Autoblog

Just another reason to go to Long Beach for the Grand Prix weekend. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has been announced as this year's Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race grand marshal. The celebrity race is always one of the most popular sideshows during Grand Prix weekend and with Hef doing the honors, and one of his playthings piloting one of the racecars, it should make the event even more entertaining.

The 10-lap charity race will not only feature Playmate Kendra Wilkinson, but such wide-flung celebs as tennis great Martina Navratilova, Cold Case's Kathryn Morris, Howard Stern's sidekick Robin Quivers, CSI: Miami's Emily Procter, NBA legend John Salley and Star Wars' creator George Lucas, among others. There are typically a few professional drivers from other disciplines that compete with the celbs, spotting the noobs 30 seconds at the start.

The Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race also features drivers who were the high bidders in a charity auction in the preceding weeks. All drivers are given a couple of track practice sessions with instructors and then compete in identically prepared, relatively stock Toyota or Scion vehicles. Last year it was the Scion tC that had that honor for Toyota.

[Source: Toyota Motorsports]

Our car culture obsessed friends got the inside scoop on the first road-legal Mosler to be delivered to a U.S. customer. The owner in question is none other than George Lucas, creator of the good and, at times, not-so-good Star Wars sextology.

We originally reported about the arrival of the Mosler last month, but were unsure about who was going to be the lucky owner No. 1.

Since the first two Mosler MT900s are being utilized by the bespoke carmaker as in-house testing units, Lucas' Vader-black model bears the serial number 003 and comes equipped with an LS6 sitting mid-ship, producing 435 HP and allowing the dark horse starship to dispatch the sprint to 60 in a scant 3.1 seconds.

We'd like to think that Lucas might find inspiration from the Mosler for future, forward-thinking cinematic experiences, both from its purposeful shape and mind-boggling performance.

[Source: Jalopnik]