230 MPH Toyota Land Cruiser

[donpearsall]

If you have unlimited manufacturer sponsorship, can rent the Mojave Air and Space Port runway, and a NASCAR driver, you too can break the SUV speed record...

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/05/autos/toyota-worlds-fastest-suv/index.html

[wobblywalrus]

That must be a fun project for the folks at Toyota.  Things like that take the "work" out of work.

[JimL]

This was much more complicated than I imagined.  I was by the shop recently, and surprised how far the engine/trans were moved straight up in order to retain the full-time 4WD system and still be able to lower the vehicle. 

The interior refinish must have been a big job.  It is fully finished inside, but many things are "moved and juggled" in there.

As I understand it, they didn't have to use all the power available.....they just had a speed target and then ran enough boost to finish the job.  Pretty good result for a show-car!

[tauruck]

Thanks Jim.

[RansomT]

And now the spinning has begun.  This morning on the 6 am local news they ran this story, however in the lead they stated that "Toyota took one of their Land Cruisers out to see what the real top speed was with a retired NASCAR driver behind the wheel".  The talking heads never stated anything about it being heavily modified, etc....

[manta22]

RansomT;

Never expect the news media to get the story right- never. Sometimes it is due to simple ignorance, sometimes to purposely slant a story, and other times to being too lazy to write up a correct story.

Sometimes I wonder if the TV anchors actually listen to what they themselves are saying. True TV news promo: "Plane crashes in the Rincon Mountains, three dead. More at Eleven." 

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[RansomT]

RansomT;

Never expect the news media to get the story right- never. Sometimes it is due to simple ignorance, sometimes to purposely slant a story, and other times to being too lazy to write up a correct story.

I ran out time earlier but about an hour later, on the way to work, the talk radio station I listen to ran the same story. However, they had all details and went on to have a discussion about how much fun it would have to been to work on that project and wondered how long they worked with it.

[manta22]

You can be sure that radio station had a car guy on the story.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[Stan Back]

It ain't just radio.  Our local newspaper had a story about a motorcycle accident recently -- headlined "Motorcyclist Decapitated in Accident"

The story reported that a car driver ventured off the road and thru several yards and finally hit a utility bowl that broke and its cables fell across the road.  The cyclist was coming along at speed and the cable took his head off.  (True story.  A friend of mine's dad witnessed it and is having lots of trouble sleeping at night.) 

Any way, the news story ended with the proclamation that the cyclist was pronounced dead at the scene(s?).

[stay`tee]

In 2009 I was taking a New Zealand reporter and his cameraman back to Salt Lake City airport,, we were discussing the misrepresentation and hype in the news media today, the reporter stated "It,s all about Enterainment" 

[manta22]

Unfortunately I think you are right- it's not really news, it's "entertainment".

Paddy Chayefsky wrote the screenplay for the movie "Network" 41 years ago. He essentially predicted the collapse of real news in the media. It's a good movie!

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[panic]

"It's all about Entertainment, and attacking Trump"