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Woman killed by jet-engine blast at popular Caribbean tourist attraction

7/13/2017

A tourist on the Caribbean island country of Sint Maarten was killed Wednesday after a blast from a jet that was taking off nearby knocked her into a retaining wall, police said.
The 57-year-old New Zealander had been standing at a fence that separates Maho Beach and a runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, police said. The area has become a popular, albeit dangerous, tourist attraction for those seeking to feel the powerful winds of an aircraft's jet-engine revving for takeoff just yards away.
At the time of the incident, the unidentified woman had been hanging onto the fence along with several others, according to a statement from the Police Force of Sint Maarten. As a large plane was taking off, the woman was “blown away by the jet blast and was seriously injured,” police said.
Despite immediate response from police and paramedics, the woman died shortly afterward at Sint Maarten Medical Center, police said.
Sint Maarten police spokesman Ricardo Henson told The Washington Post that it was the first such fatality, though there have been minor injuries in the past as a result of people trying to stand in the jet blast while clinging to the fence. Police do not have an official number of how many injuries have occurred at Maho Beach, he said.

The police statement acknowledged that watching planes take off and land at the Sint Maarten airport is “well known world wide as a major tourist attraction” but notes that doing so is extremely dangerous. Airport and local officials have placed signs along the airport's chain-link fence, warning them of the dangers of standing there while a plane is taking off, and officers patrol the area during busy hours, police said.

Despite the warnings, the area remains a huge tourist draw for thrill-seekers and aviation enthusiasts. Numerous videos on YouTube show beachgoers — many still in their swimsuits — lined up along a chain-link fence at the end of the airport's runway as a plane prepares to take off. The sheer force of the blasts from these jet engines can be seen blowing loose shoes, beach towels and sand straight back into the clear blue waters of the Caribbean behind them. Even those who cling to the fence can have a hard time holding on.

Tesla unlocks Next Gen Roadster as ‘Secret Level’ prize for top referrers

7/12/2017

Following our report that some of Tesla’s top Referral Program referrers have been notified of an upcoming Model 3 invitation email, the Elon Musk-led electric car company has revealed yet another prestigious and arguably the company’s best prize ever – a Founder’s Series Next Gen Roadster.
The Model X-owning family behind the community’s fastest growing YouTube channel Like Tesla sent Teslarati screenshots of their Tesla app, revealing a never-before-seen ‘Secret Level’ behind the app’s ‘Loot Box’ feature.
Like Tesla, who received public acknowledgement by Tesla during last month’s VIP Factory Tour for having referred the most Model S and Model X sales on a global level, tells us that Tesla must have unlocked access to the Founder’s Series next generation Roadster on Monday, as it was not available just a day prior.
As part of the terms for the most recent Tesla Referral Program, existing Model S and Model X owners can gift 5 friends with a $1,000 discount off the purchase of a Model S and Model X, and free unlimited Supercharging. After making 5 qualifying referral sales through a personal referral code link, owners are notified that their links have reached a maximum number of uses. This is exactly what the folks behind Like Tesla experienced, until today.
“You’ve unlocked the first secret level. Refer 5 more friends for the ability to purchase a Founder’s Series next gen Roadster at a 10% discount. Unlock new levels with every 5 referrals for an additional 2% off per referral and amazing adventures that money can’t buy.” reads the description for Secret Level 1 under Tesla’s Loot Box.

According to language found on the app’s Secret Level screen, referrers are eligible for a 10% discount off the price of a next-gen Roadster for every 5 qualifying referral sales they make. In essence, existing Tesla owners making 50 or more referrals should be eligible to a free Founder’s Series next generation Roadster. Not a bad deal for Tesla considering the referrer would have grossed at least $4 million in sales for the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker.
Elon Musk has said on many accounts that Tesla’s next generation Roadster will be the company’s fastest accelerating car to date, and capable of acceleration ccelerate beyond Ludicrous to Maximum Plaid. The limited edition Roadster is expected to have acceleration from 0-60 mph in under 2 seconds.

tags: teslarati , tesla, breed of speed , electric supercar , nathan finneman , tesla elon musk

McLaren P1 LM Is The King Of Nurburgring

7/12/2017

British automaker McLaren has announced that the street-legal version of the track-only P1 GTR has set a Nurburgring lap time of 6 minutes 43.2 seconds. The Maclaren P1 LM has beaten the Lamborghini Huracan Performante's time of 6 minutes 52.01 seconds and also the previous record of 6 minutes 45.90 seconds set by NIO EP9. The McLaren P1 LM was equipped with specially designed tyres for the record lap. Pirelli developed a particular size and compound road legal Trofeo tyre for the car.

The McLaren P1 LM is tuned by a British company Lanzante, which claimed victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans with the McLaren F1 GTR. The record lap was driven by Kenny Brack, who is known for his 1999 Indianapolis 500 victory. Previously, when Lamborghini Huracan set the fastest time, there were debates about the record lap. To avoid such situation, Maclaren stated that the car was taken back to the UK from Nurburgring.
Only five McLaren P1 LMs are manufactured, and all are sold. Watch the complete onboard video of the fastest lap set by Mclaren P1 LM.

tags: breed of speed , mclaren nurburgrin , p1 lm, nathan finneman , racing record, ring record , p1 mclaren , bos

Amelia Earhart 'Lost Photograph' Discredited

7/11/2017

In an undated handout photo from the National Archives, people stand on a dock at Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands. A recent History Channel documentary claimed that the photo contains Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan and was taken after the pair disappeared on July 2, 1937. However, new evidence shows that the photograph was published in late 1935.

A photograph that a recent History Channel documentary proclaimed as lost evidence that could solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance appears to have been published nearly two years before the aviator vanished in July 1937.
The pre-WWII photograph features a throng of people on a dock in Jaluit Atoll, one of the Marshall Islands. In the documentary Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence, filmmakers claim that two Caucasian people in the photograph—a man standing next to a post, and a person of indeterminate sex squatting on the dock's edge—are Earhart's navigator Fred Noonan and Earhart herself, in the custody of the Japanese military in 1937.
However, new evidence indicates that the photograph was published in a 1935 Japanese-language travelogue about the islands of the South Pacific. As Japanese military history blogger Kota Yamano noted in a July 9 post, he found the book after searching the National Diet Library, Japan's national library, using the term "Jaluit Atoll," the location featured in the photograph.

“The photo was the 10th item that came up,” he said in an interview withThe Guardian. “I was really happy when I saw it. I find it strange that the documentary makers didn’t confirm the date of the photograph or the publication in which it originally appeared. That’s the first thing they should have done.”
His search query turned up the travelogue, The Ocean's "Lifeline": The Condition of Our South Seas, which features the "Earhart" photograph on page 44. One translation of the caption describes a lively port that regularly hosted schooner races—with no mention of Earhart or Noonan to be found. Page 113 of the book indicates that the travelogue was published in October 1935.
Yamano's evidence, which he says he obtained in 30 minutes, undercuts the History Channel's claim that the famed aviator crash-landed in the Marshall Islands and became a prisoner of the Japanese military. Residents of the Marshall Islands and some Earhart enthusiasts have long touted this scenario, but many Earhart enthusiasts consider it outlandish.

tags: amelia esrhart photo , lost earhart photo , nathan finneman , breed of speed , aviation ,

Watch this 90 year old Bugatti Thrown Around on the Track.

7/5/2017

Watch a beautiful 1928 Bugatti Type 35 get driven like a modern day race car. The sound alone is amazing, but truly how fast the car goes through the course is unreal. Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan on 15 September 1881. The youngest son of Carlo Bugatti, an artist and furniture designer, he was soon drawn to the mechanical arts and by the age of 19 had in fact designed his own car which won a gold medal at a Milan trade fair in 1901. The winning design was sold to a Baron de Dietrich from Niederbronn in Alsace. His very great natural ability would later work against him when his designs came up against scientific reality. But for now he was a young man on the move. Sponsored by the Baron he joined him in Alsace to produce a series of motorcars known as De Dietrich-Bugattis. Bugatti soon made a name for himself and in 1904 he joined Emille Mathis designing a 4-cylinder Hermes and later became the Chief Engineer of the Deutz Company by the age of 25. Wanting to branch out on his own he designed a 1400cc 4-cylinder car and displayed it at the 1910 Paris Automobile Show. An initial 5 cars was later followed by a full production run that was well received.
After World War I Bugatti continued to build and race cars. The big break came in 1921 when a 5 car team of Bugattis entered the Voiturette GP at Brescia and came home with the first four places. This lead to many new orders for the "Brescia " model and the establishment of Bugatti as a manufacturer of racing cars for private entrants. After early success the cars were now being beaten by newer models from other manufacturers such as Fiat which sported supercharging. In 1924 he designed and built the car which made him a legend, the Type 35. While success in racing was not immediate, interest from prospective buyers was. At first reluctant to use a supercharged engine he finally relented and had a supercharger based on the Roots blower design added to the 2-liter Type 35C and the 2.3 liter Type 35B. From 1927 to 1931 the Blue cars from Bugatti dominated the racing scene. The Type 35 would prove to be one of the most successful cars in history. Their fine workmanship and the ability to be competitive "right out of the box" provided for their appeal. The French driver Rene Dreyfus stated that "You could place the car wherever you wanted, the road holding was fantastic...the precision of the steering was something fantastic".
Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan on 15 September 1881. The youngest son of Carlo Bugatti, an artist and furniture designer, he was soon drawn to the mechanical arts and by the age of 19 had in fact designed his own car which won a gold medal at a Milan trade fair in 1901. The winning design was sold to a Baron de Dietrich from Niederbronn in Alsace. His very great natural ability would later work against him when his designs came up against scientific reality. But for now he was a young man on the move. Sponsored by the Baron he joined him in Alsace to produce a series of motorcars known as De Dietrich-Bugattis. Bugatti soon made a name for himself and in 1904 he joined Emille Mathis designing a 4-cylinder Hermes and later became the Chief Engineer of the Deutz Company by the age of 25. Wanting to branch out on his own he designed a 1400cc 4-cylinder car and displayed it at the 1910 Paris Automobile Show. An initial 5 cars was later followed by a full production run that was well received. After World War I Bugatti continued to build and race cars. The big break came in 1921 when a 5 car team of Bugattis entered the Voiturette GP at Brescia and came home with the first four places. This lead to many new orders for the "Brescia " model and the establishment of Bugatti as a manufacturer of racing cars for private entrants. After early success the cars were now being beaten by newer models from other manufacturers such as Fiat which sported supercharging. In 1924 he designed and built the car which made him a legend, the Type 35. While success in racing was not immediate, interest from prospective buyers was. At first reluctant to use a supercharged engine he finally relented and had a supercharger based on the Roots blower design added to the 2-liter Type 35C and the 2.3 liter Type 35B. From 1927 to 1931 the Blue cars from Bugatti dominated the racing scene. The Type 35 would prove to be one of the most successful cars in history. Their fine workmanship and the ability to be competitive "right out of the box" provided for their appeal. The French driver Rene Dreyfus stated that "You could place the car wherever you wanted, the road holding was fantastic...the precision of the steering was something fantastic".

tags: breed of speed, bos , nathan finneman , bugatti gets driven hard, goodwood , amazing , type 35 , bugatti type 37 , bugatti vintage

Seen this before?? In 1992 B-25s Take Off From A Carrier Once More To Remember The Doolittle Raid

7/3/2017

I used a WWII Eyemo 35mm motion picture camera to capture the Warbirds launching off of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) off of Oahu, Hawaii in August of 1995.

This was an event sponsored by the Navy to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. Three B-25's, two Corsairs, a Wildcat, a Grumman Albatross and other Warbirds were launched from the deck.

What an honor to have been a part of this incredible event.

tags: breed of speed , b25 take off carrier , nathan finneman , b25 doolittle raid , carrier take off amazing

Self-driving truck’s beer run on Colorado’s Interstate 25 gets Guinness World Record

6/30/2017

The self-driving truck that drove down Interstate 25 in October loaded with Budweiser beer won’t soon be forgotten. Guinness World Record is making sure of that.
On Thursday, the arbiters of future trivia questions awarded the 132-mile road trip as the “Longest continuous journey by a driverless and autonomous lorry.” To all you non-Brits, that means a tractor-trailer.

For the record books, the trip in a tricked-out vehicle from tech company Otto, hauled 51,744 cans of Budweiser beer from Fort Collins, through downtown Denver and onward to Colorado Springs on October 20, 2016.
With state police nearby, the self-driving truck drove approximately 131.99 miles, according to Guinness.
While a man did sit in the driver’s seat occasionally, he was recorded walking to the sleeper berth in the cab to read. But he was also monitoring the trip from the back seat. He never took the wheel, according to organizers of the experiment.

Unknown is whether there were any other self-driving trucks in the running for the same world record.
Autonomous vehicles are being tested in certain states nationwide. Earlier this month, Colorado passed its first law regulating the testing of self-driving cars in the state. As long as the vehicles obey existing road rules and companies notify the state’s Department of Transportation and State Patrol, testing is allowed.
Whether the Otto truck will make another beer run in Colorado is unclear. Otto, which was acquired by Uber last August, is the target of a lawsuit by Google. Former Google self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski, who co-founded Otto, joined Uber at the time but was later sued by Google for allegedly stealing trade secrets. Uber fired Levandowskiin May.

tags: otto self driving , self driving budwieser , self driving semi truck , world record , nathan finneman , breed of speed, semi truck otto ,

Man jumps off of his balcony wearing a parachute 'he bought off the Internet

6/29/2017

This is the terrifying moment a man jumps of his balcony wearing a parachute he reportedly bought online as a crying female relative begs him not to.
Footage shows a man in a pink T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops standing on a ledge on an upper floor of a high-rise apartment block in Brazil preparing to perform his daredevil stunt.
The thrill-seeker, who is believed to have bought his parachute off the Internet, then counts down from three before leaping from the balcony - despite cries of anguish from a woman standing behind him in the

WATCH THIS 3,000-HP NISSAN GT-R RESET THE HALF-MILE SPEED RECORD TO AN UNGODLY 255 MPH

6/22/2017

Remember how that bright yellow twin-turbocharged Lamborghini Huracan set the world speed record of 250.2 mph for top speed in a half mile last month? Well forget it, because this Nissan GT-R upped the record to 255.53 mph.

For the record, the pole-setting qualifying lap for this year's Indianapolis 500 was 232.164 mph.
Lucas English, driver of the Extreme Turbo Systems GT-R explained that since running the car at 244 mph previously, the English Racing crew installed enlarged throttle bodies to flow more air into the engine and they worked to optimize tuning of other components because the engine wasn't necessarily making as much power as it could have.

tags: breed of speed, 255mph half mile record, 3000hp nissan, nathan finneman , world speed record , turbo gtr

Harley-Davidson Among Bidders To Buy Italian Ducati

6/21/2017

Numerous sources state that Harley-Davidson is lining up a takeover bid for Italian Ducati put up for sale by German carmaker Volkswagen, potentially bringing together two of the most famous names in motorcycling in a deal that could be worth up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.67 billion) Others are also preparing to bid: Bajaj Auto (BAJA.NS) and several buyout funds. Tentative bids are expected in July. VW hopes to raise between 1.4 and 1.5 billion euros from the sale of Ducati, valuing it at 14-15 times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of about 100 million euros. A source close to VW said the sale of Ducati may not be finalized before the annual EICMA motorcycle show in Milan in mid-November as VW wants to find the right buyer and the sales process may take time. -

tags: ducati buy out , harley buys ducati , motorcycle, harley davidson , nathan finneman , breed of speed

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