One Lap of the Web: An Engine of Ice and Fire

-- George R.R. Martin, beloved and bearded historian of the great land of Westeros, drives a first-generation Mazda RX-7 -- according to Jalopnik, and a creepy Street View-browsing "Game of Thrones" fan. Despite swimming in HBO cash, Martin lives modestly in Santa Fe, N. M., in a square little house, a castle-shaped mailbox the only clue to his medieval world. "THANKS INTERNET," said one commenter, "NOW HE'S GOING TO KILL MAZDA." You know nothing, Matasaburo Maeda.

-- Speaking of Maeda, employment at Mazda seems to run in his family. Matasaburo may have designed the original RX-7, but his son Ikuo worked on the RX-8 -- and views himself as "the rightful guardian of Mazda's zoom-zoom brand heritage," he said in this Automotive News profile from 2010. You could perhaps applaud/blame him for Mazda's Nagare styling period, something Derek Jenkins is working hard to overcome.

-- On the motorcycle front, The Vintagent brings us the story of Anke-Eve Goldmann, a West German woman who crossed the Iron Curtain and documented Soviet motorcycle racing in the middle of the Cold War. "Her experience of being shut out of racing tracks because of her sex rankled as an injustice, as was the ridicule she experienced for daring to be a woman on a fast motorcycle." She contributed to Cycle World, and her October 1962 race report is published in full.

-- Hooniverse documents a Porsche engine swap that may (OK, will) cause blood to seep out of your ears. A Mitsubishi 4G63 in an air-cooled 911? Imagine the blasphemy! What would Ferry Porsche do? He'd probably mention something about how much he enjoys long crank walks by the beach.

-- Express your love of all things snail-shaped with a turbo lamp! It's not a lamp that increases the speed of visible light from a singular source to your eyeballs (but only after a moment of lag). No, it's a lamp made from a turbocharger, and welded to a flywheel. Perfect for the 4G63-driving Porsche 911 owner in your life. How about a camshaft lamp with an air filter as a shade? And they say nothing useful comes out of prison industries.

-- Lastly, at the Chicago Auto Show, somebody put Kia in a corner. Poor lil' guy.

By Blake Z. Rong