Cameron Glickenhaus, sports car enthusiast and maker of the Enzo-based Ferrari P4/5, has taken the first steps in racing his bespoke SCG003 race car, entering it in the VLN race series. It’s a 10-race event held on the famous (and infamous) Nurburgring Nordschleife. Teams often enroll their cars in preparation for the Nurburgring 24 endurance race, and that’s just what Glickenhaus and his team have done.
The custom race car packs a Honda-made 3.5-liter twin turbo six-cylinder that produces 530 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. The entire body is carbon fiber, meaning that the SCG003 has a curb weight of less than 1200 kg. The road-going version of the car will be easier to live with and have a V12 powering it instead.
For its inaugural run, the race car got off to a shaky start. SCG fielded two cars, one sporting a yellow livery while the other ran in the nude, showing off its beautiful black carbon fiber shell. A video from the nordschleife96 YouTube Channel shows how the aerodynamics of the bespoke racer was subject to catching air on the Green Hell. Unfortunately, the GT3-class cars were prone to the same, leading to one disastrous accident.
This brought the race to and end, but both cars were disqualified well before then. As it turns out, while the cars met with every other regulation, the one they exceeded was how loud the vehicles were. The ‘Ring has certain noise restrictions and, while they surely differ from the cars used on public days, there’s still a decibel cap.
Due to the crash, racing any GT3-spec cars have been put on hold as there’s an investigation into the incident taking place. Once that is sorted, however, Glickenhaus will resume putting the SCG003 through its paces and on to its first endurance race. Considering he’s the one New York based automaker who’s proven he can actually build a car, we’re confident the SCG003 will be able to hold its own.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.