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Toyota and Lexus are gearing up for this year's Nüburgring 24 Hours. The two companies plan to take to the track with a total of five entries, including four Toyota GT 86 race cars and one Lexus LFA. Prepped by factory tuner Gazoo Racing, the LFA will compete in the SP8 class while two of the GT 86 models will go fender-to-fender in the SP3 class. Those will be joined by two more GT 86 racers built by Toyota Motorsport and competing under the Toyota Swiss Racing Team banner in the V3 class for production vehicles.

Gazoo Racing has already had a little fun at the Nüburgring this year. While competing at two shorter events at the legendary track, the LFA took home two wins. This year's 24-hour endurance race kicks off this weekend, May 17-20. The even will be streamed online here and here. Scroll down for the quick press release.

Give a Lexus LFA to an auto journalist and there's going to be an attempt to drift it. Give that same LFA to the gents at Blendtec and they're likely to see if it, or at least a piece of it, will blend. Then turn that LFA over to Tony Hawk to use for his birthday and he will, naturally, line the thing up outside of his office and see if he can ollie it.

Sure, he had the help of a generous ramp, but we can't blame him. The LFA is $375,000 of sensitive parts that wouldn't react well, nor inexpensively, to flying skateboard trucks. Scroll down to see the 44-year-old Hawk do what he does best.

The Fisker Atlantic extended-range plug-in vehicle will start production about a year after its previously estimated mid-2013 date, Inside EVs blog reports, citing leaked company documents that were dated "a few weeks ago."

The Atlantic, formerly known as Project Nina, will compete pricewise against the BMW 3 Series and 5 Series sedans, as well as the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and E-Class, Jaguar XF and Audi A4 and A6. That would put the model in the $50,000 to $60,000 range, according to the publication. The model, which will still be produced at Fisker's Delaware plant, will have 300 horsepower, a 0-60 time of 6.5 seconds and emissions of 50 grams per kilometer of CO2, Inside EVs reports, citing the documents.

"As these documents are obviously leaked investor documents and highly confidential, I am not prepared to comment any further," a Fisker representative tells Autoblog sister site, AutoblogGreen.

The status of the Atlantic has been in question since plans for the former General Motors plant in Delaware were put on hold once the U.S. Department of Energy froze most of the $529 million in loans earmarked for the California-based company.

Fisker unveiled the Atlantic at the New York Auto Show last month, saying that the car's price tag would be "a much lower price point" than Fisker's Karma sedan.

Stability control was made mandatory on passenger vehicles for this current model year, but it's still not a requirement for semis and busses. But that could soon be changing, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed requiring the technology on all new large commercial trucks, motorcoaches, and other large buses.

While big rigs and their brethren are often available with stability control, the rule would make the feature standard, with manufacturers given between two and four years to comply. NHTSA says the change in policy could save about 50 lives a year, and prevent over 2,300 crashes. Further, research into the effectiveness of stability control systems in preventing rollover crashes shows that over half of all such accidents could be prevented by adopting it.

Scroll down to read the full press release.

It looks as if Jay Leno has welcomed a Tata Nano to his Big Dog Garage recently. The comedian even went so far as to don traditional Indian garb and hire a troop of Bollywood dancers to mark the occasion.

Details are scarce at the moment, but judging from the photos that have shown up on Leno's Facebook page, it looks as if we'll see the machine on an episode of "Jay Leno's Garage" sometime soon. The car boasts a white paint scheme with the Indian tri-color laid over the rear doors and hood. Whether or not Leno actually bought the machine remains unclear.

The comedian took the time to bow for the cameras and place his hands together in the "Namaskar" greeting. We look forward to seeing the full episode. In the meantime, check out the behind-the-scenes photos in the gallery.

We officially have a new motorcycle hero. Genki Hagata rolled his Yamaha YZF-R6 out onto the track during the second AMA Pro Supersport qualifying session at Sears Point recently. Partway through his out-lap, the bike lost traction in the rear before abruptly regaining it. We likely don't need to tell you that scenario almost always results in a one-way ticket off of the saddle in a not-so-glorious highside. But not for Hagata. The racer exhibited nothing less than super-human strength by clamping onto the handlebars and holding on for dear life.

Miraculously, it worked. After the bike settled down, Hagata managed to cling to the machine as it rode upright until he was able to fling himself back into the saddle. The guy's efforts kept the Yamaha off of the asphalt, but cost him a spot on the grid. Hagata missed the cut-off by a few tenths of a second. Still, we haven't seen heroics like this in a long spell. Scroll down to check it out for yourself.

The current Renault Espace has been on the market since 2003. Next year that will make it ten years old, which is a long life cycle for any vehicle. But it'll still be a few years until its replacement is ready. So following the facelift it performed on the Euro-market minivan in 2003, Renault is releasing another update.

Refreshed to fall more closely in line with Renault's current styling direction (the company has changed aesthetic strategies a few times since the introduction of the fourth-generation model), the new Espace has a fresh grille that better incorporates a larger emblem than the model it replaces, and it's flanked by new headlights and a new bumper fascia below.

Further details on what else Renault has tweaked will be released in July when it hits showrooms overseas.

Given the spate of new models Mini has introduced in the past few years, from the Clubman to the Countryman to the Coupe to the Roadster, it sometimes seems like BMW has forgotten about the original model, the plain old Mini Cooper hardtop. It was last redesigned for the 2007 model year, which seems like a long time ago because, well, it is. Which is why Mini will shortly introduce an all-new hardtop Cooper, which our camera spies have captured testing in Europe.

We're told that the new model is codenamed F56, but more importantly, its underpinnings are said to be shared with the next-generation BMW 1 Series. While Mini will continue to put four-cylinder engines underhood, there's presumably a three-cylinder in the works as well, though we're not sure whether that model will make it to our shores.

While we've seen some spy shots of the 2014 Mini Cooper before, these seem to confirm that the car will grow a bit in size, both length and width. We are told that the longer hood and greater front overhang may be the result of fake front body panels, but the new front and rear glass appears to accurately represent the forthcoming production car, which will have a more raked angle to its windshield and rear window.

BMW is expected to start production of the 2014 Mini Cooper early next year.

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives persona Guy Fieri is making more news with garages these days than kitchens. The Food Network host, who recently had his Lamborghini Gallardo stolen and then recovered in a teen's storage container, has been selected to drive the 2013 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 pace car at the Indy 500 this year.

Guy's an admitted car fan, and he should feel at home in the ZR1; he owns seven Chevrolet models that span the decades from 1968 to 2011, and a Cadillac Escalade ESV. He'll be pacing the field in the 638-horsepower special edition Arctic White coupe on Sunday, May 27 at noon EST.

This post isn't for the weak of stomach or faint of heart. The sad truth of being an automotive enthusiast is that we're all hoarders on some level. We yearn to collect various bits of paraphernalia plucked from our favorite race teams and derelict junkyard hulks. Now Charly Molinelli Design has elevated our pack rat tendencies to high art. Or at least clever interior design. Using the cubed remains of an indistinguishable Ferrari, the designer set about crafting a coffee table that doesn't look like it belongs tucked away in a tacky man cave.

Behold, the Crashed Ferrari Table. The designer calls wedging the squared remains into the glass case "a dead hero placed into a coffin." Sounds fitting to us. There's no word on how much one of these would cost you if you wanted to take it home. Then again, there's something more than a touch depressing about seeing all that red crammed into a pine box. Head over to the Molinelli Design site for a closer look at the table's creation.

We will cop to having arrived at work suffering from memory loss, but never from hitting a moose. At least not that we can remember, anyway.

It's a story that verily defines "news of the weird," courtesy of CNN: A Canadian woman not only hit a moose with her car on her way to work, she drove some 25 miles after the collision, unaware that she had struck the beast. But this was no glancing blow. The force of the impact killed the moose, but not before it had shattered the windshield and peeled back the roof of the Michelle Higgins' Chrysler Sebring.

The woman was traveling on the Trans-Canada Highway in Newfoundland, according to the report, when the accident occurred. When Higgins arrived at work – on time, mind you – she had blood streaming down her face and was unaware of what had transpired. Her injuries included two broken bones in her neck, bruises, a hoof print on her forehead... and memory loss. Scroll down to watch the remarkable video report from CNN.

Affalterbach Additions Transform Benz's Heavy-Hitting Droptop



Saint-Tropez is a charming town in southeastern France nestled along the Mediterranean Sea. Internationally recognized as a summer playground for the wealthy and famous, it is also famed for its "clothing optional" beaches where more than just noses and shoulders get burned in hot weather. While still a couple months shy of warm weather and the influx of tourists, Mercedes-Benz chose to get an early start on the topless party by flying us to the Côte d'Azur for some seat time in its newest high-performance droptop, the 2013 SL63 AMG Roadster.

Our first taste of the new SL-Class was behind the wheel of the standard SL550 in Spain less than two months ago. The two-seater impressed us with its stout chassis, strong engine and lavish appointments - but it failed to stir our emotions. The base SL long ago steered away from being a driver's car, and its latest incarnation proved no different. It was, in effect, just a very capable and posh GT.

But the SL63 AMG, boasting upwards of 557 horsepower thanks to a burly twin-turbocharged V8, still seems promising. Its luxury appointments are nearly identical, yet it wears AMG attire and its entire powertrain has been upgraded to appease warm-blooded automotive enthusiasts. Do fresh duds and a new muscular system make a more compelling athlete? We roughed in the French Riviera to find out.

Not long ago, Buick released the behind-the-scenes video of its Enclave commercial with Marisa Miller, and now the supermodel's 30-second spot has begun airing. Note: This is a spot for the current Enclave, not the refreshed 2013 model the debuted during April's New York Auto Show.

The Sports Illustrated staple and lingerie model might just be the first person ever to wear a swimsuit in a Buick ad. We could say more about it, but that would delay you from watching Ms. Miller and the Enclave in action. So just scroll down and check out the video, why don't you.

A month ago, Jaguar Land Rover signed a joint-venture agreement with China's Chery Automobile Company. JLR's 12.1 billion yuan ($1.9 billion U.S.) investment, if approved, will pay for a plant in Changsu to build Jaguars, Land Rovers, engines and joint-venture models. The facility will also house a research and development center. Chery has submitted the paperwork to clear the deal with the Chinese government. The agreement must pass muster with the Ministry of Enviroment Protection, after which it will go to the National Development and Reform Commission.

When the agreement was first inked an Indian analyst said, "it will be some time before we see the results," a nod to the fact that government approvals can take a long time. Subaru is an instructive example, having signed an agreement with Chery a year ago. Sources said the deal was ready to be approved last November, but that was the last that has been heard of it – it's still waiting on the necessary signatures.

But JLR has the long view in mind: it sold 38,890 vehicles in China last year – all imported – a figure representing double-digit sales gains for both brands. The proposed factory will have a capacity of 130,000 units, providing a healthy buffer in case the bureaucracy sits on things.