The Autoblog Weekender – Click above to find out what you missed
In February's first Weekender, NASCAR already has its Car of Tomorrow and now Indycar is planning its car of 2012. Dallara has designed three sample chassis, and while they might not make IRL any more fun to watch, they could make it far more interesting to look at. In other lands, the Alfabeast is what you get when you cross a 2.5-liter V6 and a hardtail motorcycle, Ford says "No" to manatees and monkeys, Bentley shows you how to make a Mulsanne, the new Porsche Cayenne interior looks hot as cayenne, and did you hear the one about the guy who ate a bowl of chili and crashed into a house? Yeah, neither had we. Follow the jump for all those stories and more...
1. New Dallara IndyCar Chassis Concepts
The IZOD IndyCar series has revamped the rules of its chassis design, and these are the criteria for the new cars: safer,
"raceable" – they need to promote good racing, not major spacing between cars, more cost-effective, American-made, lighter, modern, green, and with "relevant technology." Chassis builders Deltawing, Lola, and Swift are working on new designs for the series, but Dallara is the first to release renderings of its three takes on the new car. Deltawing's version will be revealed next week at the Chicago Auto Show. In the meantime, and the Indy-verse has been all over the map in terms of response to what Dallara envisions. Hat tip to Travis
[Source: Silent Pagoda via Pressdog]
2. Farbio Flies West
The details are scant and you never know how these things are going to go, but Farbio now has a North American distributor. William Prior took the reigns of an entity called Farbio North America, LLC and will be bringing the little UK kit car (joining its mates like Rossion and Ariel) to American Anglophile pilots. The homologation and certification work has yet to be completed, so it will be at least 15 months before it passes through customs and pokes its headlights out of the arrivals area. It's a depressingly early announcement since it won't be until late 2011 until you get your hands on a Farbio GT350 track day special... but when you do, boy, look out! Hat tip to Pottz
[Source: Farbio]
3. Crossbreed Alfabeast is Straight-Up Hot
In its own words, UK bike builder and fabricator Crossbreed makes "sick, twisted motorcycles." Like this: the Alfabeast, which puts a 2.5-liter Alfa Romeo V6 into an aftermarket hardtail frame, with a 4-speed Harley 'box and, get this, a kickstarter. Note the six exhaust pipes, four protruding Weber carbs, and the detail work. You know what they say: if loving this is wrong, we don't need to be right. Ever. Hat tip to Chris
[Source: Bike EXIF]
4. Bentley Bodies the Mulsanne
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Bentley has provided a look behind the curtain at what it takes to build the new Muslanne. There are 100 men and 125 man-hours invested in just creating the award-winning, superformed high-strength steel body with hand-brazed seams. And that's well before the humidors, flatscreens, and color-matched pink fluffy bits are thrown in. The Mulsanne is still working to make the right impression on a lot of folks, yet the detail that goes into creating it – as with any Bentley – is unquestionably impressive. Speaking of Mulsannes, the Bentley Drivers Club will host its Annual Race Meeting at Silverstone on August 7, 2010, which we note only as an excuse to put up pics of a 90s-era Muslanne with a giant green wing.
[Source: Bentley]
5. On the Flip Side, Tom Purves Has a Few Thoughts on How to Sell a Rolls-Royce
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