This video is captivating. Not only because of the car it is about, but the owner’s thoughts and beliefs in what it is like to properly own a car. It’s one thing to take your car to a show, but it’s another to actually drive it across the country.

This one quote from the video got to me: “Most of the cars get winched out of a big semi, pushed up into the display area … and then pushed back into the semi. Sometimes they’ll attempt to start them and move 20 feet and they’ll sputter and it’s just so sad”. Cars are meant to be driven, people, not stuffed in museums or displays.

Curse the weather, take your car out for a drive anyway! Also if you don’t know, Depth of Speed is an ongoing webseries done by a husband and wife couple that are traveling across the USA in search of unique car stories.

According to this article on MotorAuthority.com: a Croatian Automotive Manufacturer, Rimac, has designed and developed an electric car capable of 2082lb/ft of torque. Now, I’m not entirely sure how electric cars work, but I’m under the impression that their peak torque is available much, much lower in the power band than on their gasoline counterparts. Like, at 0 RPM kind of low. If they really mean 2082lb/ft of torque as an actual spec and aren’t using some fancy marketing ploy, that’s a lot of go-fast power.

Yup, one hour and thirty minutes of people making poor decisions whilst driving. I’m not sure if I should feel better that there are worse drivers than the drivers we have here in Vancouver or if I should feel terrible because there really are people who drive that poorly.

Anyway, here it is:

P.s. Note to self (and everyone out there): Invest in a good dashcam. I only hear good things about the Blackvue DR400G-HD and really, what’s $500 when it could save you from shelling out money at ICBC when you get screwed in an accident claim?

From today until the 31st, we’re running a full haus sale. Everything in the haus is on sale! For premium inventory we’ll cover the first three payments (up to $800 per payment) and for everything else, we’re giving you $500 in credit for our service department and taking another $1,500 off the price tag! Give us a call at 604-638-7008 for more details! Visit our Autotrader Inventory to see what we’ve got.

Here’s the flyer:

Yup, if you haven’t heard already, BC’s AirCare will be “ending” in 2014. That is, re-focusing their efforts on heavy-duty diesel vehicles. All cars and light-trucks will be AirCare-free after Dec 31, 2014.

This article by the Vancouver Sun covers pretty much everything you need to know.

Do remember though, that if emissions statistics start blowing up again like they did in 1992 before AirCare was called to effect, we’re probably going to see it make a return with a stern “I told you so” look and stricter restrictions to make up for the mess. So, don’t screw it up for everyone, okay? Make sure your car isn’t effectively killing the Ozone by itself.

Rumors of Renault bringing back the Alpine name have officially been confirmed, according to a short video released on Yahoo in a collaboration between the two companies.

The exterior is supposed to be borrowed from the Renault Megane Trophy, so we might possibly see a V6 capable of 400HP and 315lb-ft of torque. The video also hints at something happening on the 25th of May, possibly the official unveiling of the new Alpine.

Porsche has developed yet another amazing looking supercar: the 918 Spyder; and it’s a hybrid. *cue Jeremy Clarkson’s frown

Gizmag’s Mike Hanlon has written a very extensive and detailed article about the car and it’s history. From the article, I gathered that the car has changed a lot since it’s first unveiling in 2010, but is now tuned for 770HP, with 200HP being from the electric motors and 570HP being from a mid-engine 4.6L V8. Ignoring the price tag for a second (Think Veyron 16.4), it looks good, goes fast (2.9 seconds for a 0 – 100km/h run) and will probably save you quite a bit of money at the pump considering it’s been claimed to be able to make 94 miles on the gallon.

So there’s S2000s and then there’s S2000s with a 2JZ engine in them. This S2000 build by Raw Performance is of the latter. Not entirely practical in my opinion, but awesome nonetheless.

Hope everyone’s enjoyed their long weekend, if not, maybe this video will make it a little bit sweeter. The following video is a great tribute to a legendary yet short-lived era in rally racing: Group B Rally.

There is something to be said about a racing class that was disbanded within four years of creation due to the lack of safety limits on how fast these cars could go. Introduced in 1982, Group B was made for manufacturers to innovate and create without having to make a standard production model. This lead to very unique cars that had ridiculous amounts of power. Winning rally cars generally were around 250HP in 1981, but by 1986, when Group B was disbanded, cars had reached over 500HP. Watch the video and you can definitely see/hear the power and speed of Group B cars.

DISCLAIMER: The receipt card system being extended to cover cars and service history isn’t actually happening, this is just speculation and theory from me.

So the “Receipt Card System” is an up and coming patent idea where businesses can eliminate paper receipts by scanning your receipt card, having it sent directly to your online account for you to browse. However, scanning your receipt and putting it online is only where the system begins.

It is projected to be able to create graphs of your expenses and track where you could buy the same item you previously bought for cheaper (by comparing prices with other users). Having your receipts online means not having to stash all sorts of receipts in case of a rebate/recall/refund opportunity and also means being able to manage all of your rebates in one central space.

Sounds great to me, but how exactly can this be extended or applied to cars, you ask?

Well, it would work the very same way as CARFAX and similar sites work, except probably at less cost and reports would contain information on which shop performed maintenance on the car. This would be a great deal of help for your local mechanic if you’re purchasing a used car, cause then they can then contact the previous shop and find out what was wrong, what steps they took to fix it and if more work needs to be done to make sure it’s properly fixed.

While the actual Receipt Card System stores information privately for each user, the system for cars should probably make the logged information public so long as you have the VIN. This will end up giving used car sales some more credibility and reliability when it comes to recovering vehicle history.

If we could get this system going global, then importing used cars would be a cinch too. You wouldn’t have to worry about shady vehicle history if your car was only brought to the most reputable shops overseas.

Just something to think about.