Autoblog

Carbon fiber, that uber-cool mix of graphite fibers and epoxy that used to be reserved for exotic race cars and fighter jets, is seemingly everywhere these days. Lightweight and space-age, the material is now directly associated with speed and performance. If you are an automaker offering a high-performance vehicle, you had better slap some CF on the car just to keep up with the federation (nobody really cares if it actually helps performance). The BMW M3 Coupe sports a carbon fiber roof, the Porsche GT3 RS a carbon fiber spoiler, and the Nissan GT-R a carbon fiber underbody air diffuser (most of the mainstream automotive applications are technically known as "carbon reinforced plastic").

Taking advantage of the trend, the team over at Carbon Fiber Gear will sell you such must-have items as carbon fiber humidors, carbon fiber guitars, and carbon fiber shoes, but we like a carbon fiber product for the computer that won't lighten the wallet at all. It's an assortment of free downloadable carbon fiber desktops, in resolutions from 1024x768 to 1680x1050. We honestly don't know if they will speed up your refresh rates, but if carbon fiber is good for the Bugatti Veyron, it should help your display. Right? Thanks for the tip Dave!

[Source: Carbon Fiber Gear]

click on above image to view all 33 high-resolution pics in our Ultimate Wallpaper Gallery

The 2007 Detroit Auto Show was probably not the best place to test our new photo gallery feature considering the significance of the event. What if they crashed? What if readers didn't like it? What if we suck at taking pictures? Well, the system was as stable as a rock and everyone seemed to greatly enjoy the thousands of high-resolution images we pumped out from the show floor, but we'll be the first to admit that great photography skills have never been a prerequisite for blogging before. However, amidst the standard 3/4 front shots and blurry pics of sheets being pulled off of concepts, there were definitely a few gems. We've assembled a gallery of what we think are our best shots from the 2007 Detroit show, some of which you've seen and some you haven't. They're all 1,280 pixels wide, so they should be suitable for use as desktop wallpaper on some very large screens. We decided not to put a watermark of our logo on any of these because, quite frankly, we hate it when sites do that. If one of your favorite vehicles didn't make the list of best pics, you can still find pics of it by browsing our complete coverage.

That said, we've realized that we need to step up our photography game, so rest assured that we're upgrading our cameras and going over what aperture and ISO mean again. By the time we arrive in the Windy City for the 2007 Chicago Auto Show in early February, we want every pic we snap to be a gem.

Enjoy the gallery!

Click pic for highr ez version

General Motors has just released 12 new shots of the Chevy Camaro Concept, including one under the hood which until now has been little seen. Click on any pic for a super high rez desktop wallpaper version.

[Source: GM]

Click pic for high rez version

Automotive media the world over have managed to snap spy pic after pic of the Bavarian Motor Werks’ upcoming 3-Series Coupe. Last week three official pics of the car were even leaked on the web ahead of its official release.

Despite the official pics going public ahead of schedule, BMW managed to protect the best secret about its new two-door 3-Series Coupe. When the new car goes on sale in Europe on September 23rd it will be available with a twin-turbo 3.0L six-cylinder engine. The boosted six will develop 306 hp and 295 ft-lbs. of torque, which will propel the coupe to 62 in 5.5 seconds. Each small turbo powers three cylinders each and spools it quickly on account of its size and provides force-fed assistance all the way to the engine’s lofty 7,000 rpm redline.

The car itself weights 22 lbs. less than the sedan and the 335i SE’s twin-turbo six weighs 155 lbs. less than a comparably powerful V8. The engine also gets direct injection technology for kicks.

Not to be forgotten is the entry-level 325i SE Coupe, which gets a 2.5L inline-six making 218 hp and 184 ft-lbs. of torque. That’s still good for a sub 7-second blast to 62 mph.

Follow the jump for BMW’s official press release on the new 3-Series Coupe that reveals even more details. Click on any of this post's nine official pics for a super high-rez version.