Do the 1/4 mile in 9.1 secs and win a '59 El Camino

Paul Leroux

I must confess, I have the attention span of a gnat. Watching movies? Forget it. I'm too restless. Same goes for watching baseball, hockey, or any other popular game sport. They all take too long to come to an end.

Compare these to drag racing. It's a sport of many shorter outcomes, most of which are decided in 10 seconds or less. Which may explain why I watched the entire 11 minutes of this video of the 1959 national drag racing championship. Of course, it didn't hurt that the soundtrack consists mainly of roaring engines — I'm a sucker for a blown V8 in full cry.

Among other things, you'll notice there's no Christmas tree; the countdowns were performed by a live human being. Other highlights include a trophy for the safest dragster (seriously?), Art Arfons establishing a new track speed record, and a grand prize of a 1959 El Camino. In case you didn't know, Art held the world land-speed record three times during the mid 60s. And if you're really into trivia, note that GM introduced the Camino in 1959 in response to the success of the Ford Ranchero.

Okay, enough of that. Roll the tape...



And hey, did you notice? People were way thinner back then.
 

OnStar Interview: Standards, HTML5, and the OEM

Have you ever explained to your kids why the solid rocket boosters on the Space Shuttle are the width of two Roman warhorses standing side-by-side? If you haven’t, I suggest you do. The incredulous looks are well worth it. For additional bonus laughter from the younger crowd, you may want to add in the fact that we’re talking about the rear ends of horses.

What this little bit of trivia does for us, the 'older' crowd, is offer a lesson in standardization. A set of specs, rules, measurements, and so on can have long-lasting repercussions. And so, on the one hand, it behooves us to choose wisely; while on the other hand, it reminds us about the importance of being open to change.

Steve Schwinke, director of advanced technology for OnStar, is among a growing number of industry leaders who believe that HTML5 has the potential to dramatically change our industry for the better. Steve believes in strength in numbers and has great faith in the OEM community to work together to help shape the standard and promote its widespread adoption.

Here’s what Steve had to say about HTML5 when we visited him in Detroit just before the holidays in December.



This interview of Steve Schwinke is the fifth in a series from QNX on HTML5.

Audi announced 2012 Audi R8 GT Spyder car price

Audi has announced 2012 Audi R8 GT Spyder car price which was recently introduced is a hand-built and limited production car. The price of the car is $210,000.

The 2012 Audi R8 GT Spyder car is powered with 5.2 liter V10 with direct injection engine which produces an output of 560hp. The car weight is reduced and engine performance is increased.The car is accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and top speed of the car is 197 mph.

The 2012 Audi R8 GT Spyder car interior is black and decorated with stitching in choice of Titanium Gray or Crimson Red for added refinement. The car has Alcantara seat inserts, flat bottom sport steering wheel, hand brake cover and windshield frame.

The 2012 Audi R8 GT Spyder car features quattro all-wheel-drive system, power adjustable exterior mirrors, heated full-size dual-stage front airbags, knee airbags, side airbags for driver and passenger, front disc brakes with 8-Piston calipers, rear disc brakes with 4-Piston calipers, LED headlights and daytime running lights, sport seats, Audi navigation system, 6-disc CD changer, Sirius Satellite Radio, and bluetooth facility for mobile phone with seatbelt microphone.

The 2012 Audi R8 GT Spyder car production was limited to 333 units world-wide and 50 units coming to the US. The 2012 Audi R8 GT Spyder car deliveries to customers will begin as of February.