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Bonneville broadcast will add pepper to the salt

If you've ever been to Bonneville during Speed Week, you know what a thrilling corner of the motorsports world the place occupies: standing out on the endless, blazing-white expanse of salt, hearing the cars before you see them, seeing first the roostertail of salt rocketed into the air, then the tallest part of the rear fin, then the car itself, blasting over the curvature of the Earth, followed by engine cutoff, popping chutes, deceleration and the giddy celebration of driver and crew as yet another record falls. But most people -- those with jobs, kids, responsibilities (where are your priorities, people???) -- will never get a chance to go. So this year, the Southern California Timing Association has made a deal to broadcast audio of the entire Speed Week live, as it happens, direct from the salt, on the fabulous internet.

Brabus tunes up the Mercedes-Benz CL and an S-class

Brabus, tuner of all things Mercedes-Benz, has set its engineers loose on the all-wheel-drive Mercedes-Benz CL and S500 models for the winter. The tuners add power, remove the standard speed limiter and add a custom exterior package. Both cars will be on the Brabus stand at the Essen Motor Show, which is like the SEMA of Germany.

Lotus planning Electric Car

I suppose it was inevitable that Lotus would not settle for simply supplying Tesla with the chassis for their electric car, and would look to jump on the bandwagon of electric cars (EV). Lotus CEO, Michael Kimberly, has told the Financial Times that Lotus is planning an electric car “sooner rather than later”, and went on to say that it will be an extended range battery vehicle. Extended range EVs (like the Chevy Volt) are probably the best option for a mainstream car at the moment, at least until you can buy hydrogen at the pumps other than in California.