Unfortunately, it was the Christmas holiday, so I couldn’t find a single truckish thing to do with the all-new 2009 Suzuki Equator. I always try to, when testing pickup trucks.
Even though many trucks spend their lives roaming the suburbs with nary a load of dirt to haul in sight, the true measure of a pickup’s “truckness” is to let it do some work. That’s definitely the case with the new Equator.
Designed and marketed toward Suzuki’s adventuresome motorcycle and personal watercraft-riding customers as a perfect gear-hauler and all-around tough truck…Â More info
Members of the motorsports industry are wondering why the government has adopted a rule virtually eliminating a key constituency – and possibly thousands of jobs – while at the same time developing a nearly trillion-dollar stimulus that supporters say is intended to create and protect employment.
At issue is a new federal regulation of lead that took effect just this month. The policy has virtually shut down the part of the motorsports industry that serves children under 12 who want to ride all-terrain vehicles and motorbikes, because some components of the machines – such as tire valve stems – contain lead.
“You’ve got a lot of kids involved in this,” Don Amador, western representative for the the Blue Ribbon Commission, told WND today. “But ATVs, dirt bikes have batteries  in them, components that use lead inside the valve stems on tires, lead in the electronic wiring, lead on battery terminals.” … More info
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Confederate Motorcycles, the bike maker that moved to Birmingham from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, said Thursday and that it might offer an entry-level model to go along with its expensive and limited edition mainstays.
The maker of motorcycles that sell for up to $100,000 also said Wednesday that it has merged with a publicly traded Canadian company that at one time mined copper, but which had ceased all operations. Confederate said shares will begin trading on the public market.
Company officials said Wednesday lower-priced models might be in the works…Â More info
Last summer’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb weather was hot, dry, and windy and it caused headaches for a chunk of the competitors who battled the 14,115-foot Peak’s challenges.
Not so for David Kern and co-driver Allison Kern of Centennial, Colorado, who rocketed their way to the finish line in a record 11:48.434 to run away with the Time Attack 4WD crown in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. That broke the old mark (12:49.064 by Nathan Conley, 2007) by more than one minute and beat their closest competitor by nearly 40 seconds.
Their record setting run was also fif5th fastest over all making their Mitsubishi EVO IX the fastest full-framed car to make it to the top…. More info
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