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Penske calls off Saturn deal, brand will close

IndyCar team owner and dealer magnate Roger Penske will not buy Saturn and the brand will be shuttered, General Motors said Wednesday. GM said Penske called off discussions after failing to line up more future products. Penske had been in talks with Renault for vehicles.

Vauxhall launches speed limit detectors on Insignia (2008)

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 19 June 2008 07:53 Vauxhall's new Insignia will be the first of a wave of cars to have a forward-facing camera that can read road signs. The optional kit will detect speed limit and no overtaking signs – and flash up a reminder to the driver on the dashboard.GM calls the tech, which will be launched in early 2009, Traffic Sign Recognition and it uses a small, wide-angled camera system supplied by Hella. It sits at the top of the windscreen near the rain sensors and rear-view mirror, scanning the road ahead taking 30 photos per second.It's 1984 all over again...With a range of 100 metres, the camera focuses on circular patterns and then interprets the numbers inside by contour comparison; if a match is found on the software's database, that road sign will be flashed up in the driver's binnacle.The front-facing camera is also used as a lane departure warning system, alerting the driver if they unintentionally swerve out of their lane on a motorway.Cars with cameras: a growing trendMore and more manufacturers are fitting cameras to their cars nowadays and you can expect a flood of systems like the Insignia's to be launched in 2009, including the new BMW 5-series.CAR tried out these new systems on Bosch prototypes in 2007.

TVR Griffith gathering set for June 24-26 at Mid-Ohio

If our story last month on the TVR Griffith whet your appetite for these rare Brits, set your nav system for the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, and be there June 24-26. The Griffith Motorcar Club International will be hosting Richard “Dick” Monnich, the first TVR importer in the United States and the catalyst for the Ford 289-powered TVR Griffith, as part of the fifth-annual Gathering of Griffiths & TVRs. Event organizer and former Griffith factory test driver Mike Mooney claims all three Griffith body styles will be present, along with a British-produced TVR 500.