Automotive

Lamborghini Delivers New Huracán To Italian Police

Lamborghini Delivers New Huracán To Italian Police

Somehow, the Italian police have gotten their hands on a brand new, Lamborghini Huracán to use as a police car, and for the first time in my life, I’d seriously like to be a cop. Normally, being a cop in Italy is 90% low-key and 10% life threatening (when you’re seeing to Mafia-related activities), but you know, I’d definitely put up with those numbers.
Automobili Lamborghini (that’s the official name of the Sant’Agata Bolognese builder of exotic cars) just delivered the police version of its Huracán supercar, dubbed the Huracán Polizia, to the Italian Highway Patrol in Rome.
Passing The Keys
This might come as a surprise to many, because 1 – Italy actually has highways, and 2 – Italy actually has an Italian Highway Patrol. The keys to the Huracán Polizia (which has got to be the coolest name for a cop car, ever) were handed over to Interior Minister, Senator Marco Minniti by Stefano Domenicali, Chairman & CEO of Automobili Lamborghini. Wait, Stefano Domenicali? The same Stefano Domenicali that ran Ferrari’s Grand Prix team? No wonder Lambos have been working so well lately.
The Italian Police Huracán (which is the way Italians say hurricane and is pronounced huruhKAHN) has been assigned to the Highway Patrol in Bologna. Bologna, the ancestral home of both Fascism and probably the best red sauce on the planet – hey, you gotta take the good with the bad, y’know? Bologna is also situated on one of Italy’s main Autoroutes, their version of highways, and like most other Italian Autoroutes or American highways, is chocked full of half-crazed speed freaks flogging all sorts of inappropriate vehicles (e.g. Fiat delivery vans) at velocities you’d think were suicidal.
Emergency Situations
Or, to put it another way, Bologna is a great location for the Huracán Polizia; it’s a big city without being too big, there’s lots of potential “customers” and most importantly, the lunch options are superb and numerous. The Huracán Polizia will be used both in normal police operations and for the urgent transport of blood and organs. Which, c’mon, sounds like the cherry on top for becoming an Italian cop. “You need me to get this kidney down to the hospital in Forli as quick as I can? Si comendatore! Si!”
This is not the first time Lamborghini has provided the Italian cops with cars. There’s another Huracán Polizia that has been operated by the Highway Patrol in Rome since 2015, in case you’re looking for office locations of a more cosmopolitan nature. In 2009 Lambo gave (sold?) the Roman police a Gallardo Polizia. That car is on permanent display at the Highway Patrol Auto Museum in Rome.
An essential task of the Huracán Polizia is to provide medical assistance. To this end, the front luggage compartment features a special refrigeration system for the urgent transport of organs. To provide emergency first aid, the Huracán is also equipped with a defibrillator, which can save lives by inducing targeted electric shocks that restore normal heartbeat in case of serious arrhythmia or ventricular fibrillation. Photo: Automobili Lamborghini.

Special Treatments
The Huracán Polizia sports the official colors of the Italian Police: A two-tone Police Medium Blue with a broad white area and lettering “specially executed to match the Huracán’s dynamic look.” What, you were expecting them to just slap on some decals that say “Polizia.” This is Italy. Have some style. Whattaya think this is, Germany? The livery is finished off by a tricolor stripe running along both sides of the Huracán Polizia.
Like all Lamborghinis, the Huracán Polizia is equipped with Pirelli P Zero tires, but with the added touch of the sidewalls tinted in Police Medium Blue especially for the occasion.
The Huracán Polizia comes standard with the normally aspirated V10 that produces 610 horsepower. It puts all that power to the strada via an all-wheel drive system. Just like the Huracáns you or I could buy (snicker) the chassis is made of aluminum and carbon fiber. The inside features a whole buffet of cop-related gear. An integrated tablet and computer, recording equipment, and a video camera used to document police operations on the road. There is also a Nuova Simonelli Aurelia Ii Semi 2 Group Espresso Machine and a six capacity doughnut warmer. C’mon, who am I kidding? That was a joke. There’s no way Italian cops would stoop to eating doughnuts.
So, if you are a slow-witted American tourist (is that redundant?) moseying around Rome or Bologna in your rental Fiat Punto and you see a blue and white Lambo blast up onto your tail, do not get all uppity or, even worse, take this as an invitation to race. You will lose and soon be seeing the inside of Regina Coeli, where the red sauce is as mediocre as the espresso.
Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He means well, even if he has a bias towards lighter, agile cars rather than big engine muscle cars or family sedans.
Photo: Automobili Lamborghini.
Photos & Source: Automobili Lamborghini.

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Report: Mercedes-AMG is developing a new line of performance EVs and hybrids

Report: Mercedes-AMG is developing a new line of performance EVs and hybrids The instant power delivery of electric motors should find themselves at home in Mercedes-AMG models known for power.

What’s going on?
More electrification!
“Oh jeeze, this really is the end of the internal combustion engine, ain’t it,” you might think. That seems true for the beloved Mercedes-AMG brand as Automobile reports Mercedes-Benz’s performance division seeks to shift its focus to electrification and hybridization.
Despite what seems like the end of the EPA, automakers still insist on moving forward towards EVs and hybrids to continue reducing its carbon footprint.
What can we expect from this new push?
According to the article, AMG plans to develop new high-voltage batteries, fast charging, and stronger motors, all with performance and efficiency in mind. From that, a total of four performance electric vehicles will join the AMG lineup. We can expect some models to sport as much as 612 instant horsepower from two motors powering all four wheels. Juice should be supplied by a 105-kWh battery.
When should we expect some electrified AMG awesomeness?
Probably sometime around 2020 to 2022. Two will be sedans while the remaining two will take form as crossovers.
On top of the complex power- and drivetrain technology, other features such as rear-wheel steering and uniquely tuned Airmatic dynamic suspension should be included.
What about the hybrid front?
All is not lost with the internal combustion engine just yet. Since AMG is all about power, its hard to deny that there will be many customers still longing for that classic AMG V8 burble.
What’s in store for the hybrids? Details are sparse, but more plug-in hybrids will arrive in the future both in Mercedes-Benz’s and Mercedes-AMG’s future.
Hints and rumors imply Mercedes will utilize the technology developed on earlier hybrid models. On those models, Mercedes mounted the electric motors into the transmission housing, assisting the cog swapper with power. This is a more ideal hybrid system overall since the car can still use a traditional transmission rather than the off-putting CVT that other hybrids use.
Other plug-in hybrid cars could include an electric rear-drive system with a separate power pack for front-wheel drive models.
– By: Chris Chin
Source: Automobile
Mercedes-Benz Generation EQ Concept Gallery

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2017 New York Preview: The new Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban RST get more power and 10-speed auto

2017 New York Preview: The new Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban RST get more power and 10-speed auto Chevy tries to inject some more performance into their venerable full-size SUVs. How does 420hp and a 10-speed auto sound?

What’s going on?
Chevrolet just announced some new version of the Tahoe and Suburban called the Rally Sport Truck. What is it exactly? It’s a special edition package that adds the company’s more powerful 6.2L V8 and 10-speed automatic as standard.
Such a power- and drivetrain combination was not yet available previously, even on other versions of GM’s full-size family. The GMC Yukon still only gets a 5.3L EcoTec V8 and an eight-speed auto. You can still get a 6.2L V8 in the Yukon Denali and the flagship Cadillac Escalade. But both still don’t get the latest and greatest 10-speed automatic yet.
That means Chevy Tahoe lovers can get the latest power- and drivetrain combination ahead of their more luxurious stablemates.
So what are the details? How much more power are we talking?
Well, since the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban RST Editions basically just get the Escalade engine instead, that means the 6.2L EcoTec V8 is good for 420hp and 460 pound-feet of torque. It’s mated strictly to GM’s latest HydraMatic 10L80 10-speed automatic transmission. Then, a wider overall gear ratio of 7.39 is added to increase efficiency at highway speeds. But thanks to the forward gear count, shorter gearing allows for improved acceleration as well.
As a result, Chevrolet claims a Tahoe Rally Sport Truck Edition can hit 60 from a standstill in less than six seconds. For a truck weighing close to three tons (6,000lbs), that’s quite impressive.
Buyers also get GM’s Magnetic Ride Control active suspension to help body control and ride quality.
Sounds like a pretty dope Tahoe. When will it go on sale and for how much?
Those details, as expected, weren’t released yet. But we can expect that information to surface later on as we near the Rally Sport Truck line’s official debut at the New York Auto Show.
– By: Chris Chin
Source: Chevrolet
Chevrolet Tahoe Rally Sport Truck Special Edition Gallery

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Automoblog Book Garage: The John Deere Century

Automoblog Book Garage: The John Deere Century Growing up in rural Iowa I was subjected to many a debates over Ford, Chevy, and Dodge trucks. There were guys in my high school who fondly preferred one over the other and would adamantly defend their position during our lunch time discussions. While the jury remained inconclusive on trucks, there was a general consensus that John Deere made the best tractor.
It wasn’t even a debate. In fact, you didn’t go there.
Mean Green
So prominent were those green machines that to suggest red, or yellow, or blue (especially not blue) would be outright madness. Even the “town kids” wore John Deere shirts. Patrons at the local barbershop, upon leaving the chair and paying, would often proceed over to the coat rack to grab their John Deere hat. Tossing on a hat following a haircut is a contradictory concept in most parts of the world, but in my rural Iowa home it was just another day.
Our Book Garage series is (normally) filled with muscle and sports cars and other classic performance vehicles, but this time around, we are featuring something a little different. And The John Deere Century by Randy Leffingwell qualifies. The cars we normally feature should be green with envy by now (see what I did there).
The 1929 Model C appears on page 40. At the time, farmers pulled implements behind them similar to how horses would have. Photo: Deere & Company Archives.
Nothing Runs Like . . .
The John Deere Century opens with the famous manufacturer struggling to grain traction as agriculture was becoming more modernized at the turn of the 20th century. John Deere branch managers were petitioning the company’s board for an offering that could stand up to the growing “power farming” movement. Indeed the board responded, but the first efforts were not well received.
Leffingwell walks us through this and other John Deere hallmarks, from the Model D in 1926 with its innovative flywheel, to the 530 and 630 in the late 1950s now regarded as styling wonders. Later on we learn about the extensive technology in today’s tractors and John Deere’s expansion across the globe. Leffingwell even draws the conclusion that John Deere accomplished what former General Motors Chairman Alfred P. Sloan wanted: that is to create something for every purse and purpose.
The John Deere Century is unlike any book out there on the topic. It’s easily one of the most unique in our Book Garage series and definitely a favorite.
Author
Leffingwell wrote his first book, American Muscle, in 1989 while still on staff at the Los Angeles Times. Since then, he has authored another 47 titles for Motorbooks and is one of the top Porsche historians today. Leffingwell’s book Porsche 70 Years: There Is No Substitute was featured in this series last year.
The John Deere Century is available through Motorbooks and Amazon.
The John Deere Century Gallery

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2019 Honda Fit Arrives: A Brief Walk Around

2019 Honda Fit Arrives: A Brief Walk Around The 2019 Honda Fit will arrive at dealerships beginning Monday April 30th. The lineup is expansive with options to fancy every taste, from the entry-level LX to the EX-L with Navigation at the top of the mountain. Drivers wanting something a little more spunky will likely enjoy the new Fit Sport trim. We took the Fit Sport on a spin recently and thought it had ample interior room, a quiet ride, and solid overall performance.
Extensive Updates
For 2019, Auto High-Beams are added to Honda Sensing-equipped models, and a new Platinum Pearl White replaces White Orchid Pearl. Updates last year included retuned suspension dampers, a new acoustic glass windshield, and improved insulation throughout the vehicle.
More efficient packaging, such as the fuel tank being mounted underneath the front seats, provides 52.7 cubic-feet of cargo space with the rear seats folded down. Honda says this figure is class-leading.
Photo: Honda North America.
Power & Performance
The 2019 Honda Fit features a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine with direct injection that creates 130 horsepower and 114 lb-ft. of torque. Two transmissions are available: a six-speed manual or a continuously variable transmission (CVT). EPA fuel economy ratings are 29/36/31 (city/highway/combined) for the manual and 33/40/36 for the CVT.
Safety & Security
The Honda Sensing package is available for the CVT-equipped LX and Sport models but standard on every EX and EX-L. Honda Sensing includes collision and road departure mitigation and warning systems, lane keeping assist technology, and Adaptive Cruise Control among others. Honda says the Fit was designed to achieve a 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Honda Fit Sport: Photo: Honda North America.
Technology & Comfort
All 2019 Fit models receive a rearview camera and Bluetooth capability; Sport models and above see Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration through a seven-inch touchscreen and a 180-watt six-speaker audio system. The Fix EX has push button start, satellite radio, and even a moonroof, while the EX-L adds heated, leather-trimmed seats and heated side mirrors with integrated turn signals.
Pricing
The 2019 Honda Fit starts at $17,080 for the LX with the manual transmission or $17,880 for the CVT. The Sport starts anywhere from $18,390 to $20,190 depending on options. The EX starts at $19,050 for the manual or $19,850 for the CVT. The EX-L comes in at $21,140 while the EX-L with Navigation beeps across the scanner for $22,140.
2019 Fits for the U.S. market are manufactured at Honda’s Celaya, Mexico plant.
Carl Anthony is Managing Editor of Automoblog and resides in Detroit, Michigan. He studies mechanical engineering at Wayne State University, serves on the Board of Directors for the Ally Jolie Baldwin Foundation, and is a loyal Detroit Lions fan.
2019 Honda Fit Gallery

Photos & Source: Honda North America.

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2019 Jeep Cherokee Limited 4X4 Review

2019 Jeep Cherokee Limited 4X4 Review The newly-remodeled 2019 Jeep Cherokee still provides unparalleled off-road capability, V6 power, and superior towing capacity, making it undeniably attractive for adventure enthusiasts. Cherokee gets a mid-cycle refresh with a redesigned front grille, new headlights and taillights, and some updates beneath the surface too. The Cherokee is one of the few vehicles in its class with a truly capable off-road system for getting away from civilization.
What’s New For 2019
The exterior is restyled, the interior is a little more upscale, and cargo capacity makes an incremental gain.
Features & Options
The 2019 Jeep Cherokee Limited 4X4 ($33,620) comes nicely appointed with heated leather seats, heated leather-wrapped steering wheel, dual zone climate control, an 8.4-inch color display, and backup camera. There is a power liftgate, remote start, six-speaker sound system, and four-way adjustments for the driver and passenger seats. Blind-spot detection and rear park assist are also included.
Optional equipment included the Technology Group ($995) with adaptive cruise control, brake assist, full-speed collision warning, lane departure warning, parallel park assist, and side distance warning.
The Luxury Group ($1,195) came with ventilated front seats, second-row adjustable seats, and foot-activated liftgate. The panoramic sunroof ($1,295) and upgraded sound system ($695) and navigation ($795) brought the total MSRP, including destination, to $40,040.

Interior Highlights
As we approached our Cherokee Limited, the doors automatically unlocked. The Cherokee gets subtle improvements inside with material upgrades and new trim details like piano black plastic and satin chrome. Engineers redesigned the center console, moving the shifter slightly rearward and creating a space for your phone near a USB port. There’s also a 115-volt outlet, as well as the latest version of FCA’s Uconnect infotainment system.
This tester came with premium touches including heated and ventilated seats clad in Nappa leather and a heated steering wheel, all welcomed this week as a spring snow hit the Denver area. Seats are comfortable for the most part, but we felt them a bit hard for longer trips to the high country. In the back, there’s enough room for passengers and extra cargo for those weekend getaways.
Jeep had adventure enthusiasts in mind and built more cargo volume into the rear, which expands to 26 cubic feet. With the rear seats folded flat, there’s 55 cubic feet of cargo-carrying ability with room enough for all your camping, hiking, and fishing gear.

Engine & Fuel Mileage Specs
The optional 3.2-liter V6 retains its rating of 271 horsepower and 239 lb-ft. of torque, as well as its class-leading 4,500 lbs. tow rating. It comes mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission that, according to Jeep, received new software to improve drivability. It also features fuel-saving stop/start technology.
EPA fuel mileage estimates come in at 19/27 city/highway and 22 combined mpg with the V6 powerplant.
Driving Dynamics
With the 3.2-liter V6, the Cherokee has all the power most weekend warriors will need. Heading west on the winding, mountainous highway west of Denver, we found the newly-remodeled Cherokee delivers a smooth ride and there weren’t any real surprises. We pushed past slower traffic with ease and the SUV never felt lacking for power at the higher altitude.
Pushed hard around tight mountain curves, the Cherokee wants to lean and doesn’t rank high in terms of on-road agility. But this isn’t the vehicle’s strong point. Where Cherokee shines is when you leave the pavement.
We took it on a short (but severe) off-road drive course near Morrison, and Jeep’s Selec-Terrain System successfully maintained low speeds as it jumped over the rocky patches. Jeep’s Active Drive I system will go places no other vehicle in this class can tackle. It’s the reason you would pick a Cherokee over others for your daily commuter.
In the city, the Cherokee is still a nice place to spend time and with all the available safety tech, you’ll get plenty of warnings to keep you safe.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a small, inexpensive commuter, you might want to look elsewhere. If you enjoy camping trips on the weekend to get far away from civilization, the 2019 Jeep Cherokee is a must drive. With its highly-adaptable four-wheel drive system, the Cherokee is not only capable in wintry conditions, but also for serious off-road use this summer.
Denis Flierl has invested over 25 years in the automotive industry in a variety of roles. Follow his work on Twitter: @CarReviewGuy
2019 Jeep Cherokee Limited Gallery

2019 Jeep Cherokee Official Site.
Photos: FCA US LLC.

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Chapter 4: Leaving Palm Springs

Chapter 4: Leaving Palm Springs The Future In Front of Me, The Past Behind Me is a gasoline-fueled narrative by automotive journalist Tony Borroz. It details the joys, thrills, and even the uncertainties of the car-obsessed lifestyle. In advance of the book’s release, we are previewing the first few chapters.
Below is the first half of chapter 4, Leaving Palm Springs. We will announce the book’s release later this year on our Twitter page.
I fill my tank with gas at the unattended station. The cool morning desert air is still and the sun is somewhere over there, on the other side of a ridge of rocks that could be from a movie set. Late January in the desert southwest is pleasant in the extreme. It’s cold now, of course. Sand and dirt and what passes for plants out here hold as much heat as a sieve, but by midday, it’ll be warmer than 90 percent of the country.
Driving here, now, at this time of day gives the whole place an odd ghost town feeling. By the time I am out of Palm Springs, I have seen less than a dozen other humans. It’s not that early, but no one seems to be getting to their jobs, what people there are around here that actually work. Also missing are those crack-of-dawn-retiree walkers that I’ve seen in other places. Honestly, morning people worry me. My dad was a morning guy. He could wake up at 4:00 o’clock fresh as a daisy, ready and raring to go. And most of the time he’d drag us with him. I am not a morning person. Most writers are not. My tendency is to stay up late, sleep late, get up late.
Quiet & Empty
There are, however, those times when getting up early is Necessary and Required. Watching Grand Prix races on TV is one of them. Another one is getting on the road. No, this isn’t 4:00 friggin’ o’clock in the morning, but it’s early enough for me. By the time this day is over I am going to be in a completely different world, climatologically speaking. On top of that, I am going to have to skirt around the “greater L.A. area.”
Sure, sure, the navigation lady in my phone is urging me to take the direct route, right to the 5, then north. She pleads with me not to head out through Lancaster and such, saying it will add to my travel time. But I know she’s lying to me. Like I am going to drive through the very definition of “bad traffic” because she thinks it’s a good idea.
So I more or less know my route, but for the moment I am driving through the broad, overly manicured, lovingly cleaned and swept streets of Palm Springs, deserted to a level befitting a biological plague, heading past the airport.
“Sand and dirt and what passes for plants out here hold as much heat as a sieve, but by midday, it’ll be warmer than 90 percent of the country.”
Plane Site
The airport is a place of consternation for the well-healed residents of Palm Springs. Some airline or another has been granted the right to fly in something larger than a Piper Cub, and the residents are anxious about the noise. As I drive by the airstrip, I see two Boeing BBJs – Boeing Business Jets, the personal plane version of the 737 airliner (and coincidentally a project my host in Palm Springs, Bob, worked on at The Lazy B) – a literal handful of Gulfstreams, a bunch of Lears, Embraers and other such Maybachs of the skies and, somewhat incongruously, a line of older prop planes. There’s a T-6 Texan WWII-era trainer, and there’s another Texan and that’s a . . . “Holy shit! That’s a Bearcat!” I say out loud to myself.
The Grumman F8F Bearcat was a piston-engine, single seat naval fighter from the Second World War. It entered service very late and saw very little action. Which is a pity, cause Bearcats were pipe-hitting SOBs of an airplane. Distressingly small and deliciously over-engined, Bearcats could and would tear to you pieces. The pilots that flew them unequivocally say they were the best prop-driven plane in the Pacific. Corsairs? Bearcats could out turn them, and with their four 20 mm canons, out gun them. Nakajima Ki-84 Franks (as in the “Forget it, it’s a Frank” warning to U.S. pilots) and Raidens and literally anything else the Imperial Army or Navy of Japan could put up against it were little more than targets.
If you were piloting a Grumman F8F Bearcat, your power and capabilities gave you a god-like invulnerability. You had the firepower and the maneuverability to beat anyone in the skies, and if you messed up, that Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp had enough power and speed to get your butt out town and away before the enemy knew you’d ducked out.
Of course, all of the power and capability of the Bearcat was rendered irrelevant by the jet engine. Even the early jet fighters that were introduced about the same time as the Grumman F8F were a literal revolution in the air. Speeds were up by 50 percent at a stroke; turning loads were instantly flirting with blackout levels of g-force. Those once “what if” talking points at the local pilot watering hole were now possible because of the Grumman F8F Bearcat and its late-war ilk.
An XF8F-1 prototype at the NACA Langley Research Facility in 1945. Photo: Wikipedia, public domain via NASA.

Out With The Old
New technology can render older calculations meaningless by the end of the first day of its life. This applies to cars just as well as airplanes (or computers or home heating or medical knowledge, literally everything). In 1959 the world of high speed oval racing was a known technical quantity at places like Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If you wanted to go fast, you built up a big, front-engined roadster made by the likes of A.J. Watson or Quinn Epperly, kicked butt, drank the milk, and took home the Borg-Warner Trophy. Until this half-nuts Australian named Jack Brabham showed up in a British made Cooper with an engine half the size of an Offenhauser in 1959.
And that wasn’t the half of it.
To make matters even stranger, the engine was in the back of the car! Who did that? Would that even work? Was that even legal? To answer that, answer this: When was the last time you saw a front-engined formula car? Exactly. Technology, at the stroke of a pen on a drawing board, redrew what this New World of vehicular transportation would look like.
I was thinking of that – the technological progress that moves inexorably over our automotive world – as I got to the other side of Palm Springs; the cloverleaf swoop onto the 10 to head west by north to full north when I saw them: scores and scores of giant wind turbines. It would seem that Palm Springs or the county or whoever is in charge of the local community, decided to get into wind power in a sizeable way. All but just a few were casually turning away, literally making electrical power out of thin air.

In With The New
And why not? Palm Springs is in a fairly windy place, so why not grab some of that kinetic energy rather than letting it go by? The same goes for solar power, especially down here. During my time in Arizona it was mystifying to me there weren’t solar panels and solar water heaters on every roof of every building in the state. It’s sunny 284 days of the year. That’s nearly 78 percent of the time. How can you not take advantage of all that free thermal energy otherwise going to waste?
When I lived on Oahu, one of the houses I lived in had solar water heater panels. These were bone-simple affairs: a shallow box painted flat black and covered with Plexiglas. Inside was a serpentine of black, four-inch PVC pipes running back and forth, pumped full of circulating water. That was it. That’s where 100 percent of my hot water came from. Curious, I held a meat thermometer under the hot water when I first moved in. 148 degrees. That was the water temp coming out of the tap. Heated only by the sun. Impressive, to say the least. I noticed that all the government buildings (including military and low income housing) all had solar water heaters. Why not? Not using solar power, both for heating and for electrical power generation, is like walking by a pile of money and saying, “Oh no, I don’t need any more money.”
It was easy to see our future in a town as fortunately located as Palm Springs. With the killer confluence of lots of wind, lots of sun, and lots of eco-conscious rich white people from Hollywood, you don’t have to be a wizard to see the path forward. From all those (eventual) solar panels and current wind turbines, direct to your home, and from there, direct to your Tesla. Eventually, when it’s not for your $100,000 Tesla, but when it’s for your $22,000 Chevy EV and electric buses and such, it will be for all of us.
Still, the Grumman F8F Bearcat was a helluva plane, no two ways about it. But if I’m flying a North American F 86 Sabre, it’s a target.
Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He is the author of Bricks & Bones: The Endearing Legacy and Nitty-Gritty Phenomenon of The Indy 500, available in paperback or Kindle format. His forthcoming new book The Future In Front of Me, The Past Behind Me will be available soon. Follow his work on Twitter: @TonyBorroz.

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Inside The Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak

Inside The Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak Racing improves the breed. That is a known truth in both horse and automotive racing. I have long maintained the best way to improve and market electric cars is to race them. It looks like Volkswagen has heard my pleas, because they’ve just rolled out this nasty looking, all-electric race car to have a crack at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Fearless Few
The Pikes Peak race, for those of you bereft of this knowledge, is one of the last “You’re going to die!! You’re crazy!!” racing events on the planet. It’s a twelve-and-a-half mile “Race To The Clouds” with a finishing line over 14,000 feet. There are sections of the run that are crazy, Glen Cove and The Ws, and then there are the sections of the run that are borderline suicidal: The Devil’s Playground, Bottomless Pit, etc. You get those turns wrong, and by the time your wreckage stops bouncing your clothes will be out of style.
You need confidence and skill and a great amount of bravery to take this place on. And those who have, and succeeded, have all three of those in large quantities; racers like Unser (literally the entire family) and Walter Rohrl and Ari Vatanen and Michelle Mouton and Sébastien Loeb. Loeb, arguable the greatest rally driver of all time, holds the outright course record at Pikes Peak. Volkswagen has the idea that they should hold, if not the outright record, then at least the EV record.
Photo: Volkswagen of America, Inc.
Power & Performance
Uninterestingly named the “I.D. R Pikes Peak,” it is a particularly nasty looking little beast. The IDRPP looks like a 7/8th scale model of a Le Mans car, only with the driver sitting smack in the middle (it looks) and a no-holds-barred approach to aerodynamics. There’s tons of subtle aero work here and there, and then you get to that rear wing and realize “subtle” has nothing to do with this car.
The I.D. R Pikes Peak weighs less than 2,500 lbs., cranks out 680 horsepower and 479 lb-ft. of torque, and hits 60 in 2.25 seconds. VW says it is “faster than even Formula 1 and Formula E cars,” to which I say, yes, but that’s in a straight line to 60. Racing is more than that. With those numbers backing up the Wolfsburg company, they hope to beat the existing electric car record (8:57.118) in the annual Race to the Clouds, if not the outright record.
VW points out that the IDRPP has not one, but two electric motors, generating the system’s capacity of 680 horsepower. For EVs, that’s not uncommon, given that electric motors, even powerful ones, are about the size of a picnic basket. Bizarrely, this is not the first time VW has run at Pikes Peak with a twin-engine car. It’s not even the second. In 1985, 1986, and 1987, Volkswagen engineers opted for two power units in a twin-engine Golf that VW described as “sensational.” You say “sensational,” I say “mental.” Tomayto, Tomahto.
Photo: Volkswagen of America, Inc.
Battery Technology
Power storage is accomplished via lithium-ion batteries that are similar to production EVs. Volkswagen says power density is the crucial factor for the system when producing high voltage, and Li-Ion batts are just the ticket. They further point out that around 20 percent of the electric energy needed will be generated during the drive, the key to that being energy recovery. The IDRPP uses the same energy recovery scheme found in everyday Teslas and Priuses, turning the electric motors into generators when you hit the binders, converting some of the braking energy back into electricity, and then storing this in the battery.
Lone Wolf
Romain Dumas was chosen for the driving duties. Dumas, a 39-year-old Frenchman, seems like an odd choice at first. Normally, people who run at Pikes Peak are rally types (i.e. completely nerveless Scandinavians with ice water for blood and zero self-preservation instinct), but Romain Dumas is a former 24 Hours of Le Mans champion and defending Pikes Peak champion. So he does seem like a good choice.
“It was absolutely fantastic to see the completed I.D. R for the first time, and to take it out for its first spin,” Dumas said. “What Volkswagen has managed to put together from scratch over the past few months has my greatest respect.”
Precise Calculations
And if running a race that features no guard rails and drops measured in the thousands of feet isn’t difficult enough, bear in mind that testing on the hill climb is very incomplete. You can only run on certain sections and the bulk of the testing is not done on Pikes Peak at all, but at racetracks. So, it’s educated guesswork, but guesswork nonetheless. I hope everybody has their sums right.
A 4,720 vertical-foot climb, 156 corners, only a single run is allowed, sunshine at the start but up at the 14,115-foot summit of Pikes Peak it can be below freezing.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb gets underway on June 24th in Colorado Springs, Colorado. What’s not to love?
“We now have a packed schedule of testing ahead of us and I am looking forward to every meter,” Dumas said.
Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He is the author of Bricks & Bones: The Endearing Legacy and Nitty-Gritty Phenomenon of The Indy 500, available in paperback or Kindle format. His forthcoming new book The Future In Front of Me, The Past Behind Me will be available soon. Follow his work on Twitter: @TonyBorroz.
Photos & Source: Volkswagen of America, Inc.

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Volvo Expands Electrification Commitment, Focuses On China

Volvo Expands Electrification Commitment, Focuses On China Volvo Cars wants fully electric vehicles to consist of half their lineup by 2025. The announcement builds on Volvo’s commitment last year that all new models released from 2019 will be available as either a mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid or battery electric vehicle.
“Last year we made a commitment to electrification in preparation for an era beyond the internal combustion engine,” explained Håkan Samuelsson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Volvo Cars.
Emerging Markets
The move is also part of Volvo’s strategy to strengthen itself in China, a prime market for electrified vehicles. The Chinese government plans to have new-energy vehicles account for more than 20 percent of annual sales by 2025, which equates to more than seven million autos, based on Chinese government forecasts.
“China’s electric future is Volvo Cars’ electric future,” Samuelsson added. “Today we reinforce and expand that commitment in the world’s leading market for electrified cars.”
Volvo currently assembles the S90 and S90L T8 Twin Engine in China, and production of the XC60 T8 Twin Engine will commence in China soon, meaning all three Volvo China plants – Luqiao, Chengdu, and Daqing – will produce either plug-in hybrid or battery electric vehicles.
Volvo XC40 T5 plug-in hybrid. Photo: Volvo Car Group.
Forthcoming Models
China is Volvo Cars’ largest individual market, recording a 23.3 percent first quarter sales increase this year alone, while sales in China last year passed 100,000 units for the first time. The eagerly anticipated XC40, crowned 2018 European Car of the Year, is expected to find a warm audience in China as well.
“The early success of the XC40 supports Volvo Cars’ expectations of strong demand for its new small SUV in China,” reads a statement from Volvo Cars. “These expectations are also underpinned by growth forecasts for the segment over the next five years, as well as a growing middle-class population and China GDP growth trends driven by domestic consumption.”
Volvo will have an extensive array of hybrid vehicles on display at the Beijing Auto Show, which runs through May 4th.
The Automoblog Staff contributed to this report and can be reached anytime.
Photos & Source: Volvo Car Group.

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