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Your dad probably taught you how to drive, how to work a manual transmission and how to wash, wax and repair a car. Nobody knows cars like your dad, so this Father's Day, why not get him something special to help him enjoy his time behind the wheel?

Here are a few gift ideas, categorized by price, to get your creative gift-buying juices flowing.

$0 to $50: Dad got a ‘pride and joy' sort of car? Why not check out the Mothers three-step paint restoration system? This starts optionally with a clay-bar treatment and ends with a polish and glaze. It's like giving dad's paint job a spa treatment. The kit can be found at any car care centre and takes an afternoon to apply. Chances are his car will never look better.


$50 to $300: Let dad enjoy some additional performance at the wheel. This price range opens the door on a plethora of parts for dad's ride - including shift knobs, short-shifter kits, xenon lighting retrofit kits, air intakes, axle-back exhausts and plenty more. Most of the above can be installed with hand tools and jacks in the course of an afternoon in the garage.

Dad got a truck? Visit its dealership for a look at some factory-approved accessories that are guaranteed to arrive on time, fit properly, and work without hassle. Mud flaps, all-weather floor mats and chrome accessories are all available. And remember: even a few bucks spent on cosmetic upgrades can make a big impact on the look of dad's ride.

Photo: MOMO

$300 to $2,000: Dad got a smartphone? Check out a new audio head unit with Bluetooth streaming and wireless hands-free phone connectivity. With no distraction or wires, dad can make phone calls or play his personal music collection straight out of his phone.

The new Pioneer AVIC in-dash navigation system also falls into this price range. Installed to dad's ride, it offers up advanced turn-by-turn navigation, full Bluetooth multimedia connectivity via smartphone apps, and a 3D graphics accelerator for crisp outputs on the 7-inch touch-screen. A built-in HD radio tuner, backup camera inputs and voice recognition round out the package. For an all-encompassing infotainment system, it doesn't get much better than this.

Shopping in the higher end of this price range? Check out the AMG Driving Academy, by Mercedes-Benz. Tuition includes your hotel, meals, racetrack access, and a fleet of instructors to tie it all together. Oh, and you get to drive a whole whack of AMG cars that you don't own really, really fast.

Pioneer AVIC-X940BT (Photo: Pioneer)

Money no Object: Chances are you've got a budget for your dad's Father's day gift. If you're lucky enough not to, be sure to check out the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Giving your dad the gift of ultimate automotive firepower has never been easier - thanks to ZL1's supercharged LSA V8 engine, which develops 580 horsepower.

Track-validated aerodynamic, brake and chassis upgrades help round this beast out as the highest performing Camaro on the road. And with an exhaust note that sounds like gunfire backed by quarter-mile passes in the 11 second range, dad will probably never be late for anything again, ever.

2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (Photo: Chevrolet)

Building autonomous vehicles that don't cause accidents is a difficult but crucial challenge.

"It's not enough to be as safe as the human driver. We need to be crashless," said John Maddox, an associate administrator at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and keynote speaker at Wednesday's Driverless Car Summit in Detroit.

Photo: Google

He added that approximately 33,000 people die each year in the United States because of car crashes and that human error accounted for 93% of those crashes.

Researchers and developers of autonomous cars must put safety atop the list of priorities, since it's what consumers will care most about.

"Convenience and fuel economy are real benefits, but people won't drive an automated vehicle if it's not safe," Maddox claimed.

The summit, hosted by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, hinted at driverless cars by 2022. Maddox doesn't know if that goal can be reached in 10 years. "I don't have an answer," he said, "but any answer would be a guess."


_{Source: Detroit News}

Peter Sauber, team principal of the Swiss Sauber F1 Team, said he was very happy to see that this year's Ferrari-powered C31 F1 car was performant on any type of circuit.

The Sauber team collected their second podium this season in Montreal last Sunday when Mexican driver Sergio Pérez took third place behind race winner Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and Romain Grosjean of Lotus.

Pérez did a very long stint on his first set of tires - 41 laps - and then ran the second stint on relatively fresh tires.

“Sergio had started from 15th on the grid, so you wouldn't normally be contemplating a podium place - you'd be happy just to get into the points,” said Peter Sauber in an interview published by the team.

“But once the front-runners began to develop problems with their tires towards the end of the race, it became clear that something very special could be unfolding. Unlike the other drivers, Sergio was not affected by these tire problems and was able to continue his all-out offensive right to the end. He drove an extraordinary race,” Sauber added.

“It was a surprise that Sergio managed to move from 15th on the grid to a third-placed finish in a perfectly normal race, without rain and without any safety car periods. But basically we knew the Sauber C31 was far better than the results of the last few GPs might have suggested. Our performance in Barcelona and Monaco fell well short of our capability. We had the potential in both races to be right up in front, but things just didn't fall into place,” Sauber added.

Peter Sauber with Sergio Perez in Montreal. (Photo: Sauber F1 Team)

The Swiss said that he expects his team to achieve great things in future races. “If we manage to exploit our full potential as a team, in other words get everything right from Friday morning to Sunday evening, a great deal is possible. After seven races it is patently clear that the C31 can be fast on virtually any kind of track,” he said.

However, some people say that the new types of Pirelli tires make racing a bit artificial because no one knows so sure what's going to happen during the races.

“As far as I can see it's just a handful of people in the paddock who can't get used to not knowing by Friday who's going to win on Sunday,” Sauber explained.

'I think the fans see it in a completely different light. They're delighted with the unpredictability, the sheer variety and the unbelievably close competition. I've been in Formula 1 for 20 years now and for me it's never been better or more exciting. That's partly down to Pirelli, who are supplying the tires for this show,” said Sauber.

During a press conference at Le Mans, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest announced that the Asian Le Mans Series, which ran in 2009 and 2010, will be back with six rounds next season.

Considering the importance of the Chinese car market, the members of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the World Endurance Championship and the European Le Mans Series, announced that the Asian Le Mans serie will be back next season.

The opening round will be presented in Zhuhai international circuit, in China, before heading to Shanghai, Ordos (Chinese province of inner Mongolia), and another Chinese round still to be determinated. Then, the championship will resume on the Fuji Speedway, in Japan, to conclude on Sentul circuit, in Indonesia.

The Asian Le Mans Series will adopt the same category system as ELMS : LMP2, GTE, GTC-GT3 and Formula Le Mans (no LMP1 cars allowed). Each team must include at least one Asian driver. The champion of each category will be offered an automatic invitation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2014.

After a first attempt to launch an Asian series, only one round was presented in 2009, and the same happened the following year. The championship was not organised lats year, but the 8 Hours of Zhuhai became the last round of the former Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

Citroën Racing and Sébastien Loeb will take part in the X Games Los Angeles 2012 with a Citroën DS3 ‘XL' sporting Red Bull and Total colours to fight X Games expert Travis Pastrana.

Citroën Racing has developed a very special DS3 called XL, as in X Games and Loeb! Based on a car built by Hansen Motorsport, the seven-time World Rally Championship-winning team has introduced a healthy dose of Créative Technologie by making a series of modifications.

“It's always exciting to try out a new category and attempt to get the most out of the regulations,” confirmed Cyrille Jourdan, lead engineer for the project at Citroën Racing.

“From a distance, the Rallycross DS3 looks quite similar to the WRC. Although the design of the chassis and suspension systems are fairly similar, the powertrain is fundamentally different. The DS3 XL's two-litre turbo engine develops 545bhp and 800Nm of torque. Its acceleration isn't far off that of an F1 car, covering 0 to 100kph in 2.4 seconds!”

Compared with a rally car, the absence of co-driver and spare wheels means the engineers are required to rework the weight distribution.

After completing final preparations in Citroën Racing's Versailles workshops, Citroën DS3 XL was put through its paces by Sébastien Loeb at the Dreux racetrack.

ACO press release

The technical regulations for the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) class were today presented at the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's press conference, held at the Museum of the 24 Hours.

These 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP1 Technical Regulations will also, from the 1st of January 2014, cover the Le Mans Series LMP1 category, the FIA World Endurance Championship and the American Le Mans Series.

6 BASIC POINTS TO REMEMBER
• New technology will be granted freedom with regard to powertrain (that is engine and hybrid system) in accordance with the development of road vehicles.
• The engines are free. The limitations of cylinders, restrictors and turbo pressures are removed.
• Significant reduction - up to 30% - of the use of fossil fuels used.
• The hybrid systems are free as long as they can be measured but are limited to two per car. The private teams are protected.
• Cars must be closed to improve safety.
• Weight and width are reduced.

Audi e-tron quattro, LMP1. (Photo: WRi2)

The global push to improve fuel efficiency in vehicle fleets will more than double demand for aluminum in the auto industry by 2025, Alcoa's director of automotive marketing said Wednesday.

The National Automobile Dealers Association's board of directors has nominated David Westcott to be the group's chairman in 2013.

We know all of you enthusiasts have been waiting, and finally, here it is. The

Harman International Industries said it will not be affected by Apple's plans to offer voice activated real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation in cars.

Can we ever write too much about the Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S/Toyota 86? Not yet, apparently.

Father' s Day is the one day each year to spoil and honor the guy who took you to your first race or maybe taught you what that big thing on top of the engine was called. For that, he deserves something special. Here are a few suggestions.

Driven: Jeep Mighty FC

Jeep's coolest concept ever and a pair of pricey axles.

The J-12 concept draws from an interesting part of Jeep's history, but you might not remember the Forward Control vehicles that Jeep built in the 1950s and '60s. Those funky trucks incorporated a cab mounted over the front axle and a full-length pickup bed into a relatively compact footprint.

Photo Gallery: Driven: Jeep Mighty FC - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: Driven: Jeep Mighty FC - Automobile Magazine

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General Motors' ailing European unit Opel aims to strike a deal with labor unions to close the Bochum plant after production of the Zafira Tourer van ends in exchange for guaranteeing German jobs through to 2016.

GM's money-losing Opel unit said on Wednesday it was in talks with union representatives to close its factory in Bochum, Germany, when production of its Zafira Tourer minivan runs out.

GM's money-losing Opel unit said on Wednesday it was in talks with union representatives to close its factory in Bochum, Germany, when production of its Zafira Tourer minivan runs out.

The Scandinavian suppliers association is pleased the future of the Saab site at Trollhattan has been detailed but is concerned it will make only electric cars.

The Indonesian government has removed import duties for machinery and goods used in vehicle factories in a bid to promote low cost, green cars.

Ford Motor today marked the upgrade of its Louisville assembly plant where it has invested $600 million to add 3,100 jobs to make the new Escape small SUV.

The Federal Trade Commission has charged a Toyota dealership in Georgia with compromising consumer data through the use of peer-to-peer file-sharing software.