We obsessively cover the auto industry…

Dan Sligh and his wife were headed for a Memorial Day camping trip yesterday evening when the Interstate 5 bridge over Washington's Skagit River collapsed ahead of his Ram pickup. Sligh said he saw a big puff of dust after a tractor trailer struck a portion of the bridge, and the roadway quickly vanished into the river below. While he applied the brakes, the momentum of his truck and trailer propelled the couple right over the edge. While speaking with reporters, Sligh said he held on as tight as he could before seeing a white flash and feeling the cold water of the river rush into the cab.

The impact dislocated the Navy veteran's shoulder, but he was able to push it back into place in time to pull his wife from the wreckage. Early reports say the collapse occurred when a tractor trailer struck the bridge's overhead girders. One other individual fell into the water, but no one was killed in the ordeal. Federal inspectors had previously rated the structure "functionally deficient."

The bridge, near Seattle, carries around 77,000 vehicles per day and was built in 1955. Interestingly enough, the bridge's "functionally deficient" rating doesn't necessarily mean that the span was deemed unsafe, just that that portions of it required monitoring or repair. You can watch Sligh's CNN interview below.

In case you missed it, Australia's V8 Supercars racing series - think of it as a cross between ALMS GT and NASCAR - roared through Texas this past weekend providing entertainment for more than 68,000 fans who were in attendance at the Austin 400 held at the impressive Circuit of the Americas venue. The three-day Championship event included four qualifying sessions and four 100 kilometer sprint races, all run nearly flat-out.

The series' inaugural event on U.S. soil didn't disappoint.

The cars are based on production Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore, Nissan Altima and Mercedes-Benz E-Class models, each fitted with a thunderous 5.0-liter V8 (rated at roughly 650 horsepower) sending power to the rear wheels through a sequential gearbox. The drivers sit on the right, protected by a sturdy tube-frame chassis and plenty of honeycomb crush space - good thing, as car-to-car contact and jumping curbs is the rule of the game (check out the gallery for a closer look at the carnage).

The series' inaugural event on U.S. soil didn't disappoint. Fans, Americans joined by a large contingent of Aussies who made the long trek over the Pacific, jumped to their feet for each standing start as dozens of roaring V8 Supercars peeled off to be first up COTA's tricky Turn 1 (the cars have no traction control or ABS). Each sprint lasted less than an hour, with one mandatory pit for tires, so the field was constantly changing position.

As all of the foreign drivers were new to the circuit (the Aussies nicknamed the tall white observation tower, with red trailing pipes, "The Mullet"), it took some time for each team to acclimate to its challenges and develop strategy. More than once, a car fell back in the pack when it followed the wrong line through Turns 3-6, and it was wedged out of position at the exit (of course, being V8 Supercars, the tall curbs hardly seemed to deter).

Holden's Jamie Whincup, racing under the Red Bull label, took three of the races, while the one remaining event was won by Fabian Coulthard, also driving a Holden, for the Lockwood Racing team. We were embedded with the teams from Nissan. Their Altima sedans, unveiled just months ago, fared well with several top-ten finishes - impressive results for a new team competing in this well-established series. The next event is at Hidden Valley Raceway, in Darwin, from June 14-16... and, based on the overwhelmingly positive response from the fans, the series already has plans to come back to the States in 2014.

McLaren is rolling out special editions of the company's MP4-12C Coupe and Spyder supercars to commemorate its 50th anniversary. Produced by McLaren Special Operations, the cars will feature a new front fascia with additional downforce as well as carbon-fiber trimmed air inlets. Engineers also shed a few pounds from the machine by crafting the floorboard in carbon Kevlar. Each anniversary edition comes with carbon ceramic brakes as standard equipment as well as a set of bespoke, ultralight 19-inch wheels painted Satin Black. McLaren says the rollers are a full 4.4 pounds lighter than the stock wheels, combined.

Inside, buyers will find a full leather interior, and the anniversary editions will only be available in one of three colors. Those with the cash can choose between Carbon Black, Supernova Silver or McLaren Orange. We'll have ours in the latter, please. McLaren will kindly ask for $295,254 for the coupe and $325,836 for the Spyder at current conversion rates. Take a look at the press release below for more information.

With its well-deserved reputation for high design, it is not particularly surprising to see Jaguar reaching outside of the automotive realm for future inspiration. To that end, the British automaker recently enlisted the talents of students at the Royal College of Art to create a piece of forward-looking, automotive-inspired sculpture.

The result of this project can be seen above; a sculpture created by RCA students Claire Miller and Ewan Gallimore, and unveiled to a small audience to kick off London's Clerkenwell Design Week. The spare and rather elegant form created by the talented pair absolutely harkens back to coupes from Jaguar's past as well as its present (read: F-Type) without aping any one model particularly.

In a press release, the artists had this to say about the work: "Our form relates to the Jaguar brand through its sculptural volumes, bespoke materials and visual lightness. These elements helped us to create a sculpture that aimed to display a seamless transition between interior and exterior space." Get a better look at the Jaguar artwork in the gallery above, or read through the press release, which follows.

Mercedes-Benz is working on a system that may help emergency workers quickly and safely rescue trapped occupants in wrecked vehicles. The system pairs rescue sheets that show firefighters, police and paramedics information on exactly how and where to use rescue sheers to extract trapped passengers, the location of major hydraulic lines, air bags and electrical cables as well as other important vehicle data with QR codes. Using two stickers with the codes prominently displayed, rescue workers can scan the code and instantly pull up the necessary information quickly with an internet connection. The plan could reduce rescue times and help save lives.

Currently, rescue workers have to rely on hard copy rescue sheets or must look up the information online, assuming the sheets are available at all. Mercedes-Benz has waived the right to patent the system in the hope that other automakers will take advantage of the technology. You can read the full press release below for more information.

Frenchman François Gissy has laid claim to a new land speed record using a rocket-powered bicycle. Yes, you read that right. A rocket-powered bicycle. Gissy and his bicycle managed to hit a mind-boggling 163 miles per hour (263 kilometers per hour) over a vacant stretch of highway in Munchhouse, France over the weekend.

The rocket was built by Swiss company Exotic Thermo Engineering, and it provides its thrust using liquid hydrogen peroxide – much more concentrated than what you'd find at your local drug store, so don't go trying this at home tonight – that is broken down to generate steam at 650 degrees Fahrenheit.

Watch Gissy's record speed run in the trio of videos below, and take special note of the speeding cars and motorcycles he lines up against in two of them.

When is $20 million not equal to $20 million? When, for some, it's an interest payment and, for others, it's all someone else thinks they're worth. Here's how that one number means two totally different things to two different green car companies.

Speaking to Bloomberg Television about the early repayment of Tesla Motors' DOE loan, CEO Elon Musk said today that, "ultimately, the US taxpayer actually made a profit above $20 million on this loan. For this loan at least, people's tax bill actually went slightly down."

Musk said that, now that the loan has been paid back, more people might take a look at Tesla. "We were attacked a lot in certain quarters for having some government debt," he said. "I think that actually matters to some consumers out there, whether or not a company actually does have government debt, and being able to say we fully repaid that debt with interest, I think it is helpful to some number of people out there in thinking about buying a car." So, for Tesla, which recently raised over a billion dollars, $20 million is an easy price to pay to potentially sell more EVs.

Now, let's look at Fisker Automotive, which is still fending off bankruptcy. We learned this week that VL Automotive and Wanxiang made an offer to buy the troubled automaker for an undisclosed sum. Word out today is that the amount that the two companies are willing to pay for Fisker is, you guessed it, $20 million. That's about one percent of Fisker's $2 billion-plus value back when the Karma plug-in hybrid was launched, according to Reuters. It's unclear how a potential Fisker buyer will have to deal with the outstanding DOE loan amount of $171 million and other issues, but the $20-million offer a striking contrasts to Musk's statement on Bloomberg Television, which you can watch in the video below.

General Motors will auction off the first Cadillac CTS V-Sport for charity. Mary Barra, head of global product development for GM, announced that the automaker will donate the first CTS V-Sport to the SAE Foundation to be auctioned in support for the organization's science, technology, engineering and mathematics educational programs (STEM). GM supports the STEM programs through its GM Foundation, both with financial grants and with 1,500 mentors and volunteers to help students with their studies.

This year, Mary Barra became the first woman to win the SAE Foundation's Industry Leadership Award in the accolade's 25-year history.

The CTS V-Sport auction will also include a performance driving school package for those with a mind to learn a thing or two about controlling the car on a road course. You can read the full press release below for more information.

The first thing you need to know is that this is the Lotus Exige S Roadster, unchanged from the Exige S even in price and officially the fastest convertible Lotus has ever made. The second thing you need to know is that if you live in the US, you won't be getting this car.

Now that that's out of the way, the lack of a roof, rear wing and front splitter help make it 22 pounds lighter than the coupe, coming in a 2,565 pounds, and the supercharged 3.5-liter V6 in this topless blossom discharges 345 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. For historical comparison with a non-convertible, those numbers nearly match the 2004 Lotus Esprit V8 Final Run edition - which had twin Garrett turbochargers. Yet the Exige S gets from a stoplight to 60 miles per hour in 3.8 seconds, nearly a full second quicker than that Esprit. Fair play, though, the Esprit did weigh 3,040 pounds.

It will be fitted with a six-speed manual only, and cost 52,900 pounds ($79,667 US), 55,378 euros ($71,404 US) or 8,500,000 yen ($82,078 US), depending on where you live. Here in the US we'll be sticking with the track-only Exige V6 Cup and Cup R models. The press release below offers more on the fine points.

"It's one thing to put a car together, it's another thing to make it work." Truer words have never been spoken, and in the case of Louie Shefchik of J&L Fabricating, the man who opens the video below with those words, 'making it work' has practically been elevated to an art form.

From humble beginnings – a garage back behind the duplex in which Louie and his wife Jeanette lived – J&L has grown to become a highly respected track-side crew that keeps its clients' vintage race cars on the track and competitive. And, judging by the commentary of his customers, friends and family, he's a downright great person.

Check out the video below for the complete story of J&L Fabricating from eGarage.

The three-year investigation by the US Department of Justice into price-fixing allegations by auto parts suppliers continues, with two more fish from the swamp of corruption the latest to be sentenced. Reuters reports that Denso executives Yuji Suzuki and Hiroshi Watanabe will do 16 months and 15 months in US jails, respectively, for their roles in setting prices for parts like heater control units and power window systems. They will also each pay $20,000 fines.

Fourteen executives and nine companies – so far – have been speared by the investigation. Eight of the companies have settled, Denso paying a $78-million fine in February last year at the same time as the DoJ collected $478 million from supplier Yazaki, $200 million from Furukawa Electric Company and sent three Furukawa execs to prison.

The coming Audi A8 has already been spotted in camouflage on public roads at earthly elevations, and now our snappers have caught it at elevation in the Alps. The evolution will entail modified head- and taillights, different sculpting for the grille and a new bumper profile said to be more in line with the A6 S Line.

Inside, there might also be adjustments made to input controls like the gesture touchpad and the MMI infotainment system that include behind-the-scenes improvements like new Nvidia Tegra chips, but such revisions are expected to be minor. With the S8 and the TDI just having been launched, don't be surprised if engine outputs also remain the same. The prevailing sneaking suspicion is that we'll see the car unveiled at this year's Frankfurt Motor Show.

It would be glib to say that safety equipment has had a huge influence on automobiles in the past 20 years. The result of cars being massively more safe than they were not long ago has made them bigger, heavier, more expensive, more challenging to develop, harder to fix and harder for emergency responders to deal with. That's just what it takes to try and keep people safe when they're wielding two-ton battle tanks in close quarters.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is one of the entities in the greyhound-and-rabbit jockeying that keeps pushing the bounds of safety. It uses its testing to confer the Top Safety Pick designation that carmakers seek and it launched the small overlap frontal crash test that tripped up a number of vehicles.

It has begun a video series demonstrating what it tests at its facility in Virginia and how, with its crash test dummies, it assesses the results. There are two videos so far, one detailing the front offset test, the other examining the specifics of the crash test dummies who do all the 'work.' There will be eight videos in total, with another released every Tuesday. You can watch the first two below. They're a short and fascinating six minutes of viewing.

Former Saab Chairman Victor Muller may be called in for questioning as part of an official inquiry into suspected tax evasion by three of the automaker's former executives. A prosecutor has officially named former CEO Jan-Ake Jonsson and two other executives in the investigation, and official court documents say that Muller will be called in by the Financial Crimes Unit. According to Reuters, prosecutors are currently looking into allegations that the executives worked to dodge taxes between 2010 and 2011, when the automaker finally went into bankruptcy.

The Truth About Cars reports the investigation may center around the $540,000 paid as consulting fees to Latin America Tug Holding NV, a company Muller owns. It's possible that the Swedish authorities believe the Saab executives were using the tug boat company as a tax haven, and that the automaker should have paid taxes and social security contributions on the money. Muller has not been charged.

Meanwhile, Muller is defending his earnings in a new interview with Automotive News. Having come under fire for his $773,000 salary at Saab, the Spyker CEO said his pay was commensurate with an executive running a company with 4,000 employees.