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Archive for October, 2011

PostHeaderIcon Stuck? Wherever You Go, There You Are

:: Who you are being creates your current experience and plants the seeds that will become your future. It doesn’t matter what you have or what you are doing, its how how you are being that determines your experiences. Two people can be at the same place at the same time and have two very different experiences? Why?

Because wherever you go, there you are. Where one person found something pleasing another found something painful. Where one saw opportunity another saw restriction. One felt good, the other back. They had two different perspectives.

Your perspective is the combination of your thoughts and beliefs. If you don’t like what you have experienced or your the circumstance you’re in you have to change your perspective. You have to change your inner beliefs and inner operating system – the parts that don’t work for you.

Some people think that if they moved to a new house or city, got a new job or career, found a new relationship, wore different clothes, got a new face, and on and on… they would magically transform their lives. So they move, get a new career and so on only to feel just as unfulfilled or dissatisfied as before. Why?

Wherever you go there you are.

A fulfilling meaningful live, rich in delicious experiences, depends upon how you create and show up to the moments of your life. It relies upon your perspective, the meanings you attach to the things that happen in your life. What is your perspective – what is the lens through which you view your experience?

Are you living in your head regurgitating a sad story or a repeated pattern of times that didn’t work out for you? Or are you fully present, detached from what didn’t work ready and available for all that is possible?

If you don’t like what you’re experiencing change your perspective. You can’t significantly change your inner life – how you feel – by changing your external environment. If you want a better relationship, for example, change who you are being in your current relationship instead of ditching or bitching at your spouse.

Where have you not communicated your truth and needs in a way that can be heard and understood? Where have you traded in what you value for what you think will make you feel safe and secure or validated. Nothing outside of you can give you what you ultimately want or need. Meaningful wealth and a fulfilled life experience is an inside job.

To thrive one needs to feel rich in relationship capital, beginning with the relationship we have with ourselves.

Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Valery-Satterwhite-5104/inner-wealth-190075.php

Where ever you go, there you are…don't get …


PostHeaderIcon Search Car Reviews on CARandDRIVER.com – Read Automotive News

Finishing isn’t the only thing—but it’s way ahead of the next-best option.

The Mideast Gets a Piece: Qatar, Bahrain, and others have taken stakes in major automakers.

The United States is the only major automobile market that sets crash standards for unbelted occupants.

He reinvented Volvo’s visual language when he was design director from ’91 to ’02. Now the Englishman, 61, is back at the Chinese-owned carmaker, where he hopes to keep things Swedish.

His mother said, "Moray, you should become a vet." Instead, he got a master’s from London’s Royal College of Art.

Offering better handling through hydraulics.

Tilting at pinned mills: Angled rigs stress-test engines for the skidpad and racetrack.

Talking with the founder of the world’s leading motorsports marketing agency.

Flavorless Lifesavers: These concepts helped shape a safer future.

Location, Location. Two of Porsche’s finest: one mid-engined, one rear-engined. Which handles better?

What’s happening to our playground? The American highway is broken. And broke.

Ships Alloy! Newell makes the fanciest damn aluminum-clad bus you ever saw.

The industry’s EKG comes every January. We check the charts.

Smokeless Burnout Acid Test: We pit launch control against humans in a Corvette ZR1, a 911 Turbo S, and a GTI.

Keep your eyebrow merkins and medicinal salves at the ready.

A very fast, well-controlled chemical reaction that saves lives.

Mario reflects on his successes and failures at the Indy 500.

The final word on the Toyota unintended-acceleration mess.

A gaze into the fascinating past of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Fuel’s Gold: Too good to be true?

Every sound a car makes in movies like Fast Five starts here.

Attack of the killer Koups: We prod, poke, ride in, and drive Kia’s Forte Koup race car.

Traffic deaths are at an all-time low—our timeline shows how they got there.

In 1969, there was a Boss. And it wasn’t Bruce Springsteen.

A Hindu priest sanctifies our long-term Cadillac CTS-V wagon.

Best of the Big Apple: The season-ender turns out to be a fruitful auto show.

Antarctica boasts some of the wildest driving on the planet. A 22-year veteran of the South Pole’s highways talks about driving at the edge of the world.

State of Charge: We examine the battery technology that makes hybrids and EVs go.

The second installment in Pixar’s <i>Cars</i> series brings some new vehicles, including a few we got to unveil.

Chrysler may just rise from its grave one more time.

Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/(offset)/features/interviews

PostHeaderIcon Rental Truck Safety Tips

Rental Truck Safety Tips

(NAPSI)-Moving anything can be a big job, especially if it involves renting a truck.

While the idea of driving a rental truck may seem daunting, a few tips can help make your move easier and safer.

Here are some practical tips from the experts at Penske Truck Rental:

Get oriented. Familiarize yourself with the truck’s switches and gauges, and be sure to note if the gas tank is on the driver or passenger side.

Properly adjust the side mirrors for maximum visibility. Give yourself enough time-you may even want to pick up your truck a day early.

And, rest assured, your rental representative will help you feel comfortable with your truck before you start your trip.

Awareness is key. Be aware of bridges, tree limbs and low overhangs such as canopies at service stations, fast food eateries and drive-up ATMs.

Keep in mind that since the recommended maximum speed for a loaded truck is 45 miles per hour, you should be extra cautious when passing other vehicles.

“Trucks are taller, wider and may weigh up to 10 times more than the average car. It’s important to be aware that greater overhead and side clearances and stopping distances are needed when traveling, especially when the truck is loaded,” states expert Art Vallely, Senior Vice President – Rental, Penske Truck Leasing.

Extra protection. Most insurance and credit card companies won’t cover truck rentals under existing policies. If your insurance company is among them, consider signing up for additional coverage options to protect you and your belongings.

Options such as a limited-damage waiver relieve the renter of any loss or damage to the truck or towing equipment, regardless of fault.

Also worth considering are cargo, supplemental liability, personal accident and towing insurance. Some rental companies offer 24/7 emergency roadside assistance, at no charge, with all of their rental trucks.

Look for more moving tips online at www.GoPenske.com.

Article source

Trailer HookUp (Braked) U-Haul


PostHeaderIcon Porsche Panamera Hybrid revealed

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Porsche’s halo saloon has been given its green credentials with this – the Panamera Hybrid.

The Panamera shares the Cayenne SUV’s engine, so it uses a modified 3.0-litre, supercharged V6 mated to a 44bhp electric engine. Which means it’s got plenty of power – 380bhp to be precise.

That pace is enough to propel it to 60mph in 6.0s and then on to 168mph. Now, for a Porsche that might be pretty standard but while it’s doing all that it’s also emitting 159g/km CO2. So, to go over it again – 168mph and 159g/km CO2.

That’s quite impressive and should make company car drivers a little happier because it’s below the government’s 160g/km threshold which means more of the car’s cost can be written off. Even more pleasing to Porsche is that the Panamera is also cleaner than its diesel-powered rivals from BMW and Jaguar.

Another interesting feature is the nickel metal hydride battery that can keep the Panamera going until it hits 37mph when the V6 kicks in and which, while working with the battery, keeps the car accelerating.

If you’ve got your eyes on one of Porsche’s new green machines you can pick one up from June when the Panamera Hybrid S will set you back f86,146 and the four wheel drive 4S around f3k more.

Source: http://uk.autoblog.com/2011/02/16/porsche-panamera-hybrid-revealed/

PostHeaderIcon One Lap of America 2006, Day 7 – Feature – Car and Driver

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, May 12 —

Weather Bulletin: springtime in Wisconsin is not the same as springtime in Louisiana, or Georgia.

All three states were on the 2006 One Lap of America tour.

At No Problem Raceway near Baton Rouge, the Lappers were sweating in high humidity 85-degree weather, and at Roebling Road, near Savannah, temps were in the balmy mid-70s.

But at Road America, the final road course test of this year’s campaign, temperatures crept only to the mid-30s, a cold rain made the day’s first time trial particularly hazardous to sheetmetal, and several Lappers reported snow showers during the previous evening’s run up from Indiana.

It took very keen eyesight to see fun in this, particularly for those who found themselves stuck in gravel traps, or worse.

It wasn’t the kind of day a driver would pick for running fast laps on America’s fastest road racing course — unless that driver happened to be behind the wheel of a hotted-up Subaru WRX STi.

That description applies to Luke Russell, the young hotshoe from Fort Myers, Florida, who pedaled his ’04 STi to first place in both Road America runs.

It’s hard to say which of these achievements was more impressive.

The first round was run in a light but steady rain, making for very slick track conditions — so slick, in fact, that nine cars failed to finish their three laps owing to various encounters with gravel, tire walls, and/or concrete barriers.

Yet Russell’s Subie prevailed, setting the fastest time of the day in the process.

At the beginning of the second round, track conditions were even worse, thanks in part to mud and gravel spread by cars that had suffered various misfortunes in the earlier runs.

But as the round progressed, the rain let up, and the track began to dry, circumstances that mirrored events at Putnam Park Road Course a day earlier.

With a dry track, cars that would ordinarily have been far slower on this ultra-fast four-mile layout laid down lap times that made most of the real rockets look a little lame.

This certainly applied to your humble narrator, who slithered his way to what seemed to a respectable time in the early going, only to watch Chevy Cavaliers and Honda Odyssey minivans come prancing home with quicker laps on a dry track.

But even though he was subject to the same circumstances, Russell’s time stood up to all challenges, an outstanding performance in very tricky transitional conditions.

Beyond the frequent need for tow trucks, the day’s action was punctuated by other strange occurrences.

For example, when the Kevin Jones/Mark Donohue Williams Subaru finished posting the third-best time of the second round, it was observed that flames seemed to be coming from beneath the car, and closer investigation revealed that this was because the car was in fact on fire.

Quick work by the Road America fire crew doused the blaze, coating the engine bay with chemical fire retardant in the process. But Jones and Williams were able to get the car cleaned up, and drove it away.

Another car that drove away did so at the invitation of the track management.

At some point during the afternoon the car’s driver — who shall remain nameless — was seized by an urge to perform power "doughnuts" on freshly laid asphalt in the Road America paddock.

There are several newly-paved areas in the track’s expanded upper paddock, and all were marked off limits during our visit, to give the fresh pavement time to cure.

As a result, the track maintenance crew wasn’t at all amused when the rogue Mercedes began its rotations, with clouds of white smoke coming off the rear tires. And the driver was asked, firmly, to cease, desist, pack, and leave the premises forthwith.

While Russell was putting on his wet weather driving clinic, Mark DaVia was quietly putting the finishing touches on his third straight One Lap overall championship, whistling to the fourth fastest time in the morning round, and fifth in the afternoon.

When the day’s tally was done, DaVia’s Porsche held a 495-point edge over second place. This means the Connecticut autocrosser could skip Saturday’s final event — another turn on the Tire Rack skidpad in South Bend, Indiana — and still collect the big trophy.

While Friday’s second run was deflating for the Car and Driver BMW M5 crew — not only were we harassed by Hondas and manhandled by Minis, we finished behind almost every other car in the Luxury Sedan class — the day’s strangely scrambled points left us 11th in the overall standings and solidly first in class.

Next stop: South Bend for the final event, closing ceremonies, and our final report.

See Swan’s report from

Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/06q2/one_lap_of_america_2006_day_7-feature

Rick Dees. A Class Act! "Live Fearless with Sam Botta" Clip …


PostHeaderIcon New Jersey Auto Insurance Coverage

New Jersey Auto Insurance Coverage

Every state across the country has their own requirements for the type of auto insurance their residents must carry. New Jersey is no exception to this rule, with their basic requirements for coverage that all New Jersey drivers must adhere to. This article will offer the basics of different New Jersey auto insurance coverages including what is required by state law.

Liability Like most states, New Jersey requires drivers to carry a minimum amount of liability insurance. This coverage protects other drivers from injury and damage caused by your vehicle. Bodily injury liability involves injury or death to another person and covers medical expenses, lost wages and possible legal compensation. New Jersey requires a minimum amount of $15,000 bodily injury liability with a $30,000 limit. Property damage liability primarily protects cars damaged by your vehicle, but might also include other types of property like a fence or other structures. In New Jersey, drivers must carry at least $5000 in property damage liability.

Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist If you are in an accident with a motorist that does not have current insurance, you may be liable for the cost of medical bills and vehicle repairs. This amount can become rather large, which is why New Jersey requires all drivers to carry a minimum amount of uninsured motorist personal bodily injury coverage. The minimum for this coverage is $15,000 with a limit of $30,000. Drivers must also purchase at least $5000 in uninsured motorist property damage insurance. Some states do not require such coverage, but the state of New Jersey feels it is essential that drivers protect themselves thoroughly when they are on the road.

New Jersey Auto Insurance Coverage

Personal Injury Protection Personal injury protection, also known as PIP, covers reasonable medical costs for you and your passengers injured in an accident. The minimum amount of this coverage required in New Jersey is $15,000. Policies also include a $250,000 PIP limit that covers permanent or severe injury that might run up a much higher medical bill. Not all states require this insurance coverage, and some drivers think that their coverage through their health and disability insurance should be sufficient. However, PIP covers passengers in your car as well, and makes sure you have more than enough coverage in the event of major medical expenses.

By understanding the basic requirements for New Jersey auto insurance, you can formulate a policy that will meet state law as well as your personal needs. Begin with the minimum requirements as dictated by the state, and then add to your coverage according to your needs and budget. This will ensure you take to the road with sufficient protection in the event of an accident.

The source of article

PostHeaderIcon BMW twin-turbo inline-six crowned “International engine of the year” for the second year in a row

BMW twin-turbo inline-six crowned 'International engine of the year' for the second year in a row

BMW 2.0 Liter Diesel Twin Turbo FourTwelve awards are handed out in total. The judges heavily favored forced-induction engines, with just four of the winning engines being naturally aspirated, one of those being a hybrid.

BMW’s twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six has been named the 2008 International Engine of the Year by a panel of 65 automotive journalists from 32 countries (including MT’s own Frank Markus) convened by Engine Technology International Magazine.Twelve awards are handed out in total. The judges heavily favored forced-induction engines, with just four of the winning engines being naturally aspirated, one of those being a hybrid.BMW took home five other awards, including a second award for the 3.0-liter TT I-6 for best engine displacing 2.5 to 3.0-liters. The Bavarians’ other awards were for best engine displacing over 4.0-liters for the M5′s 5.0-liter V-10, best engine displacing 3.0 to 4.0-liters for the M3′s 4.0-liter V-8, best engine displacing 1.4 to 1.6-liters for the Mini Cooper S’ 1.6-liter turbo (jointly developed with Peugeot), and best new engine for the European-market 2.0-liter twin-turbo diesel inline-four found in the 123d.Toyota finished second with two awards, one for green engine of the year for the Prius’ Hybrid Synergy Drive and one for best engine under 1.0-liters in displacement for its European market 1.0-liter four. Volkswagen also picked up a pair of awards. The first was for best engine displacing 1.0 to 1.4-liters for its European-market 1.4-liter twincharger four, the second for best engine displacing 1.8 to 2.0-liters for its widely-used 2.0-liter turbo four.The remaining two awards were split between Porsche (best performance engine for its 3.6-liter turbo six) and Subaru (best engine displacing 2.0 to 2.5-liters for its 2.5-liter turbo four).A list of winners is below:2008 International Engine of the Year Awards WinnersBest New Engine of 2008

BMW 2-liter Diesel Twin-Turbo (123d)Green Engine of the Year

Toyota 1.5-liter Hybrid Synergy Drive (Prius)Best Performance Engine

Porsche 3.6-liter Turbo (911 Turbo, 911 GT2)Sub 1-liter

Toyota 1-liter (Aygo, Yaris, Peugeot 107, Citron C1, Subaru Justy)1-liter to 1.4-liter

Volkswagen 1.4-liter TSI Twincharger (Golf, Touran, Tiguan, Jetta)1.4-liter to 1.8-liter

BMW twin-turbo inline-six crowned 'International engine of the year' for the second year in a row

BMW-PSA 1.6-liter Turbo (MINI Cooper S, Clubman, Peugeot 207, 308)1.8-liter to 2-liter

Volkswagen/Audi 2-liter Turbo (A3, A4 Cabrio, A6, TT, Eos, Jetta, Golf GTi, Seat Altea, Leon, Skoda Octavia)2-liter to 2.5-liter

Subaru 2.5-liter Turbo (Forester, Impreza, Outback, Legacy)2.5-liter to 3-liter

BMW 3-liter Twin-Turbo (135, 335, X6)3-liter to 4-liter

BMW 4-liter V8 (M3)Above 4-liter

BMW 5-liter V10 (M5, M6)

Source

Engine Pictures BMW M5 F10 TwinTurbo "Concept M5"


PostHeaderIcon Missouri Auto Insurance Basics

Missouri Auto Insurance Basics

It is against the law in most states to drive your car without car insurance. Every state dictates the required amount of insurance coverage that must be carried by drivers of their state. And each state sets the limits of this coverage which determines the highest amount your insurance company will pay out. The mandatory coverage is only a part of the automobile insurance that is meant to protect you, your family and other drivers on the road

While you are only required to carry liability insurance, there are six area of coverage available to protect you and your vehicle. The minimum level of coverage that is required by each state varies. In general, these areas are: Bodily injury liability, Property damage liability, Personal Injury Protection, Collision, Comprehensive, Uninsured/Underinsured motorist’s coverage.

The Insurance Commissioner in the State of Missouri requires drivers to carry bodily injury coverage and property damage. The amounts that are set by the state are the minimum levels required by law but you may want to purchase higher levels.

Missouri Auto Insurance Basics

Bodily injury liability covers any damages that you may have caused another person if an accident were to occur. Property damage liability covers the repair and/or replacement of any property that was destroyed as a result of an accident.

If you still owe money on your current vehicle, or you are financing a new vehicle, you must carry the proper insurance required by the lender to protect their investment. You will probably be required to carry collision and comprehensive coverage. If you do not provide adequate or proof of insurance, the lender will take matters into their own hands and find insurance coverage for you and bill you for it in addition to your regular car payment.

You may want to include collision insurance on your policy as it covers any damage to your car that was the result of hitting another vehicle, a tree, a telephone pole, etc.  Comprehensive coverage protects the value and replacement of your car in the event that it is damaged as a result of anything other than an accident, for example if your car is stolen, someone breaks into it or there it suffers flood damage.

There are two other areas of coverage and don’t be confused between the two, each one covers different things. Uninsured motorist coverage pays for any damages that are a result of an uninsured motorist or a hit and run driver. Under-insured motorist coverage comes into play if the other driver, who is at fault, does not have enough insurance to cover you.

If you are caught driving and cannot provide proof of insurance in Missouri, you will receive one of the following: four points on your driving record, supervised monitoring, or your license will be suspended. If you do not have insurance, your license will automatically be suspended and you will be fined.

The source of article

PostHeaderIcon Mazda 5 – First Drive Review – Auto Reviews – Car and Driver

Mazda 5 - First Drive Review - Auto Reviews - Car and Driver

You won’t be seeing any television ads promoting the new Mazda 5 six-seater people mover. Instead, the company is pursuing a careful marketing initiative for this product, aiming squarely at the active-lifestyle youth segment in a co-branding program with sportswear titan Quiksilver.

Mazda reasons that Quiksilver has the credentials necessary to influence a youth market that won’t be told what to buy unless told by opinion leaders it can trust. And who more trustworthy than the purveyors of high-price leisurewear? So this inexpensive six-seater is being introduced in relatively small numbers with modest print and Internet publicity alongside appearances at key outdoor events. Two Mazda 5s have been—how should we say?—

decorated by Quiksilver designers and are displayed at various board-sport contests.

Available as a well-equipped Sport version or a Touring model (which adds automatic climate control, front fog lamps, a rear spoiler, side skirts, an in-dash six-CD changer, and a power sunroof), the Mazda 5 almost defies description. Somewhat similar to a Toyota Corolla Matrix in appearance, it is based on the Mazda 3 platform and powered by that car’s 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine.

Mazda 5 - First Drive Review - Auto Reviews - Car and Driver

Behind two conventional front doors are two sliding rear doors (with 27.5-inch apertures) providing access to the center and rear rows of seat pairs. Although these lightweight sliders are very minivanlike, Mazda strenuously avoids that terminally uncool label.

Let’s accept that the resemblance to a minivan has as much to do with utility as category. There are some well-thought-out aspects to the car. Both the center- and rear-seat rows fold forward to form a large flat load surface, and all seats fold for flexible loading arrangements. Dunno why, but surfboards come to mind.

There are cup holders aplenty and even a karakuri storage box in the base of the right-hand center seat for small items such as—it says here—toys. Put that thought out of your mind. In every other way, the Mazda 5 drives and handles like the sporty Mazda 3 on which it’s based. That, more than anything else, supports the 5′s nonminivan pretensions.

 

Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/05q4/mazda_5-first_drive_review

PostHeaderIcon Lightning Lap 2011 – Feature – Car and Driver

Lightning Lap 2011 – Feature – Car and Driver

In an ideal world, we’d love to drive these cars on a public road, but running machines such as these at their limit on the highway pre­sents practical problems—things like other drivers, speed limits, and roadside hazards.

Our simple solution nearly five years ago was to look for the track in North America that best approximates a challenging road, with a variety of corners, long straightaways, and plenty of elevation changes. A track meeting this description would allow us to assess all-around perform­ance, expressed in lap times, in a controlled and relatively safe environment. The track we chose is the Grand West Course at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), near Danville, a serpentine 4.1-mile circuit that is the nearest the U.S. has to the ultimate racetrack, the Nrburgring Nordschleife in Germany. Automakers from around the world converge on the ‘Ring for the development of their vehicles, particularly high-performance models; domestic manufacturers also incorporate VIR in their vehicles’ testing programs.

Unlike our ” ” test [October 2010], where we used the Waterford Hills road course in Michigan as an element of the selection process, we rank finishers in Lightning Lap strictly on lap times, based on the best run achieved by each car during our two-day event (without any subjective criteria). Handling prowess is important for extracting a good lap time at VIR, but brakes and power are even more significant here, which isn’t the case on the tight Waterford Hills track.

The 20 new or revised performance cars we gathered for our fifth edition of Lightning Lap are sorted by base price (which includes performance-enhancing options) into five classes.

We didn’t bring any non-street-legal cars to the party this time, so there is no LLU (Unclassified) segment.

As ever, there were some real surprises among the vehicles gathered, although nothing beat the outright record of 2:45.9 set by the

, or the

‘s 2:48.6, both of which occurred during our third Lightning Lap in 2008. These two cars are, however, hardly built for the street.

The pace has certainly picked up since our in 2006, wherein no vehicle beat the magical three-minute mark. In 2007, two cars scraped below three minutes. In 2008, five cars blitzed that mark. In both 2010 and 2011, six machines beat the figure, which is what happens when you’re in the middle of the fiercest horsepower war the auto industry has ever fought.

Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/10q4/lightning_lap_2011-feature