American Car Breaks World Speed Record

SSC Ultimate Aero
view slideshow >For the first time since 1967, the Guinness World Record for “Fastest Production Car” belongs to an American automobile. Guinness has officially confirmed that Shelby Supercars’ Ultimate Aero hit 256.19 miles per hour on a remote highway in Washington last month.

A local 71-year-old car enthusiast named Chuck Bigelow drove the Ultimate Aero to the new world record

The Ultimate Aero shattered the record previously held by the Swedish Koenigsegg CCR by 15 mph. Bugatti claims that its Veyron 16.4 has hit 253.52 mph, but the number is unofficial and not recognized by Guinness.
The 2,750-pound Ultimate Aero was able to topple the record thanks to a twin-turbocharged V8 engine turning out 1183 horsepower and 1094 pound-feet of torque. Highly developed aerodynamics to help keep the vehicle stable at extremely high speeds. The Ultimate Aero is exceedingly low to the ground — so low that there’s a switch in the cabin that lifts the front of the car four inches to help it better navigate uneven surfaces. (The Ferrari Enzo has a similar feature.)
Jerod Shelby said that the Ultimate Aero was in development for six years and was explicitly designed with the “Fastest Production Car” record in mind. “As a smaller U.S.-based manufacturer, the difficulty is to gain credibility and legitimize your product," he said." Six years ago we knew that the best way to do this would be to go for the speed record in order to put ourselves on the map."
To qualify for Guinness' production car speed record, the Ultimate Aero had to be fueled by pump gasoline (as opposed to extra-high-octane fuel used in race cars), plus meet all Department of Transportation safety regulations and Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards.

SSC Ultimate Aero
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Guinness requires cars competing for the record to make two passes over the same course within one hour. They then average the speeds achieved on both runs. The Ultimate Aero’s driver, Bigelow, hit 257.45 mph on his first pass, then 254.92 on the way back.
The temporarily closed highway on which the Ultimate Aero was tested was a relatively short course that may have prevented it from achieving its true potential, as wind tunnel testing has shown the Ultimate Aero to be stable up to 273 mph. SSC hopes to someday test the Ultimate Aero out on a Volkswagen-owned test track in Ehra-Lessien, Germany, where the Koenigsegg and Bugatti were able to make their marks on a 5.6-mile straightaway

They company has sold seven of the $579,000 Ultimate Aeros out of a production run of 50. The car went on sale this year.

The last American car to break Guinness' production-car speed record was the Ford GT40, thirty years ago.

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General Motors Recalls 944,000 Vehicles

A problem with the windshield wiper-fluid system in various GM vehicles could lead to a fire

General Motors is recalling 944,000 vehicles because of a problem with a windshield wiper fluid system that could lead to a fire.

More than 850,000 sport utility vehicles, trucks and passenger cars in the United States and nearly 100,000 vehicles in Canada, Mexico and the Middle East are involved in the recall, the company said.
GM said it includes the 2008 Buick Enclave, 2006-2008 Buick Lucerne, 2006-2008 Cadillac DTS, 2007-2008 Cadillac Escalade, 2007-2008 Cadillac Escalade ESV, 2007-2008 Cadillac Escalade EXT, 2007-2008 Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado, Tahoe and Suburban, 2007-2008 GMC Acadia, Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL, 2006-2008 Hummer H2 and 2007-2008 Saturn Outlook.
The recall involves vehicles with a heated washer fluid system. A short circuit in the system could cause electrical features to malfunction, which could lead to an odor, smoke or potentially a fire.
GM spokeswoman Carolyn Markey said there have been nine reports of fires and three of them have been linked to the system. There have been no accidents or injuries connected to the defect, she said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation last February into 2007 Yukon and Tahoe vehicles over potential engine compartment fires. In June, the highway safety agency upgraded its investigation into about 2.7 million 2007-2008 GM trucks and SUVs and reported allegations of 41 engine fires.
Dealers will install a wire harness with an in-line fuse to fix the problem free of charge, GM said.

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Sharpest Cat Since the E-Type: 2009 Jaguar XF Supercharged

Jack Kennedy lived in the White House and Alan Shepard was preparing to become America’s first man in space when England rolled out a missile of its own, a land-bound two-door wearing a monocoque so fetching, no less an authority than Enzo Ferrari dubbed it the most beautiful car he’d ever seen.

Jaguar called it the E-Type. And from that launch day in 1961 through the fourteen years of production that followed, the E-Type not only defined the Jaguar brand -- sexy, aristocratic, sporty, suave -- it set a standard for elegance and style that perhaps no other automobile before or since has matched.Then Jaguar dropped the sexy ball. Like a film star who trades the gym and the tofu for the La-Z-Boy and the Big Macs, Jaguar almost callously abandoned its well-earned place in the style spotlight. The 1975 XJ-S was a dubious E-Type follow-up, the E’s cigar-like purity stomped on by flying buttresses. By 1986 the lithe XJ sedan had ballooned into the blocky XJ40. Outright disasters like the “baby” X-Type followed.

Of late Jaguar has struggled back into shape. The XJ sedan has returned to fashionable form, and the two-door XK delivers a thoroughly rewarding sports/GT experience. But it’s Jaguar’s newest model, the XF four-door, that most recalls the flair and sex appeal of Jag’s E-Type era.We’ve now got a new, top-level XF Supercharged in our long-term test fleet; I’m saddled with the not-so-difficult chore of official chaperone. And now that I’ve rolled a good chunk of miles under its wheels, I’m even more taken by the new Jag than I was after a preview drive at the car’s launch. You want some of that old-time romance and sex appeal in your driving? The XF beckons.
What stands out most about this new Jaguar? It’s true to itself, plays it own game. Jaguar hasn’t tried to emulate BMW or Mercedes-Benz or Audi. Ian Callum’s design looks fresh, its grille a nod to the ’68 XJ but its lines otherwise as modern and distinctive as anything in its class. The XF cockpit doesn’t sport a clone of iDrive or COMAND or MMI, either; Jaguar uses a simple touchscreen.

Would BMW or Mercedes build a car with a heartbeat? Not likely. The XF’s red starter button flickers to life -- seemingly beating -- when you enter; press it, and the hidden dashboard vents twirl open as the circular transmission selector rises up from center console. It’s intentionally showy, perhaps an unnecessary drum roll of pizzazz, but Jaguar pulls it off. Right away, the XF feels different. Special.

The powertrain lives up to the flourish of the opening act. The base car boasts a none-too-shabby 300 horsepower from its naturally aspirated, DOHC 4.2-liter V-8, but in blown and intercooled form the 4.2 gushes with the excess we do so adore. Output climbs to 420 giddy ponies, enough to blast the XF to 60 mph in well under five seconds. (Not that anyone buying a $63,000 automobile would care, but EPA city/highway is a very decent 15/23 mpg.) The V-8 mates to the brilliant ZF six-speed automatic that also serves in other Jags, Astons, and Land Rovers; rotate the gear selector into Sport mode and you’ve got full manual shifts on tap via tidy paddle tabs behind the steering wheel.
Jaguar rightfully earned a reputation long ago for chassis finesse, and the XF draws deep from the well of corporate history. Chief engineer Mike Cross has fashioned a handling marvel, the XF alive with steering feel, tire grip, and chassis balance. Squeeze on the throttle mid-corner and the XF gooses its rear-end to the outside as the front tires bite harder to the inside. Fourteen-inch front binders inside the 20-inch alloys let you carry speed deep into the braking zone. A rigid composite undertray helps the chassis shrug off cornering stresses.
Yes, your passengers were suckered aboard by the lure of all that luscious leather, aluminum, and wood (not to mention, a 440-watt Bowers & Wilkins audio system that has them attempting to stand while applauding), but now they’re furiously fumbling for the grab handles while their tea and crumpets do a Shake ‘n Bake inside the cabin. A stripped-bare sports car couldn’t make much better time on a mountain road than this otherwise pampering XF Supercharged.

That’s the thing: The XF Supercharged runs like hell when you’re in the mood, and when you’re not it’s all elegance and serve-you-well. The standard CATS adaptive suspension tightens up to pull off those extraordinary moves in the squigglies but creams off the impacts at cruise. Ventilated, heated and cooled front seats are standard. Your iPod syncs up fully to the audio system via a standard audio interface. At night the cabin becomes a nightclub, pumping tunes from the B&W woofers and soaked in the cool sheen of phosphor-blue gauge and halo lighting.
The XF Supercharged revives every hallmark from Jaguar’s storied past. From its easy saunter to its fury when you’re charging to its flair for making a grand entrance, the XF Supercharged stands to go down as a landmark model in the company’s history, like the E-Type transmitting to automotive rivals a steely communique from Coventry, England.In this case, it’s saying, “Jaguar is Jaguar again.”

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