Laguna Seca getting another awkward name with WeatherTech sponsorship
But here's why floormat alliance is a good thing for the track
According to the Monterey Herald, and also reported by Autoweek, Laguna Seca is getting a new title sponsor and as a result, a new name. The track is currently known by the official name of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, a less-than-elegant name that goes away soon because Mazda
is ending its sponsorship on March 31. The newspaper reports that the
new sponsor is WeatherTech, and the new name, arriving on April 1, adds a
word: WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca.
It seems that those in charge of the track are happy with the deal, though. The Monterey Herald
reports the deal is for five years of sponsorship at a cost of $5
million and that it's about two-thirds of what Mazda was paying. But the
newspaper also reports that the track won't be providing the same track
access that Mazda needed, and it may attract other automakers to the
track when the track's name isn't partly that of a competitor.
(AutoBlog.com)
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Did You Know - Ikea Edition
18 Weirdly Interesting Things You Didn't Know About Ikea
Did you know "Ikea" is an acronym?
Did you know "Ikea" is an acronym?
2.
Ikea is an acronym! It stands
for Ingvar Kamprad (the name of the founder), Elmtaryd (the name of the
farm where he grew up), and Agunnaryd (the name of his hometown).
13.
There's an Ikea hotel in Älmhult. You can even stay in a room with bunk beds.
18.
There's a reason why there are no written instructions on the manuals – it's because it's cheaper to produce thin booklets.
There's One Very Good Reason
Toyota Should Never Turbocharge The GT86, And Here’s Why
We're not just talking about the cliched 'balance' argument; there are sensible, logical reasons why Toyota should never give the GT86 a turbo
Toyota has staunchly refused to oblige, partly because of balance concerns, and partly because it stands by the product it designed in the first place. That product is an old-school, lightweight(ish), flickable and talented sports car in the vein of a hard-top MX-5.
No one can argue the formula is a bad one. Take something that drives a lot like the one-million-plus-selling Mazda, stick a hard top on it for extra rigidity and then add more power. It’s pure genius… in theory.
Look again at the MX-5. It’s celebrated for breathing without a turbo; many of us still prefer it to the turbo’d Abarth 124 Spider, despite that car’s relative tonne of extra torque. That doesn’t stop us hankering after a well-executed snail conversion for the ND car, but the fact that there’s the choice at all is the best thing. The GT86 gives you choice.
(CarThrottle.com)
We're not just talking about the cliched 'balance' argument; there are sensible, logical reasons why Toyota should never give the GT86 a turbo
Toyota has staunchly refused to oblige, partly because of balance concerns, and partly because it stands by the product it designed in the first place. That product is an old-school, lightweight(ish), flickable and talented sports car in the vein of a hard-top MX-5.
No one can argue the formula is a bad one. Take something that drives a lot like the one-million-plus-selling Mazda, stick a hard top on it for extra rigidity and then add more power. It’s pure genius… in theory.
Look again at the MX-5. It’s celebrated for breathing without a turbo; many of us still prefer it to the turbo’d Abarth 124 Spider, despite that car’s relative tonne of extra torque. That doesn’t stop us hankering after a well-executed snail conversion for the ND car, but the fact that there’s the choice at all is the best thing. The GT86 gives you choice.
(CarThrottle.com)
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
When Will They Let There Be Light?
Why we can't have better headlights here in the U.S.
Outdated safety standards, lack of NHTSA leadership keep us in the dark
Audi, a leader in automotive lighting, has repeatedly run into snags trying to bring state-of-the-art car headlights to the U.S. The German luxury automaker's recently introduced matrix laser headlight system, which performs many of the same trick as Mercedes-Benz's Digital Light, also isn't legal on U.S. roads.
And five years after the introduction of its matrix-beam LED lighting, which illuminates more of the road without blinding oncoming motorists with brights by simultaneously operating high and low beams, Audi still can't bring that technology to the U.S. either. This is because it doesn't adhere to the inflexible and archaic 50-year-old Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that require all vehicles to have headlights capable of only switching from high to low beams and not blend the two together, which also rules out MB's Digital Light tech.
(AutoBlog.com)
Outdated safety standards, lack of NHTSA leadership keep us in the dark
Audi, a leader in automotive lighting, has repeatedly run into snags trying to bring state-of-the-art car headlights to the U.S. The German luxury automaker's recently introduced matrix laser headlight system, which performs many of the same trick as Mercedes-Benz's Digital Light, also isn't legal on U.S. roads.
And five years after the introduction of its matrix-beam LED lighting, which illuminates more of the road without blinding oncoming motorists with brights by simultaneously operating high and low beams, Audi still can't bring that technology to the U.S. either. This is because it doesn't adhere to the inflexible and archaic 50-year-old Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that require all vehicles to have headlights capable of only switching from high to low beams and not blend the two together, which also rules out MB's Digital Light tech.
(AutoBlog.com)
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