John Barry, the man behind WD-40, dead at age 84

Who among us doesn't have at least one blue-and-yellow can sitting on the shelf near the tools? WD-40 and its secret formula has been often imitated, but the small San Diego firm long resisted the temptation to spread itself thin with too many other products. Under the leadership of one John S. Barry, the company took a single product – one that had taken 40 tries to get right – and built it into the Kleenex of lubricant products, good for $317 million in sales last year. The man who kept his focus firmly on making the best single product of its type has passed away at the age of 84.

John Barry's demeanor as the top dog of WD-40 Co. is an admirable example for fatcat CEOs that are so addicted to costly perks. Barry himself acknowledged that his style was that of "breaking all the Harvard Business School rules." He answered his own phone. He flew coach. Meetings were sometimes held at Denny's. The proof of Barry's keen instincts can be seen by the myriad of copycat products laid to waste by WD-40's dominance.

Despite the assertions that a single-product company would never make it, WD-40 is very much still around thanks to John Barry's refusal to tinker with his product and its ever-increasing list of unique uses. The company now has other highly regarded products in its porfolio, such as Spot Shot carpet cleaner, Lava soap, and 3-in-1 Oil – perhaps the only other lubricant that's nearly as universal and also has a delightfully distinct aroma, just like its blue and yellow shelfmate.

source:autoblog

PROTON Exora Turbo

While the Proton Saga EV Green Propulsion Concept stole the lime light in University Putra Malaysia for the “Proton Exora - The Making” seminar, the national car maker also took to the opportunity to showcase the Proton Exora Prestige Turbo Prototype.

It is basically the Proton Exora Prestige Concept which was first previewed at the Exora’s official launch event, but now fitted with a prototype turbo powerplant.

The turbo engine based on the 1.6 liter CamPro powerplant was built in-house, without the input of Lotus. Which means, the engine mostly features aftermarket parts to turn it from a normally aspirated motor to a turbocharged one. It’s useful to test the durability and reliability of a Campro block when force inducted.

The production turbocharged powerplant for the Exora is being co-developed with Lotus, and sources reveal that powertrain engineers will soon leave for the UK to intensify the development.

The powerplant featured in the Prestige Concept shown above is said to produce up to 270 horsepower, and with a torque figure that is rated at about 350Nm. (UPDATE: Now that I think about it, this quoted figure seems a little over the top. While no doubt it is possible especially if you strengthen the engine enough, it is not practical for production use so the production car will not likely be tuned to such extents as there is a high possibility for lots of turbo lag and the 4-speed Mitsubishi automatic transmission must be struggling with the torque.)

A source revealed that the turbocharged Proton Exora MPV could most probably hit the market by between end 2010 to mid 2011. Honestly for me despite many customers eagerly waiting for a more powerful Exora, later is better as it means more time for testing, and a turbocharged production engine is something very new for Proton.

The production turbocharged variant will very likely offer less than the 270 hp and 350Nm performance figures mentioned above, but even if it ends up producing anywhere in the region of 170 horses and 240Nm of torque, that would be a big leap already as it would be equivalent to a normally aspirated 2.4 liter engine, but with peak torque coming in at a much lower RPM.

It wipe out one major issue that the current Exora has, which is a lack of go. The 1.6 liter Campro CPS that is currently being offered with the Exora produces 125 horsepower and 150Nm of torque. Proton also revealed that the Exora Prestige Concept is being sold to selected VIPs that have placed orders for the extra-luxury variant.

Source : Paultan

Video Compilation

Nismo 380RS debut Touge battle

Nismo 380RS touge debut. Will the ultimate Z be enough to beat out the likes of the Evo 9 Mr Rs, NSX-R and Porsche GT3?

Your Dosage Of Motorsport Adrenalin: Raging Bulls & Sand Traps

This one’s for fans of the Bull and race fans. An amazing video of the Blancpain Super Trofeo which is the Lamborghini version of Ferrari’s Challenge cup. Follow the progress of Team Lamborghini Munchen’s Adria as their hardwork and determination gets them the race lead, only to end up in a sand trap later. Great video of racing at its best.

Koenigsegg, meet Saab. Saab, meet Koenigsegg.

Although the deal to purchase Saab between Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg and General Motors has not yet been completely finalized, that hasn't stopped us from openly pining for a production version of Saab's gorgeous Aero X concept car of 2006. And now that we have pictures of the showstopper adjacent to one of Mr. Christian von Koenigsegg's own gorgeous creatures, well... it may just be enough to keep us awake at night. We're not sure where these two-door millionaire's coupes got together for this photoshoot, but judging from the snow on the ground, we wouldn't rule out the motherland.

While it's way too early to tell if Saab's new ownership situation will help get the automaker out of the woods it has seemingly been lost in for years, we can't help but at least get a little excited when seeing these two together.

Mitsubishi Evolution FQ-330 SST: Euro Only

In keeping with Mitsubishi's FQ tradition abroad, the automaker has developed a new model to fit in between the standard FQ-300 and the insanity known as the FQ-400. The Mitsubishi Evolution FQ-330 (almost) lives up to its namesake by delivering an additional 29 hp (up from the standard Evo's 300 hp) and an additional 22 lb-ft. of torque for a total of 322. The sprint to 60 mph drops accordingly, with 0.3 seconds shaved from the standard cars 4.7-second time. The minimal powertrain changes consist of a reworked intake, high-flow down-pipe, exhaust and catalytic converter and a re-mapped ECU to make use of the breathing mods. As it's name would suggest, the FQ-330 is equipped with Mitsubishi's new six-speed Twin-Clutch Sports Shift Transmission (TC-SST), and the whole packages only commands a £3,000 premium over the standard Evo, at £35,999.

Fast & Furious Skyline stolen from Hollywood garage

It took two years to build it in reality, ten seconds of montage to put it together on screen, and about ten minutes to steal it. In a rare automotive example of life imitating art imitating life, the Nissan Skyline that Paul Walker drove in the latest Fast & Furious movie was stolen from its storage facility in Los Angeles.

Although dressed up to look like a full-on R34 GT-R for the movie, the car underneath was actually a lower-spec GT-S. Reports indicate that thieves, evidently knowing the car was inside, broke through a metal door and ripped off that specific car, leaving the rest but sideswiping a Studebaker and a Porsche Boxster on the way out. And to make matters worse, the car, valued at around $75,000, wasn't even insured. Considering the movie grossed $72.5 million in opening-weekend box office sales alone, we doubt the seventy-five grand will be terribly missed.