This weekend’s X-Games 16 is starting to become a star-studded event full of Formula Drift’s best drivers. We already know Tanner Foust and his experience with the X-Games, and now Samuel Hubinette and Andrew Comrie-Picard (Formula Drift driver and teammate) will both be driving NOS Energy Drink Mitsubishi EVOs on BFGoodrich tires.

The NOS Energy Drink EVO is not new to X-Games but it has been rewrapped for this year (as pictured above). Rumor has it that Hubinette’s practice was cut short when he hit a berm and threw the EVO up on two wheels. So it’ll be interesting to see how the competition plays out in the Super Rally with Hubinette, Picard, Verdier and Foust battling it out on the rally course rather than the drift course.

AutoGuide will be sure to update with X-Games news and results, especially if anything flips over!

UPDATE: Ready to match the EVO entry, Subaru has also just released details on it’s three car effort for the X-Games, with Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra and Sverre Isachsen all piloting 500-hp Subaru WRX STIs.

A recent British study suggests that women are less likely to keep the family car clean than men.

This study, conducted by Autoquake (an online car supermarket), states that more than half of all women go at least six months between washing their cars. That’s a long time to go between washes, and leaves your vehicle open to “Please Wash Me” graffiti on the car’s back window.

In the United Kingdom, about 56 percent of the women surveyed let their cars go unwashed for more than six months. The men fared better – about 44 percent of the men surveyed were willing to go that long between washings.

After polling over 1,000 UK drivers, only 34 percent of all drivers gave their vehicles a good scrubbing inside and out every six months, and 13 percent do a full inside and outside wash once a year. And a brave 4 percent of those surveyed admitted that they never wash their vehicles – ick. Women (5 percent) were slightly more likely to never wash their cars than men (3 percent).

[Source: Left Lane News]

The Fiat 500 hot hatch and Nissan Quest minivan are among the 20 world debuts expected to bow at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show this November.

Having traditionally lived in the shadow of Detroit’s International Auto Show, the lineup for this years event appears to be expanding, even though only two of the 20 debuts have been announced. Porsche is expected to debut a Cayman ClubSport at Los Angeles, but little else is known beyond that. In addition to the world debuts, another 20 vehicles are expected to bow in some form or another in L.A., pushing the total up to 40 debuts. The Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt are expected to appear in final production form as well, with the Volt hitting dealerships right around that time as well.

With even the 2010 Detroit Show coming off as a more subdued affair due to the economic downturn, Los Angeles is hopefully a harbinger of things to come, with a ton of product hitting dealerships and consumer confidence restored.

[Source: Los Angeles Auto Show]

Hit the jump to read the official press release

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Subaru has teamed up with famed rally car builder Vermont SportsCar to prepare two rally cars for their X-Games drivers, Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra and Sverre Isachsen.

Starting with a 2011 WRX STI, the Vermont SportsCar crew stripped everything out of the interior and did the requisite rollcage and seam welding jobs needed to make the car rigid enough to endure the stresses of rallying. A fire suppression system and fuel cell were also installed, as were EXE-TC coilovers.

Power is rated at 500 horsepower, an incredible figure from the 2.5L flat-four engine. The engine also makes 560lb-ft of torque, enough to alter the earth’s rotation, and that’s with a special restrictor plate fitted. And of course, it wouldn’t be a rally car with an ear-drum-shattering anti-lag system fitted.

With a new event called SuperRally coming to this XGames, Subaru needs to have its baddest rally car yet to fend off the challengers – SuperRally features four cars competing at the same time, and you can bet the Ford’s Fiesta, as well as a multitude of others, will be out for blood.

[Source: Subaru]

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Ford is keeping up their relentless web campaign to help promote the 2011 Explorer, and they’ve released three new videos to demonstrate what their new SUV crossover is capable of.

The three videos highlight the Ford Explorer’s Terrain Management System, Blind Spot Information System and the Trailer Control System. All three are pretty neat, although the Terrain Management System and the Blind Spot Information System are respectively, a gussied-up all-wheel drive system and an increasingly common technology respectively. The Trailer Control System is pretty cool, and considering that 30% of Explorer buyers tow, perhaps the most relevant.

[Source: Ford]

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Porsche aficionado Jeff Zwart has done much to publicize his efforts at Pikes Peak with his 911 GT3, but really, what more do you need than a professional quality video to tell you what Zwart and the 911 are all about?

Hustling the 911 up Pikes Peak’s 12.42 mile hill took Zwart 11:31.095 with an average speed of over 65 mph. Those numbers may not mean much to you now, but once you see the video, you’ll understand.

[Source: Will Roegge]

Everyone’s favorite blowhard talk radio host tore into the Chevrolet Volt, criticizing it as a product that “nobody wants”. Rush Limbaugh, the infamous talk radio host, mocked General Motors as “Obama Motors” and criticized its range as well as its $41,000 sticker price.

Limbaugh criticized the $7,500 tax credit offered by the government, stating that “Obama and the government are admitting nobody wants this.” Limbaugh also erroneously referred to the Volt as being capable of only running on electrical power for 40 miles, ignoring or omitting the fact that it has a traditional gasoline engine that will enable it to operate once the battery is exhausted.

“That 40-mile range has to include you getting home, and staying home three to four hours to charge the thing,” Limbaugh said. “It’s (a) 20-mile range.”

Limbaugh also admitted to taking advertising money from GM when they were being bailed out by the federal government.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

This morning, we got an automated Email from Overstock.com advertising their “Lowest Price Guarantee” car-buying service. Does this mean they are keeping huge fleets of cars somewhere? Not exactly. Overstock is a widely-known service that helps retail outlets and manufacturers of consumer goods liquidate excess inventory by offering it online, and they have just extended this model to cars as well. Is there a catch? Of course there is.

Using Overstock.com’s search tool, you can look for new cars and used cars in your area with a few mouse clicks. These cars come from local dealerships, not Overstock itself, and certain dealerships have been certified to offer the “Lowest Price Guarantee,” which is basically $300-500 over invoice. Overstock sends these dealerships business, and in turn the dealerships offer their “lowest price.” Now, we all know that in many cases, like an excess of inventory, a good negotiator can get a car below invoice, especially leftover models such as the 2010 Mustang GT, or recently discontinued cars  like the Pontiac G8, which saw base models sitting on dealer lots for months, eventually being sold at a big loss (and a big gain for the customer). The bottom line is, none of this really adds up to excess inventory, just a general agreement to offer a good price with no haggling.

There’s also the “Clearance Lot” section, which is exactly what it sounds like. Cars are marked down to $100 over invoice, but it’s only the “deal of the month” that gets any real-world savings.  So, one specific model, in one specific trim, for the whole month. Ironically, today’s “deal of the month” is the RWD Toyota Sequoia. In the last few days, Toyota’s largest SUV has been surrounded by rumors of extinction, so it’s not surprising Overstock has it in the Clearance section.

We did say there is a catch, and there is: after shopping around through Overstock’s site, you still have to contact a dealership yourself, and deal with salesmen and managers when you get there. They will still try to sell you all the dealer add-ons that make them the most profit. And you still have to work out financing through the dealership (or independently).

The bottom line is, this service is really only for people that don’t have the first clue how to negotiate for a car. But I can get the Enzo Angiolini “Beehive” Stilletos for just $34.99. So that’s something.

Toyota‘s Tacoma pickup is no stranger to being tinkered with by TRD, Toyota’s racing division. With previous special editions like the Prerunner and X-Runner finding success in the marketplace, TRD is introducing two new packages for Toyota’s smallest pickup.

The T|X and T|X Pro will be available on 2 or 4 wheel drive Tacoma Prerunner models with 2 or 4 doors and the TRD Offroad package. 16″ TRD alloy wheels, BF Goodrich tires, tubular side steps, a stainless steel exhaust tip and special graphics comprise the $1,699 T|X Package, a $754 savings compared to ordering each option as a separate component.

The T|X Pro Package costs the same amount but also adds a TRD cat-back exhaust, which makes it the obvious choice in our eyes. The fact that all modifications are covered under a factory warranty makes these packages all the more enticing rather than hitting up the local auto parts store.

[Source: Toyota]

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Everyone who has attended a track day will be able to relate to this video, mocking the over-enthusiastic poseurs who populate lapping days across the nation.

Much like the photographers lampooned in a previous video, these folks can be spotted their $100 motorcycle helmets that cost as much as their Nomex driving gloves. They’re never afraid to whip out the AIM data loggers and HeroCams, and are always ready to educate you on the merits of different R-Compound tires despite being unable to hold the steering wheel properly. These are folks inevitably get spanked by someone in a very low key econobox, and always ready to blame the equipment (like any good driver does).

For these track day heroes, who brag to their friends about “going racing” and are more concerned with playing to an imaginary audience than becoming good drivers, we salute you with this video that lampoons your showboating and inflated egos. Remember; you can never win a track day, but you can lose it all in one second.

[Thanks to Brian Makse for the video]

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