Leapfrog Development Rears Its Ugly Head Outside of Fresno

Of all the unsustainable forms sprawl can take, one type stands out as the worst-of-the-worst: the leapfrog development. In these cases, it’s not enough for the developer to take advantage of cheap land on the region’s periphery, while asking taxpayers to pick up the tab for new infrastructure. The planned location of Millerton New Town, an archetypal [...]

Source: http://streetsblog.net/2011/06/09/leapfrog-development-rears-its-ugly-head-outside-of-fresno/

Toyota Kimmy Z Line Designs Toyota Parker Kligerman Trevor Bayne Out! Pet Care Toyota

Team eyes Assen return for Crutchlow

Tech 3 has confirmed that Cal Crutchlow will definitely miss his home grand prix after he broke his left collarbone and sustained concussion in a qualifying crash at Silverstone - but the satellite Yamaha squad hopes he can be back for the next race at Assen in a fortnight. Crutchlow was optimistic he might make it onto the front row at Silverstone given his pace in practice, only to crash on just his third lap of qualifying.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/other-news/motorcycles/motogp/team-eyes-assen-return-for-crutchlow/

Max Jean Stefan Johansson Eddie Johnson Leslie Johnson Bruce Johnstone

Book Review: Porsche, A History of Excellence by Randy Leffingwell

Filed under: , , ,

Porsche, A History of Excellence
Porsche: A History of Excellence - Click above for image gallery from the publication

Randy Leffingwell is a Porsche enthusiast - serving as primary reason why this book isn't just another regurgitated account following the history of one of the world's most celebrated marques. Porsche: A History of Excellence is a comprehensive look at the automaker's past, from 1938 to near present day, told within the confines of a 348-page coffee table book.

Researched with the tenacity of someone who truly appreciates and understands the brand, Leffingwell did much of his investigation in Germany, working side-by-side with Dieter Landenberger (director of Porsche archives) for this fully authorized book. The author conducted more than 60 interviews to answer questions such as: Why did Porsche feel it necessary to go into the SUV market? Did some of Porsche's 917 racing program funding come from Volkswagen Marketing? What were the design and engineering challenges to creating "two cars with one face," both the Boxster and the 996, at the same time?

Porsche, A History of ExcellenceThe book is loaded with beautiful and interesting imagery - the color pictures occupy more space than text on most of the pages. According to Leffingwell, about half the images in the book came from Porsche's own archives, which have been published in this book for the first time. The balance was shot by the author himself, a noted world-class photographer, in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria and Italy.

While it is an interesting chronological read, with plenty of eye candy to hold the reader's attention, we did note that the book abruptly ends its history lesson at the year 2008. Sadly, there is no mention of current technology like the "Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe" (PDK), direct-injection or the Porsche 918 Spyder (even though an image of the supercar oddly emblazons the cover). Nevertheless, it's not a deal breaker as the balance of the content more than makes up for the minor shortcoming.

Before you rush out to put a copy on your family room table, we need to warn you that the book isn't completely new - explaining the date cutoff. Leffingwell reveals that most of the copy was first published as Porsche 60 Years, a six-pound hardcover, in August of 2008. While that book received excellent reviews, it went out of print after just one run (new copies of the original text, if you can find them, are selling for over $150.00). Thanks to the popularity of a German language edition, the publisher chose to re-release this updated and revised version called Porsche: A History of Excellence. Printed as a three-pound soft-cover, the book carries a list price of $30.00 (it is $21.90 right now on Amazon). That's a literary bargain if you're a fan of European sports cars.

Book Review: Porsche, A History of Excellence by Randy Leffingwell originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/06/10/book-review-porsche-a-history-of-excellence-by-randy-leffingwe/

Phil Hill Peter Hirt David Hobbs Gary Hocking Ingo Hoffmann

Report: Ohio judge orders Ford to pay $2B to dealers over class-action suit

Filed under: , , ,

Ford

An Ohio judge ordered Ford to pay $2 billion to thousands of its dealerships to settle a 2002 lawsuit. Dealers brought the class-action lawsuit after Ford overcharged them for commercial trucks over an 11-year period.

The cash reward breaks down like this: $781 million in damages and $1.2 billion in interest will be divided up among nearly 3,000 dealerships after being overcharged on nearly 475,000 trucks.

According to Ford, the lawsuit covered 600 Series and higher trucks built between 1987 and 1997. Dealers accused Ford of failing to let them know about price concessions given to some dealers. Ford says it will appeal the decision, so the $2B likely isn't going anywhere just yet.

Ohio judge orders Ford to pay $2B to dealers over class-action suit originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/06/11/ohio-judge-orders-ford-to-pay-2b-to-dealers-over-class-action-s/

Gimax Richie Ginther Yves Giraud Cabantous Ignazio Giunti Timo Glock

Rosberg: Tyre issues a hindrance

Nico Rosberg has played down the chances of Mercedes GP causing a surprise in this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix unless the team can get on top of its tyre degradation issues. Although Mercedes GP has shown strong form in qualifying, and its good straight-line speed should be useful in Montreal, its form in races has suffered because the car is too hard on its tyres. Rosberg says that the tyre issue is now the key concern for the team - and the high degradation expected in Canada will be a big test for the outfit

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/rosberg-tyre-issues-a-hindrance/

Bertrand Gachot Patrick Gaillard Divina Galica Nanni Galli Oscar Alfredo Gálvez

Virgin to shift focus after Silverstone

Virgin will introduce its final major upgrade package of the 2011 season at next month's British Grand Prix as it switches its focus onto next year's car. The team parted company with technical director Nick Wirth after the Monaco Grand Prix, and is currently working on establishing a new design and development base

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/virgin-to-shift-focus-after-silverstone/

Olivier Gendebien Marc Gené Elmer George Bob Gerard Gerino Gerini