29 fuel-efficient cars face first big test

Competition to construct a 100-mile-per-gallon car cuts to chase next week at a Michigan speedway

Joe Knycha - Special to the Star

The 100-mile-per-gallon, real-world car has long been the stuff of science fiction, cartoons and comic books – but no more. Its day in the sun is coming, and fast.
Cars that can travel 100 miles per gallon on gasoline (or the equivalent thereof using other fuels and power sources) are not only possible but are being built now.
On Monday, 29 teams from around the world — including as many as three from Canada — will gather at Michigan International Speedway near Jackson to compete for $10 million in cash prizes in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize.
Their goal is not only to achieve 100 miles per U.S. gallon (120 mpg per Imperial gallon, or 2.35 litres per 100 km), but also to do so in safety, comfort and at credible, real-world speeds.

Read full article here.

Business smarts 41: EW Tours

EWTOURS.TRAVEL is the brainchild of its founders, Kiran Rajdev and Herbert Wolf. After having acquired extensive experience in the travel industry over more than two decades each in separate careers, we jointly envisioned a travel service that would specialize in fully customized travel experiences for our clients. Our dream became a reality with the launch of EWTOURS.TRAVEL in 2006. Since then our goal has been to make your travel dreams come true.

Business smarts 40: G Force Training

Onsite Personal Training with Toronto’s G Force Home Training Inc.

Throw away the last of your good excuses. G Force makes it easy to get into the best shape of your life with our spirited team of certified personal trainers who bring the gym to you. Armed with fitness equipment and motivation, our fitness professionals arrive at your home or office on your schedule.

Business smarts 38: Hot Wings Grill and Rib House

Hot Wings
563 Queen Street West,
Toronto, ON M5V 2B6

416-359-8860

Remos, Smart car kick off airshow

By Sarah Brown

The two pilots peered out of the side of the Remos GX, looking for their counterparts on the ground. They were scheduled to make a low pass over Lakeland Linder Regional Airport[Lakeland, Florida] in perfect synchronization with a Smart car racing down the runway—a grand finale for the Road and Runway Rally, and a kickoff for the Sun ’n Fun airshow—but the Smart car was nowhere to be found.
Pilot in command Alyssa Miller and her co-pilot Jason Paur continued toward the field for its pass over the grass to the right of the runway. They finally spotted the car on short final, and soon they were neck-and-neck with the Smart car, which had been there the whole time: The roughly 9-foot-by-5-foot vehicle had been nearly invisible from a distance, swallowed by the circle in the "9" of the 8,500-feet-by-150-foot runway. The Smart car kept pace with the Remos for a bit until the airplane climbed and went around for a landing.

After four days of flying and driving adventures, the four contestants in the Road and Runway Rally arrived at Sun ’n Fun in style. Along the way, they met circus performers and pilots-to-be, tested their driving skills at the Grave Digger’s lair, and compared the size of the Smart car to everything from the Mercury capsule to a monster truck tire. Each team got two days in the Smart car and two in the Remos—which, by the way, weighs less than the tiny Smart car. The winners? The jury’s still out. But one thing’s for certain: Both teams had a whole lot of fun

Read full story here.

Renault-Nissan and Daimler to cooperate on new cars

Franco-Japanese Nissan and German giants Daimler form partnership to develop new cars and share engines.
By Andrew English - Telegraph.co.uk

A common replacement for the Renault Twingo, the Smart Fourtwo and a new four-seat Smart model will be the first results of a cooperation and share-swap deal signed by the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler this week.
They will swap a symbolic 3.1 per cent stakeholding in each other to seal the deal, which will see the joint development of small cars as well as diesel and petrol engines.
At the top end of the model ranges Daimler will give Nissan's Infiniti prestige brand access to its four- and six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, but both companies stressed that the deal will not dilute the image of their brands. Infiniti's efforts to launch itself in Europe have been hindered by its lack of turbodiesels.
"Each brand has its own identity and its own kind of products and its own cost and price level," said Carlos Ghosn, Renault-Nissan chief executive. "We need to keep each brand very different from the others."
Read full story here.

What is this car?

The picture on the left accompanied a story "Behind the wheel of the plucky Think City electric car" on the CTV website. The article describe the Think City electric car as a two-seater. Why then four doors?
The photo on the right is a Think City car from the Norwegian manufacturer's official website. Sure don't look like the same car to me. Question is, what is the car on the left?

Tuk-tuk driver takes web road to success

AMRIT DHILLON-SPECIAL TO THE STAR

CHENNAI, INDIA—Many proud auto rickshaw drivers cover the back seat with fancy fabrics such as faux leopard fur, hang tassels and fringes on the side or decorate them with deities or pictures of their favourite Bollywood actresses.
Samson (he goes by only one name) in Chennai has no time for such low-tech practices; he is probably the only driver in India with a website dedicated to his trusty steed and service.
Auto wallahs lead hopeless lives. Every day, they struggle with chaos, honking, aggression and pollution. Their income is meagre. Home is one room in a slum. Between rides, they smoke or snooze. Some cannot even name their prime minister, much less understand the Internet.
Though a school dropout, Samson, 38, turned out to be different. The auto rickshaw stand he operated from was located in front of the Taj Coromandel hotel in Chennai, patronized by foreigners. Some years ago, a regular customer, a Japanese woman, asked him to take her, as usual, to an Internet café.
Read full article here.