Iron Man 2 is due to release in theaters across North America on May 7th and the marketing machine is still spinning its wheels at high rpm. First those in charge introduced The Stark Motor Racing Team and now they have teamed up with Audi to introduce The Tony Stark Innovation Challenge.

In an effort to promote “Better Living through Technology”, this contest calls for the world’s most creative minds to submit in videos up to two minutes long with the following criteria:

• How to make the world a better place by solving a problem or improving an existing solution
• Articulate and demonstrate expertise of the “better living through technology” philosophy
• Have the scalability and adoptability to potentially change the way we live
• Showcase innovation, adventure, and intelligence worthy of Audi and Tony Stark
• Entice the social network; viewer ratings will determine top entries

The video submission period opens on April 28th, 2010 at 12:01 a.m. PT and ends on June 9th, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Public voting takes place through the entire video submission period but extends to June 13th, 2010 for all those later entries. The selection of the potential finalist videos will be done right away and set by June 16th, 2010 and then notifications and interviews will be conducted between June 17th, 2010 to June 25th, 2010. The winners will be announced on the week of June 28th, 2010.

So what does the grand prize consist of? Well, Audi promises a four-day trip for two to California to enjoy the Tony Stark lifestyle, but we see no mention of beautiful women such as Scarlett Johansson and Gwyneth Paltrow. To say we’re a little disappointed is an understatement, but the rest of the prizes are pretty impressive – especially considering the goal of this is to help change the world.

• $15,000 to develop the winning idea
• A day at the Audi Sports Car Experience driving an Audi R8
• VIP day with the ICON aircraft team with flight and water testing of the ICON A5 aircraft
• Helicopter tour of Los Angeles
• Transportation in a brand new 2011 Audi A8
• Luxury hotel accommodations, dinners at Los Angeles’ top restaurants
• Spa treatments, tailored cocktail attire and grooming to perfect his or her Stark style
• Tour of Audi Design Center in Santa Monica Airport
• Experience documented and featured on AudiUSA.com

So for all those with brilliant and original ideas on how to make this world a better place, submit away. We still think if Scarlett Johansson or Gwyneth Paltrow were regularly available to the general public, we’d all have better lifestyles.

[Source: Audi USA]

The Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is a vehicle commonly driven by backwards-hat types, who like to blast loud music and cut you off indiscriminately, as well as ostentatious chairmen of multinational corporations. With a new Grand Cherokee premiering in 2011, a void will be left in the lineup for those who aspire to the heights of a Mercedes-Benz ML63 or BMW X5M, but can’t afford the fairly steep price tag.

Enter the 2012 Grand Cherokee SRT8, which is expected to come with a new 6.4L Hemi V8 putting out an estimated 525-horsepower, and rides on a rumored air-suspension platform. According to a report by Car & Driver, Jeep is attempting to best the X5M’s performance figures, which means a 0-60 time of 4.0 seconds or less. While its the owner’s prerogative to buy a car like this, we can’t help but ask “why?”

[Source: Car and Driver]

It says something about our society when we get all excited about a new police car. Jaguar wades into this hotly-contested arena in the UK — sorry Alabama! — as one of the sort-of cool police cars.

You know, an atypical police vehicle like the Hyundai Genesis, Lexus IS-F, Lamborghini Gallardo, and so on. In the UK, police aren’t as infatuated with high-speed pursuits, so this Jag is a diesel.

Seven are on the beat right this moment, in Staffordshire, Mercia, and the West Midlands — and other than the day glo stickers, light bar, and “Home Office” electronics, they’re standard.

Just for fun, click on to see a clip of a UK police show — things really are different over there.

GALLERY: Jaguar XF Police Cruiser

[Source: Autocar]

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The 2010 Ault Park Concours d’Elegance has teamed up with Jay Leno for a one of a kind raffle, with the winner walking away with a VIP tour for four of the Tonight Show host’s famous Big Dog garage.

Just in case a private tour of Leno’s massive collection of historic and modern cars and motorbikes isn’t enough to satisfy your motoring appetite, the contest winner will also receive tickets to the Tonight Show, exclusive access to The Nethercutt Museum and Collection, a tour with the director of The Petersen Automotive Museum and access to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum.

Each raffle ticket costs $100, with all proceeds going towards the Juvenile Arthritis Alliance. Talk about our kind of fund raiser! You’d better act fast if you want in on this unique car-guy opportunity though, because just 210 tickets remain. To buy yours, click here.

[Source: cincyconcours.com]

Strong demand in emerging markets like India and China, as well as a recovering U.S. economy helped Honda post a quarterly profit of $774 million. The Japanese automaker reported a 28 percent increase in sales, to $24.5 billion. Honda is forecasting a $3.7 billion profit through the coming fiscal year (which ends March 31, 2011), and sales of $100.4 billion, a 9 percent jump.

The strong results come days after Honda’s CEO admitted that the company had become “complacent”. However, strong demand for small, energy efficient models like the Fit and the upcoming CR-Z hybrid sports car helped the company back into the black. Honda’s motorcycle division also reported strong sales, adding to the company’s fortune.

[Source: Detroit News]

It seems like we’re going crazy with Honda‘s new CR-Z, showing off Mugen’s initial release, TEIN’s CR-Z and  Spoon Sports’ rendition of the popular hybrid in Japan. There’s absolutely no denying the popularity of tuning and customizing hybrids in Japan, and the trend is slowly catching on in North America.

It will be mighty interesting to see how things change when Honda’s CR-Z makes it over to North America. The hatchback has become a hot contender, being a pleasant substitute to the Honda Insight or Toyota’s Prius.

We were so excited to find these new photos of Mugen’s Demo Honda CR-Z all stickered up and on display in public. The accessories offered back in February included a full aero kit, carbon fiber mirrors and choice of wheels. Interior amenities included shift knob, gauges and floor mats. Engine performance were simple bolt-ons from cat-back exhaust to air filters. Suspension and brake upgrades are typical offerings from Mugen as well.

But now it seems that Mugen is possibly going beyond as is evident with this race-inspired Honda CR-Z full of stickers. The most interesting theme is the green accents on the car that sort of remind of Takata’s infamous shade. The wheels and mirrors have been refinished, contrasting the rest of the white car but flowing well with the “Honda Green Machine” theme. It is clear that both Honda and Mugen are pushing going green and it’s even possible that they will be pushing the limits of this CR-Z Hybrid out on the track. We’ll keep our eyes out, but for now we’ll salivate over the photos.

[Source: Jon Sibal]

GALLERY: Mugen Honda CR-Z

Yesterday, a batch of journalists (excluding this one, I’m obviously not cool enough) attending the North American launch of the new Jaguar XJ sedan came upon an interesting roadblock in their pre-determined and very obvious drive route: Top Gear USA had shut down the famous Mulholland Highway and brought out some sports cars to play with. Clearly seen with special “Top Gear” license plates were a Genesis Coupe V6, 2011 Mustang V6, and a Porsche 911 C4S Cabriolet, along with a Mitsubishi Evo X that was apparently pulling camera-car duty. The tire marks in the pavement indicate that Mr. Foust, shown above, was clearly having fun that day, going round and round in circles of smoke, and looks tired, and the shoot appears to be the makings of a good, old-fashioned comparison test between the Mustang and Genesis Coupe.

We are a bit disappointed with their choice of locations, however. Top Gear, with all its money and resources, must be able to find a better, less trafficked, and less obvious road than Mulholland Highway, the best known enthusiast road in the country. Everyone shoots here, from Tanner himself a few months back, to Motor Trend, to this author’s own show, The Smoking Tire. Point being, it’s been done before, time and time again. We’ll reserve judgement until the show airs this Fall, but if the Top Gear boys want to impress, they are going to need to hire some better location scouts, stat. Check out the gallery of spy shots over at Jalopnik.

The elk test is one of the most infamous procedures used to evaluate new cars. A double lane change at 50 mph, the elk test was designed to help Scandinavian auto journalists evaluate the highway speed stability of a car, when the threat of a large animal in the road is a very real safety hazard.

The most infamous incident involving the elk test saw the Mercedes-Benz A-Class roll over during the maneuver. While it was an embarrassment for Mercedes-Benz, it had the benefit of introducing electronic stability control systems to passenger cars. 13 years later, a trio of similarly tall wagons from Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat underwent the same test in Britain, with similar results.

While the three cars are all based off the same platform, only the Fiat had stability control. While it passed the elk test, the Citroen variant suffered a roll-over, prompting Which magazine (the publication conducting the test) to suspend testing of the Peugeot, due to its lack of stability control.

Both Citroen and Peugeot say that they will be working on a stability control system for their cars. While many enthusiasts complain that these systems ruin the driving experience in high performance situations, most stability control programs can be turned off, and the elk test demonstrates how useful they are, especially in vehicles like the aforementioned vans, where the risk of a rollover in an emergency is far more likely than anyone ever driving them rapidly.

[Source: Which Magazine]

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Hurst has just unveiled its latest project, a one-of-one Hurst Ford Racing Mustang Challenge Pace Car, which recently debuted at Virginia International Raceway and which will be auctioned off later this year for charity. A combined project with Ford Racing, the black and gold 2010 Convertible gets all sorts of goodies, ranging from a 550-hp supercharged engine to gold 20-inch wheels to the requisite Hurst Competition/Plus shifter.

Along with serving pace car duty at the Mustang Challenger series, the drop-top is scheduled to make several stops along the Hot Rod Power Tour, as well as at several Larry H. Miller dealerships. It will end out the year at the 2010 SEMA Show, before hitting the auction block in January of 2011, with all proceeds going to the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer.

Car collectors, open your wallets!

GALLERY: Hurst Ford Racing Mustang Challenge Pace Car

Official release after the jump:

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Just days after the Fiesta finally launched in North America, residents of the U.K. can already get a better version of Ford‘s sporty hatchback than what is offered here. Called the Fiesta S1600, for starters, it’s a three-door hatch, which isn’t part of the product lineup in North America. Included in motorsports-inspired package is a new aero kit, 17-inch white wheels and some nice body-length racing stripes. There’s also a leather-wrapped steering wheel, gear shift knob and handbrake cover, as well as new floor mats.

But the best part is that the 1.6-liter engine (which we commented in our review needed a few extra ponies) is available with a Mountune tuning kit which adds 20-hp (for a total of roughly 140-hp). Ford claims that’s enough to drop the 0-60 mph time by two whole seconds.

Offered exclusively in the U.K., Ford will build just 650 S1600 models for a price of £16,645.

GALLERY: Ford Fiesta S1600

Official release after the jump:

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