Videos
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Icon turns out fantastic works of automotive art. The company revisits classic cars and gives them a modern spin, though mostly under the sheet metal. You're most likely familiar with the Land Cruisers, Broncos, and other off-road machines built in the shop owned by Jonathan Ward. His company crafts incredible machines for a wide range of clients. You may be less familiar with Ward's line of Derelicts, though, and you're about to be introduced to one of them thanks to Jay Leno's Garage. The Derelict line takes an older vehicle and cleans it up a bit but not much. If there's patina it's going...
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Homemade water-powered trike can do 0-160 in under 4 secondsWater is an incredibly powerful thing. Most of the time we observe it still, be it sitting in your drinking glass or while staring at a vast calm ocean. When put to work, however, water is a mighty tool. It can be used for cutting. The ocean can rise up and ruin entire cities. It can be used to...
Jeff Glucker -
Here's how you set up your racecar's suspensionA racecar is never just a set it and forget it type of machine. Each circuit determines the sort of setup a driver and a car might prefer, as it might have a tight, corner heavy layout or one that's more open and filled with high-speed sweeping sections. Now, you make this about rally racing and...
Jeff Glucker -
Hennessey Venom F5 coming Nov. 1; might hit 300 mph, destroy Chiron?Just over three years ago Hennessey Performance Engineering announced to the world it was beginning work on a world-beating hypercar called the Venom F5. On Thursday, the Texas-based performance shop told the world the wait is nearly over: the F5 will be unveiled at SEMA on November 1. Set to use a...
Joel Feder -
Teen builds own emergency truck, responds to distress callsMany kids dream of joining the police force or becoming a firefighter, though most normally wait until adulthood before fulfilling it. That isn’t the case for a 16-year-old from Melbourne, Australia. The youngster, whose identity cannot be revealed because of his age, converted a white Isuzu...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Learn what it takes for a car to break the sound barrierIn 1997, the Thrust SSC team landed a world record when its car set the world land-speed record of 763 mph. But, taking a car like the Thrust SSC to speeds above 700 mph isn't a simple as holding the steering wheel straight and mashing the throttle. No, there's finesse and precision involved to...
Sean Szymkowski -
The Mazda Miata remains a go-to choice for those seeking a no-frills driving experience today. Over four generations, the Miata may have gained and lost various facets of itself, but it's always been a fun-to-drive sports car on a budget. But, where did it all begin? Thanks to Donut Media, we have everything we'd ever want to know about the birth of the Mazda Miata. And, in fact, the Miata truly was a spiritual successor to British roadsters. In 1976, Bob Hall, a Motor Trend contributor at the time, met with Mazda and the automaker asked him what he'd like to see from the company. Hall wanted...
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Why dyno numbers might not be something to boast aboutTaking your car to a dyno is often a great way to produce bragging rights, especially after installing various aftermarket modifications. Following the results owners often swear by the figures, but variances in the equipment itself can lead to numerous results that skew the figures themselves...
Sean Szymkowski -
Say, what can you see? How self-driving cars view roadsWhen a self-driving car boots up and takes in the world around it, its vision is nothing like what a human driver finds familiar. Instead, a self-driving car uses data collection via radar, cameras, and lidar to "see" the world around it. How can humans begin to understand what the machine sees?...
Sean Szymkowski -
1917 Mitsubishi refitted with modern Outlander plug-in hybrid powertrainWhat's old is new again, at least at Mitsubishi. The three-diamond brand is celebrating its centennial this year. To mark the occasion, the brand tapped West Coast Customs to build a 1917 Model A—Mitsubishi's first car, as its name implies—with a plug-in hybrid powertrain plucked from...
Sean Szymkowski -
Would you daily that? RCR-built Ferrari 330 P4 replicaLet's get this out of the way first: Yes, we know it's a kit car. This Ferrari 330 P4 RCR is a pretty good kit though, and it looks like it would be a lot of fun to thrash thing on a good road or a racetrack. It's produced by a company called RCR, which makes some top-notch vintage race car...
Jeff Glucker -
Polestar 1 is a carbon fiber-bodied 600-horsepower hybrid coupeVolvo was among the first automakers to announce intentions to phase out the internal combustion engine and move to a purely electrified portfolio of cars. In the process, Volvo's former in-house tuning division, Polestar, parted ways to become a standalone brand. Its mission? Build electrified...
Sean Szymkowski -
Toyota at next week’s 2017 Tokyo Motor Show will preview a potential future for mobility with a trio of concepts. The automaker’s vision for the future is one where cars and people work together to make getting around as easy and efficient as possible. The medium that will allow this to happen is artificial intelligence. Each of the concepts features an electric powertrain as well as an AI interface dubbed an AI Agent by Toyota. This is intelligent software that has the ability to provide responses or apply actions based on a driver's questions or requests. However, it can also...
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. receives fitting NASCAR retirement presentThe 2017 NASCAR Cup Series will be Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s final season after he announced his retirement earlier this year. Through Earnhardt Jr.'s 18 seasons and more than 600 races, the star racer clinched two Daytona 500 wins in his career. So, what's a proper retirement gift for someone of...
Sean Szymkowski -
How protective car film worksMost people aren't willing to grab a brass brush and drag it across a body panel on their fresh, clean car. Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained is here to do just that to show off a bit of science. That science involves the protective film he recently applied to his cars, and it's the reason...
Jeff Glucker -
It's McLaren P1 GTR and Ferrari FXX K track timeWhen two hypercars take to the track to stretch their legs, it's time to put down everything and strap in for the ride. Today, it's the McLaren P1 GTR and the Ferrari FXX K, which arrived at Monza for a few hot laps. The video shows the two hypercars during different sessions, so it's not an actual...
Sean Szymkowski -
Learn how Lamborghini helped engineer the Dodge Viper's V-10The Dodge Viper has once again departed the automotive landscape, but it won't be forgotten anytime soon. Why? Because it represented one of the purest sports cars a Detroit automaker ever built—and actually built in Detroit, Michigan, at that. Donut Media is back to help us get up to speed...
Sean Szymkowski -
Polestar cuts the crap with new electric performance coupe teaserPolestar is being blunt with the latest teaser for its upcoming electrified performance coupe. In the new video, the former Volvo in-house tuning division explains its ethos and says, "we [will] reveal a car that we would want to drive ourselves. Because when you build something for yourself, only...
Sean Szymkowski -
Audi's next-generation A7 has been spotted in prototype form once again. Though the latest prototype is still heavily masked, we know what to expect due to a recently leaked photo of a scale model. The design was also previewed by Audi’s Prologue concept first unveiled at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show. Responsible for the look is current Audi design boss Marc Lichte. His aim with the next-gen A7 is to inject greater visual differentiation between the car and the mechanically-similar next-generation A6. The recently redesigned A8 is the first model designed under Lichte’s...
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What is a "hot inside V" turbo engine?Have you ever heard of a "hot inside V"? It's not a sandwich. Our friend Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained is here for a quick lesson on this en vouge turbocharging setup for today's engines. A hot inside V turbocharger layout places the turbo or turbos inside the valley between the engine...
Jeff Glucker -
Before the Urus, there was the LM002Lamborghini is set to unveil the Urus SUV on December 4, but the vehicle is by no means the supercar marque’s first off-roader. Lamborghini was a pioneer when it comes to high-performance SUVs, though it never enjoyed the success of Porsche with the Cayenne. Lamborghini’s first SUV was...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Nissan built a GT-R operated by a video game controllerThe latest installment in the iconic "Gran Turismo" video game series, "Gran Turismo Sport," goes on sale next week, but Nissan threw a celebration of its own ahead of the launch. The video game itself may have coined the "Real Driving Simulator" tagline years ago, but Nissan took it to a new level...
Sean Szymkowski -
Go behind the scenes of Ken Block's "Climbkhana" videoKen Block's "Gymkhana" videos are always a spectacle of insane driving maneuvers, stunts, and loads of horsepower. Capturing that footage is no easy task. Now, you can get a behind-the-scenes look at what went into making "Climbkhana," Block's recent stunt-laden video. The production work included...
Sean Szymkowski -
LeBron James is ready to be driven by the machineBasketball superstar LeBron James is tired of driving. If you count zero, there are six levels of autonomous driving that have been defined by the International Society of Automotive Engineers. As you might guess, Level Zero is when there's no automation and a driver is the one responsible for...
Jeff Glucker