Tuesday, October 16, 2012

2013 Nissan Latio N17 gets the IMPUL treatment?! Ahem...

2013 Nissan Latio with IMPUL aero kit

The 2013 Nissan Latio (known in other countries as the Almera or Sunny) compact sedan was recently launched a few weeks ago in Japan with the starting price of 1,388,100 Japanese Yen.

In Malaysia, Edaran Tan Chong Motor (ETCM) decided to spice up the Almera a little bit with the help of Nissan tuning firm, IMPUL (URL: http://www.impul.co.jp/index_top2.html).

The N17 Latio tuned by IMPUL comes with an IMPUL Blast 2 Exhaust Muffler and 16-inch HS-06 alloy wheels in silver and black with a matte finish. The rims equpped by IMPUL helped reduced its weight by 20 to 30%. Also, it has been lowered by 30mm thanks to its IMPUL-made suspension.


Malaysia is the first to get this spiced-up Latio/Almera/Sunny N17. We still don't know when this will be offered in Japan...

Monday, October 15, 2012

Anime Saimoe Tournament 2012 update (October 15, 2012)

Another day, another results from the 2012 Saimoe Tournament! And oh my gosh, it's been highly dominated by characters from Saki Achiga-hen. How did that happened? Oh well, let's see who made it...


(Group A) 10/7:
* Saki Miyanagi - Saki Episode of Side A - 321 (Winner)
Kobato Hasegawa - Haganai - 245

(Group B) 10/7:
* Akari Akaza - Yuruyuri - 385 (Winner)
Mei Misaki - Another - 217

(Group C) 10/9:
* Hisa Takei - Saki Episode of Side A - 224 (Winner)
Cthugha - Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 272

(Group D) 10/9:
* Louise de la Valliere - Familiar of Zero F - 306 (Winner)
Nagi Sanzenin - Hayate the Combat Butler! Heaven Is a Place on Earth - 269

(Group E) 10/11:
* Sanya V. Litvyak - Strike Witches (movie) - 285 (Winner)
Sakuno Uryuu - Mashiro-Iro Symphony - 219

(Group F) 10/11:
*Kuro Matsumi - Saki Episode of Side A - 361 (Winner)
Ririchiyo Shirakiin - Inu X Boku Secret Service - 232

(Group G) 10/13:
* Nodoka Haramura - Saki Episode of Side A - 305 (Winner)
Hitagi Senjougahara - Nisemonogatari - 185

(Group H) 10/13:
Sena Kashiwazaki - Haganai - 286 (Winner)
Mio Akiyama - K-ON! (movie) - 158

(Group A) 10/8:
* Koromo Amae - Saki Episode of Side A - 287 (Winner)
Yuuki Kataoka - Saki Episode of Side A - 207

(Group B) 10/8:
*Toki Onjouji - Saki Episode of Side A - 361 (Winner)
Iori Minase - The IDOLM@STER - 195

(Group C) 10/10:
* Yayoi Kise - Smile Pretty Cure! - 267 (Winner)
Astarotte Ygvar - Astarotte's Toy - 171

(Group D) 10/10:
* Hinata Hakamada - Ro-Kyu-Bu! - 246 (Winner)
Chihaya Kisaragi - The IDOLM@STER - 199

(Group E) 10/12:
* Yuu Matsumi - Saki Episode of Side A - 350 (Winner)
Charlotte Dunois - Infinite Stratos Encore: Koi ni Kogareru Rokujūsō - 197

(Group F) 10/12:
* Kirame Hanada - Saki Episode of Side A - 299 (Winner)
Yui Funami - Yuruyuri - 271

(Group G) 10/14:
*Ako Atarashi - Saki Episode of Side A - 383 (Winner)
Tsukihi Araragi - Nisemonogatari - 211

(Group H) 10/14:
* Shana - Shakugan no Shana III (Final) - 291 (Winner)
Airi Kashii - Ro-Kyu-Bu! - 287

Scoop: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2012-10-15/2ch-forum-saimoe-tournament-2012-round-3/groups-a-h

So the question is, who's going to take over blocks A to H? If these blocks were filled up, looks like we got ourselves our final 8 and they'll be going down to 4 and then 2 and there could only be one...Stay tuned!

Group A: Saki Miyanagi vs. Koromo Amae

Group B: Akari Akaza vs. Toki Onjouji

Group C: Hisa Takei vs. Yayoi Kise

Group D: Louise de la Valliere vs. Hinata Hakamada

Group E: Sanya V. Litvyak vs. Yuu Matsumi

Group F: Kuro Matsumi vs. Kirame Hanada

Group G: Nodoka Haramura vs. Ako Atarashi

Group H: Sena Kashiwazaki vs. Shana

The other Aston Vantage

An Aston Martin made for grand touring

Following Ford Motor Company's acquisition of Aston Martin in 1987, Aston Martin unveiled the V8 Vantage at the 1992 Birmingham Motor Show and it is essentially a high performance version of the Virage.

The base model comes with the 5.3L V8 engine that produces 344HP of power while the Vantage added two superchargers at the 5.3L V8 so it generates over 550HP of power and 549.7 ft-lb of torque. It's mated in either a 6-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic. Despite its 2-ton weight, it can go 0-100kph in 4.6 seconds and a top speed of 300kph.

For stopping power, the V8 Vantage comes with the large-diameter AP brake discs; the 362mm diameter front rotors were among the largest ever in a road car.

The V600 model boosted the supercharged 5.3L V8 engine to 600HP of power.

Production of the Vantage V8 commenced in 1993 and continued up until 1999. In 2000, Aston Martin's "Works Service" unit built nine bespoke Vantage Volantes (convertibles), one of which was built to long wheelbase specifications.

The Vantage and the R33

Unlike any other past model Astons, the V8 Vantage from the 1990's is not exactly more of a show-off but with the fighting stance of a street fighter, this car's always on the offensive rather than the defensive side. The outside though, I find it very confusing that if these came from the Nissan Skyline R32 or the R33 perhaps. If you put them on the same place, you'll know that they're highly identical in design terms.

The supercar of the old-school

What surprised me is the sound of its supercharged 5.3L V8 engine. It sounds like a combination between Pavarotti and the roaring noise of the fictitious Assoluto Squaldon from Rage Racer. What I'm saying is that the engine sounds like Pavarotti while the supercharger whine sounds like Rage Racer's Squaldon. Let's not forget that when it was launched in that decade, this is Aston Martin's most powerful production model they've ever made.

As you may remember, in a classic Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson reviewed the V8 Vantage but only the engineering prototype because Aston Martin can't lend him the finished production model for some unknown reasons. Unlike the finished product, the prototype that Jeremy tested has its rear lamps wrong (looks like it came from the Virage), the rims are wrong, and there are no rear seats but Jeremy doesn't really matter because he enjoys it. He called this V8 Vantage "it's a Rolls-Royce with attitude".

To see all this poetic violence the V8 Vantage does, I devised a little test...

It came from the Satan Pit

The devil's bottom

This is the Lamborghini Diablo SV, one of the most well-known sportscars of the 1990's, V12 engine at the middle, no traction control, no anti-lock brakes, and a Stig to handle the beast below...

This is what happens when you pit against a Diablo

...and he's facing against the V600 V8 Vantage, which is driven by a fat bloke in slacks. Stand by, ladies and gents, for a quarter-mile race at the Top Gear Track...



Diablo PWNed the V8 Vantage!

So, the V8 Vantage lost the drag race but now let's see how good they really are by putting them at the Top Gear Test Track for one full lap at the circuit. This should be interesting.




The Diablo SV done it in 1:23.023 while the V600 V8 Vantage did it in 1:26.319, meaning that the V600 lost the bout despite the V8 Vantage V600 has more power than the Diablo SV's. Sure, the V8 Vantage V600 may have lost the fight against the Diablo but in every intangible way, the V8 Vantage is a better alternative to the Diablo because unlike the Lambo, the Aston V8 Vantage V600 has room at the back and it has proper doors unlike the Lambo's scissor doors that others find it a bit of a show-off.

No matter what, the V8 Vantage has the pecks of the chippendale and the stance of the street fighter...

The Vantage evolution

A new front splitter on the Huayra?

Pagani Huayra Gets New Front Splitter?!

Those who followed Jason Plato's twitter site may have noticed that the Pagani Huayra that Jason Plato's testing for next episode of Fifth Gear is wearing a front splitter. Huh?

Yes, with the addition of front splitter provides more downforce but it is unclear if Pagani's going to fit the front splitter on their new Huayra hypercar. We'll have to wait until Jason Plato's Huayra review on Fifth Gear...

Top Gear James Bond special on October 29?

Aston Martin DB5

Sure, next season of Top Gear won't be here until next year but the show's planning a special episode paying tribute to James Bond's 50th anniversary. Sources say that Richard Hammond's hosting this TV special showcasing the best of the Bond cars from the Aston Martin DB5 on Goldfinger, BMW Z3 on Goldeneye, BMW 750i on Tomorrow Never Dies (a car can be operated by remote control), BMW Z8 on The World is Not Enough, Lotus Esprit submarine car from The Spy who Loved Me, Aston Martin V12 Vanquish from Die Another Day, Aston Martin DBS from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace and so on.

Also, Richard Hammond tries to build a Bond Car on a budget and we don't really mean the Rover 800 or the Range Rover from last year's Top Gear at the Movies DVD. It's going to be a different DIY experience as Hammo's making a Bond car in today's economy.

Formula One 2012 Korean GP Update

F1: 2012
F1 2012


Well, it appears that Red Bull's very own Sebastian Vettel does know how to do Gangnam Style, well not the kind of dance we all enjoy but at Yeongam despite the tyre-wear problems. Such win pushed S. Vettel ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by a 6 point gap at the driver's ranking but can Vettel hang on to the very end?

PRESS RELEASE:


Race - Vettel storms into title lead with Korean win 14 Oct 2012
      
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel may have had some tyre-wear problems towards the end of Sunday’s Yeongam race, but from outside the cockpit it looked like yet another walk in the park for the defending champion as his third victory in a row moved him into the lead of the world championship fight by six points from Fernando Alonso.

On a damage limitation day, the Spaniard brought his Ferrari home third behind Vettel and his team mate Mark Webber. It was the first time that any team have finished one-two this season.

The Australian’s pole counted for nothing as Vettel sped down the inside into the first corner, just as Alonso was likewise depriving Lewis Hamilton of third place. Further back, Sergio Perez hit Jenson Button’s McLaren before his Sauber team mate Kamui Kobayashi did the job properly, walloping it twice and sending it into immediate retirement with right-front suspension damage.

Nico Rosberg also sustained a cut left-rear tyre in the incident which accounted for his Mercedes a lap later. As he parked on the run down to Turn Three, the DRS zone was effectively negated for several laps until the silver car could be removed. Later Kobayashi was given a drive-through penalty for causing a collision, and retired as a result of damage his C31 incurred.

Vettel owned the race, controlling Webber easily. Further back, Alonso kept them honest but no more than that, and was lucky that it was team mate Felipe Massa who rode shotgun all the way to the flag after another good race for the Brazilian in which he had greater pace than the Spaniard. Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen was a lonely fifth, while a great drive by Nico Hulkenberg realised sixth place for Force India after a gritty battle with Romain Grosjean in the other Lotus.

McLaren’s disastrous day saw Hamilton troubled early on with tyre wear and he was the first pit stopper on the 13th lap as he switched from Pirelli’s super-soft rubber to the softs. He had superb battles with Raikkonen and then Hulkenberg and Grosjean, but that set lasted only until Lap 26. The third set was worn out by Lap 42, which dropped him from contention for sixth place to a fight for eighth with the Toro Rossos.

He pushed Jean-Eric Vergne as hard as he could, but after the Frenchman had reacted by catching and passing team mate Daniel Ricciardo to take an excellent eighth, Hamilton picked up a chunk of astro-turf on his right-hand sidepod. As that affected his MP4-27’s aerodynamics he dropped away and was lucky to resist Perez at the flag by a scant 0.3s.

The result puts Ferrari ahead of McLaren in the constructors’ stakes, 290 points to 284, as Red Bull’s great day brought their score to 367.

Force India’s Paul di Resta battled all afternoon with Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher, but Hulkenberg’s performance put him ahead of the Scot in the points table after Di Resta took 12th ahead of Schumacher. Behind them, Williams’ Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna ran wheel-to-wheel for much of the way. The Venezuelan led his team mate home by 1.9s after the Brazilian’s attempt to pass in Turn Three on the 54th lap was repelled.

The Caterham drivers also had a close race, swapping position on more than one occasion before Vitaly Petrov made it stick as Heikki Kovalainen fell back. They finished 16th and 17th as Timo Glock led Marussia partner Charles Pic in their wake. At one stage the German kept the green and yellow cars honest before falling back.

Narain Karthikeyan was the final finisher in 21st for HRT, as team mate Pedro de la Rosa joined Button, Rosberg and Kobayashi on the list of retirements.

Scoop: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/10/13926.html

With Vettel overtaken Alonso at the standings, can he still hang on against the rest or will Ferrari's Alonso catching up? You'll find out soon in India this October 28...

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Let's Do The News! (October 14, 2012)

2013 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Convertible

2013 Ford Shelby GT500 Convertible

(cheers and applause)

What do you mean they both lose?

THEY REALLY BOTH LOSE. The hardtop versions of the ZL1 and GT500 are like puto (some kind of steamed rice cake in Philippine cuisine). If you make sawsawan to some dinuguan (pork and blood stew), you're going to ruin it. If you make sawsawan to a cup of coffee, you're going to make it better.

You really quite serious though?

It makes sense!

So, it was like that according to Top Gear, if you take a roof off a normal car like Peugeot or a BMW 1-Series, no harm done. They look dramatic. But with serious performance cars, that's a different story...

Yeah, for those convertible muscle cars, they were going to taste worse than dinuguan...

(audience laughing)

Okay, the news and word from Porsche is that they've launched a brand new variant of the Cayenne SUV called the Turbo S...

2013 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

...it's known to be the fastest, most outlandish Cayenne ever built. It has the same engine from the standard Turbo but now, it has a 50HP increase, meaning it can go 0-100kph in 4 1/2 seconds and has a top speed of 283 km/h.


(sigh) I really don't like the Cayenne...too ugly...looks like a larva of the fly...

(audience laughing)

I disagree...Sure, Porsches maybe looking ugly with very complicating interiors but they are exciting to drive and with this Turbo S, I believe that this is the only SUV that focuses on speed. I want this one!

No way man. I'm not betting on those...

(audience laughing)

Well fine. But this Cayenne's on me.

Go for it, Porsche boy...

(audience laughing, then cheers and applause)

Now, as some may recall last month that Koenigsegg made a special one-off Agera R for a Chinese client, it's called the BLT, here it is, look...

Koenigsegg Agera R BLT

...no. It's not that BLT sandwich, it has a different meaning in China. BLT represents the pinnacle of the Koenigsegg customization program and truly show how bespoke a Koenigsegg can become.


Looks nice though, how was it?

In China, he's fine but moments later...the cops banged him...

(audience laughing)

What?!

The Chinese cops impounded the one-off Agera R BLT because he allegedly didn't declare the vehicle and failed to pay income tax.

So, this customized Agera R was...

Smuggled. His one-off Agera R BLT was a smuggled one...

Agera R BLT impounded by Chinese Customs

Scoop: http://www.gtspirit.com/2012/10/13/koenigsegg-agera-r-blt-seized-by-chinese-customs/

Why that happened?

Tell you what. For tax evasion, his Agera R BLT made a stopover at Vietnam and then heading to China. Some articles said that but I felt pity for that wealthy Chinese man responsible for the Agera R BLT.

Well, lesson learned that if you have enough money for your one-off supercar, be sure to have enough money for the income tax.

(audience laughing)

Hey now, those who are returning or new visitors to the Doctor Who Experience (opened since Summer 2012) at Porth Teigr, Cardiff, Wales, we just heard that there's some new stuff exhibited at the DWE.

Really?

Yeah! Rather than the life size Dalek made from Character Building Blocks, or even Matt Smith and Steven Moffat's handprints, there's some new stuff exhibited at the Doctor Who Experience and those came from the first half of Doctor Who Series 7.

Like what?

Let's see...Oswin Oswald's costume from Asylum of the Daleks, a chained Weeping Angel from The Angels Take Manhattan, Solomon's and Queen Nefertiti's costume from Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, oh and those robots from that episode as well.


Oh! Looks like we got Mr. Manners! We are very crossed with you.

(audience laughing)

I wonder what's next? The cubes from The Power of Three? the gravestone of Amy and Rory? Melody Malone book? Shakri's costume? The Gunslinger?

There's more props coming at the Doctor Who Experience and because of this year's Christmas special and the second half of Series 7 next year, there's more and more props to be exhibited right until the program's 50th anniversary celebration. Don't worry though, like the TARDIS, this exhibition is bigger on the inside!

(audience laughing)

Right. As on the topic of DW, they streamed an online exclusive feature about what happened to Rory's dad, Brian. This is the epilogue that was never shot but thanks to these storyboards, we might be able to see. It's called P.S.

Dear Dad, 

This is the difficult bit. If I got this right, you’re reading this letter a week after we left in the TARDIS. The thing is: we’re not coming back. We’re alive and well and stuck in New York, 50 years before I was born. We can’t come home again, I won’t ever see you again and that breaks my heart.

I’m so sorry, Dad. I thought about this for years and I realised there was one thing that I could do, I could write you, tell you everything about how we lived, about how, despite it all, we were happy. But before I do, I need you to know…

you are the best dad any son could have had.

And for all the times I drove you mad and you drove me mad, all the times I snapped at you… I’m sorry. I miss everything about you, especially our awkward hugs.

I bought a trough, we have a small yard, a garden. But one more important bit of business, the man who delivered the letter, Anthony. Be nice to him…

because he’s your grandson.

We finally adopted in 1946: Anthony Brian Williams. He can tell you everything, he’ll have the family albums and I realise having a grandson who’s older than you is so far beyond weird.

But I’m sorry. I love you, Dad. I miss you.
 


Wow. That really made me cry!

Uh-huh! That really made me cry and on that perfectly harmonious bombshell, that's the news and oh, massive congratulations to the Filipino Flash Nonito Donaire for winning the fight against Toshiaki Nishioka!

(cheers and applause)