Genuine Subaru Disc Brake Rotor Front 26300al03a on 2040-parts.com

NASCAR's sexy French past

In the post-Jean Girard era, your stereotypical NASCAR fan probably doesn't spend too much time thinking about France. Unless it's Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., or Jim France, or Brian France, or Amy France. Ok, so NASCAR fans might actually think about Frances fairly often, but probably not the French Republic.

BMW M5 (2011): the new F10M unveiled

This is the new BMW M5. Long lauded as the greatest performance saloon on the planet, this is the fifth generation BMW M5, boasting 10 percent more power than its predecessor (making it the most powerful M car ever), 30 percent more torque, yet the company claims fuel consumption is improved by 30% too. So finally we can get the definitive facts and figures on the new BMW M5’s engine?

Watch the sad, final moments of a crusher-bound heap

Automotive wrecking yards are good places to reflect on the real-world values of heavily depreciated vehicles versus global current scrap-metal prices, and to see which cars have suddenly had the fix-it-versus-total-it line moved by insurance companies (the early-21st-century Subaru Legacy Outback, for example, appeared in large numbers in high-turnover wrecking yards just during the last year, as fairly minor collision damage on these cars is no longer worth fixing). You'll see the things that a car's last owner does in a desperate attempt to sell (or at least live with) an increasingly decrepit heap (as we learned in "Repo Man," you really will find a Little Tree in every car). During a recent trip to a San Jose, Calif., yard, I encountered this sad yet strangely compelling scene.