Car FYI

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy Today, Tesla Motors officially declared an action transpired in regards to autonomous and self-driving that many have feared as well as expected to happen. In a company blog posting, Tesla Motors announced their company was contacted by the United States NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) as a preliminary investigation has been opened into the self-driving Autopilot program installed on a Tesla Model S involved in a crash resulting in a death. A fatal accident where an activated Autopilot system is suspect for being a leading factor, a male occupant of a Tesla Model S sedan died when the vehicle collided with the trailer of a transport truck. The explanation of the crash seems to indicate the limitations of this certain self-driving aid technology in detecting white objects in high light conditions. According to the blog account, the tractor trailer was perpendicular to the Model S where the all-electric vehicle drove under the bot...

Photo Credit: IndyCar Monday night, sadness fell over the entire motorsport world as a competition embraced for its excitement and action claimed a great athlete. 37-year-old British driver Justin Wilson succumbed to a head injury suffered in a late-race incident at the Verizon IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway. A penultimate round in the open wheel racing series for 2015, optimism for seeing a great battle for championship and race position was overshadowed quickly after a series of crashes proved evermore worrisome. On lap 180, a crash by leader Sage Karam into the turn 1 wall showered the track with debris. A nose cone compartment of Karam's #8 car is believed to be the piece that flew up and hit the #25 Andretti Autosport car's driver Justin Wilson in the helmet. Despite receiving swift attention from IndyCar's safety crew, the unconscious Wilson could not be revived at the scene and needed to be airlifted to an offsit...

Photo Credit: Chris Jones The past few months have been a busy time. It has been my deepest regrets I fell behind on the Car FYI Car of the Month updates. One occupation of time has been the rapidly moving 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series. A tight season started in late March and ending in late August, the 16-race schedule quickly flooded towards the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 99th Indy 500. A race won by a brilliant performance by Juan-Pablo Montoya, the Team Penske organization secured its 16th win in the race. However, up until the green flag flew for the Memorial Day weekend classic event, The majority of focus for the Month of May activities at the speedway was foreshadowed by a wicked Monday practice crash. The accident resulting in a broken right front suspension component on the #5 car fielded by Schmidt Peterson Motorsports sent James Hinchcliffe violently into a wall. Thankfully by no small effort of the Holmatro Safety Team, Hinchcliffe received prompt me...

Photo Credit: Jim Haines Being a glorious motorsport locale that his tested many of the world's greatest challengers of speed, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway also bears the reputation for placing individuals on the borderline of blazing fast records and shear danger. Over time and through the injury and loss of so many legends behind the wheel, the efforts for improved safety has been granted a similar devotion as the passion to push a vehicle to faster feats. Early Monday afternoon, one of the most serious incidents resulted in a case where one of IndyCar's most popular drivers James Hinchcliffe became trapped within the undesired, worrisome zone that always haunts motorsports. Silence came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a result of a massive, high-impact into the turn 3 SAFER barrier wall. At 1:21 p.m. local time, the #5 car of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports piloted by Oakville's James Hinchcliffe struck the wall after a quick puff of smoke appeared ...