This is a very special year for a number of high-performance car manufacturers and automotive icons, as the Porsche 911 turns 50 years young, Lamborghini celebrates its 50th anniversary and Bentley marks its 90th anniversary of the LeMans 24 Hours Race.

Blessed with very competitive drivers and a devoted racing team, Bentley was quick to dominate France's epic LeMans endurance race and won it five times between 1924 and 1930. Bentley is also celebrating 10 years since its triumphant return to LeMans in 2003, where they successfully won yet another hard fought first place finish.

This recently released documentary video celebrates Bentley's legendary LeMans achievements and highlights their illustrious group of gentlemen race drivers known as 'The Bentley Boys'. The epic video clip goes on to capture the strong racing heritage of Bentley and just how much it means to win.

Click here to catch all the amazing action for yourself in the video below.

J.D. Power and Associates has released its annual Initial Quality Study, and this year, Porsche and General Motors took the spotlight. The study, which asks new car owners to report problems experienced during the first 90 days of ownership, found that overall, the industry averages 113 problems per 100 vehicles.

Porsche managed a score of just 80 problems per 100 vehicles, while GMC took the second spot on the podium with 90. Lexus filled out the top three with 94 problems per 100 vehicles, followed by Infiniti at 95 and Chevrolet at 97. The study also looks at specific models, and found the Lexus LS to enjoy the best initial quality at 59 problems per 100 vehicles.

Interestingly enough, the report found that around two-thirds of most owner problems experienced in the first 90 days are attributable to vehicle design instead of mechanical failure. Specifically – echoing a refrain we've been hearing for the last few years – owners are having a hard time figuring out how to use the technology present in their new vehicles. Head over to the J.D. Power site for more information, or scroll down below for the company's related press release.

Lego has announced that the Mars Rover Curiosity will become the Danish company's next user-designed Cuusoo set to reach store shelves. The company's Cuusoo program allows anyone to submit an idea for a Lego set that could make it to production. After having been among a small group of sets to receive at least 10,000 votes – the minimum required – in the 2012 Fall Review on the Lego Cuusoo site, the Mars Rover Curiosity then survived an exhaustive review process, which not all sets do (sorry, UCS Sandcrawler), before receiving final approval from the company. While it got the nod, pricing and availability is yet to be determined as the set continues being developed for mass production. Scroll down to watch Lego make the announcement on video.

The Mars Rover Curiosity Lego set actually has an interesting back story. Its designer, listed as Perijove on the set's official Cuusoo page, is a mechanical engineer who worked on the real Mars Rover Curiosity at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which means his recreation of the rover is highly accurate, not only in how it looks, but also in the details and all of its moving parts. Perijove states that the purpose of his model is "to continue the educational outreach for this incredible mission." The timing couldn't have been better, as the set became popular on the Lego Cuusoo site in late Summer 2012 when the real Curiosity rover touched down and began rolling around on the surface of Mars.

The last set to make it all of the way through Lego's Cuusoo program was the Lego Back to the Future DeLorean, which received approval for production last December. Other autos-related Cuusoo sets that received 10,000+ votes and are scheduled for production review include an incredibly detailed Land Rover Defender 110 and minifig-scale Batman Tumblr.

Aston Martin has pulled back the sheets on the company's new Gulf livery for this weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans. Penned by Jonathan Wesley, the Number 97 Vantage GTE will wear the colours throughout race week as the car prepares to compete in the 90th 24 Hours of Le Mans. Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and Peter Dumbreck will all take turns behind the wheel of the car. Wesley said he designed the livery using the four Gulf corporate colors arranged from lightest to dark, with the right side painted white and the left painted dark blue to symbolize the change in race conditions from daylight to dusk.

Fans chose Wesley's design from a spate of others as part of a Gulf contest. As a result, the designer will spend Le Mans weekend as a VIP guest with Aston Martin. The company says the No. 97 car will compete along with four other Vantage GTE bruisers, but will be the only one to carry the special livery. You can read the full press release below for more information.

Ok, folks. We don't really know where to start with this one. We have all sorts of fail condensed into one short video clip. We could start by mentioning that road rage happens every day and in every city. Or, we could start by presenting you with the facts. Road rage in LA: powder blue VW Beetle versus white BMW, lawyer versus retired LAPD cop, and both "old enough to know better" men seen fighting in suits! Sounds like an opening to a good joke, right? Unfortunately, it's not, as this road raging brawl happened for real.

Yesterday, in Los Angeles, just off the 405 in Van Nuys, two men got into an altercation that got physical real fast. It's been reported that ​attorney Randalf Kincaid got out of his powder blue Beetle and punched the driver of a BMW when he also stepped out. It just so happens that the BMW driver was a retired LAPD officer on his way somewhere with his wife and daughter.

After throwing his one-punch wonder, Kincaid attempted to get back into his powder blue Beetle (yes, we're mentioning that it's a powder blue Beetle... again). At this point, the bloody-faced retired police officer in full view of witnesses, including his own daughter and wife approached the lawyer from behind and grabbed Kincaid in a weird UFC-style chokehold. Both older men then tumbled to the ground and Kincaid was placed under a 'Citizen's arrest' until proper authorities arrived. The retired officer struggled to rise after the fight and hopefully, no hips will need replacing.

We don't know what sparked this age-old lawyer vs. cop battle, but we do know that Kincaid was arrested and has been charged with battery. Kincaid has spent 26 years as an attorney and has no previous record of violence.

Scroll on down to watch the battle of the two geriatrics in plain view of countless witnesses. While you're at it, check out this speeding motorcycle rider's idea of road rage and then countdown the top 10 reasons for road rage.

This speeding driver could soon find himself in some serious trouble, especially since Alberta police just voted in favour of a resolution allowing officers to seize vehicles belonging to reckless drivers caught traveling 50 km/h above the posted speed limit.

According to police, they stopped the speeding 67-year-old Alberta man after he was seen driving upwards of 180 km/h along a stretch of highway near Black Diamond, AB. The man then attempted to creatively talk his way out of the speeding ticket by saying he was simply trying to dry off his freshly washed car. Looks like that poor excuse didn't hold up in court either, as the judge fined the man $800 and had his licence suspended for 45 days.

We're starting to think his real reason for speeding was to compete with the lead-footed grandmother who recently received four speeding tickets in three hours along the same stretch of road! Meanwhile, click here to learn the best ways to avoid getting a speeding ticket and watch the tips in this video from the folks at Car and Driver.

Motorcycles and ATV's in North America are often considered recreational vehicles as opposed to just transportation. There are many occasions in which they need to be loaded onto a truck or trailer for the purpose of hitting a race track, some trails, a bike show, a stunting lot or even cross-country to ride somewhere new. So it's not uncommon to incorporate proper loading and unloading techniques that work for you and your application.

There are plenty of ways to properly load and secure a bike in a truck, with minimal fuss, as proven time and time again, the world over. But, there are also plenty of ways to improperly load and secure a bike in a truck with horrible results, as proven in this video.

So, folks, don't be that guy/girl. Do it right the first time and you won't be crying yourself to sleep after wrecking your favourite toy because you're just too lazy.... that is, unless you aspire to make a top 10 list of motorcycle and ATV loading fails. To see more bike fails, check this out as well.

Jaguar's new F-Type is a pretty potent little pouncer. And while we do love a good roadster, many of us at Autoblog are perhaps more excited about the upcoming hardtop version of Jag's stylish new entry-level sports car. Why? Because even here in heavily camouflaged prototype form, the thing looks really, really good – the sleek roofline blending rather nicely into the F-Type's shapely rump, allowing for better distinction of its pronounced hips over the rear wheel wells.

Mechanically speaking, the F-Type Coupe should be identical to its droptop sibling. That means the supercharged 3.0-litre V6 and 5.0-litre V8 engine lineup should carry over unchanged, though we've heard rumours about a four-cylinder application as well. There's also talk of hotter R, R-S or R-S GT models coming down the pipeline, and based on what we've experienced in things like the XKR-S, we certainly can't deny the allure of such a model.

It's unclear exactly when Jaguar will show the production F-Type Coupe (at the Frankfurt Motor Show, perhaps?), but the car is expected to go on sale sometime in 2014. Check it out in our latest spy gallery, above.

With five months left until the 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder enters production, Porsche engineers are still putting the hybrid sports coupe through a battery of last-minute tests. To give us new reasons to ogle over the car – as if we needed any more – Porsche has released a short video showing the 918 Spyder undergoing shakedown tests in the hot Nevada desert. And you can't drive through Nevada without visiting Vegas, too, right?

Although there's really nothing new to see in this video, it's still fun to watch as Porsche approaches one million test miles logged on this exciting new high-performance model. One interesting part (at around the 0:37 mark) shows the car taking off under electric power and then transitioning to engine power, which results in a mix of whirs and growls as the 918 Spyder switches from a 127-horsepower electric vehicle to an 887-hp hybrid supercar.

Scroll down to watch – and hear – Porsche's latest creation in motion.

Unexpectedly, This Opposite Attracts



Back in 2007 when the Fiat 500 was launched, I was unrepentantly nuts about the thing. From the first time my eyes clapped on the Nuevo Cinquecento at the Geneva Motor Show that year, I wanted one. Since there were no plans for a North American model at the time, I had to settle for purchasing a 1/18th-scale diecast at the expo. When the new Fiat Cinquecento finally arrived in North American showrooms and went on sale in 2011, I was no less excited.

And then I drove one, and the bloom was off my little Italian rose. Oh, I still appreciated its size and high style, but I found it wholly unsatisfying to drive, something that wouldn't be rectified until the Abarth arrived. It wasn't that the standard 500 was slow – I expected that – it was that its wonky driving position, lackluster transmissions and ropey steering all stood in the way of appreciating its other virtues. The Abarth's characterful powertrain would eventually come along to alleviate most of those pains, but not all of them.

Now with the advent of the 500L for 2014, it appears I'm living the same scenario, albeit in reverse. My first encounter with this new, larger Fiat was also at the Geneva show, only this time, when the sheet was yanked off its flanks in 2012, I didn't like what I saw. The Italian marque hadn't just name-checked the Cinquecento with this larger five-door, it attempted to appropriate its amusing and iconic design by repeating key styling elements like its circular light fixtures and simple chrome bar grille (collectively known as the "whiskers and logo face"), along with rounded interior forms painted in body colours. To my eyes, the design just didn't work, yet I was still intrigued about the promise of a larger 500 and more polished driving experience.

We met Andreas Sigl, the global director of Infiniti's Formula One involvement (that's him above on the right), at the US Grand Prix in Austin last year, and our questions to him were aimed at understanding what Infiniti was doing and where it intended to go. In spite of regard for its products and increased sales, few outside – and even inside – Infiniti seemed to have a clear idea of what the brand stood for.

Its F1 partnership with Red Bull Racing was a key example of that. A brand with no motorsports pedigree – save for a listless dalliance with Indycar and the Infiniti Pro Series – was suddenly married to the world's marquee racing series, but one being continually declined by other brands and even its own entrants for a lack of relevance to road cars. The introduction of the Infiniti FX Vettel Edition didn't clarify matters; we still didn't understand how Infiniti logos on Adrian Newey's chassis' made the G, M, FX, et al any better – or who was even supposed to make the connection – and if we were exceedingly cynical we could have said the terrifically expensive Sebastian Vettel-fettled FX mutant was a marketing mission that needed a hand grenade, but instead got a high-impulse thermobaric weapon.

Seven months after that Austin Q&A with Sigl, during which time Infiniti has become title sponsor of Red Bull Racing and publicly anointed Sebastian Vettel its Director of Performance, we met Sigl again in Montreal during the Canadian F1 Grand Prix. It was there we got an answer to what Infiniti stands for: "We've boiled the brand down to the four 'p's," he said. "Performance, passion, precision and provocation."

So then we asked, "Well, what does that mean?", and Sigl gave us some background on what's been happening behind the scenes of the partnership.

Behold the 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante in all its convertible glory. Like its hard top twin, the convertible Vanquish boasts a 5.9-litre V12 engine with 565 horsepower and 457 pound-feet of torque. That thrust is good enough to push the car to a top speed of 295 kilometres per hour (183 miles per hour), and Aston Martin says the 2014 Vanquish Volante is the first of the company's convertibles to bow with body panels comprised entirely of carbon fibre. It also offers the stiffest body structure in the history of the automaker's droptop efforts.

The machine's power three-layer top can be put up or down at speeds of up to 48 km/h (30 mph) and can do its dance in around 14 seconds. Interestingly, designers went with a full-length windshield, which runs directly up to the cloth top. there is no sheetmetal (or in this case, carbon fibre) header between the glass and the roof. Very cool.

A six-speed automatic transmission handles shifting duties and a new set of springs and dampers help cope with altered dynamics of the convertible. Aston Martin claims the 2014 Vanquish Volante offers up a weight distribution of 51:49, and a set of carbon-ceramic brakes help bring the whole party down from speed. If you want one, get ready to shell out at least close to $300,000 for the pleasure. Deliveries are set to begin early next year. Check out the full press release below once you stop gawking at the gallery above.

It looks as if the Local Motors Rally Fighter will soon have some competition. The Korres Project 4 boasts a 7.0-litre LS7 V8 lifted from the Chevrolet Corvette Z06. With 505 horsepower shoved into a 1,600 kilogram (3,527-pound) package, the creation should have no trouble covering ground very quickly. Dimitris Korres, the Greek architect behind the Project 4, says his creation can clip to 96 km/h (60 miles per hour) in 3.8 seconds on its way to a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph). That's all par for the course, but it's the machine's innovative suspension that makes it stand out from the crowd.

Capable of increasing or decreasing its ride height as necessary, the Project 4 can cover all sorts of terrain at speed. With locking differentials front, center and rear, the creation has the potential to be very impressive. You can check out a pair of videos below for a better look. Note that the photos in the gallery show the bruiser with its body panels removed for a better look at its innovative suspension and bare aluminum chassis, and check out this link for more.

While its dealer body has been clamouring for new and larger models, Fiat has actually done a pretty good trade selling all manner of 500 variants, from the standard hatchback and 500C cabriolet to its Abarth models, 500e electric runabout and special editions like the Gucci.

Fiat North America was a little slow out of the gates as it built up brand awareness and its dealer network, but it's now chugging along, with combined 500 model sales outselling that of its arch rival Mini (provided you subtract the Countryman crossover, a model for which Fiat has had no direct competitor up until this point). Franchisees are finally about to get the bigger, broader-appeal model they've been seeking in the form of the five-door 500L, but Fiat is still going to be devoting a lot of attention to their whisker-faced icon, the Cinquecento.

As proof, at the first drive event of the 500L in Baltimore, Fiat North America boss Jason Stoicevich confirmed that his company will produce a production version of the 500 Cattiva concept shown at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Stoicevich wouldn't divulge the model's pricepoint or availability timeframe, but he told us, "I can guarantee you it will happen. I just can't tell you when."

The Cattiva is based on the middle-child 500 Turbo, and is essentially a trim-and-tape package, albeit a very attractive one. It includes rich 'Rame' (read: copper) paint with black trim, including 'Nero' gloss black light housings front and rear and a matching roof-mounted spoiler along with unique charcoal 16-inch alloys. Inside, changes are limited to a 'Matte Nero' instrument panel and trim, along with silver stitching on the black sport wheel and shift knob. No word on any improvements to the Turbo's 135-horsepower, 1.4-litre MultiAir four-cylinder, but at least that should keep the price from rising much above the standard 500T's $20,995 MSRP. As far as timing goes, we're thinking that this model won't be too far down the line after the company launches the 500L.

Back when it revealed the 500 Cattiva concept, Fiat also showed a matte gray Tenebra showcar that builds upon the even hotter 500 Abarth, but Stoichevich declined to comment on that concept's chances for production.