The Sports Car season is about to get into full-swing, the Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Orange Juice or Hair Cream or Cell Phones or something . . . is this Saturday! Eff!

The 'Shopper will be there and we will have freaking bells on! Getting the tickets we wanted didn't turn out to be such a snap, but the plans are lain and the Subie is gassed up. Now, to pound enough Unisom to make me just effing sleep until Saturday morning, March 19th. My liver has got to hate my guts . . .

The cars are more varied and exciting than ever, especially in the GT2 class. The number and variety of factory-backed full-bore GT2 cars is just astounding: Porsche, Corvette, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, Ferrari, Panoz, the list goes on.

Also thoroughly exciting, the prototype classes are going through some major changes this season. In order to emulate the fantastic LMP1 vs. LMP2 battles that took place between Audi, Penske (Porsche RS Spyders), and Highcroft-Acura. During the 2007 and 2008 campaigns, the LMP2 cars were working so well (and the then-new Audi R-10 was driving like a panel-van) that the significantly underpowered Acuras and Porsches were able to steal several over-all victories from the mightier (re: more powerful) LMP1 juggernauts.

For 2010, the ALMS has combined the LMP1 and 2 classes, and added a third, 'spec' class- LMPC. By taking weight off of the LMP1 cars, and taking the restrictors off (well, sort of; made the openings larger) the engines of the LMP2 cars, the playing field has been leveled between the two classes- essentially creating one mega-classification. The LMP2s are faster, but now the LMP1s can keep up with them in the corners . . . it's going to be very interesting . . .

A disgruntled employee created a mess for customers after he hacked into a web-based vehicle immobilization system and remotely disabled vehicles.

Kevin Poulsen writes:

More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments.

Police with Austin’s High Tech Crime Unit on Wednesday arrested 20-year-old Omar Ramos-Lopez, a former Texas Auto Center employee who was laid off last month, and allegedly sought revenge by bricking the cars sold from the dealership’s four Austin-area lots.

“We initially dismissed it as mechanical failure,” says Texas Auto Center manager Martin Garcia. “We started having a rash of up to a hundred customers at one time complaining. Some customers complained of the horns going off in the middle of the night. The only option they had was to remove the battery.”

Fernando Alonso is a hell of a driver. Everbody knows that. Sebastian Vettel is also a hell of a driver. Together, it appears they will out-right dominate the 2010 F1 Championship. Just my opinion, but I doubt I'm the only one who thinks so.

Now then, that being said, which car is better, the Red Bull RB6 or the Ferrari F10? Difficult to tell. In case you missed it (which I can't understand; what could possibly be better than F1 at 7:30 Sunday morning?! What, sleep??! Sleep when you're dead, Loser!) Sebastian Vettel absolutely dominated the opening stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix, first race of the 2010 Championship. Dominated. Then, as the laps wound down (49 laps this year, compared to last year's 56; more on that later) Vettel's Renault-powered land-missile began to lose time to the pursuing Alonso. Huge, fatty chunks of time. Alonso gained a full five seconds on one lap. Not good for Vettel or Red Bull. Eventually Alonso executed the finisher, drafting up to and then slicing around Vettel as if he were standing still. This lead to the first 1-2 finish for Ferrari in the opening race of season since 2004. Fillipe Massa made short work of Vettel, who also fell to Lewis Hamilton's McLaren before ending the race an embarrassing fourth position. So, "Whaa Happund?!"

Other topics discussed inside: Shui's return, the new teams, and my unholy disappointment in USF1 . . .

A very important development in the lithium market has recently taken place and appears to be trending. Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation has agreed to buy about 30 per cent of battery-grade lithium carbonate output from Galaxy Resources' Mt Cattlin mine in Western Australia. Galaxy said in a statement today it was close to finalizing similar agreements with other major groups and high-end users of battery-grade lithium carbonate in China and other parts of Asia. We can only assume these other high end users are other automotive or the sophisticated computer and cell phone makers. And the demand will continue to grow as the automotive world reinvents itself.

The Shelby GT500 has been interesting, if not odd and misconceived, since its debut in 2007. Five hundred horsepower, unique body cladding, and a mean-ass exhaust note set this car apart from run of the mill Mustangs. But there were problems. Ford has always told anyone who will listen that they saddle the Retro-Stang with a solid rear axle in the name of satisfying drag-racers. Okay, that's complete BS, but they were able to make this axle work so well it can almost be overlooked.

That sort of mercy doesn't get extended to the Shelby's iron-block 5.4 liter V8. An iron block? Really? Other automakers are able to churn out much more then 500 horsepower from aluminum blocks, the Gen three Chevy small-block comes to mind. Why would Ford go with an iron block at a time when iron was being phased out of every engine, even the trucks that this re-badged Triton came from. To save a few pennies? Really?

So, the automotive press bitched and moaned. Regardless, Ford still sold a respectable number of Shelbys. The iron block wasn't going to sink this vessel as the pundits so vehemently thought it would. Which was fine, until Ford realized that it could eliminate the Gas Guzzler Tax with better economy and less weight. And that is exactly what Ford dun did: tossed the iron in favor of aluminum, saving 120 pounds and a little MPG at the same time . . .

Twenty four hours is a long time to be driving a car, at part throttle. Wide open throttle, for nearly half a minute, and then brakes, hard, and then full left-hand lock and then full right-hand lock and then full throttle again, three times a lap, for twenty four hours; why, that is just plain stupid.

Or "awesomelybadass", depending how you look at it. The 'Shopper tends to fall into the latter category. If you do too, then maybe you would like to know what we were up to this weekend . . .

Here it is, boys and grrls, although it's still a glorified CAD drawing. None the less there are several interesting things going on here, and the livery will NOT be the stars and stripes barfed up all over the Type 1's sinewy flanks. Details inside yonder post . . .

Red light camera companies’ profits are falling far below expectations all over the country. The cash cow is drying up for the cities because of the citizen effort to ban the cameras is gaining steam, and more and more drivers are ignoring the tickets they get in the mail after hearing from fellow speeders that there are often no consequences to doing so.

Yes yes , I know, I know! This is the second post in a row with a video kyped directly from a competing website. It happens to us all the time; check the date on this post, and then the date on this one. Yeah, exactly. That same thing has happened many times since the 'Shopper Blog went live in September. I'm not mad at all, just pointing out that we are not the only shameless thieves.

This, my friends, is the best audio I have found of the Mercedes AMG SLS. Eff Jay Leno and his weirdness; these videos are here to celebrate the SLS, in all its glitteringly perfect glory . . .

I like fast cars and I like comic strips. Combine the two and you've got me pretty smitten. Cell-shading has been used in many video games and movies to create an 'illustrated' feeling for real-life video. Top Gear has taken the idea to new heights with its review of the Lexus LFA.