RideLust

Well, it’s official. Virgin Galactic has opened the worlds first spaceport in New Mexico. The $200m state funded project was agreed upon back in 2005 and covers a 27 sq. mile parcel of land known as “The Land of Enchantment”. This is pretty big news when you get right down to it, because billionaire businessman Richard Branson is now the first man to actually privatize space travel. Tickets are selling for a mere $200,000 a seat, and while that won’t get you to the moon, that will get you about 60 miles straight up where you’ll be able to float around weightless for a few minutes. Now while $200,000 may seem like a bunch of moola’ for most people, rest assured that there are plenty of people that will see this as a bargain and take full advantage of being one of the first private citizens in space.

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The 2012 Honda Ridgeline Sport. Image: Honda

In a recent statement to the automotive press, Honda seems to be channeling Mark Twain. In regards to the Ridgeline pickup, Honda’s release essentially translates to “rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated.” In fact, Honda wants the world to know that the Ridgeline will soldier on well beyond the current 2012 refresh.

For the coming year, a Ridgeline Sport joins the product line, and the Ridgeline gets a boost in fuel economy. That’s a good thing, since the current Ridgeline’s 15 mpg city and 20 mpg highway aren’t exactly “class leading.” In fact, Honda has struggled to move Ridgeline pickups in 2011, selling just 6,476 units year-to-date through September. To put that in perspective, Ford sold 7,154 Ranger pickups in September alone (and 49,788 YTD), and the current Ranger model really hasn’t been updated since 1998. Read More…

Brent Hajek and his F-250 at Bonneville. Image: Ford Motor Company

Would you drive a Ford F-250 Super Duty Crew Cab at 182 miles per hour, even at the Bonneville Salt Flats? My answer to that question, without much consideration, would be a resounding “no.” Ask Brent Hajek, a farmer from Oklahoma and owner of Hajek Motorsports, the same question and you’re likely to be met with an enthusiastic “hell yes!”

Hajek just set two land speed records in a slightly modified 2011 Ford F-250 Super Duty pickup equipped with the new 6.7-liter PowerStroke diesel engine. On pump diesel, the truck ran a top speed of 171.123 miles per hour. Running B20 biodiesel, the truck clocked a top speed of 182 miles per hour, besting the old biodiesel record by over 52 miles per hour. Read More…

Image: 1poppystudios

Flyin’ MIata has been the go-to site for the Miata enthusiast looking for more power or better handling since the early 1990s. What started as a European specialty repair shop in New Jersey evolved into a Miata specific parts and tuning operation based out of Palisade, Colorado. Want better handling from your first, second or third generation Miata? The staff at FM can hook you up with everything from components through suspension kits. Want to go faster? They’ll sell you fully sorted and developed turbo or blower kits. Want to go a lot faster? They’ll even build you a second generation Miata with an Chevy LS3 V-8 stuffed under the hood. Read More…

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You may know Sabine Schmitz as the Wonder Woman of the Nurburgring, or as some folks like to refer to her, The Hottest Woman On The Planet. Sabine is best known for her skills piloting the Ring Taxi around the Nurburgrings many corners, but when not giving people paid tours around the Ring, she’s out test driving the worlds latest and greatest super cars. For example here we see Sabine taking CAR magazine’s Juliet McGuire for a little run in a BMW M3 Frozen Edition. Ms. Juliet is right on the edge of her seat for the entire ride and truth be told, Sabine looks as though she is totally enjoying making her passenger freak out. All I know is that Juliet McGuire is loving being in the passenger seat of that BMW, and I have a feeling that after that ride she’ll be satisfied in more ways than one.

Source: Carmag.co.za

Ducati’s uber expensive and exclusive Desmosedici RR is basically a GP bike for the open road. It’s light, fast and for all intensive purposes a masterpiece of engineering. With almost 200 hp and a top speed of 190 mph the Desmosedici RR is a two wheeled force to be reckoned with. There are those however who look at machines of this caliber and simply think that they can be better and thus, take a shot at it, NCR is one such company. There goal in the motorcycling world is simple:

“To prove itself to the motorcycling market as a designer and manufacturer of very exclusive motorcycles that use the highest available technology and leading design to a knowledgeable and demanding customer”.

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Here is something that should get the Subaru loyal out there jumping up and down. MarketWatch.com just noted that the prototype for the new 2011 Subaru WRX STI just lapped the Nurburgring in a scant time of 7:55. Ladies and gentleman, that is bookin’. The video here is very impressive and it proves that Subaru has the ability to produce a world class sports car. The problem however is that this car is a prototype and apparently had a few major upgrades over the soon-to-be released production model such as some lightweight aluminum parts as well as a larger turbocharger that is normally found on the Japanese R205 Subaru. I’m not taking anything away from Subaru for this, but just understand that this is not a stock car, but a modified Subaru being driven by one of the best drivers on earth, four-time World Rally Champion Tommi Mäkinen. The previous record for a Subaru was set back in 2004 with another Subaru WRX STI at a time of 7:59.41.

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Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, researchers at the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) have determined that laws banning the use of handheld cell phones while driving do not reduce crash rates (press release here). Rather than utilizing real world accident data, the HLDI researchers studied “reductions in observed phone use following bans” to determine what the anticipated reduction in accidents should be. Presumably, by their math, observing 30% fewer drivers on handheld cell phones should produce 30% fewer accidents.

What-the-everloving-f*ck? By this logic, if I look out my window and don’t see a serial killer, I can presume that serial killers don’t exist. Likewise, if I see 30% fewer cars on Sunday, I can state that the number of cars in my city has decreased by 30%.

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After overseeing General Motors through one of the darkest periods in company history and witnessing the posting of the most abysmal sales results in decades, North American sales chief Mark LaNeve has announced he will be resigning. Given the aggressive round of musical chairs that’s been played throughout the past year amongst GM’s top executives, the announcement does not come as a shock to those familiar with the trade. What we did find mildly surprising was LaNeve’s decision to leave GM in favor of a job outside of the automotive sector, indicating either an exasperation with or total loss of hope in the industry he’s devoted 28 years of his life to. Read More…

It was only a matter of time before the huge performance potential of the Hyundai Genesis Coupe was tapped by an eager aftermarket. GReddy, the Irvine-based tuner, is releasing a bunch of Hyundai approved parts for the rear-drive sportscar, and they’ll debut on the “GReddy X-Gen Street Genesis Coupe” demonstration car at SEMA this year. The showcar, and most of the mods, focus on the 2.0L turbo model, and they’re aiming to extract 350 HP and 320 ft-lbs. of torque from the Stage 1 tune that’ll show up at the show. Later modifications should push the little coupe up beyond 500 HP. Press release and more details after the jump.

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