Mr. Vroom

China used to be a strait up commie country, billion people, nutty leader, and armed with nukes. The country was a destablizing force in Asia, a threat to Japan, and S Korea, not to mention making trouble in SE Asia. Nixon, to his credit opened the door to rapprochement, and every leader since has granted trade carrots/favors to the country, which has moved from being an economic basket case to the world's second largest economy. So today we can proclaim mission accomplished, its time to play by our rules. This means a free floating currency, respect for copyrights, intellectual property, labor rights, civil rights, property rights, enviroment, and even simple shit like following good manufacturing practices(we don't want contaminated dry wall, lead paint and so on!) If the yuan trades freely it will appreciate in value by at least 30%, over time less jobs will be exported, more captital will be invested domestically, the US economy will move from 70% consumption(we consume more than we produce, which is ultimately unsustainable and only possible because China and others lend/send our money back!) to a more reasonable figure, trade deficits will go down, wages stabilize, unemployment goes down, these are all good things. On the Chinese side, domestic consumption is only 35% of GDP, which is too low, so to prevent asset bubbles, inflation, its also good for them. For those interested(Wheels!) here is an article on the last IMF meeting, which speaks of a looming currency war, where other countries like India, Japan, Brazil are considering or actually devaluing their currencies to compete with the Chinese. Remember that since China pegs its currency to the US dollar, this is a tool the US cannot use! If we devalue ours, so do they! http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/business/global/10imf.html

Hmm, I don't think your friend is quite as pissed as you.

Lee, you have some pent up anger there..... The US cut China some slack in the 80's and onward for geopolitical reasons. Those days are gone. You miss the point.... if the US dollar goes up or down, so does the yuan. This is against US law, against free trade, we have a right by domestic and international law to apply sanctions.

The US dollar trades freely on the open market, the Chinese Renminbi(yuan)does not, its value is artificially PEGGED to the US dollar, so if the dollar declines, so does the Renminbi, thus preserving the unfair trade advantage.

The ad gets almost everything wrong and picks the wrong bogeyman to blame it ALL on. China is not the biggest holder of US debt, most US debt is held domestically, by individuals, banks, the FED, retirement funds, etc. China is the largest foreign holder of US debt. Besides low wage labor, few worker rights, limited civil rights, copyright infringements, one of the ways China sucks money out of our economy, and is prolonging the recession is by undervaluing it's currency. This goes against every free trade principle, the WTO, and also is against US law because it gives them an UNFAIR trade advantage. Unfortunately China has been getting a free pass, if the law were applied, and tariffs put up, more products and capital investment would be made in the USA, unemployment would drop, tax revenues increase, govt deficits decline, more exports, etc. The ad should be advocating sanctions on Chinese imports, not praising their model, which as Brian pointed out, is patently false anyway.

Grats, enjoy and be safe!

Cool, for once a Ferrari goes as fast as advertised!

You may call it posing but a $500 bottle(prices have been going up!) at a club is about renting real estate. If you are with your girl, no one will hit on her, if you are out with friends, you have space to socialize, if you are out with your buddies, a prime spot to pull chicks and plenty of booze to get them loaded. Brian Wilson I gave up on you after you went to Montreal looking for fcuking crepes....Got a feeling you spend most of your day living in your head. Also doubt you have done anything substantial in your life (parking your ass in China, listening to Sam Cooke records doesn't count!) So here is some unsolicited advice, contemplation is good, but to live a full life, you need to engage, make goals, then realize them, take chances, and ocasionally fcuk up. If you want respect, it takes action, not talk or talking out of your ass as you do so often.

Exotics, like all luxury goods, have high gross profit margins, at most a G costs a few k more than a R8 to manufacture, yet it lists for 80k more. That may explain part of the profit, also it wouldn't surprise me if Lambo R&D and back office expenses are shifted/buried in the Audi account ledger. The good news is that since Audi is sharing platforms with Lamborghini, making a fat buck on the Lambo side doesn't seem to be a priority.

Salud!!

Yes its normal, have the same thing on my 06, its called lugging, you really need to shift and drive any pre Lp G at or above 3k rpm. The new engine with EFI in the LP560 corrected that issue, pulls nicely and smoothly at lower rpms.

Had a couple of problems, the Vanos line burst when it was new, and the SMG actuator unit also failed.

I called up Renntech, they claim a gain of 45 hp and 45 torque..... Here is their dyno sheet, which is kinda suspect, because Edwards Inside line dynoed a stock SLS on the same type dynojet and the stock made more hp than the tuned Rennetch! Guess I will have to dyno my car first! http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2...nz-sls-amg.html

Bought a new 750i a little more than year ago, its been in the shop twice, total down time of nearly a month, started off with a fuel pump isssue then computers started frying, its great driving/handling boat of a car, but a month downtime blows!

The new SL will be sitting on the same chassis as the SLS, plus have a TT V8, so I can't figure out the purpose of the SLS conv.

Not sure how the Mile runs, but it seems like a free for all, with few rules, lots of swagger. Say the event organizers used one day as practice/elimination/systems/safety check day where the high speed cars and drivers do a few 200 mph runs, demonstrate the ability to accelerate smoothly, deploy chutes, brake and stop in a strait line. Do these runs with out losing control of the car, and you are good to go for the record runs on the remaining two days of the event. Also, any track I have been to, drag strip or road course will kick you out if you spin/lose control more than once. Regarding weather, I am not sure how bad the xwinds were, or how gusty it was, but both can fcuk up traction; at some point someone has to call it, and it shouldn't be the competitors.

If I recall, the last time I was at the Miami strip you rolled in, said a quick hello and backed out, not off. Least you could have done was stick around and sell some insurance.

Miami would be perfect, but as I said, w/o any safety standards the length of the runway is immaterial. For example, many people mentioned high crosswinds. I am a pilot, if the xwind is more than 20 knots I will find another runway to land on. Why did the organizers allow the particpants to make a 250mph pass in these conditions? Last year Holt drove his G for the first time at the event, also w/o a roll cage I believe......

If you want to run these events professionally and with integrity Miami is not the answer(although a longer runway will definitely improve safety margins!) What's needed is mandatory safety equipment(basically everything thats on a race car) and also MANDATORY driver certification for speeds in excess of 200mph. Holt was lucky LAST year(watch the vid, he was all over the runway), this year he was foolhardy. Its time for the event organizers and tuners to realize it takes more than a combo of cash and horsepower to pull off a 250+ mph run. Without the right equipment and driver training, the next guy will crash and burn for sure!

Not a fan of the band Brian, but Walking, original or remixed rocks. Lately I have been into remixes of older songs, but HEY, been listening to this one straight up this morning.

This Jay Leno vid has the best sound recording of the exhaust I have heard so far: And the Renntech exhaust, supposedly has an ecu tune as well, but so far no power claims made, sounds ok, but missing the backfires!

by shadowman no doubt.....

Interesting to note that this case was resolved around a woman protecting her assets.......males can temporarily rejoice, but in the long run women will be the beneficiaries. I say this because of a demographic trend happening today(in the US, possibly Europe as well); there are more females enrolled in higer education than males, this applies to grad schools, law and medicine as well. In 20 years these female grads will be dominating their fields of expertise, accumulating wealth, branching out into politics, the judiciary, controlling the levers of power at all levels. Many will be the top earners in the family. When this happens, don't be surprised if family law gets revised, making it easier for a woman to kick her man to the curb, flat assed broke.

Salud!!