Are Nürburgring Lap Times the Best Way for Carmakers to Flaunt Their Performance Credentials?

If you’re reading this, chances are that you’ve at least heard of a place called the Nürburgring. Constructed in 1927, the Nordschleife, which translates to North Circuit in English, is located in Germany about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Frankfurt in the heart of the Eifel Mountains.

Three-time world Formula 1 champion Jackie Stewart gave it its “Green Hell” nickname. Niki Lauda nearly lost his life in a fiery accident at the 1976 Grand Prix. The Austrian, however, was lucky as 68 drivers perished in accidents during those years. The Nordschleife was subsequently banned from the F1 calendar.

The track stretches across 12.9 miles (20.8 km) and incorporates 73 corners, most of which call for experienced drivers. If you get it wrong, you’re more likely than not to end up in the Armco, in which case, not only will you have to fork out money to repair your vehicle, but also to fix any damages you may have caused to the circuit.

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Russian Driving Student Fails Exam in a Spectacularly Dangerous Manner

Our Russian tipster tells us that in this video we see a student getting way over his (or her) head during a driving lesson in a Lada 112 liftback in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny.

Though we cannot verify if it was the teacher or the student controlling the wheel, fact is that the driver was going much faster that he or she should have, especially given the traffic on the road.

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Kahn Design to Give the Land Rover Defender a Military Feel or Something Like That...

These are teaser drawings of Kahn Design's upcoming 2012 Concept 17 Defender project that will be revealed within the next couple of months.

The exterior components of the package will comprise "a four piece arch kit", by which we assume Kahn Design means the front and rear fender attachments, along with an exhaust system, spare wheel cover, mud flaps, optional bullet proof, a unique paint job and new 18-inch wheels.

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Can You Tell if This Jaguar F-Type is Powered by a Supercharged V6 or a V8?

Here's an audio quiz for you: do you think that the Jaguar F-Type prototype filmed here testing on the Nordschleife is sporting one of the two versions of the brand's 3.0-liter supercharged V6 engines or the 5.0-liter supercharged V8?

Before we let you hear the sounds in the spy video below, we'll remind you that the 3.0-liter six-cylinder unit will be offered in two guises, with 335hp (340PS) and 375hp (380PS), while Jaguar has still not told us how much power will be generated by the V8 unit found in the flagship 'R' version.

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Honda Releases a Boatload of Photos of the European Market 2013 CR-V

It was only in July that Honda gave us a second look at the European specification version of its new CR-V, but the Japanese carmaker wants us to take a better and closer glimpse at the compact crossover with a new batch of high-resolution images – 95 to be precise.

The new gallery also includes shots of the available range of genuine accessories such as the two-tone alloy wheels, aero kits (as pictured above), chrome trim parts and more.

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Ford Finally Rates 2013 Explorer Sport's V6 Turbo, Says it Produces 365-Horses [w/Video]

It's been a while since Ford debuted the new 2013 Explorer Sport at this year's New York Auto Show, and even though the company released pricing in June, we still didn't know how strong the SUV's 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine was with the Blue Oval simply stating that "it makes at least 350hp".

On Friday, Ford announced that the performance version of its new Explorer series is certified at 365-horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque, the same as the Taurus SHO, which is motivated by the same 3.5-liter turbocharged V6.

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Florida Cop Smells "A Lot of Marijuana" in a Jaguar Driving on the Highway, Finds Near to Nothing

Yes, it's another police incident from Florida – it seems we're having a lot of those lately. This time, we have a Sarasota Sheriff Deputy who was convinced that the passengers of an older generation Jaguar XJ were smoking pot -and lots of it- while driving on the road.

This incident took place on a Friday night in May, but the dash-cam footage from the patrol car was released this week.

In the police report, Sarasota Sheriff's Deputy Dominic Fornal noted that he was following the 2003 Jaguar on the highway at speeds of around 30-35mph (49-56km/h) and that with his patrol car's windows rolled down, he could smell "strong and distinct odor of unburned cannabis" coming out of the British sedan.

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