts and services. The 15th annual award - themed the “Best of the Best” - was given during ceremonies Saturday, March 31 at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes in Orlando, Fla. In addition to 2006, FANUC Robotics was named among GM’s top suppliers in 1997 and 2005.

“We are proud to honor FANUC Robotics as one of the ‘Best of the Best’ GM suppliers in 2006,” said Bo Andersson, GM group vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. “FANUC Robotics achieved the award based on outstanding performance in 2006. We appreciate their energy, hard work and dedication to the success of GM.”

"We are honored to receive this award from General Motors, which recognizes our continued focus on meeting the quality and performance standards of our customer," said Rick Schneider, president and CEO, FANUC Robotics America, Inc. "We remain committed to providing the very best in intelligent and innovative industrial robot solutions."

The GM Supplier of the Year award began as a global program in 1992. Winners are selected by a global team of executives from purchasing, engineering, manufacturing and logistics who base their decisions on supplier performance in quality, service, technology and price. This year, General Motors honored 89 suppliers for their outstanding performance throughout 2006.

Greek Archaeologists Unearth Rich Tomb

Digital Journal - Greek Archaeologists Unearth Rich Tomb

Greek Archaeologists Unearth Rich Tomb

Rows of stone seating and a stone-flagged pavement from what archaeologists believe may have been an ancient theater.(AP Photo/Culture Ministry, HO)
Greek Archaeologists unearth a Roman tomb with graves and a small theater. The tomb was found on a Greek island and it contained gold jewelry, pottery and bronze offerings.
The Greek Culture Ministry said archaeologists have found a building near the village of Fiscardo on Kefalonia. This building complex, measuring 26 by 20 feet, contained five burials including a large vaulted grave and a stone coffin. Luckily it was found intact, the grave robbers missed this area.

Archaeologists found gold earrings and rings, gold leaves that may have been attached to ceremonial clothing, glass and clay pots, bronze artifacts decorated with masks, bronze locks and copper coins.

The vaulted grave, a house-shaped structure, had a small stone door that still works perfectly — turning on stone pivots.

On a nearby plot to this building, Archaeologists also found a small theater with four rows of stone seats as shown in the picture.

This area has already unearthed houses remains, a baths complex and a cemetery dating to Roman times between 146 and 330 A.D.

More news and details about this excavation will follow soon.

NSFW: Tenacious D FHG Animation

http://www.tenaciousd.com/video/fhg/TenaciousDFinal.swf

PC VERSION (.exe)

WINDOWS MEDIA VERSION (.wmv)

REAL VERSION (.rm)

QUICKTIME VERSION (.mov)

Warning: Parental Advisory / Explicit Lyrics

Hyundai Getz Prime

It doesn't mean anything; it's the name of a car:

Hyundai Getz Prime launched

Hyundai has launched a new version of the Getz, called Getz Prime, which is meant to comply with government's definition of small car to obtain tax discounts, and hence reduce the price tag of the car.



The Getz prime GLE with a 1.1 liter engine and body length less than 4000mm will comply to small car standards and will cost 3.89 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi. Getz also comes with a 1.3 liter, 82.9bhp engine option.



See more information and specifications on Hyundai Getz website.

Oh, mama

And I understand there's a car in there somewhere.