Thursday, February 5, 2009

Porsche Was Driven Out of Formula One?


Whenever Porsche entered races, people where blown away by its performance. The Porsche car usually took first place, and if not first, it was always in the top three. Some races were deemed to be mind-blowing by critics, and Porsche enthusiasts were in their element! It was only a natural progression that the Porsche moved on to Formula One.

Porsche's first entry into Formula One took place in the season of 1961 to 1962. Porsche fans were a little perturbed to say the least. Porsche only managed to achieve one championship win thanks to Dan Gurney at the end of the French Grand Prix in 1962. Porsche did win another race, but it was a non-championship cup. At the end of its first season competing, Porsche retired from Formula 1. They cited that the reason for this was the high cost of their participation in the races. Naturally, this was because they were not winning anything in order to get their money back for the amounts they had invested in their venture.

In 1983 Porsche reentered the world of Formula One. This time, they supplied engines manufactured under the name TAG for the McLaren Team. Luckily for Porsche, TAG was a huge success. The Porsche powered cars won two titles for construction, and in addition to this, three drivers were crowned in championships in the years 1984, 1985 and 1986.

In 1991, Porsche returned as an engine supplier to Formula One. Unfortunately, the results were not as satisfactory as they had been before. Porsche entered their cars under the name Footwork, but failed to score any points. In over half the races they participated in, Porsche even failed to qualify at all! Since this disastrous year, Porsche has not returned to Formula One. There has been much speculation as to why they did not return again. It could very well be because Porsche was a very successful brand with a good reputation. If they continued to participate in Formula One, and experienced these embarrassing failures for the world to see, the Porsche brand would begin to lose its status.

Despite Porsche's failed attempt at a successful entry into Formula One, they still continue to dazzle on the race track. Nowadays, Porsche participates in smaller, more localized races. There are special Porsche races for enthusiasts that are hugely successful. In other larger races, the Porsche is normally modified, but still does well. Unfortunately for Porsche, the only real professional category that they participate in these days is the Porsche Michelin Super Cup. This cup is raced as a support category at the European Formula One.

In retrospect, there can be many thoughts on why Porsche did so badly in Formula One. Logically, it was the wisest decision for them to retire. Porsche is well renowned for its class, sleek lines and powerful engines. The Formula One is one of the biggest marketing campaigns for car manufacturers in the world, and naturally Porsche did not want to be advertised as being failures with less than championship level engines.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Little Red Corvette


Deemed as the bona fide backseat make out song of Prince's 1983 album titled 1999, Little Red Corvette combines Prince's sultry lyrics filled with innuendos with synth-saturated click track rhythms to make one flirty little number.

Although prior to this song, Prince was known for his blatantly sexual lyrics mixed with a raw and funkier sound, which resulted in most of his earlier recording not getting any radio play. This song was just obscure enough to not have offended anybody thus resulting in radio play.

In the song, Prince narrates a one-night stand with a beautiful but promiscuous woman, metaphorically named "Little Red Corvette," throughout the song he claims to enjoy the experience but urges her to slow down, find a love that is going to last before she destroys herself. The exact nature of the song is left to the imagination being that Prince is never quite clear as to whether he is talking about a car or some red hot minx. In addition to "Little Red Corvette," Prince uses several other automobile metaphors, including comparing their interlude to riding in a limousine.

It is rumored Prince got the idea for the song while he fell asleep in Lisa Coleman's Edsel or Mercury Montclair, depending on who you talk to, after an exhausting all-night recording session. Lisa Colman was Prince's keyboardist for both his 1999 album and Controversy albums and did backing vocals for Little Red Corvette. According to the rumor, the lyrics came to Prince in bits and pieces during that particular catnap and others that followed and eventually he was able to finish it without sleeping.

Little Red Corvette became one of Prince's best known songs and helped put his name on the music charts. This song was his biggest hit at the time, and the first to reach top ten status in the United States peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, which is the US music industry standard singles popularity chart issued by Billboard magazine. Little Red Corvette was one of his first singles to perform better on the pop chart then the R&B chart, due to the pop/rock format of the song.

The same Little Red Corvette inspired another musician, Stevie Nicks who got the idea for "Stand Back" after hearing Little Red Corvette. She heard Prince's song in her car, wrote "Stand Back" that night, later called Prince who came into the studio when they recorded the song to play keyboards.

Little Red Corvette is one of those songs that will forever stand the test of time. In 2001, Chevrolet put up billboards with a picture of a red 1963 Corvette Sting Ray that stated, "They don't write songs about Volvos." In 2003, Chevrolet used that statement in a commercial that aired for the first time during the Grammys. The ad showed old footage of The Beach Boys performing "My 409" followed by Don McLean singing "American Pie" ("drove my Chevy to the levee"), and then Prince performing "Little Red Corvette."


Honda Hit also by Global Economic Crisis?


That pesky recession! Who does it think it is, coming over here, taking our jobs, hitting everyone in the pocket, grabbing all the headlines, making the lives of us Brits a misery? The best way for Britain to cope with the dire straits that is the recession, is to put on a brave face. Britain may not be the best in the world at many things these days, but one thing we are good at is having a laugh in the face of adversity.

The latest news that one of the world's largest car manufacturers, Honda, are to stop production at their British factory in Swindon for the next four months, affecting 75 per cent of Honda's 4,000 strong British factory workforce.

Honda's global third quarter net profit has dropped by a staggering 89 per cent, and even though Business Secretary Lord Mandelson announced a government support package for the UK car industry which could be up to 2.3 billion pounds, the Japanese car giant has had to go ahead with the longest factory shutdown in recent history.

Many car manufacturers have had to make cut-backs in production simply because demand for brand new cars during these difficult financial times is way below levels of supply - Honda dealers have not experienced such a slowdown in turnover that something just had to give and it makes perfect business sense to cut production, sit back and reflect on how the next quarter pans out.

Despite Honda stating that they jobs are safe, it is common knowledge that over a quarter of factory staff have taken up voluntary redundancy, perhaps as they see no end to the gloom and doom in the near future.

Fears that the halt in production in Swindon may continue past the next four months have been dispelled, or at least there lies some hope, as Honda are going ahead with part orders - a measure that they surely would not take if they felt that production would continue to stop for an even longer time period.

Honda usually produce 240,000 cars from their Swindon factory, but that figure will halve over the course of the next year and elsewhere, global production will be slashed by 56,000 units. Honda is yet to announce whether employees from their other business sectors and departments in the U, such as Honda dealers and administration staff will be affected during the next year, which finance experts are saying will continue in recession, possibly through to 2010.

Honda dealers have obviously experienced a slowdown in business, both in the sale of brand new vehicles - the bread and butter, where the highest margins are made - and also used cars from Honda dealers.

Figures are set to continue to decrease for the duration of 2009 as Honda economists have forecast a net profit for the year to March 2009 to be less than half of its earlier forecast of 185 billion yen. The company's net profit for the quarter ending December 2008 was 180 billion yen below the mark reached during the same quarter the previous year - a staggering example of just how badly affected the car industry has been since the global economy took a nosedive.

The Swindon factory workforce will obviously be concerned, but will no doubt be putting on a brave face, in true British fashion. Let's hope, like the global economy, their fortunes can change over the next year.

Shaun Parker is a car expert with many years of experience in the used cars industry. Find out more about quality used cars at http://www.hondainchcape.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shaun_Parker

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Lincoln Navicross luxury car

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Lincoln Mark X photos

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Top 5 Coupes this 2009


This are the top 5 Coupes Cars this 2009. This includes BMW Series 1, Saturn Astra, Ford Fucos, Ferrari 430 and Toyota Yaris.

1. BMW Series 1 - 2-4 passenger luxury sports or luxury convertible and equipped with standrd 3.0 liter, 230 horsepower engine. The Convertible is standard 3.0 liter 300 horsepower turbo engine.

2. Saturn Astra - 2-4 door 5 passenger family coupe or family sedan. Both trims are equipped with 1.8 liter, 138 horsepower engine.

3. Ford Fucos - 2-4 door 5 passenger family coupe or family sedan. 140 horsepower engine with 5 speed manual transmission w overdrive and 4 speed automatic is optional.

4. Ferrari 430 - 2 door 2 passenger luxury sports car with 503 horsepower engine, 6 speed manual transmission with overdrive is atandard.

5. Toyota Yaris - 2-4 door 5 passenger family coupe or sedan with 106 horsepower engine, 5 speed manual transmission with overdrive standard.

Top 5 Sedans this 2009


Here's the top 5 Sedans this year 2009, all new all hot and all luxury sedans. This is the best Sedans for this year 2009.

1. Toyota Venza - 4 door, 5 passenger family sedan ranging from 4x4 V6.
2. Saturn Astra - 2 or 4 door, 5 passenger family coupe or family sedan.
3. Toyota Prius - 4 door, 5 passenger family sedan.
4. Mercedez-Benz E-Class - 4 door, 7 passenger luxury seddan, luxury sports sedan or luxury wagon.
5. Ford Fucos - 2 or 4 door, 5 passenger family coupe or family sedan.