The Kookiest Auto Races…EVER

We love speed.  The exhilaration we feel when we’re driving with the top down and the landscape is whizzing by is an American pastime, almost a tradition in our culture.  We pack Nascar Speedways to watch speed demons circle a track, drive fast in the HOV lane, and mount up a ridiculous amount of speeding violations on a daily basis.  We’re a speed-based country bent on getting to the next objective…quickly.  As fans of the racing dynamic and the sense of adrenaline we get from it, I’ve decided to pull 3 crazy races into a list (Courtesy of HowStuffWorks.com) on our Blog.  Check them out below:

Red Bull Soapbox Race

It’s all about gravity with this one.  The objective is to create a makeshift vessel that can be propelled with only standard wheels.  The vehicle is engineless, and zooming downhill in this derby and winning could warrant a prize.  The derby oozes creativity, with past entrants being in the shape of a piano, a giant corn on the cob, and…the Golden Gate Bridge.  Now that’s awesome!

24 Hours of LeMons

According to HowStuffWorks.com “While the actual 24 Hours of LeMans sports car race, held annually in the eponymous French city, features real racing cars that have been tuned and engineered within an inch of their lives, the 24 Hours of LeMons race features real, well, lemons.”  If you paid more than $500 for your car, including modifications you won’t be allowed on the track.  Our first car out of high school would have worked perfectly.

Gumball 3000

The Gumball 3000 is a high-end car rally that runs annually between locations since 1999.  The tradition began in London, making its way through Europe, ending in New York City.  Other Gumballs have gone from New York to the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles and from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France -- not a very long trip until you consider that the route crossed the Mediterranean and passed through North Africa on its way to the finish line.  Have any you would like to add?

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Car People Who Know Grub: Quick Thanksgiving Recipes

Everyone is huddled around a long table, the soft scent of cranberry fused with smoked turkey emanates from the small area.  Your plate is already full to the brim with Turkey, doused in gravy and soaked up by a monstrous pile of stuffing.  You look down at your plate and smile.  Yes, this is perfection.  Thanksgiving is the best time of the year.  It’s a celebratory holiday for family, friends and an ice-cold brewski.  In other words, it’s AWESOME.  In today’s blog, we’re showing you that us car people can cook, too!  For those of you on your last minute cooking binge, pay attention!  We’ve got a couple of quick recipes courtesy of the Food Network for you:

Worlds Simplest Thanksgiving Turkey

Time: 3 Hours

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Pull the neck and giblets out of the cavity; ditch the liver and save the rest of the giblets for gravy. Dry the turkey with paper towels, then season inside and out with salt and pepper. Fill the turkey with aromatics like chopped onions, carrots, apples and herbs, then place breast-side up in a roasting pan and brush with melted butter. Tent with foil and roast for 2 hours (for a 10- to 12-pound turkey; add an extra 15 minutes per pound for larger birds). Remove the foil, baste with more melted butter and crank the oven to 425 degrees F. Roast for another hour or until the meat at the thigh registers 165 degrees F. Let rest while you make the gravy.

Pumpkin Pie

Time: 1 Hour 35 min

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional
• 1 piece pre-made pie dough
• Whipped cream, for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream. 

Enjoy!! Happy Thanksgiving!

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Tips on Buying New & Used Cars

Cars are an investment.  We know that car buying is a huge decision, affecting financing, safety, and reliance.  We know that car buying is a difficult.  We’re here to help.  In today’s blog, we've decided to provide the advantages of buying new and used.  The decision really boils down to what you can afford and what option will give you peace of mind in the future. 

Buying New

·      Reduced Maintenance – buying a new vehicle means no worries for a while.  Only the occasional tune-up and oil change are required.

·      Warranty Coverage – the manufacturer covers new vehicles under warranty for at least 3 years, some even longer.  With manufacturer warranties, if something goes wrong it's the responsibility of the dealer and manufacturer to fix it.

·      Peace of Mind – if you do encounter problems with a new vehicle, you have legal recourse through state lemon laws (available in every state). 

·      Roadside Assistance – All mainstream new cars come with free roadside assistance while the vehicle is under warranty.  Also, you could be reimbursed for alternate transportation should something goes wrong.

Buy Used

·      Increased Choice – With used cars, you have a large choice of cars to choose from.  Someone is always selling your dream car in mint condition.

·      Improving Reliability – used vehicles don’t usually have the same warranties as new ones, however the original factory warranty is transferable to a second owner at no charge.

·      Just Like New – According to Edmunds: “Another trend that makes buying used a better option is the proliferation of certified pre-owned programs. The idea started with luxury brands such as Lexus and Mercedes-Benz and has become a popular alternative for car buyers.”

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Car App of the Week: Waze, FREE GPS Application

Life has been made simpler with the emergence of smartphones.  Need to find a great place to eat? There’s an app for that.  Want to set up a reminder to pick milk after work?  There’s an app for that.  Want to begin your plan for world domination by taking over your city with one swift button?  There’s NO app for that, yet…but who knows what's in store for the future!

The iPhone app store has a plethora of GPS apps that range from $.99 to $100, all allowing for a step-by-step guide to get from point A to B.  Our app of the week, Waze, a new navigation system that provides step-by-step directions on a 3-D map, combining crowd-sourced info as well as accurate GPS, is the perfect solution. Also, the app is totally free!  According to 148Apps: “Waze is a free, social, mobile crowd-source navigation and real-time traffic application for iPhone that gives its users a "real-time," live description of the road/driving conditions around them. It's a free, useful, fun application everyone should download and experience!”

Waze features:

·      Constantly-updated road map

·      Real-time traffic updates

·      Automatic rerouting

·      Live reports from users on the road

·      Turn-by turn directions

·      Road tweets – Twitter integration

·      Foursquare integration

·      Automatically learned frequent routes

·      Picture sharing from the road

·      User contribution scoreboard

Download ASAP! For more, visit: http://www.148apps.com/reviews/waze/ and http://www.waze.com/download/ to download

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