Crashed:
At the 24 Hours of LeMons Southern Discomfort event last weekend in Kershaw, South Carolina, a Mercedes was in a position to win it all. Unfortunately, superior engineering doesn't mean much when you crash like the Mercedes did.
Keen to not let an opportunity slip away, the black Saab 9-3 driven by rbankracing.com (complete with Seinfeld reference written on the side) managed to stay ahead of two MX3s for the win marking the last time that Saab will (probably) win anything in the near future.
Don't Crash:
The new Lamborghini Aventador J is to the regular Aventador as to what Christian Bale's Batman is to Val Kilmer's. The Aventador is great, but the J is a darker, more serious take on the same idea. Weighing under 3500 lbs., this stripped out, purely carbon fiber beast produces over 700 bhp thanks to the V12 hiding in the back and goes from zero to 60 in less time than Christian Bale goes from zero to freaking-the-F-out.
The new Aventador seems to have taken a few notes from the Ariel Atom and done away with almost any creature comforts. Gone are the SatNav, climate control, even the windshield. Instead the car uses deflectors to keep flies from getting stuck in your teeth when you're cruising at an estimated top speed of 186 miles per hour.
Unfortunately, if you have the money and want to buy one, you're boned. Lamborghini has already started and finished the production run—of one unit. That's right, they made one of these and it's already sold for 2.1 Million Euros ($2.75m USD).
More photos and information can be found on AutoBlog.
Crashes Yet to Come:
Volvo owners usually cite safety as one of the main reasons for buying a Volvo. Ducati and Harley-Davidson owners do not. Yet this week, all three companies issued safety recalls that, if left uncorrected, could result in serious injuries.
Volvo has recalled the S60, XC60, S80, and the XC70 to fix a wiring problem that may keep the airbags from deploying in the event of a crash. Roughly 17,000 cars built between May 16 and October 6th, 2011 are at risk. Volvo says that the wiring harness under the front seats may not have been secured to the frame properly. As a result, adjusting the front seats may pull the wires and disconnect them.
And while nobody expects motorcycles to be completely safe, Ducati and Harley-Davidson have issued safety recalls as well. Harley-Davidson issued a recall for brake lines on their Softail motorcycles. Because of manufacturing and installation problems, the brake lines may leak fluid reducing the brake's effectiveness over time.
On certain Ducati Monster 1100 Evo models from 2011 and 2012, Ducati claims that wheel rims may develop cracks and may result in "wheel failure resulting in a crash" which is the understatement of the year. We imagine "Wheel failure" on a Ducati would be like the motorcycle crash from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (except without Nazis).
