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Video: Diesel Power finds the ultimate modified oil-burner

Filed under: Motorsports, Truck, Videos, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Diesel, Off-Road

For nine years, Diesel Power magazine has run the Diesel Power Challenge, this year’s grindfest being “a week-long torture test that features seven events, nine trucks, 8,000 horsepower, and nearly 15,000 pound-feet of torque.” The road to being crowned “the most powerful truck” starts with a dyno run, and then continues through the completion of a CDL-style obstacle course, an eighth-of-a-mile drag race while towing a 10,000-pound trailer, a quarter-mile drag race without a trailer, a fuel economy test in the mountains and finally a sled-pulling test through a 300-foot-long packed-mud pit.

What kind of trucks get into such a fight? Last year’s winner, for instance – who upgraded his truck this year to prove he didn’t “luck into the win” – drives a 2008 Ford F-250 Super Duty with a 6.4-liter Power Stroke V8 upgraded with a custom intake, Elite Diesel triple turbos and a two-stage nitrous system. Another competitor has a 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 powered by a 5.9-liter Cummins inline-six, upgraded with Garrett turbos, dual-stage nitrous, a seven-inch exhaust stack and twin fans built into the bed to cool the Sun Coast Omega transmission. The numbers on that truck: 1,255 horsepower, and 2,063 pound-feet of torque at the wheels. Naturally, as the image above might suggest, things don’t always end well.

You’ll find all five videos covering this years challenge below. A scene in the dyno video sums it all up perfectly: a competitor leaves his nitrous on too long and the crew is treated to some ominous poppings, he leans out the window, throws both hands up and shouts, “Amer’ca!“

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Diesel Power finds the ultimate modified oil-burner originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 24 Aug 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wikileaks: U.S. believes Saudi Arabia is running out of oil

Peak oil, according to Wikipedia, is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. Opinions vary on when the world will actually reach a peak oil scenario, but a new report detailed by Julian Assange’s infamous Wikileaks website indicates the United States believes it’s staring us right in the face – as early as 2012.

Maybe that’s what the Mayan calendar is on about?

It may not exactly be the end of the world as we know it, but if the report is accurate, it could mean death to a number of popular vehicular segments; namely the gas-guzzling sport utility vehicle, heavy-duty pickup truck and possible even the mainstream performance car. Electric and hybrid Mustang and Camaro models might not look so bad in the very near future, eh?

This revalatory report centers around a meeting between Sadad al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration at Aramco (the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia), and U.S. officials. Husseini, an expert on the subject, suggested that Saudi Arabia doesn’t have as much oil left as the country wants us to believe and that it is unlikely to continue producing its current rate of 12.5 million barrels per day.

None of this is to say that the world has run out of oil – far from it, in fact – but it does mean that Saudi Arabia, the largest country in the Middle East and the country that’s thought by experts to hold about one-fifth of the world’s proven total petroleum reserves, won’t be able to provide enough oil to keep the world operating as it does today.

If nothing else, this report gives us reason to believe that oil prices won’t stay nearly as low as they currently are, and that large-scale price increases could happen sooner rather than later. Thanks for the tip, Glenton!

[Source: Yahoo News | Image: Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty]

Wikileaks: U.S. believes Saudi Arabia is running out of oil originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chevy Volt components to be built from Gulf of Mexico’s oil-soaked booms [w/video]

Filed under: Hybrid, Sedan, Plants/Manufacturing, Chevrolet, GM, Electric

2011 Chevrolet Volt recycled boom material

Recycled boom material under the hood of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt – Click above for high-res image gallery

There’s really no way to positively spin the disaster that took place in the Gulf of Mexico when BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded and leaked untold millions of gallons of oil into the ocean. That said, it seems that General Motors has figured out a way to “creatively recycle” an estimated 100 miles of oil-soaked plastic boom material.

If not recycled, much of this material would likely have ended up in landfills, and we’d much rather see it reused under the hood of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt than buried under the ground to rot way over several lifetimes. Specifically, GM will mold radiator air deflectors from plastic that’s made up of 25 percent recycled boom material and 25 percent recycled tires, with the remaining 50 percent “a mixture of post-consumer recycled plastics and other polymers.”

Enough of the boom material has apparently been collected to fill GM’s needs for these plastic parts over the Volt’s entire first year of production, and it’s likely that these recycling efforts will continue to other models in the automaker’s portfolio. See the recycled boom material used in the Volt in our image gallery below, and check out a video along with the entire press release after the break.

Gallery: Recycled boom material in the Chevrolet Volt

Recycled boom material in the Chevrolet Volt

[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading Chevy Volt components to be built from Gulf of Mexico’s oil-soaked booms [w/video]

Chevy Volt components to be built from Gulf of Mexico’s oil-soaked booms [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IndyCar: 2010 Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 [SPOILERS]

Filed under: Motorsports, Racing

2010 Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 from Chicagoland Speedway – Click above for high-res image gallery

It might seem that the 2010 IndyCar championship is a foregone conclusion. After all, Team Penske’s Will Power has a sizable lead in the standings and there are just four races left to run. Ah, but those four are all on ovals, and Will has never claimed the top step of the podium at an oval track. Plus, right behind Power in the race for the overall IZOD IndyCar Championship are Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon – two drivers who have considerably better luck than Power when everybody only has to turn left.

In fact, Dixon leads Franchitti in the new-for-2010 A.J. Foyt Oval Champion standings. Furthermore, Dixon basically owns this week’s venue – Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois – despite never actually winning there. That might seem like a contradiction, but Scott has been the bridesmaid on five separate occasions at Chicagoland.

IndyCar’s return to the ovals also means bigger fields, with 29 drivers lined up to run for the checkers on Saturday night. Among those 29 were a record five female drivers – Ana Beatriz, Milka Duno, Sarah Fisher, Danica Patrick and Simona de Silvestro. Would Dixon finally take the win in Chicago? Would Dario claim victory and close the gap on Power? Would one of the ladies break through and be the first across the stripe? Follow the jump to see how the 2010 Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 from Chicagoland Speedway played out.

Gallery: 2010 Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 from Chicagoland Speedway

[Images: Jonathan Ferrey, Streeter Lecka/Getty Images | Skip Stewart, Nam Y. Huh, Warren Wimmer/AP]

Continue reading IndyCar: 2010 Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 [SPOILERS]

IndyCar: 2010 Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 [SPOILERS] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monterey 2010: Concours d’LeMons brings oil leaks and levity

Filed under: Etc.

2010 Concours d’Lemons – Click above for high-res image gallery

Monterey’s main event – the Concours d’Elegance – is underway on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach, but before the winner takes to the podium, here’s what the rest of us poor, oil-soaked wretches can related to.

The second annual Concours d’LeMons played host to the tired, huddled masses at the Toro Regional Park, with a random assortment of French, German, Japanese and American iron that will never grace the surgically manicured lawn behind The Lodge.

We started off watching a shortened VW van doing wheelies and stoppies in the parking lot, then took in the sights and smells of a rotary-powered Beetle, an Opel GT coated in Compuware ‘Vette livery, a 1948 Davis Divan, a few Pacers, a 2CV, a Gulfed Datsun 1600 and, yes, an Aztek, complete with full camping gear.

Get an eyeful in the gallery below and stay tuned for the real winner of Monterey… soon.

Gallery: Monterey 2010: Second Annual Concours d’Lemons

Rotary-powered Volkswagen Beetle Opel GT in Compuware 'Vette livery

Monterey 2010: Concours d’LeMons brings oil leaks and levity originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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