Alfa Romeo SUV.

The fact that those words even exist tells you how much the automotive world has changed in the past several years.

An Italian company with a century of history built on curve-gripping sports cars and racecars wouldn’t have considered such a move before the SUV revolution took hold, but now they don’t really have a choice. With BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Jaguar, Maserati, Porsche and others in the mix already, they can’t risk losing luxury buyers who have migrated up to larger vehicles. Hence the Stelvio.

So what did Alfa do? Essentially they took a sports car and put it into the body of a small SUV. Here’s my thoughts on the finished product, which I recently got to spend some time in.

LOOKS

Built off the platform of the award-winning Alfa Romeo Giulia, and fittingly named after a curvy mountain pass in Italy in the Eastern Alps, the Stelvio hits a home run in the looks department.

Your attention is immediately drawn to Alfa’s unique design up front, which I dubbed the “tri-grille” look. It’s got sharp-looking lines and curves, and for the record I have to say that the century-old Alfa Romeo logo (featuring a red cross and what appears to be a snake eating a man) is perhaps the best logo in automobiles.

Chase Briscoe, a member of the Ford Performance Driver Development Program, will have a busy 2018.
He’s coming off a 2017 where he won one race and sat on four poles in the Truck series. He was also Truck Series Rookie of the Year. In 2018 he’ll vary things up, racing both on ovals and road courses.

On the XFINITY side of things, Briscoe will compete in 12 races for Roush Fenway in the No. 60 car, along with opportunities for other teams. The road course portion will see Briscoe compete in a Mustang in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series, as well as select Mustang events in the Trans-Am TA2 class.

“If you want a championship driver you have to train the young driver and that’s what our program is all about.  It’s about developing him and developing his skills,” said Dave Pericak, global director, Ford Performance.  “Chase is taking a step up to the NASCAR XFINITY Series, but we’re also going to pair him up with the best in the business and he’s going to understand what it means to go out and road race.”

European audio software developer Sonarworks announces its new True-Fi technology that removes unwanted sound coloration from headphones so consumers can experience the artists' true intention — on a sonically balanced listening canvas it enables 'studio sound' performance.

True-Fi’s software platform, which supports over 100 popular headphone models, takes just seconds to configure and employs measurement-based compensation profiles to correct tonal discrepancies that are caused by the headphones' physical construction. The resulting sound is a closer match to what the artist originally created in the studio — so listeners can experience a closer emotional connection to music in any genre. The True-Fi platform App, which costs just $79, is compatible with both Mac and PC desktops.

For the seventh consecutive year, while showcasing new vehicles at the North American International Auto Show, Toyota Motor North America will be helping Detroit-area families in need by donating winter boots and socks through its “Toyota Walk In My Boots” community outreach program. The program will help residents of The Salvation Army Harbor Light/ Booth Family Shelter, which provides emergency services to homeless women and single mothers and their children for up to 90 days.

One of the best racers of all time, capable of winning in every vehicle he competed in, has passed at the age of 86.
Dan Gurney drove in NASCAR for the Wood Brothers, raced at Le Mans, and much more. In 16 Cup series starts, he earned five wins and three poles. He earned four Formula 1 victories, 7 Champ Car wins. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside fellow legend A.J. Foyt in 1967 (the only all-American team to ever win the race). In short, he did it all.
He is also credited with inventing the tradition of spraying champagne after a race victory, a tradition that continues today in Formula 1 and other motorsports.