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At this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona, Brumos Racing driver Leh Keen wore a camera strapped to his chest. But he didn't just wear it for the race, he wore it for the entire event, from the plane ride in to the post-race press conference.

Brumos Racing won last year's GT championship and it started off this year by taking third in the #59 Brumos Porsche 911 GT3 at Daytona. One of Keen's co-drivers was Hurley Haywood, who helped win the same race for the same team in 1973 and 1975. Short of smelling the petrol and wiping the champagne off your face, the ensuing video, produced by Porsche, is a terrific example of what it's like being in the driver's seat for a 24-hour endurance race. Check it out after the jump.

Vauxhall has three big reveals planned for the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, one of them being the 280-horsepower Vauxhall Astra VXR that was announced last November as the Opel Astra OPC. That means the 2.0-liter turbo four lives underhood, and in addition to 276 ponies, it dishes out 295 pound-feet of torque. Handling is aided by the limited-slip differential for the front axle, the HiPerStrut suspension and the "fully adaptive FlixRide system."

Vauxhall's also got a concept "pedelec" bicycle called the "RAD e" headed to the show. Taking some of its cues from the Opel RAK e Concept shown at Frankfurt, the RAD e attaches a 250-watt electric motor to a bicycle to assist the rider. The motor is good for a range of 37 to 90 miles. Finally, the Vauxhall Mokka crossover – their version of our Buick Encore – will make its formal debut in Geneva.

Follow the jump for the press release highlights, and have a look at the trio in the photo gallery.

Mercedes-Benz seat belts already have a feature that adjusts the tension of the belt after it's buckled, using motors in the B- and C-pillars. The boffins in Stuttgart have improved on that by turning to their attentions to the buckle, giving it two new functions. When you enter the vehicle, the buckle extends by 70 mmm (2.75 inches) and it illuminates to help you locate it and insert the tongue. Once the seat belt has been fastened, it retracts again to provide the proper tension around the thorax and lower pelvis.

Mercedes says the innovation will appear in its cars soon, and if we placing bets, we'd say the 2013 S-Class is a perfect candidate. There are more photos in the gallery and a press release with more info on the tech after the jump.

Hyundai Canada had its own ad for the Super Bowl, and instead of a cheetah they went for a more elusive beast: Sasquatch. Created to push the Hyundai Genesis Coupe, the "Country Drive" spot highlights a couple who are amazed at what they find on a drive through the woods. From the Sasquatch's perspective, the feeling's mutual.

The Canadians didn't stop there: they made nine "Sasquatch on Set" clips to show what it's like working with yeti. Strangely, he never takes an interest in the Genesis Coupe when he's not working, but you can check out all the spots after the jump.

The growth of NASCAR over the past decade has been one of the stories of American sports – and not only was the series getting huge viewership, it was attracting stars from other series and its drivers were breaking left-turn-only taboos at Le Mans and the Race of Champions.

Still, the dream couldn't continue unabated, and lately NASCAR has been battling dwindling audiences at some of its big races and disappearing big-money sponsorships. To get around it, teams are doing three things: getting more sponsors, finding those sponsors further away from the traditional corporate playground, and engaging in "non-traditional sponsorships."

Even big teams like Richard Childress Racing are playing the volume game, expecting to have more than 40 sponsors helping it pay for this season. If a marquee player needs to go to such lengths it's to be expected that little teams have to work even harder, and there are only so many blue-chip firms to go around. That's how you get Quicken Loans, American Ethanol and Freescale Semiconductor showing up on fenders and at corporate events.

And non-traditional sponsorships are how you get the AARP involved. When the non-profit wanted to publicize its drive to end hunger among the elderly, it sponsored Jeff Gordon's car for 66 races over three years, from 2011 to 2013 – but won't sponsor the other remaining 42 races in those seasons. That kind of creativity is what NASCAR hopes will allow it not only to enjoy its popular moment, but popular longevity.

The 2012 Porsche 911 has been soaking up its share of plaudits, now its ready to soak up its share of your bank account. The "longer, lower, wider, 100-pounds lighter, faster" 911 has finally reached dealerships in its two initial guises: 350-horsepower Carrera and 400-horsepower Carrera S.

The entry model will need $82,100 of your hard earned cash, which is a $4,300 premium over the 2011 Carrera MSRP. It takes another $14,300 to affix an S to the rear end. Those prices don't include the $950 destination charge, but you wouldn't let such a tifle stand between you and history anyway, right? You'll find a press release with a few more details after the jump, then we can all turn our attention to the 911 Turbo.

Hyundai wants its Elantra to dominate the C segment, and that means in all body styles. The just-introduced five-door GT is set to battle the Ford Focus and Subaru Impreza hatchbacks, and this new Elantra Coupe clearly has the two-door Honda Civic in its sights.

The four-door Elantra already wears pretty rakish sheetmetal that carries over nicely to the Coupe, which is actually half an inch longer than the sedan (173.8 inches versus 173.3 inches). The other dimensions are identical to the sedan, and Hyundai cites greater interior room as one of the Coupe's advantages over its competition. By contrast, the Honda Civic Coupe is 0.3 inches shorter than the Elantra Coupe, and the Honda rides on a three-inch shorter wheelbase.

The Elantra Coupe has more power than the Honda Civic Coupe and the manual should get 1 mpg more in the city and 4 more mpg on the highway

Hyundai's new two-door gets the same 1.8-liter inline four-cylinder being liberally spread across the line, with the same 148 horsepower and 131 pound-feet as the Elantra GT and the same pair of six-speed manual and automatic transmissions. Mileage is estimated to be 29 city/40 highway for the manual and 28 city/39 highway for auto. This means the Elantra Coupe has more power than the Honda Civic Coupe and, if the fuel economy numbers hold true, the manual would get 1 mpg more in the city and 4 more mpg on the highway, but both slushbox cars would be dead even.

There will be two Elantra Coupe trims: base GS or top-spec SE. Both have been tuned for extra sportiness versus the sedan and, as we've come to expect, while Hyundai throws plenty at the GS, the SE gets the truly sporty goods. The SE swaps the 16-inch standard rims for 17-inchers, gets a rear "lip spoiler design element," even more suspension tuning for its lower-profile tires, and only it offers the option of touchscreen navigation and a rear-view camera. Both models, however, will get seven exterior colors, three of them Coupe-only, but inside it's nothing but black or grey.

Pricing should come soon, but for now, enjoy the press release after the jump and the high-res gallery of images. Stay tuned for more impressions live from the Chicago Auto Show floor.

When you intend to go up against cars like the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus and Mazda3, it doesn't matter how softly or loudly you speak, your stick had better be impressive. Hyundai believes it has just the thing in the 2013 Elantra GT, which is the updated moniker for the Elantra Touring (and a throwback to five-door Elantras of yore).

The GT is the U.S. version of the European i30, and it's quite a looker if you're a fan of Hyundai's Fluidic Sculpture design language. Under the hood, you'll find the same 1.8-liter inline four-cylinder as the sedan, sending 148 horsepower and 131 pound-feet of torque to the ground via either a six-speed manual or automatic transmission. That puts it in the thick of a competitive set that, for Hyundai, also includes the Subaru Impreza and Toyota Matrix, but gives it the best power-to-weight ratio of them all. That's because the Elantra GT is 57 percent ultra high- and high-tensile steel, which helps keep its weight down to a lightest-in-segment 2,784 pounds when equipped with the automatic transmission.

Fuel economy is the beneficiary, with the automaker estimating an EPA rating of 28 miles per gallon in the city and 39 mpg on the highway (32 combined). Hyundai says this is good for a cruising range up to 448 miles.

Driving pleasure will be attended to with a sport-tuned suspension that uses MacPherson struts up front aided by a stabilizer bar, and a torsion bar setup out back. The real pleasures, though, are claimed on the inside, where the Elantra GT is said to provide more cargo room than the aforementioned competition and even the Nissan Juke. The mod-cons are prodigious and include, as standard, a cooled glovebox, heated front seats, 10-way power driver's seat, leather seating surfaces, automatic headlights, Bluetooth and seven airbags.

The 2013 Elantra GT goes on sale this summer. Have a read of the press release after the jump and stay tuned for live pics from our team at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show.

The 2013 Acura ILX is here, and it will be one of the new first-responders to address the perception of Acura's weakened health. It might just be our eyes, but the transition to Acura-spec wheels and paint job makes this look much more of-the-family than the concept shown in Detroit. However, the production lines remain true, minus some of the chrome showy bits from the concept.

Motivation will be provided by either a 150-horsepower, 2.0-liter four-cylinder working through a five-speed automatic, a 201-hp, 2.4-liter with a six-speed manual, or the first Acura hybrid with a 111-hp, 1.5-liter four-cylinder getting help from Integrated Motor Assist and a CVT, good for fuel economy estimates of 35/38 miles per gallon, city/highway. Follow the jump for a press release with more information, and look out for live pics from our team at the Chicago Auto Show.

More room, more power, more fuel efficiency and more advanced all-wheel drive are the four unique selling propositions for the 2013 Acura RDX. As with the 2013 ILX, the productionized version of Acura's people-hauler is very, very similar to the RDX Concept from Detroit with a new set of wheels and a new paint job.

The 3.5-liter V6 throws 33 more horsepower into the mix versus the previous generation's turbocharged four, and a brand new six-speed automatic transmission helps return an estimated 20 city/28 highway mile-per-gallon rating for the front-wheel-drive model. The AWD version only takes a slight knock from there, getting 19 city/27 highway.

The longer wheelbase and wider track equate to more room inside, and additional levels of luxury have been added features like Keyless Access, Pandora and an available power rear liftgate. There's plenty more information on it in the press release after the jump, and we'll have live shots from the Chicago Auto Show soon.

News on the next-generation 2015 Audi R8 has been spilling forth for a bit now, but a report in Autocar has begun to put them into a single package. We knew that next R8 wouldn't offer a manual option, only a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, and that the monocoque would be a lighter, aluminum and carbon affair. Audi has apparently pegged a target weight of under 1,500 kilograms (3,300 pounds), meaning it will shed more than 135 kg (305 lbs.) versus today's 4.2-liter V8 manual.

That will make the two engines in the next car – refined versions of the current naturally aspirated V8 and V10 – even more potent. Autocar didn't mention an increase in displacement, but horsepower bumps were rated at 20 hp for the V8, to 450 hp, and 25 hp for the V10, to 550 hp. The GT will also benefit from 20 additional horses, getting 580 hp. More interestingly, neither mill will benefit from forced induction as Audi wants to maintain "the throttle response, the soaring nature of the delivery and the inherent sound."

The evolution or disappearance of the sideblades on the "clean-sheet design" also wasn't broached, but the trademark signifiers don't appear in Autocar's rendering. The report states that it will take cues from the R8 e-tron (pictured), but they see intakes at the door shut-line, which feature very MP4-12C-like dual strakes. It's only a rendering, but if sideblades are what you're after then the future doesn't look bright. We'll see the sibling Lamborghini Gallardo replacement next year, a year before the R8 is shown in 2014.

Classic cars have been getting all kinds of love and money lately. Classic wheels, not so much. HRE has introduced a new line called the Vintage Series that puts old rims in a new light.

There are three in the range for now. The 454 "five-window" you'll recognize from old Lamborghini Countach posters, the 505 "thick five-spoke" reminscent of the Ferrari 288 GTO and F40, and the 501 "mesh lace" worn to terrific effect by racing Porsches from decades past.

Sized from 18- to 20-inch diameters and from seven to 14 inches wide, all are forged of aerospace-grade alloys and are hand-finished to the customer's order. They just might make it all right to work backwards on your next car project: get the wheels first, add the Countach LP5000 QV later. There's a press release with more info after the jump and, of course, a high-res image gallery.

Nissan will officially debut its 2013 370Z tomorrow at the Chicago Auto Show, and the changes fulfill the dictionary definition of "subtle." The new 19-inch wheels and Euro-tuned shocks on models with the Sport Package are the big news, but details like vertical LEDs, 18-inch wheels on the non-Sport Z, two new colors and a red reflector out back add just enough signals to make a difference to model-year-conscious buyers.

The refreshed 2013 370Z will come in coupe, convertible and NISMO trims, with the latter iteration getting more speakers for its Bose audio system. Oddly, though, that same trim does not get some of the changes for the new model year, including the Euro-tuned shocks that will debut on the Sport Package.

The 3.7-liter V6 with 332 horsepower carries over, as does the same 3.7-liter with 350 horsepower in the NISMO, and the new Z goes on sale in June. Check out the press release after the jump, and stay tuned to get more images and info from our team at the Chicago Auto Show.

Chevrolet alluded to it in its "Stunt Anthem" Super Bowl commercial for the Sonic, and during this weekend's Super Bowl, the genuine article appeared. As promised, the Sonic tests out its musical chops by playing OK Go's "Needing/Getting."

Two miles of instruments were laid out in the Southern California desert, lots of practice and planning to get it just right. Of course, that was after four months of preparation, during which time OK Go's lead singer had to learn how to stunt drive.

Follow the jump to check it out, and follow the source link to get more behind-the-scenes tidbits on what went into it.