Autoblog

The MINI Clubman is everything the MINI Cooper is and more -- nine inches more. It has a passenger-side suicide door and that wide-mouth split rear gate, but everything else from its retro looks to the 172-hp turbocharged four-cylinder underhood is the same. But is it the same? Does nine inches of wheel base ruin the go kart-like handling we love so much in the MINI Cooper S? The folks over at Web Rides TV were itching to answer exactly that question, so they pitted the Mini Clubman S against a real, 9-horsepower go-kart. To give the kart a chance, the race was performed on an actual go-kart track, squeaky floors and all. The winner? You'll have to hit the jump to find out, but the race is more exciting than the finish.

[Source: Web Rides TV]

At a GM event we attended at the end of last summer, one of the presentations shown to the assembled media was an interior animation depicting the new Chevy Camaro's cockpit lighting and how it changs depending on the position of the key in the ignition. We'd been asking General Motors for a copy ever since, and were politely told, "no" every time. With the car's official unveiling yesterday, GM finally made the video available on the Camaro's official website. We've grabbed a copy and put it in the player above for your enjoyment, along with both of our live vids shot at yesterday's reveal. The interior video shows some really cool stuff, further proof that GM Design is paying close attention to cabin illumination in its new vehicles. Take a ride in a new CTS at night, and you'll see exactly what we mean. From the looks of things, GM's going to give the Camaro the same kind of love, and we're looking forward to experiencing it firsthand.


[Source: GM]

NOTE: Hit the play button now to watch live.

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2010 Chevy Camaro

As you may already know after the deluge of official Camaro images that leaked last week, General Motors will finally be unveiling the 2010 Chevy Camaro at 4PM EST today at its Warren Technical Center, and we'll have a team of two on hand for live coverage with pics and video of our own. GM will also be webcasting the live reveal and has provided the embed code free of charge so you can watch what is arguably an historic debut right here on Autoblog. If all goes well on GM's end, you'll be able to watch the unveiling live at 4:00 PM EST at this link on Autoblog. Go set an alarm right now, we'll wait... We'll have all the pics, specs and video you can digest shortly thereafter, as well as our take on whether the new Camaro has what it takes to make it in the face of high gas prices and competition from the new Dodge Challenger and an updated 2010 Ford Mustang.

Click above to view video after the jump

An altercation between the two admittedly attractive female drivers in the IndyCar Series has all the makings for a sensational headline, and in this case Danica Patrick and Milka Duno backed it up by tangling in the pits last Saturday after a practice session for the Honda Indy 200. Patrick, as she has done twice before, walked all the way to her competitor's pit stall to address a grievance. She simply asked Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's driver, who looked like she just stepped out of a salon, if she had seen her on the track. Apparently Patrick was miffed that Milka wasn't letting faster cars like her No. 7 Motorola Dallara Honda pass during practice. Milka was having none of it and twice threw a towel at Patrick while telling her to "go away". Such is a pretty normal day in the IndyCar Series with Danica Patrick on the prowl. For the record, neither lady performed particularly well in the actual race on Sunday, with Milka finishing 23rd out of 26 and Danica placing 12th. Check out video of these brunettes battling after the jump. Thanks for the tip, Art!

[Source: FOX Sports, Three Strikes and Out]

Click above to watch the GT-R take on the Top Gear test track

It's the lap time that everyone has been waiting for. Just how fast can the Stig push the Nissan GT-R around Top Gear's test track? Those who couldn't wait could see the track time posted on Wikipedia a few days ago. Even after the entry was removed (it's since been added back in), Wikipedia still allowed users to review the revisions made to an entry. So while the GT-R's time may have been no secret, those with enough will power not to look can now watch the video of the GT-R lap the Top Gear test track and have the result still be a surprise. Even if you do know the time, it's still worth watching, and as an added bonu,s Clarkson wrings out the GT-R at the Fuji race circuit. Just follow the jump to watch the video.

[Source: Top Gear via YouTube]

Well, all the Camaro buildup is finally set to amount to something this Monday, when the real, final car is unveiled. Frankly, it was getting anti-climactic before the official photos leaked onto the web on Friday afternoon, but we'll look forward to hopefully seeing the SS car in the metal. That one's been conspicuously absent from all the photos that crammed the internet as soon as the dam burst. Anyway, whether you go for an RS with that punchy DI V6, or the SS with its LS3 power, chances are you'll be a happy camper.

So, to celebrate, we've gone and collected all the Camaro television commercials (and one 1980s promo video) we could find and packed them up into our handy new video player. When you're done watching one, pick another from the scrolling list under the main window and enjoy. We don't know how Chevy's gonna market the new car, but we're hoping for something more in line with the cool and dramatic 'Volcano" spot for the first-gen. It's a nostalgia overload, from the '70 "Super Hugger" spots to the cringe-fest 80s-era ads, right up to the 90s cars that spelled the end of the line. Until now.

Now, please excuse us while we hit the weekend classified pages. We've got a sudden craving for some IROC-Z garage candy. After all, this mid-summer weather is just perfect for T-Tops.

If Willy Wonka made cars, this is what it would look like. The cold, hard reality is that automobiles are ground out like sausages in huge factories that ingest raw materials at one end and spit out shiny metal boxes filled with ticky-tacky at the other end. Marketing's a funny thing, though; building an emotional connection to your product can often lead to sales gold, so Ford's slathering its Fiesta marketing effort in pheromones to make it irresistible to buyers. It's all very trippy and fun, full of primary colors and smiling faces, but the thing is, we already love the Fiesta. They could put Orson Welles out there at his most cantankerous, and that'd be fine. We do dig the creativity, and since it's an entry level car, maybe the target market will be entirely comfortable with the campaign, having just recently graduated from Sesame Street, anyway.

[Source: Fiesta Love Factory via ADRants]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Corvette ZR1.

Motive was invited out to the Milford Proving Grounds yesterday to sample GM's latest and greatest Corvette, the ZR1. Thankfully, the online pub was smart enough to mount a camera inside the 638 hp uber-Vette and captured video of Jim Mero, chief engineer and the man that lapped the ZR1 around the Nurburgring in 7:26.4, caning the coupe though the General's test track.

Hit the jump to check it out.

Thanks for the tip Mark.

We're typically too busy with our nose to the automotive grindstone to goof off. After stumbling across some 50 year old Ford commercials on YouTube during our time with the Ford Flex, we had all the inspiration needed for some weekend fun. The old days of automotive advertising meant long, one- to two-minute commercials, bad camera work, and scripting that was done before the women's rights movement took hold. We had a somewhat retro-looking Ford Flex, a camera and a few spare moments to put something together, and the finished product is available after the jump.