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HAMILTON IS TOLD: WIN THE TITLE, GET A CAR --- A MCLAREN F1 LM CAR, THAT IS

Ron Dennis, well-known and highly-regarded principal of McLaren Mercedes Formula 1, has promised his second-year driver, one Lewis Hamilton, that if Hamilton wins this year's F1 World Championship of Driving title, and, between himself and McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen, the two bring the F1 2008 Constructor's Title to the team, Hamilton will "win" one of only five McLaren F1 LM models, a bright orange job which Hamilton has apparently had his eyes on since first seeing the car in the McLaren factory in 1998, when he was but 13 years of age. No word, at least so far, on what Dennis has promised Kovalainen if these wins take place. How can Dennis make such a promise in the first place? Because he owns a minimum of 15% of McLaren Mercedes F1 ... Wonder how much of his 15% paid that nasty $100 million fine to the FIA last year?

Doubters should remember that McLaren, deeply involved in an F1 spy scandal worthy of James Bond, forfeited all their Constructor's Title points at the end of last season, and paid a $100 million fine (though one must wonder how close to reality that $100 million figure really is). All things being equal, if Hamilton had won the Driving title last year, McLaren might have won the Constructor's Title ... But perhaps Hamilton will be glad if he, his teammate and the team can own all the glory they win this season ... Because that'll mean he'll win his beloved McLaren F1 LM (though it's a little garish for our tastes).

Lewis Hamilton is the current and incumbent (so far this season) F1 l'enfant terrible; at least the other drivers on the F1 Circus must think he is the "wild child" of the moment, if not a magic child. He seems to have a more-than-winning way with the media, and his rookie-type errors, one of which cost him last year's World title, seemed to have appropriately humbled him, at least in front of the public. Hamilton missed-out on winning the 2007 World Driving Championship by one point ... in his rookie year in the sport, at that!

So far this season, Hamilton won the pole and the race in F1's first event of the year, in Melbourne, Land of Oz, then in Malaysia, the season's second race, he started ninth and finished fifth, while his nemesis from last season, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, started second, but finished first. That Raikkonen is the one and the same who aced Hamilton out of the series driving title in 2007 by a mere point.

But this posting is about the promise from Ron Dennis, with whom Hamilton has had a written and signed contract since 1996, when he was but 11 (Hamilton is positively reaching elder status at this point in his career, pushing as he is 22, turning 23 on July 1, 2008). Hamilton was only 13 when he's said to have fallen in love with this bright orange McLaren F1 LM supercar sitting on display at the factory in Woking, UK, not too far from Heathrow Airport.

The McLaren F1 was the fastest street-legal production car in the world from 1994 to 2005, the longest for  any street legal or production car in history. Engineered and produced by McLaren, the car features a 6.1-litre 60° BMW S70 V12 engine and was what its designers hoped would be the ultimate road car, at least for a somewhat lengthy period of time. Only 100 cars were manufactured, 64 of those were street versions, 5 were LMs, 2 were GTs and the rest were GTR racing models. Production began in 1992 and ended in 1998.

The F1 LM is estimated today to be worth around $4 million; a proud owner of one was the late Beatle, George Harrison. You might remember photos showing Harrison sitting in the center-front-mounted driver's seat, with one passenger behind and above the driver to each side. (Photo --- All 5 of the road-going McLaren F1 LM models, with the "24 Hours of LeMans" race-winner at the upper-right in the familiar "Gulf" colors).

Only five McLaren F1 LM models (LM for LeMans) were built in honor of the five McLaren F1 GTRs which won the 1994 24 Hours of LeMans.

The weight was reduced by approximately 165 pounds over that of original car, through the removal of various trim pieces and the use of optional equipment. The car also had a different transaxle, various aero modifications, specially-designed 18-inch magnesium alloy wheels and an upgraded, lightened gearbox. The F1 LM also used the same engine as the 1995 F1 GTR, however, without race-mandated restrictors to produce 680 hp. It had a top speed of 225 mph, which is less than the standard version due to added aerodynamic drag, despite identical gear ratios. The "thinner" LM, with its "added lightness," is achieved through having no interior noise suppression, no audio system, a very stripped-down base interior, no fan assisted ground effect and no dynamic rear wing. In the place of the small dynamic rear wing there is a considerably larger, fixed CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) rear wing mounted on the back of the vehicle. The fact that the idle noise level inside the car is loud enough to prevent verbal communication is the reason that the car comes with a headset, which features ear protection and a means of communication through microphone, for the occupants. The conventional instruments are replaced with a LED implementation which features more information than the former type (though the "former type," whatever it was, was probably pretty accurate and cool, too).

DODGE'S CHALLENGER SRT8, CHALLENGER R/T AND CHALLENGER SE DISPLAYED IN NYC

At the Los Angeles Auto Show just four months ago, the Dodge Challenger concept caught its share of eyeballs, but only Challenger concept, and the latest iteration of the always crowd-catching Viper, the company really had nothing exceptional to show. Now, at the 2008 NY Auto Show, Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep certainly wasn't breaking any new ground, unless you count 6.1 liter Hemi engines as something remarkable and worth writing home about. We made fun of the company's exhibit at the LA Auto Show, riffing on their heavily-promoted "Hybrid Hemi" on our "CAR NUT TV" program. Now, we realize we shouldn't have gotten laughs of a dying company. We all saw the Plymouth and Oldsmobile divisions killed in the past few years; but there seems to be more than a reasonable chance that Chrysler itself will soon be bankrupt, taking Dodge and Jeep with it. There are about 80,000 full-time employees of Chrysler, 50,000 of them union members. At the end of this post, we're including a very short history of a current supplier problem affecting Chrysler which shows how the company has changed since being taken "private". (Photo - Above, Dodge Challenger's first official public introduction at the NY Auto Show; Below, another all-new Dodge Challenger, this one "taking it to the streets").

One thing Chrysler and the New York Auto Show have in common: The Chrysler 300; the new one, not the classics. Introduced at the NY Auto Show in 2003 as a concept car, the 300, produced for sale in 2004 as a 2005 model, was the last car even resembling a "hit" which Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep has built. Both of the other cars using the same "LX platform" as the 300, the Dodge Charger and Magnum, achieved their own relative levels of success, but now they're all old and used-up. The car business is all about "What have you done for me lately?", and when a car-buyer asks that question of Chrysler and its divisions today, there are no good answers.

Chrysler is in deep trouble, and with it, Dodge and Jeep are also both on their last legs. With India's Tata expected to announce their purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford next week, car-makers in both India and China are being talked about as possible buyer's of Jeep.

FERRARI 612 SCAGLIETTI AT NY --- "ONE-TO-ONE PROGRAMME" INTRO'D

The best story we know about company founder Enzo Ferrari (yes, for younger readers, there really was an Enzo Ferrari --- It's not just the name of one of the company's models) has to be, as far as we Americans are concerned, the great battle between "Il Commandatore," as Ferrari was known, and Henry "The Deuce," nickname of Henry Ford II, son of Edsel Ford, grandson of Ford company founder Henry. The Deuce is not to be confused with "Il Duce'," which was the "honorific" title, meaning "leader," given to Italy's Benito Mussolini, who was Adolph Hitler's lapdog both before and during WWII. (Photo - Ferrari 612 Scaglietti introduced at the NY Auto Show).

The short version of the Ford/Ferrari story has The Deuce wanting to buy Ferrari from its founder in the early 1960s. Many of the obstacles to the purchase had been worked through, and both sides felt there was a good chance the buy-out would happen; Ferrari would have the money his company needed to develop into a true world-class and worldwide car-maker, and Ford, which lacked a real sports car like GM's Corvette, would be able to buy the brainpower and technical ability needed to leave GM in the racing dust. Ford had attended Grand Prix and sports car races throughout Europe and saw the potential for Ford, using the Ferrari name, becoming a power in those series.

But there was one problem remaining, at least in Enzo Ferrari's mind. With the two seated at Enzo's desk in the Ferrari offices in Modena (Italy), Enzo mentioned to Ford that, even with the buyout about to happen, he, Ferrari, would naturally continue in his capacity as leading the motor racing business for Ferrari. Ford said that was not possible; if Ford bought Ferrari, it would be a Ford who would decide personnel staffing and the like. Ferrari said the sale was off, and the two had quite an argument, only ending, the legend goes, with Ferrari almost physically throwing Ford out of his office, with a loud shout, in English, of "Fuck you!"

The rest, as they say, is history. Ford was eventually to give a wily Texan named Carroll Shelby the then unheard-of budget of $40 million to build some race cars, which were dubbed GT40s, and which indeed beat Ferrari's pants off at the "24 Hours of the LeMans" for four straight years, 1966 through 1969. If anyone has ever wondered why Ford Motor has kept a relationship for so many years with Carroll Shelby, even through the many twists and turns of Shelby's personal life and career, one need only know the above story; it explains many things. (Photo - Ferrari's 612 Scaglietti from rear 3/4, above).

Not that Ferrari hasn't survived and enjoyed tremendous success both on and off the race tracks of the world. And while Ford hasn't done too badly, either, at this point in the history of the world's auto industry, Ferrari might be a better bet to stay in black ink than Henry The Deuce's outfit in Dearborn, MI.

But at the 2008 New York Auto Show, the word from Ferrari was "personalization", with a 612 Scaglietti introducing the company's new "One-to-One" Ferrari corporate program. And in the words of the Ferrari PR staff, with not a word changed by this website, we can all enjoy a taste of what the very wealthy can do if they have a mind to do so:

Ferrari intends to allow every client to fully personalise this flagship model, courtesy of a wide array of new content as well as the options available through the Carrozzeria Scaglietti Programme. In fact, a special dedicated "atelier" area has been set up at the factory, where clients can put together their own bespoke 612 Scaglietti accessory by accessory, detail by detail. In exactly the same way as they would at an haute couture fashion house, owners can choose details and materials they want for their car in consultation with the Ferrari experts who will actually build it to their exact specifications and tastes.

BUSH ORDERED TO FORCE THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY TO DO ITS JOB

Recently, it's been said that the "hot" cars and trucks of tomorrow will be those which feature the latest hardware gadgets and software updates to make driving safer, more enjoyable and go much farther on a gallon of gas (or use no gasoline at all). Experts and analysts in the industry (including this one) think the "musclecars" of tomorrow may still offer horsepower, but their real "beauty" will be reflected in the vehicle's design and styling, inside and out, and online capabilities, as much as in the size of its engine.

We thought you would be interested in reading the following Sunday, February, 17, 2008 NEW YORK TIMES editorial about the Bush Administration, which has been ordered by both the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court, no wild-eyed radical bunch, to force the Environmental Protection Agency to obey the law and take action to control mercury emanating from industrial smokestacks and to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. (Photo - The Environmental Protection Agency's headquarters building is in Washington, DC's "Federal Triangle" area, which is just off what's sometimes called "the nation's front yard", the National Mall).

Car Nuts want to know, and indeed need to know, that the government, and especially the EPA (whose creation was by Richard Nixon, of all people, working together with the US Congress), has, by law, specific obligations which it needs to uphold. This editorial from the NEW YORK TIMES defines just some of the problems facing industry, specifically the auto industry.

February 18, 2008

Editorial

Judicial Rebukes on Clean Air

The federal courts have been a bulwark against the Bush administration’s relentless efforts to weaken 40 years’ worth of environmental law, including statutes protecting the nation’s forests, wetlands and endangered species. The courts have been especially important in resisting the administration’s assault on the 1970 Clean Air Act, which began with Vice President Dick Cheney’s 2001 energy report and continues to this day. (Photo - A gold 1964 Pontiac GTO; GTO was, and still is, touted as the "first musclecar" and perhaps doomed due in an oil-less future).

In 2006 and 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to follow the law and require utilities to install pollution controls when upgrading power plants. Another Supreme Court decision last year held that the Clean Air Act required the E.P.A. to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, an obligation the agency continues to duck.

This month, the D.C. Circuit ruled that the E.P.A. had once again ignored the law by failing to require deep and timely reductions in mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. Like most clean air cases, this one was mind-numbingly complex. The gist of it was that the E.P.A. — seeking as usual to please industry — had approved a weak set of regulations that would let many plants off the hook for emissions reductions that would be required under any honest reading of the law. (Photo - "Tri-Power" was stock in 1964 GTOs; it was a 389cid V8 with three carburetors, hence the Tri-Power sobriquet).

The D.C. Circuit, by no means a radical group of judges, has become so exasperated that it has taken to quoting Lewis Carroll. In 2006, in a reference to “Through the Looking Glass,” the court said that the E.P.A.’s reading of the law would make sense “only in a Humpty Dumpty world.” This month, invoking “Alice in Wonderland,” the court said the agency’s reasoning recalled “the logic of the Queen of Hearts, substituting the E.P.A.’s desires for the plain text” of the law.

Desire still burns bright at the E.P.A., which reportedly intends to make one last-ditch effort to weaken the rules requiring new pollution controls on upgraded plants. Our advice to the agency would be to take a dispassionate look at its losing streak in the federal courts and, for once, leave the law alone. (end of editorial)

CORVETTE'S BLUE DEVIL, UH, SS, NO, UH, 600 HORSEPOWER ... UH, 700 HORSEPOWER ... !

The sites which originally ran these photos told a story about a crew of airline employees (Lufthansa, some say), sworn to secrecy for their job --- Being in charge of shipping to various race track and automotive R&D sites around the world two all-new Corvette prototypes, variously known as the 'SS' or the 'Blue Devil'. And whaddya know --- One of the employees took some photos (as Capt. Renault said upon entering "Rick's American Cafe'" in the film Casablanca, and finding gambling going on there, "I'm shocked! Shocked!") of the new car, and even, it is said, got some seat time in the unit, driving it around various warehouses and even a runway or two during its many journeys.

What do we know about this car? Well, first, we don't know if these photos are accurate or not, or if a Corvette in this form, even exists. The car has been variously described as having either 600 or 700 horsepower ... Built as it is to be a Viper-fighter.

So what really happened? Well, at this point, no one knows if these photos are accurate or just some sort of decoy thrown to an enthusiast media which almost always acts too quickly in printing "spy shots" without having any sort of verification. Happens all the time ... And who better to pull this stunt then GM's PR folks, who are some of the best and most-experienced in the business?

Here's some history fer ya: General Motors, in fact, literally invented automotive public relations by  creating the first official PR department within any car company, headed-up by Anthony DeLorenzo, brother of the fellow who runs autoextremist.com (a truly interesting site, especially for those with an interest in automotive marketing) and uncle of Matt DeLorenzo, who I believe has moved back to our left coast, taking an in-office staff gig with ROAD & TRACK magazine (he had been their Detroit Editor for some years, and also has served as an editor of AutoWeek, America's only weekly automotive enthusiast pub ).

It would not be the first time auto enthusiast journos have been fooled by automotive PR folks ... Well, THAT happens on a daily basis, but we mean in such a big and public way!

   

NEW SECTION! SUPERCARS, CONCEPTS, EXOTICS, COLLECTIBLES AND MORE!

Check here soon for our latest news and views on supercars, collectibles, exotics, concepts, interesting or outrageous auto auction news and more! Find out who is paying way too much and for what! Check back here soon for our first postings in this all-new and sure-to-be-hot section!