@brickyard: So people should avoid stating the truth and stating valid criticisms because it may help OPEC? That is an idiotic concept.

So many of you people are so negative. Saying all he did was put an electric motor in a kit car chassis. It is not that easy. How did he put in air conditioning? How did he create a de-froster to keep the windshield from fogging? Is it easy to create a heating and cooling system for your batteries to allow them…

@Jim Topoleski: Lets ignore the fact that I said I hated the UAW (just that what Elwood was saying was patently wrong), the fact I am in a union and deal with unions, or that everything I said was correct.

How many wheel weights does it have?

@elwood: Why would you imagine this? Seriously? Over the past 5 years white collar workers I have known have gotten 3 to 6 months severance and the UAW workers either got a generous buy out or the jobs bank (even though now it is much less generous than before). Why would you ever think with the UAW's contract it…

@elwood: Yes, yes they do. You honestly missed all the buyout offers by the big 3 over the past year?

@Murilee Martin: No, I believe the number that include retiree benefits is something around $70 an hour.

@RagtagOperation: Yea, the good union workers like the benefits, but they do not like the idea of being layed off before the bad workers just because the bad workers have more seniority.

@Chris Bussiere: I believe the LS3 is actually slightly heavier than the BMW V8, but only like 10 to 20 lbs heavier or less than 5% heavier. Not bad when it probably costs less than half with an excellent power band.

I remember seeing a NASA study about using car engines in general aviation airplanes, since car engines are something like a quarter the price of similar airplane engine. They looked at all sorts of engines and all of the improtant parameters and determined the best engines for certain hp ranges. In the 300hp to…

@Steve Neill: You are correct, if you have a wankel you are not able to drive home.

@crankcase - Searching for the real Ash: I do enjoy your novel idea to quickly destroy this FOTA series as quickly as possible.

As much as I agree that Bernie and Max have made some mistakes, I agree with THE Gordon Murray that they have probably kept F1 from dying along time ago. I do not think people give them enough credit for keeping it together as long as it has and cementing its place as the top rung of motorsports.

@Shprocket: The LMP1 was really the only car that gave the R8 a challenge when the R8 was in its prime. Impressive considering the Panoz budget was about equal to Audi's sausage and sauerkraut budget. Not to mention all the Audi executives were present at the Nuerburgring to watch their all dominating car lose to…

@jpech: Since everyone appreciates a refresher on vehicle dynamics, I feel like I should step in here.

@Sharky: What you are refering to is the polar moment of inertia and while you are on the right track, it actually matters very little. Andy Thorby, a pretty famous designer, was pretty supprised how close in polar moment of inertia the front-mid Panoz were to the rear-mid competition. The difference was pretty…

@cabjf: That would probably be a good argument, but for a long time people were able to get along fine without SUVs to lug around a family and for home projects. Back then families were even bigger and I would bet more people did home projects.

@1991Brougham: I have long been a proponent of the theory that GM's downfall is based on lack of compact rear engined rear wheel drive sedans with big block engines.

@#6: *insert witty comment about failed bailout and then hope nobody actually dies*

@bmoreDLJ: It was more a homage to another real-life benevolent arms dealer Lockheed Martin. Which is kinda funny considering Boeing advised on the movie.