The U.S. Navy and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are partnering on a national recruiting program that'll officially kick off when Junior pilots the above #83 car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on May 24. On that very same day, prospective sailors will also be able to visit their local recruiting stations and sign up to be a part of the new "Dale Jr. Division" being formed at the Navy's Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, IL. We are not making any of this up.
This new boot camp division is limited to 88 slots, a nod to the number worn by Dale Jr.'s NASCAR Sprint Cup ride. The Navy will support the new recruiting effort with a full media offensive, and Earnhardt Jr. will be on hand to christen his namesake division when its recruits report in August. Junior will also make a return trip to visit the group when it completes the basic training course. We eagerly await the logical next step in this high-profile partnership with Dale Jr. -- a Navy announcement that funding for a high-banked oval at Great Lakes has been approved.
For this blogger, ever since the movie Stripes, there have been recurring automotive fantasies that began with "Wouldn't it be cool if there was a remote-controlled gun turret on this car?" The folks at Dillon Aero, however, were probably watching the evening news as opposed to cinema when they came up with the Dillon Aero SUV: a government-issue GMC Yukon XL equipped with a Dillon Gatling gun.
The vehicle looks like every other typical VIP G-man SUV, except instead of a leather bench in the back, there is a mounted mini gun and a gunner. When the kind of threat is detected that needs a dose of 30,000 rounds of hot lead every minute, the gunner pops up through the roof. The split hatch forms side protection for the gunner, who can swivel 360 degrees while firing. And then, well, the target is toast as bullet casings rain down on the professional grade SUV like in a John Woo movie. Now if Dillon could just work on rocket launchers... Thanks for the tip, Travis!
Now that the Hummer -- the original Hummer H1 -- is distinctly out of flavor, the U.S. armed services are busy looking for its replacement. Having put out a request for proposals, one of the supposed leading candidates is this: a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle developed by Navistar and BAE Systems, Inc, a British defense industry firm. The two together already provide the H1's temporary replacement, the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle.
The Mad Max monstrosity has the same track as the H1, but that's about all they have in common. Built of many off-the-shelf components from Navistar's parts bin, the truck's modular build configuration makes an easier job of modifying it for different missions and repairing. It's shaped to disperse charges from roadside bombs, the armor is an inch thick, it has a flat floor to allow exit from either side of the vehicle, and it can escape a battle without a wheel and without engine cooling. Not bad. Follow the link to get the full specs on the military's potential new charge. But if they want something even more brutish, they could always go for this.
You may also remember that the producer of the original H1, AM General, is also working on its own candidate for the next Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, which we've yet to see.
There's a diesel motorcycle under development, but it's not being made by Suzuki in Japan or BMW in Germany. It's being developed by a group of pensioners who call themselves the Gray Eagles, an informal collection of retired engineers and executives from Harley-Davidson and Outboard Marine. And if that doesn't strike you as out of the ordinary, the engine is not being developed from scratch or being retrofitted from another application (like the ThunderStar 1200 TDI) – it's being converted from a gasoline engine.
The Gray Eagles started with an '88 Harley-Davidson FXRS and converted its V-Twin to run on diesel, fitting it with a turbocharger and electronic fuel injection. Karl Nilson, one of the team members, was once in charge of Harley's "Nova Project", a program to develop a unique 150hp six-cylinder engine in collaboration with Porsche. That project was shelved in the early 80's due to budgetary constrictions after $15 million was invested, but Nilson, along with his fellow Gray Eagles, hopes to see diesel bikes on the road during his lifetime. The diesel bike is being presented to potential customers such as Harley-Davidson and even the Pentagon, who already run some dirt bikes on the same diesel the army uses for its tanks, jeeps and trucks.
(You can check out a video of the turbodiesel chopper by clicking here.)
Click on the image above to view in our hi-res gallery
Morgan has a lot of dedicated fans, but it's image is about as cutting-edge as a cantaloupe. The last time the company unveiled a new concept, the big news was that it had four wheels. But seriously folks, the Morgan LifeCar is a concept that has been a long time coming. It took several companies and three universities almost three years and nearly ₤2 million, including a healthy dose of government funding, to develop. And it's finally ready.
The LifeCar is based on the Morgan Aero 8 and powered by hydrogen fuel cells with regenerative braking technology in a package that is at once both futuristic and retro. (Leave it to the Brits to do both.) Together with its partners, Morgan, which was responsible for the design and final assembly, will take the wraps off the LifeCar concept at the fast-approaching Geneva show, and we've got an eyeful of images for you in the gallery below.
When Germany starts stockpiling armaments, it tends to worry the neighbors. This, on the other hand, is more likely to scare your neighbor into buying a HUMMER. While we don't know any technical details about this military-spec Volkswagen Touareg, we wouldn't expect it to turn up on your local dealership's lot anytime soon.
The images show a Touareg stripped of its chrome hardware and slathered in matte green paint. It's been fitted with all manner of combat communications systems, from the looks of the antennas that would likely get blown off by the automatic turret cannon on the roof (which, by the way, appears to be mounted to the stock roof rack). The Vee-Dub doesn't seem to have had much bulletproofing bodywork done, aside from maybe some indiscernible internal reinforcement, which would lead us to believe that, for the time being at least, this appears to be a demonstration prototype only.
Car vs. jet stunts are kind of ridiculous, but they're entertaining nonetheless. The more exotic the hardware, the better the entertainment, and Lamborghini's Reventón is about as exotic as it gets these days. In a made-for-TV showcase (no, we haven't found video yet), a Lambo test driver and an Italian fighter pilot lined up one of the jet-inspired supercars and a Panavia Tornado combat plane on a 3000-meter runway to see which vehicle could accelerate faster. Long story short, while it probably made for great TV, the Lambo lost in the end. Hey, the 650-horsepower Reventón may be badder than both John Shaft and Truck Turner combined, but when matched against a fighter jet whose twin Turbo-Union RB199 engines combine to make 39,332 horsepower at sea level, it's bound to come up a little shy. We'd take one, anyway.
Boeing wants more government contracts, and it thinks lasers are the way to get them. The company's Laser Avenger system is something it whipped together in eight short months, and it's pretty impressive. Mounted on a retrofitted anti-aircraft Humvee, the setup is being demonstrated as a way to zap IEDs from a distance, neutralizing them before the convoys and patrols they target ever rumble by. Its 1kw laser beam causes near-instantaneous detonation of the munitions its been used on so far, and Boeing's also hinting that it might just work as an anti-aircraft weapon, too. Trucks with laser guns might be a lot closer than you think.
In the mid-size sedan segment, there are few more benign engines than those that power the otherwise terrific Ford Fusion. That assessment may not be entirely true after Boeing has developed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) powered by an internal combustion engine of the Ford variety. While the article doesn't specify which Fusion engine is being used, we'd guess it's the 2.3L Duratec four-cylinder. Ford's Research and Advanced Engineering created the UAV's means of propulsion, which utilizes a multi-stage turbo unit powered by hydrogen fuel. A car engine was used because it has more modern materials than older aircraft engine designs, and they tend to perform well at high altitudes where turbocharging is involved. The Boeing concept performed well during three days of testing at a simulated 65,000 feet, and the ultimate goal is for the UAV to perform for seven days at a time. It seems Ford CEO Alan Mulally still hasn't scratched his aircraft itch after 37 years on the job at Boeing.
Chrysler's unveiling of the government/military-issue Jeep J8 struck a chord in Jeep aficionados. Whether it was the Wrangler Unlimited-based vehicle's added payload, beefed-up suspension, or available 2-door pickup bodystyle, many of you responded by screaming for a civilian version. The Chrysler Blog has posted a conversation with Dave Cushing, manager of complete knockdown projects, and Jack Robinson, international market manager for the Middle East and Africa, in which the pair talk specifically about the J8.
Though it was developed for non-US military and government agencies (hence the diesel), it became clear along the way that the American military operating overseas would be able to use the J8 as well. Suited for a variety of light-duty applications, the J8's 3,000-lb payload also gives it flexibility that's simply unavailable in the consumer-grade Wrangler (whose payload, by comparison, is 1,000 lbs). The J8 is able to haul more people and/or equipment, and can be armored without a problem. Cushing and Robinson state that there are "no definite plans" to sell the J8 in the US, as the diesel it uses doesn't meet US emissions standards and there is no gasoline version available. Let's hope that changes. Even if the J8 itself can't be sold, we're sure Jeep could score another hit by dropping the new 2-door pickup body on the existing Wrangler's mechanicals and putting it in showrooms at some point in the future. For now, however, the J8 might as well be called the Jeep Unicorn, as far as the North American consumer is concerned. You can read the Chrysler Blog post in its entirety by clicking the "Read" link below.
Nick Hogan sentenced to 8 months in jail
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