Ford Fiesta

The 1.6-litre inline four-cylinder engine can achieve up to 5.8l/100km and the ECOnetic version can get down to as low as 3.2L/100km.
But Ken Block and his Gymkhana 3 Fiesta isn’t too worried about fuel consumption, more about how much power the car can develop for his spectacular style of driving.
Powered by a 2.0-litre version of the Ford Fiesta engine, but with a Garrett turbocharger, this particular car develops an eye-popping 367 kW (493 HP) @ 8000 rpm and 743 Nm of torque @ 6000 rpm.
Transmission is courtesy of a Maktrak/Olsbergs MSE 6-speed sequential box via 4wd with front, centre and rear mechanical differentials.
It’s quick this Fiesta, how about 0-100km/h in 3.5 seconds and a top speed of almost 250 km/h, but no mention of the fuel consumption.

But Some Light Bulbs Had to be Replaced

The object of our journey was a 1996 Hummer H1 pickup, 25,000 miles, “Desert Storm” tan, one owner—namely Tom’s father-in-law, who bought it new and deployed it as a tractor on his 160-acre farm. A dedicated Hoosier, the Hummer was built in Mishawaka and never departed the state.

“It might be a little rough,” Tom allowed as we passed Karl Kinser’s shop in Oolitic. “Lots of sinkholes in the local limestone, and my father-in-law—plus the Hummer—fell into a couple. More than a couple. He went completely vertical one time. Things got wet.” (Indeed. The brake-light bulbs were filled with liquid the color of Yoo-hoo.) In truth, the body was in great shape, which Tom proudly pointed out as he circled the behemoth, a boy in love.

One of life’s great joys is articulating the hideous flaws in another man’s freshly acquired vehicle. “Wow, you think the starter should be attached with more than one bolt?” I probed. “Was it your dad’s habit to fill the heater core with grain?” And, “I gotta tell you, I’ve never seen tires called ‘IROK Super Swampers.’ ”

Hummer Limos

German tuner Lorinser has recently set up shop in China—we’re told tuning is on the rise, just like everything else quantifiable in China—and the company celebrated by bringing a super-long S-class as well as this extra-burly G-wagen to the show. They didn’t bother to extend the side exhausts on the G, though. The tips now sit amidships.

Krystal had a whole row of black limos on its stand, from the livery-standard Lincoln Town Car to stretch versions of the Hummer H3 and Ford Expedition. What really caught my attention, however—and that of any non-deaf persons within several hundred yards—was the “entertainment” being supplied by the big screen and even bigger speakers. Yes, that’s John Cusack you see above, wielding a black stretch limo in the movie 2012. One of the more action-y, and loud, scenes was playing on repeat. All day. Did I mention it was loud? It was sooo loud. And no, we haven’t seen the movie either.

Ford Focus ST on the Open Road

Video: Ford Focus ST on the Open Road

The Paris Auto Show brought a lot of introductions, with many of them being concepts or more long-term production vehicles. The Ford Focus ST shown was not one of those vehicles, as it is nearly 100% production material.

Ford has already confirmed the vehicle will be making its way to the United States as part of the company’s efforts at globalizing its product lineup.

Many are eager to see the car replace the current North American Focus that debuted here in 2008, and are particularly interested in the sporty ST model.

Ford has just released this video showing the car driving in the wild. There isn’t a whole lot of action going on, but hey we’ll take what we can get.

The Stig" Collins planning Top Gear rival

Remember when any hint of the identity of the vaunted Stig was news? Even after Ben Collins outed himself as the mysterious super driver it took a few days before we truly believed that the biggest secret in British television had been spoiled. Judging by recent comments made by Jeremy Clarkson, we're starting to think there's little chance we'll ever see the Stig again on Top Gear, but that doesn't mean Collins is out of television for good.

The UK's Telegraph reports that the former driver-in-white is fielding several offers to host his own show in the near future. Of course, Collins isn't quite ready to spill details about his future plans, but he reportedly did mention that he wants to have a show with riskier stunts than what we're used to seeing on Top Gear. In fact, Collins even managed to take a completely unveiled shot at Jezza by saying that the main man at TG "doesn't have that kind of respect for people behind the scenes.

Until a show officially materializes, Collins plans to cash in on his book about the show, followed perhaps by a bit of fiction writing. Meanwhile, Top Gear will likely be hard at work finding the next Stig, though we're guessing the show's producers won't bite on Collins' idea to do a "Who wants to be The Stig" reality show, if only because the former Stig thought of it.

Audi no match for Peugeot

Many in the Audi compound tonight are left muttering under their breath and shaking their head in bewilderment. That's because the team was flat-out beat on Wednesday by Peugeot. It was the first day of practice for the 78th running of Le Mans, and the day started with a French celebration and ended with one as well.

This morning the winning Peugeot drivers from the 2009 race were given one last gift to remember their winning ways. The mayor of Le Mans hosted a ceremony in the center of town honoring David Brabham, Marc Gene and Alexander Wurz. They saw their handprints cast in bronze set in the cobble stones of Le Mans.

By the time everyone returned to the circuit it was time to get down to business, and that is exactly what the Peugeot team did. Throughout the late afternoon and into the evening it seemed each Peugeot driver--first Franck Montagny, then Stephane Sarraazine, and finally Sebastien Bourdais took turns setting the fastest lap. Bourdais finally grabbed the top spot with a time of 3:19.711. He has provisional pole; however the forecast for Thursday is for heavy rain and the French seem content to begin their race preparations.

Rick Dole

Sebastien Bourdais is on the pole for Le Mans after the first day of qualifying.

Preparation or lack there of seems to be the lowest common denominator with the Jaguar team. When the green flag dropped at 4 o'clock this afternoon the team didn't even start its engine. Problems continue to plague this effort, and while Ryan Dalziel and Marc Goossens completed a few laps, Paul Gentilozzi finished none. And there seems to be a lot of confusion on whether or not Gentilozzi has violated a rule requiring some sort of minimum lap requirement during the first day of practice. This is probably the least of his worries. As qualifying began at 10 p.m., the Jag crew had the engine apart trying to find another gremlin. Not a very good first impression and plenty of less-than-positive comments by the Radio Le Mans folks who have followed this team since its debut at the ALMS race at Laguna Seca in 2009.

Johnny Kane sits on pole in the Strakka Racing HPD. He is a second quicker that the Highcroft Racing HPD. Kane set his time of 3:36.168 on qualifying tires. David Brabham was the quickest Highcroft driver with a time of 3:37.202 while running on full tanks.

Former Formula One world champion Nigel Mansell is driving his first Le Mans with sons Greg and Leo. He had a moment during his first stint spinning off at the PlayStation chicane. No harm, no foul.

The same can't be said for the No. 12 Rebellion Racing Lola which was crashed while Marco Andretti was at the wheel. The car did not return to the track this evening.

Rick Dole

One of the iconic sights of Le Mans: the Dunlop Bridge.

The Risi and Corvette ALMS teams traded fastest times in GT2, and Gianmaria Bruni setting the best time in class.

While the 'Vette and Ferrari boys have to feel good following today, the Audi camp cannot. It has spent an enormous amount of euros redesigning and rebuilding the R15, and German sources close to the team confirmed the 2010 model has the same major problem as the 2009 version--understeer. With all of the money, all of the testing and all of the development, the Audi is essentially no quicker than last year's car. And the team is nearly four seconds slower than pole-sitting Peugeot. And 2.2 seconds slower than the semi-works Peugeot of Team Oreca.

The fastest Audi starts on row three.

Hundreds of complaints about Ford

Toyota's recent issues have turned the lights on automakers' and governments' responses to consumer complaints. Two of the questions to arise, which still haven't been answered, are what is the threshold for customer complaints to be considered a safety defect, and when should the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration open an investigation? An example? More than 200 owners of 1999 to 2003 Ford Windstar minivans have submitted complaints to the NHTSA about snapping rear axles, but there has been no investigation and Ford says there's no safety issue.

The breaking-axle incidents have happened after 80,000 miles, the majority coming after the six-figure mileage mark. Ford's take is that nearly all drivers have retained control of the vehicles, and the few that haven't have described behavior that doesn't fit with Ford's predicted vehicle behavior in such an incident. Therefore, it isn't a problem with safety.

As for the NHTSA, even though the complaints are spread over various categories (consumers choose their own categories under which to report), it says it has reviewed every single one of them and says it is monitoring the situation. We suppose everyone is relying on good judgment to decide when or if to declare this a safety matter and open an investigation, and we can agree with that – good judgment can make far more sense than trying to slap hard numbers on these kind of occurrences. The question is: Who's the one with the good judgment?