Steve Saint is a missionary that has done what countless others have tried to do and failed, he’s built a flying car that actually works. While doing the Lord’s work down in Ecuador, Saint saw the need for a vehicle that needed to be simple, economical and very intuitive, thus he began working on the i-Tec Maverick. By utilizing a 170-hp, flat-four engine out of a Subaru, a ram-air wing which is similar in design to those used on powered parachutes and light a fabric concealed frame, the Maverick is able to combine flight with light weight and performance. The main goal when developing a successful frontier vehicle, according to Saint was that:

“it must be rugged and easy to service in remote areas, use widely available automotive fuel, and be able to fly over terrain when the roads inevitably fail. The Maverick is designed to meet – and exceed – these requirements, and do so in an efficient and straightforward manner.”

Approved for flight by the FAA, Saint hopes to have the Maverick on sale by July 2011, just in time for AirVenture 2011: The World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration. Price on the Maverick is said to be around $84,000, which isn’t that bad for this wild two-for-one combo. Apparently the Lord does work in mysterious ways…

The horror!

Verily, the creature appears to be the product of an unholy mating of a Toyota Prius and a Subaru Baja.  I fear that I grow mad at every glance I steal of its inimitable visage…  Lest you begin to doubt me and thus, the existence of this frightening monster, I suggest you visit autobeyours for confirmation and for further research.  But do not delve too deep or, like this beast, your sanity will grow fearsomely distorted …

Source: CarDomain

Another month, another teaser video for the upcoming Triumph adventure bikes. We’ve been following their development, and I posted some speculation on what the new bikes might turn out to be last month. It turns out I was partially right, so maybe my next career should be as a weatherman.

Triumph has cleared up some of the mystery, at least. There will be two bikes, but both will use an 800cc long stroke triple derived from the Daytona 675 sport bike. Both bikes will use a tubular steel frame, similar to what Triumph’s been using for years on their Speed Triple. Both bikes will be set up for touring, but here’s where the similarities end.

One adventure bike will be set up for street riding, with a 17” wheel and a rider forward position to put more weight on the front tire. Suspension will be optimized for street riding, with reduced travel and firmer springs and dampers. I’d expect hard bags as a standard feature (or as an optional accessory if the price is right), and mud guards or skid plates probably won’t be part of the decor.

The second bike will have an off-road focus, complete with 21” front wheel, a more upright riding position and a long travel suspension. Panniers or heavy-duty hard bags should be available, and the bike needs to come with skid plates and mudguards to keep the dino-juice inside the crankcase. I’d also expect a larger gas tank, since any off road bike needs to get you both there and back.

Triumph is still a month or so away from announcing availability or pricing, but I’m encouraged to see them use so many off-the-shelf parts on the new bikes. If they can keep costs low and functionality high, they should see decent sales of both models in the coming year.

2011 Raptor SuperCrew. Photo: Ford Motor Company

Need to tow a desert race truck into the middle of nowhere, far from any paved or even graded roads? Want to take some friends plus gear with you? Are all three friends NFL linebackers? Until now, your options for such an outing were pretty much limited to an army surplus deuce and a half truck, which wouldn’t make you very popular with your NFL buddies. Today, however, Ford’s announced a SuperCrew version of the F-150 SVT Raptor, capable of towing up to 8,000 pounds and hauling the biggest of your buddies in air conditioned comfort. The SuperCrew Raptor joins the standard cab and the SuperCab already in the 2011 F-150 SVT Raptor lineup.

Photo: Ford Motor Company

Like the other Raptor models, the SuperCrew has 11.2 inches of front suspension travel and 12.1 inches of rear travel. The SuperCrew rides on a 145 inch wheelbase, twelve inches longer than the SuperCab Raptor, which should help the SuperCrew deliver a more comfortable off-road ride. Both the SuperCrew and the SuperCab Raptors use a five and a half foot cargo bed, so there’s still plenty of room to haul whatever gear you deem necessary. The SuperCrew Raptor comes with a 36 gallon fuel tank, making it the ideal tow or support vehicle for off road adventures.

To the end of the earth in comfort. Photo: Ford Motor Company

For 2011, Ford is discontinuing the 5.4 liter V8 in the Raptor and making the 6.2 liter V8 standard equipment. The 6.2 liter motor puts out 411 horsepower and 434 lb-ft of torque, and was extensively tested under adverse conditions. The motor was developed to handle the rigors of desert running, including extended periods of high speed operation in loose sand. Its large bore, short stroke design allows for the use of larger intake and exhaust valves, and the motor includes piston cooling oil jets to reduce internal temperatures.

The Raptor's Productivity Screen. Photo: Ford Motor Company

All 2011 Raptors also get an LCD “productivity screen”, which gives the driver real time information on suspension settings and vehicle status. The SelectShift Automatic transmission, which allows drivers to manually select and hold a specific gear, becomes an available option on 2011 Raptors.

Photo: Ford Motor Company

Ford hasn’t announced pricing for the 2011 Raptor models just yet, but you can safely bet that the increased content comes at a higher price. Dealers will start taking orders for 2011 Raptor models today, with the first shipments hitting dealer lots in Q4.

I have to say that Monterey, California is probably one of my favorite places to spend time. You’ve got the pristine surroundings of Monterey Bay, wonderful restaurants, and then, on one fabulous weekend out of the year, you have the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The Concours d’Elegance captures the best vehicles from around the world and puts them on display for the world to see. Keep in mind that these are not tired out old relics, but the best of the best from around the globe.

Before the festivities begin however, there is one event that is a must for first timers. On the Thursday night before the big weekend, there is a little restaurant called the Baja Cantina that is located about 2 miles from downtown Carmel. Now, not only is the food wonderful but on this particular Thursday evening you will see some of the coolest muscle cars, vintage exotics and old rally cars on the planet. While their owners dine on burritos and tamales, the cars sit stationary for the world to see.

The beauty of this event is that the people who attend it are simply wonderful. Guys were showing up with vintage hot rods and t-buckets, old race cars and of course some super exotics. The festivities start at around 4pm and run until the sun goes down, but as far as attending a great kick-off to the weekend, there is simply none better in my opinion. These pictures show just some of the highlights that were scattered around the parking lot – enjoy.

Desert racing is something that unfortunately does not get the coverage it deserves. It utilizes some of the most advanced technology in motor sports and draws spectators and crowds by the thousands. It’s also, from a competitors standpoint, one of the most grueling forms of off-road racing there is. We’ve all heard of the Baja 1000 and the Paris Dakar Rally but I don’t think that people understand the true punishment that both man and machine take on runs like this. The above video shows trophy truck driver Marc Ewing (he founded Linux by the way) as he bounds through the desert from Las Vegas to Reno, Nevada. The visuals are shot in high definition and I’ve got to tell you that the camera work is simply stunning. I’ve been saying that I would like to try my luck at running off-road someday in something other than a golf cart. Who knows, maybe the stars will align one day and I’ll actually get my chance.

Source: RalfBecker.com

Many are obsessed with finding the perfect vehicle to traverse a post-apocalyptic world. The Qt Services 300 STR Wildcat makes me want to obliterate civilization just so I can blast across the badlands between crumbled cities at 100 miles per hour. Plowing through tribes of nomadic mutant raiders would be ever so fun in the featherweight, 4-liter V-8-powered beast. The Wildcat pounds the dirt with 270 horsepower through a race-proven 4WD system and suspension setup. A proper five-speed gearbox is standard. To order yours today, visit Qt Services.

Eventually, even your most diehard SoCal bro grows up and starts a family, or at least knocks a couple broads up, and suddenly he finds himself needing two extra doors on his desert hauler. Enter: the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor Supercrew.

Introduced to an awestruck audience (which included us) last year, the Ford Raptor turned the world of 4×4′s on its ear when it hit the scene as the first baja-ready production pickup truck in history. Shortly thereafter, pleas came pouring in from fanboys for a 4-door version. “We’ve had requests for a crew cab,” acknowledged Ford marketing manager Mark Grueber, “We haven’t made any decisions but there’s some demand for it. Not everyone is going to use [the Raptor] for aggressive off-roading. It could be something similar to the four-door Wrangler.” With these new spy shots, however, it seems they’ve advanced considerably beyond merely toying with the idea.

Caught by the ever-vigilant lenses of the Brenda Priddy camp, despite the heavy camouflage and Ford’s coy silence, it’s clear that a 4-door Raptor is well in the works and will likely bow out in time for the 2011 model year. Stay tuned for Ford’s inevitable confirmation.

Source: PickupTruck.com

Courtesy Boston Globe

Sometimes crackpot ideas end up being pretty good. The Wright brothers lifted off the ground in what was essentially a giant box kite. Surely it seemed like a bad idea at the time, but it worked. When Local Motors put out the word that they wanted to build a kit car based on a submitter’s design, it must have seemed like quite a risk. The resulting Rally Fighter is intriguingly awesome, packing a BMW turbodiesel out of the 335d into a Dakar-rally-looking street legal package. (In case you don’t recall what makes the 3.0 twin-turbo diesel special, possibly the 265 HP and 425 ft-lbs of torque, available at 1,750 RPM, will remind you.)

Courtesy Local Motors

The RF can be articulate as well, and we’re not implying that it’s well read … the 18” of front and 20” of rear suspension travel mean this thing has real offroad cred. The tubular steel spaceframe seems strong and lightweight, with the whole car weighing in at a reasonable 3,000 lbs. The vinyl wrap, inspired by the P-51 fighter of WWII, is apparently standard with the kit. We’ll be looking out for more details and hopefully a video of this thing shredding dunes or bouncing over Baja soon.

Courtesy Boston Globe

[Source: Local Motors via Boston Globe]

We’ve been ridelust-crazed for months now in anticipation of the 2010 Ford F-150 Raptor SVT finally hitting the market, but speculation over the price tag has continuously placed a significant damper on our amorous affections. Dangling juicy morsels like “6.2L BOSS V8″ and “400 horsepower” in front of our face, Ford made sure we were good and seduced before dropping the buzz-killing bombshell: the price. According to the official release, the 2010 Raptor will begin with a base price of $38,995, which includes the standard 320-horsepower, 390 lb-ft of torque, 5.4L Triton V8 engine and all the promised desert-hauling goodies. To get their hands on the 400-horsepower, 400 lb-ft of torque 6.2L BOSS V8, SoCal baja bro-skies will have to shell out $41,995, which doesn’t include the $1,995 luxury leather seating package, the $1,075 exterior graphics package, or the $395 interior accent package. What both the $38k and $41k models do include, however, are 35″ of BF Goodrich All-Terrain TA/KO 315/70-17 tires and custom built Fox Racing shocks (capable of 11.2″ of travel in the front, 13.4″ rear) that effectively make the 2010 Raptor the first production pickup to ever come outfitted with position-sensitive internal bypass shocks.

We say: if our budget wasn’t already so tight that we can only afford to put as much gas in our tank as we have quarters in the ash tray, we’d snap up a Raptor in a heartbeat.

Souce: Ford