With the announcement that the Honda S2000 will cease production after the 2009 model year, Honda announced that it will reveal the last version of its rear-wheel drive roadster at the forthcoming Geneva Motorshow before global production of the model ceases altogether at the end of June 2009.

This model will set to go on sale in Europe from March, the limited production S2000 "Ultimate Edition" retains the Euro-spec, 237hp 2.0-liter 9,000 rpm VTEC engine with 153lb-ft of torque through a six-speed manual transmission.

Besides, this S2000 "Ultimate Edition" comes from a new set of wheels and an optional hard-top. "Grand Prix White" coats the exterior, while a red leather interior, color-matched stitching and numbered doorsill plaques sets it apart from the standard model.

The production of Honda S2000 will 'End-of-Life' this year after being in the market for a decade. Honda S2000 was first introduced in 1999 as a limited-edition tribute to Honda's 50th anniversary, but Honda's alter its plans and extend production till now.

S2000's is available in 64 countries around the world, the S2000 sold over 110,000 since its introduction in 1999. Honda does not have any plans to replace the S2000 roadster in the near future.

The American luxury brand was initially supposed to be introduced in Australia during the last quarter of 2008, but GM postponed the launch for this February.



The famous nameplate was due to make a return to Australia next month after an absence of more than 70 years, but the growing economic gloom and currency fluctuations have forced parent company General Motors to postpone the launch.

The luxury car sales dropped off dramatically mid-way through last year. The shock decision comes just a week before Australian media were scheduled to drive the car for the first time on local soil as Holden has already imported 89 CTS models.

The CTS uses a more powerful version of the Holden Commodore’s 3.6-litre V6 engine. It was expected to be followed late this year by a sporty coupe version and possibly a wagon and compact 4WD.

Spotted Civic 1.8 FD1 with Replica Civic Type R FD2 Bodykit and Wheels.

Mercedes-Benz has announced an AMG sports package that will be optional with any powerplant available for the new 2010 E-Class hitting European showrooms in March.

According to autoblog, the exact pricing depends on the engine chosen and will start at around 3,000 Euros in Europe. With the package, the buyer gets a unique set of bodykit with side skirts and 18-inch AMG alloy wheels.

In response to all of the speculation that has been reported as fact, the show wants to set the record straight.

The Stig has been revealed to be... Graham Hill. Yes, the very same Graham Hill who won the GP World Drivers Championship in 1962 and 1968 and was reported to have died in a tragic plane crash back in 1975. Who would have guessed? Ironically, his son and fellow Formula One World Champion Damon Hill was one of the people rumored to have donned the white driving suit and helmet. What a clever ruse by BBC.

According to Mole sources, the BBC knew as far back as 1974 that one day they'd hire Jeremy Clarkson to front their motoring show which didn't exist yet, and that Jeremy would probably go to a school where they called new boys "Stigs", and that in 2002 he'd probably invent an anonymous racing driver and probably give him that same name.

So they approached Graham Hill, whose professional driving career was over at that point, and asked him to crash a plane and then hide in a bush until he got the call from the Top Gear team 20 odd years later," said a BBC insider.

What a joke after all, it was so funny when no one knew who stig was till date. It is just no fun!

Source: Autoblog

Top Gear UK test driver The Stig has been unmasked as professional stuntman and Le Mans racer Ben Collins.

For years the identity of The Stig has been a closely guarded secret, but Collins (who has previously competed in Formula Three, Le Mans, GT and NASCAR) has apparently outed himself to staff at a Bristol gallery.

The 33-year-old let his secret slip when he asked them to help him produce a limited-edition print of The Stig in action.

Gallery owner Simon Whitehead, 27, said: "I was absolutely amazed when he said he was The Stig, it was quite a big thing in a weird way."

Builder Jason Goody, 21, also discovered The Stig's identity when he did some work at Collins' home and found the famous white suit and gloves on display in a cabinet.

Other fans of Top Gear, presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, have been closing in on Collins in recent months. One YouTube clip shows The Stig, in full disguise, talking with a Bristol accent to a foreign TV crew – and then cuts to Collins sounding very similar.

Collins has always denied being The Stig and could face the sack if he admitted it. The first Stig, stunt driver Perry McCarthy, lost the job after outing himself in his book Flat Out, Flat Broke, published in 2002.

Perry McCarthy was known as The Black Stig and always wore a black suit and helmet before he was "killed off" during the third series in 2003. Collins has since become The White Stig, and wears an all white helmet and suit.

So, will the White Stig be kill off in next series??

Source: Autoblog

Check out Lee Hom's latest MV on his latest debut - 搖滾怎麼了!! [Yao Gun Zen Me Le!!]

ANYWAY, the reason behind that I post this MV up is not that I am particular fan of Lee Hom but his guest in this MV. This round Lee Hom Teams Up With Janet Hsieh back in August. She's playing Electric Guitar and Pipa Duel in this MV.

Some Photo Snapshots during the making of this MV.

Hopeless Devoted - Perth

Street Art - Hong Kong

The 75^th Melbourne Motor Show is the only major motor show to be staged in Australia in 2009, and global car companies are making the most of it.

BMW heads the list of exhibitors which are taking extra space to show off their latest models.

The BMW M1 Homage show car will be the star of a dazzling two-stand display which makes BMW the biggest exhibitor at this year’s Show, along with several still-secret production BMW models.

Volkswagen and Lexus are also mounting their biggest-ever show stands, while Holden retains its status as the biggest single-stand exhibitor.

Russian carmaker - Sollers is seeking to buy the rights to produce SsangYong sport utility vehicles after the Korean automotive firm filed for bankruptcy protection.

Sollers has made the Korean company an offer that could see the firm's ugly & oddly-styled SUVs live on in Russia completely independent without naming the price it is willing to pay.

Sollers, previously known as Severstal-Auto, already holds licenses to produce SsangYong's Rexton II and Kyron sport utility vehicles in Russia. It sold 16,000 of these models in 2008.

Source: REUTERS

Nortel Networks, the maker of telephone equipment, filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, a day before it was scheduled to make an interest payment of about $107 million. The company is the first Technology-based company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at this economic tsunami.

Nortel and a number of its affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware.

Nortel’s shares have tumbled along with the company’s fortunes, sinking into penny-stock territory in recent months. Besides, Nortel has faced intense competition from North American and European rivals such as Alcatel-Lucent, as well as low-cost Asian vendors such as Huawei Technologies.

The company has also suffered as telecommunications companies scale back spending on the equipment that Nortel makes.

The global economic slowdown has exacerbated Nortel’s problems, leading it to warn last month that because of current conditions, its business is under pressure and its cash and liquidity are deteriorating.

In November, it reported a $3.4 billion quarterly loss, cut its 2008 outlook and announced 1,300 layoffs, or about 5 percent of its staff.

Source: REUTERS

Toyota has debuted its new petrol-electric Prius hybrid vehicle at the 2009 Detroit motor show. This 3^rd generation Toyota Prius's new features include a sunroof with solar panels that contribute to better fuel efficiency. The Prius is claimed to use just 3.9 litres of fuel per 100km, almost half that of an average small car.

The new Prius's built on an all-new platform, the 2010 Prius adopts a larger, 1.8-liter VVT-i petrol engine delivering 98HP while the combined output of the hybrid system is 134HP. Toyota claims that the new Prius gets a combined EPA rating of 50mpg US (4.7 lt / 100km). The current model is rated at 46 mpg, combined city/highway. As for performance, 0-100km/h acceleration has been improved to 9.8 seconds, more than a second faster, according to Toyota's internal testing.

There is a job offer at Australia which claims to be "the best job in the world". 

A global search for candidates for "the best job in the world" by QLD statement goverment. The candidate will be earning a top salary for lazing around a beautiful tropical island for six months.

The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars (105,000 US dollars) and includes free airfares from the successful applicant's home country to Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland's state government announced on Tuesday.

So... Reef lover with excellent communication skills are encourage to apply! Half-Yearly income at AUD150k per annum. Why wait??

For more details, click here.

Please ignore the first 16 seconds ya... :P

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Ssangyong Motor filed for bankruptcy protection on last friday, becoming the first major casualty among Asian carmakers as demand plunged and credit dried up in the global economic crisis.

Ssangyong, the smallest of the five automakers in South Korea, had been struggling to obtain cash after being hit hard by slumping sales. In the past month, it was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy and could not even pay its employees while governments and creditor banks in China and South Korea were locked in a dispute about who should bail the company out. Ssangyong is owned 51 percent by SAIC Motor of China but runs its factories in South Korea, employing 7,100 workers.

The automaker needed 600 billion won, or $451 million, in new financing to stay in business, according to Korea Development Bank, its biggest creditor.

Source: iht

Nissan selected the NISMO-prepped GT-R and Fairlady Z (Z34) to make their way to the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon.

The Nissan GT-R NISMO Club Sports features several improvements over the standard model. Developed collaboratively with the GT-R product development team and Nismo engineers, the GT-R Club Sports most prominent aspect is the Chassis Package.

The pack includes a set of race-spec Bilstein Damptronic adjustable dampers, stiffer front (18.5kg/mm) and rear springs (9.6 kg/mm) and new 20-inch Rays forged aluminum wheels wrapped in Bridgestone RE070R run-flat tires, sized 225/40 for the front and 285/35 at the rear.

Nismo also added a new lightweight titanium exhaust system that removes 5kg from the GT-R's overall weight and a set of the carbon fiber backed and leather trimmed manually adjusted bucket seats that save an extra 6kg. Nissan supports that at the Sendai Hi-land Raceway, the GT-R NISMO Club Sports outrun the standard GT-R model by 1 full-second.

The Plans to export the Holden ute to the US where it would be sold as a Pontiac have been dropped as GM feels the economic pinch.

The Pontiac G8 ST sport truck was unveiled at the 2008 Detroit motor show last January, and was to be powered by a V8 engine. Holden confirmed in March 2008 that its Commodore Ute would be restyled and rebadged for the US market.

Unfortunately, Holden this morning confirmed that it was given the bad news overnight by Pontiac, one of numerous General Motors brands that has been the result of intense speculation over its long term future.

The Ute was scheduled to go on sale in America in the second half of 2009 as the Pontiac G8 ST sport truck, but Pontiac has axed the model as part of General Motors' restructuring plan designed to stave off a financial collapse.

In the other hands, Holden already exports the Commodore sedan to the US, where it is sold as the Pontiac G8. It's believed almost 15,000 G8s have been exported to and sold in the US, but that tens of thousands are still waiting to be sold as demand in the States wanes. Pontiac had been hoping to sell double that number in 2008.

Source: drive.com.au

Toyota Motor Corp plans to halt production at all of its plants in Japan for a total of 11 days in February and March in response to flagging auto sales, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

The automaker in November cut its production plan by 950,000 units for the business year ending in March, but the firm now eyes a deeper reduction given a further deterioration in car sales, NHK said.

In Japan, Toyota announced that its December sales fell 18% compared to last year while for the whole 2008, the company saw a 7.4% decrease over 2007.

Source: Reuters

The 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon that runs from 9 to 11 January 2009, Japan's Matchless Crowd Racing (MCR) will reveal a fully modded Nissan Fairlady Z (Z34) packed with accessories and performance items from various manufacturers.

MCR Nissan Fairlady Z (Z34) show car will get a NISMO aero-package with a front and rear spoiler, side skirts and a rear wing, Enkei alloy wheels wrapped in Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08 tyres, upgraded Endless brake system, a sport suspension and a lightweight sport exhaust system.

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Due to the proven handling of Continental tyres at SIC Track day as well as urban road, the Malaysian 'STIG' decided to replace the tyres with a proper street performance tyres - Falken Azenis ST115...

As part of pre-caution, handling and safety purposes. This round, it will be 205/50/R16 instead of 195/50/R16... 10mm wider..

Of course, this set of ST115's are Made in Japan.

Removing the stock Continental's from the wheel.

Fitting the ST115's to the wheel.

The 'STIG' is thinking what to do with the Continental tyre... Maybe convert it as a flower pot???

Now, we both are thinking what to do with it as well...

Finally, we decided to ask the tyre fitter to scrap it! Not selling it as second hand due to the potential risk and safety concern.

Pumping up the air...

Balancing up the wheel before fitting it back to the ride.

All done, ready to be fit on...

Awesome!! Now, the Neo's is ready to go back on-track...

>>> Stay Tune on the upcoming track day posting...

Relevant Posts:
SIC Track Day on 08 Dec 2008 - 9 Dec 2008

2009 Suzuki SX4 gets a revised front bumper with a re-styled grill and concave surfaces above the fog lights. Besides, Suzuki has also revised the protective aluminum plate on the bumper. Let's stay tune and see when it is available in Malaysia.