SPOILER ALERT: For anyone who hasn’t seen the final race of this Year’s F1 Championship at the Brazil Grand Prix, do not read below.

With the exception of last season’s 3rd place to 1st win by Finn Kimi Raikkonen It’s been a long time since we’ve had such an exciting season, let alone an exciting final race. With Felipe Massa coming into the final race a half dozen points behind, Lewis Hamilton would have had to finish lower than 5th place for Massa to win. As most who watch Brazil know, it’s a grand prix known for it’s unpredictable weather and frequent rain. This race was no different. With a 10 minute delay in the race start due to a downpour, the race started out rather unspectacularly. A first corner incident left David Coulthard, in his final grand prix, for the worse with a broken car and a bruised ego. It’s a shame DC would leave the sport on such a trivial accident.

After that, the rest of the race was a definite challenge for Hamilton to say in the top 5 to keep his championship alive. Between two strong Ferraris, Fernando Alonso’s late season charge, Toyota’s Jarno Trulli surprisingly quick drive, 19 year old Sebastian Vettle’s absolute tear, it took the entire length of the race plus a minute to determine if Hamilton would hold on to The Championship. Going into the last lap, Hamilton sat outside the top 5 with a late race pass by Sebastian Vettle. However, after Massa had finished and won the race, Hamilton chased down 5th place Timo Glock (after SV passed him) to put him in 5th with all but 3 turns left in the race. So there it is. Lewis Hamilton wins the F1 Driver’s World Championship by one point. It was a hard fought battle that will surely come alive again next season with drivers like Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettle and Robert Kubica being thrown into the mix with an already tight top 3 (Massa, Raikkonen and Hamilton).

Congratulations to Lewis and the whole McLaren team! Though they have often been the center of drama and various ex-drivers have recently revealed questionable practices regarding internal favoritism, they performed well on track and Lewis Hamilton has greatly matured since last season.

Here’s how the race results ended up:

1. Filepe Massa (Ferrari)
2. Fernando Alonso (Renault)
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
4. Sebastian Vettel (STR-Ferrari)
5. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
6. Timo Glock (Toyota)
7. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes)
8. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
9. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)
10. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
11. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
12. Nico Rosberg (Williams Toyota)
13. Jenson Button (Honda)
14. Sebastian Bourdais (STR-Ferrari)
15. Rubens Barrichello (Honda)
16. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Ferrari)
17. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota)
18. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Ferrari)
19. Nelsinho Piquet (Renault)
20. David Coulthard (Red Bull-Renault)

As a BMW driver, I know that at times, we can piss off quite a few people. As a Georgian, you often wonder if those gun racks are for show or easy access. So, for those more aggressive BMW drivers in the South (and heads of state) who require a great handling SUV AND require the ability to stop a .44 caliber bullet, we can now turn to the BMW X5 Security. Obviously, BMW is keeping most of the specifics on the down low for obvious reasons, but we do know the windows are upgraded to laminated 22-mm thick security glass. The SAV has a camera system with intercom keeps the passengers informed of what’s happening outside their bullet-proof kid-carrier. To handle the extra armor plating, the Security package is bundled to the X5 4.8i model with its 4.8L, 350HP V8. Nearly indistinguishable from the regular model, BMW has reportedly attempted to maintain the X5’s driving dynamics with upgraded suspension and brakes. Seeing what BMW has done with an already tough to manage SAV, throwing more weight will hamper the already 2-ton beast. However, knowing what BMW can do with heavy cars means this whale will still scoot like a kangaroo and be the most rewarding security based car on the market.

Source: AutoBlog

We don’t have too much details on this car but it goes to show how a carefully crafted paint job can make a car look AMAZING.  This car looks like it has a BMW front with a Lamboghini back.  If you guys know anything about it, we would love to get more info on it.

In the past 3 months there has been quite a bit of hemming and hawing about if there was going to be a NBC Top Gear, who are going to be the hosts, then back to no show, then if Jay Leno would be a possible host when he left the Tonight Show, then when he said he wouldn’t, how even he admitted that the show could be lame. For those of us who really care about Top Gear, it was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster. Now that we know the show will be around NBC in the coming months and the fact that Adam Carolla, Eric Strommer and Tanner Foust, we’re starting to get more details about the show strait from Carolla’s mouth. According to Carolla:

• The NBC adaptation will follow the BBC format: guest segment, stunt, test drive and, yes, the Stig (casting for that crucial role is still pending).

• The premiere episode will feature a race from Las Vegas to San Francisco, ending in a “mammoth stunt.” (NBC isn’t insisting on copycat stunts or episodes, a la Season One of The Office.)

• Carolla is pushing for an on-air drive of the just-unveiled BMW M1 Homage concept as soon as it’s available, as well as the Aston Martin DBS (though that would be a reprisal of a Clarkson drive).

• Clarkson and Carolla recently met face-to-face, but Carolla promises to focus more on improv than the heavily-prepared Clarkson.

• Officials from Top Gear in England, who are producing the show, along with “everyone involved,” have assured Carolla that he will be able to speak his mind on any car “without fear of reprisal” from advertisers, which he fully plans to do.”

The format looks great, as it’s based on the UK version. However, the unique content is really great to hear. At the very least, even if the show doesn’t live up to the UK version, at least we’ll have some unique shows that aren’t just a carbon copy of what Jeremy Clarkson and the rest of the British team has done.

Source: Popular Mechanics

BMW has always sparked cool innovations in the way they tackle design. Below is another sample.