1959-60 Dodge Truck Speedometer on 2040-parts.com

Digital experience gets the electronics going before International CES

The night before the International CES opens, there's something like a mini consumer-electronics show held in a hotel on the Vegas strip. True, there are many, many CES-related events held in hotels on the Vegas strip. Even the 2 million square feet of floorspace in the Las Vegas Convention Center can't accommodate every widget- and gizmo-maker that wants to show off a product.

Spy photos: BMW i8 hits Swedish test track

Spy photographers caught the new BMW i8 testing on a secret track wearing the company’s familiar psychedelic camouflage. The test car pictured is a preproduction model rather than a concept BMW i8, similar to what should appear in 2013. As reported earlier, we’re expecting BMW’s 2014 i8 hybrid coupe to get a 1.5-liter, three-cylinder direct-injection gasoline engine--essentially the same unit earmarked to head into the next-generation Mini and the front-wheel-drive BMW 1-series due out in 2014.

One Lap of the Web: Saucy spouses and salty roads

-- Not every race car driver was James Hunt. Legendary drag racer Don Garlits couldn't have been legendary without his wife Patricia, who recently passed at the age of 71; in a few more weeks, they would have celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary. She supported Don when he didn't think his racing would amount to anything, and she was instrumental in persuading Don to switch to rear-engined dragsters -- Don's eventual acceptance ended up changing the face of drag racing forever.