Spectra Premium Industries Inc Cu1515 Radiator on 2040-parts.com

July 25: Plugging in while surfing

Went surfing, 33 miles away. 33 plus 33 is 66. Should have been within the range limits of the car but I used up nine kWhs on the first leg of mostly freeway driving, which suggests I wouldn't make it home.

BMW M3 coupe gets stripped down to go club racing

BMW's M division is back in the business of building specialty street-legal race cars with a new lightweight version of the M3 called the GTS. The lightweight coupe, set to go on sale in early 2010 at a yet-undisclosed price, was conceived as a limited-edition model primarily for club-based racing in much the same way that Porsche builds the 911 GT3 Clubsport. But in a clear effort to link its track-based activities with the production-car side of its business, BMW's M division is offering the new car with a homologation package that will allow customers to register the M3 GTS for street use.

Hamana, hamana, hamana… SOLD!

The first thing that hits you driving over the hundreds of miles of desert on the way to see the monster Scottsdale classic and collector car auctions every January is the HUGE number of motor homes scattered willy nilly all across the sand and rocks like dice. Every winter Arizona sprouts fields of Winnebegos and Hitchhiker IIs like big, rectangular wildflowers, only less pretty (Not counting the requisite lion and dolphin murals airbrushed on the backs, what are those about, anyway?). Can snowy winters in Saskatchewan really be that bad?