Driving Sports

Western Automotive Journalists Gather For "Media Days" At Laguna Seca

The Western Automotive Journalists organization gathered this week in beautiful Monterey, Calif. to test drive the 2008 sports and luxury car field from virtually every automaker doing business in North America. Journalists from up and down the west coast arrived to test the full fleet of 2008 cars on the winding mountain roads of Carmel Valley and at speed on the track at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Yes, that's the new Nissan GT-R parked next to the NISMO Edition 350Z in the photo to the right. Yes, they're as good as you think they are.

Events such as this serve a number of purposes, including a rare chance for side-by-side tests of comparable cars from different automakers, and also to allow a relaxed atmosphere to talk shop with the manufacturer representatives. But I wouldn't lie to you and tell you it was anything like working - this event is big-time fun.

Lexus Finally Unveils an Interesting Car!

Stop the presses! Someone please pinch me! Lexus has finally unveiled a concept for a car that doesn't make me want to kill myself from sheer boredom!  Please, I beg you, someone assure me that they'll actually build it and get away from their usual rolling piles of self-satisfied smugness!

The LF-A Roadster is based on the sturdy yet lightweight carbon-fiber and aluminum   body used for the LF-A coupe, which helps maintain the structure's strength   and rigidity even without a top.

Like its coupe counterpart, the LF-A Roadster is powered by a high-revving   V10 engine that approaches 5.0 liters in displacement. The V10, capable of more   than 500 horsepower and test-track speeds greater than 200 mph, is mounted in   front of the passenger compartment but behind the front-axle centerline in what   the LF-A's engineers refer to as a "front-mid" configuration.

The engine is connected via a torque tube and propeller shaft to a transaxle   that is controlled by paddle shifters. The torque tube is a structural member   that adds rigidity to the drivetrain and chassis while also reducing vibration.