It seems to me (and I bet to everyone else as well) that we are never going to run out of ideas on what alternative fuel to come up with next. First, water; then vegetable oil. Let us not forget about the electrically charged cars and the hydrogen powered autos. Solar power was even tapped; but I bet only the utterly insane brave ones will try to use nuclear power on cars. And now, UREA?! Huwatdaf... In case you do not know, urea is a human waste in liquid form... and it usually stinks.

Jalopnik reports that the new Mercedez Benz BlueTEC Diesel and SUVs can not run without urea injection into the catalyst. The seven gallon urea tank must be replenished in every 10,000 mile run. Otherwise, the new Benz BlueTEC will not start. It will however alert the driver if the tank is running out of urea, thus allowing him or her 20 extra starts. Jalopnik adds that this new Benz BlueTEC needs two extra gallons of urea for its whole system to reset and allow the car to be restarted. But that's okay. You can store extra urea in the tire as well. So whenever you change with your spare tire, you would know where to get those extra gallons of urea from.

NOT!

It's a big not, can't you see? Well it is just some sort of a negative campaign which we are all used with. Especially when it comes to politics, right? I was about to believe it myself but thanks to (or not?) Colin Mathews, a contributor from TheCarConnection.com, he confirmed that it is not true. But yes I have to agree with him, the title is quite catchy. So if you seriously want to no more the Benz BlueTEC, just click on to this site.

Insurance companies have long excluded covering racetrack drivers in insurance policies. However, racers still manage to benefit from them ike normal policy holders. How? Well, there was a small loophole in the insurance policies that racetrack drivers have found a way to go around with. Now insurance companies are addressing this loophole leaving track drivers no longer insured.

It is all in redefining what "racing" means. In the old policy terms, "racing" meant merely as a "timed event." But race track education has been smart enough to avoid such definition by simply, not timing races. As you have noticed, races where done by laps at top speed, basically basing the judgement on who completes lapses first. Or in a simpler term, "who gets there first.'

Race track driving schools, such as that of held by Porsche Club of America and BMW Car Club of America, require their students to attend classroom sessions. They are also individually tutored on the track under controlled conditions. They do this by setting a small group of racers on the track, letting them drive limited only on racecourses. The goal is only to train their skills and hence, these runs are not necessarily time. Consequently, these racers are still covered by their normal insurance policies.

Now this has taken the attentions of insurance companies. Sadly, a lot of race drivers do not have any idea that they are not covered. Some of them even assume that they are indeed covered. Only about 25 percent to 30 percent of them have done their research. What is sadder is that race driving schools are even flaunting in their flyers that racetrack students are going to be covered by the insurance policies once they start enrolling. And "racing" has already been ticked off from the insurance policy grant since 1990.

That’s pretty alarming isn’t it? They were able to get away with a loophole and relied on luck to do the rest for these races. But oh well. Now they can no longer get away with it, can they? I hope not. For more information on this news, just click on to The New York Times.

Source: The New York Times via Autoblog and Stock Car Racing (photo)

In not so strict but utterly unavoidable observance of the thematic scheme of the free falling world stock market, I would like to start off with a little historical background that is related to it. So here goes:

Did you know that the solution to the 1930's Great Depression (it is somewhat similar to what is happening today at the world stock market and to the rest of humanity you know? lol) was not to save or hord assets but government spending? Oops, let me correct that. The answer to the Great Depression was rather, massive government spending. Hard to believe huh? And did you know that this solution was achieved by utter luck through the embodiment of the Second World War? America was save by the skin of its teeth even though it does not have teeth in reality! So how did that happen? Well, what happened was the American government invested heavily military infrastructure and manufacturing (is that the right term for that?) of armaments and all those stuff. This in effect gave hundreds of American citizens jobs and thus, lifting them out of the massive effects of recession. Blah blah blah... This was once suggested by John Maynard Keynes and adopted by former US President Herbert Hoover, labeling the action as "pump priming." God he's not even American! Anyway, it was once taken as a radical step, almost a taboo among the circle of economists and the presidential advisers. But today, it's just one of the normal steps that a country could do for its economy... No, not produce more military armaments! Of course not, come on! Government intervention in the whole country's economic system I mean. Yes! They didn't have that before!

So what the heck does that have to do cars? I do not know either but why don't we start with our current entry's title, huh? So yeah. You have read it correctly. Invest more on your car's maintenance if you are indeed serious about cutting your driving costs. You see this means increasing gas mileage, improving fuel economy and cutting of trips to your mechanic. Colin Mathews, a contributor at TheCarConnection.com, is no political economic theorists but he does give us some sensible techniques he learned from car omniexperts on how to save while driving. Here's how: check your tires and clean out your batteries (huh?). That's it; as simple as that. You do not really need any unnecessary and costly trips to your mechanic to check your engine and all that.

Well, these things are actually the most commonly neglected stuff when it comes to mainting your cars. According to General Motors' (GM) Mr. Goodwrench, you need to check those flat tires or make sure that your tires are sufficiently inflated with the right amount of air. This does not only improve your mileage, it also keeps you safe driving on the road. You also have regularly clean those battery terminals so power is well delivered to your engine. If you do not clean them chances are, the terminals are going to end up molding and corroding even more and well, it just makes things worse. So get those 10 bucks worth of battery post cleaner and go get started with cleaning.

So aside from cancelling trips and taking public transportations or carpools, invest more on maintenance. Besides, they're not so hard to do. All it takes is a little perseverance.

To learn more, click on here to find more tips on how to save more on driving.

Source: The Car Connection

Uhuh. The French Grand Prix that is supposed to happen on 2009 is deferred till 2010. The Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA) or the French motorsport federation is also considering to move the original venue at Magny-Cours, which is located in Central France.

The reason for delaying the race, FFSA says, is because of the increasing financial risks (Remember? The world stock market? Uhuh. Yeah.) and that they also want to have the venue closer to Paris. Telegraph UK also tells us that the FFSA is also considering relocating the venue to Disneyland Paris... No, not exactly in Disneyland; but somewhere near the said recreation area where a permanent racing facility is going to be built. Perhaps, they would be FFSA plans to transfer the event to that venue when it gets finished. I guess that is what they were saying. But just a thought: what if they indeed hold the Formula 1 race in Disneyland? Well, I guess that is going to be one serious rat race.

Anyway, at least the FFSA is not announcing any cancellations or that they are not killing off the F1 race in France. If you can remember, the 2009 Canadian Grand Prix was cancelled a few days ago. Well, this one has not been due to the sad economic krunch we are having. It is because of the contractual technicalities that Grand Prix du Canada and its boss, Bernie Ecclestone have gotten into trouble with.

This is actually first time since 1955 when the French Grand Prix was cancelled. Formula 1 races were first held on 1950. France was first ticked off from the F1 race calendar on 1955 because of accident at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that killed quite a number of spectators.

Source: Edmunds Inside Line, International Herald Tribune

Sad, but as  Paul Eisenstein says it's true. The future of the V-8 engine tells a gloomy death of this classic turbo charged race machine. Over the years, the V-8 engine has endeared everyone from "ricers," drag race addicts, to devoted luxury cars owners, even reaching buff truck haulers. But as the world stock market crashes, and with the American economy in jeopardy, V-8 engines now stay behind right under the hoods of 1/3 of every vehicle sold in the American market.

Price Waterhouse-Coopers projects that 45 percent of the of the V-8 engine manufacturing will decline by the year 2009. General Motors even considered replacing its Northstar V-8 engine for its Cadillac range. Not only that, GM has also already developed the LS9 engine that will power new Caddical CTSv releases. Now, does this mean that V-8 will not be living any longer?

Well if you can see, the main problem that the V-8s are facing not only settles on the unstable world financial market we're currently having. Well actually it's one reason. Another is the soaring gasoline prices that crunches everybody's pockets. Even the luxury industry and its patrons are feeling this difficulty. Although much recent news suggests a drop in oil per barrel prices, people no longer have much money to consume extra liters of gas, right? And in addition to this, growing environmental concerns now limits the use of any type engine or engine parts aren't so eco friendly. People can still use the V-8s but the trend now touches the much "greener" side. So this news isn't really so much a bad thing, at least for those environmental advocates.

So that's basically it. Those are just the main and basic not-so-basic things that affects V-8 industry. To find out more about this news, click to this page by Paul Einstein.

On the lead photo: Henry Ford Checking on a V-8 Engine.