Autoblog

The "International Engine of the Year Award" is a big deal as far as bragging rights go in this industry. Think of it like the Academy Awards for engines. However, instead of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voting, you have 62 renowned motoring journalists, from 30 countries, casting ballots for their favorite fossil fuel burner.

Last year's winner (pictured above) was BMW's twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-6. This year's list of nominees includes Nissan's 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 (found in the Nissan GT-R), Mitsubishi' 2.0-liter twin-turbo I4 (Mitsubishi EVO X), Audi's 5.2-liter V10 (Audi S8), Chevrolet's 6.2-liter supercharged V8 (Corvette ZR1), and BMW's 4.0-liter V8 (BMW M3). Let's sit back and listen to the orchestra for a bit... the winners don't get announced until May 7, at Engine Expo 2008, in Stuttgart, Germany.

Fans had been looking forward to it for years, and now it's come to a close. For 2007, Formula One stepped out of the dominating shadow of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, the first season since his retirement, and came to today's final race of the season in a close three-way battle between Ferrari's "iceman" Kimi Raikonnen and McLaren's feuding fraternity of defending champion Fernando Alonso and amazing rookie Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari's brave Brazilian Felipe Massa having fell out of contention earlier in the season.

The 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix was a thrilling end to a thrilling season and a gripping race in its own rite. SPOILER ALERT: Follow the jump to find out who won the race, who took the title and how it all went down.

click above image for a gallery of the buried Belvedere's unveiling

Don't know how we missed this, but apparently the winner of the 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that was buried with a time capsule in Tulsa, Oklahoma some 50 years ago has been determined. His name is Raymond E. Humbertson, and 50 years ago he guessed that the population of Tulsa would be 384,743 in 2007. He was off by 2,286 people, as the population of Tulsa stands today at 382,457. Nevertheless, Humbertson's guess was the closest, which makes him the winner.

Unfortunately, Humbertson died of cancer in 1979 and his wife also passed away in 1988. His closest living relatives are two sisters, who will take ownership of the prize – a completely rusted 1957 Plymouth Belvedere. The announcement of the winner was made on Friday, June 21st at the East Tulsa Dodge dealership where the car was on display after it had been exhumed from its watery tomb. It's since been moved to a storage building.

Perhaps it's tragically fitting that the man who has won the buried Belvedere is no longer with us, as Humbertson is likely cruising in the afterlife with his '57 Belvedere that's equally deceased.

Thanks for the tip, Tom!

[Source: buriedcar.com]

Click the photo for a high-res gallery of the Captiva Scratch Car-d

We've all bought one of those "scratch and win" lottery cards at the convenience store before. Attacking that little piece of cardboard with a penny is a very satisfying experience, even if you don't uncover three cherries, two "$50" or a "New Ticket". Chevy in the UK had a bright idea to take that same scratch off experience and supersize it by turning an entire vehicle into a scratch off card. To introduce Londoners to the new Chevy Captiva crossover, the brand had an example of its new CUV on display coated with the same scratch off material and parked atop a pile of 16,995 pennies.

It took two months to cover the entire CUV and thousands of individual panels with the same latex material used on those scratch cards. It only took 14 hours of scratching, however, before someone uncovered the hidden winning panel and won the vehicle. Hopefully Chevy gave the winner a different Captiva than the one used in the contest, because penny scratches do not, in fact, buff out.

The event took place in Covent Garden in London, with the number of pennies obviously representing the Captiva's base price in British pounds. You can think of the Captiva as the entry level sibling of the better-equipped Opel Antara and our own Saturn VUE. Will the U.S. market then get the Captiva as replacement for the Chevy Equinox? If we're lucky.

Thanks to Mario for the tip!

[Source: AutoMotoPortal]

The Renault R26 is an impressive piece of machinery, to say the least. Piloted by Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella, the French team's 2006 Formula One race car managed to secure both the titles: the drivers' championship and the constructors'. And it did so under a great deal of stress as Ferrari put up a good fight for both titles, and hardly broke down the entire season.

This video from Renault gives you a look at the car and its engine, all developed and produced in-house, in all their championship-winning splendor.

[Source: Renault via Auto Motor Portal]

Simon Evans and his wife/co-driver Sue took the Australian Rally Championship in their Toyota TRD Corolla after finishing a close second on their home turf at the NGK Rally of Melbourne this past Sunday.

Going into the Melbourne rally, the Evans' only needed an eighth place finish in Melbourne to secure the title, and they nearly took first place, only surrendering to Mitsubishi's Scott Peder on a technicality after the two were deadlocked.

All the jokes about the wife giving directions aside, there are doubtlessly many single gearheads out there who wish they could find a spouse to share in their passion.

Follow the link for the full race report.

[Source: Rally.com.au]