1969 Torino 351w on 2040-cars

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Road & Track names its 2013 Performance Car of the Year

Road & Track recently staged its first annual Performance Car of the Year test, pitting 13 new and updated performance cars against each other on track, then graduating the top six to a road test before picking a winner. Additionally, the magazine staff picked the best automobiles of the year in eight categories.
But first, let's cover the PCotY segment. Here's the list of cars brought to the comparison test: Audi R8 V10 Plus; BMW 435i; BMW M6 Competition Package; Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z51; Ferrari F12 Berlinetta; Ford Fiesta ST; Jaguar F-Type V8 S; Jaguar XFR-S; Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S-Model Wagon; Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series; Mini John Cooper Works GP; Nissan GT-R Track Edition; and Porsche Cayman S.
To find out the results of the comparison, head over to Road & Track's website or check the press release below, where you'll also find the magazine's top-rated vehicles in eight categories. Want more? Head over to the 2013 PCotY hub. But before you do that, take a stab at guessing the winner of PCotY (we'll give you one hint: it isn't a Porsche).

Time to catch up with Jay Leno's Garage, including his Lamborghini Espada restoration

If you're already jealous of the time, effort and money that Jay Leno can devote to his massive car collection, prepare to get a little greener with envy with this latest video from Jay Leno's Garage. Instead of the usual format of discussing a model for about ten minutes and then taking it out for a test drive, this week Leno gives viewers on a tour of over a dozen projects concurrently happening in his stable. The breadth of the vehicles shown and the things being done to them run the entire span of the automotive hobby. At the same time, Jay's shop is working on just a simple restoration of his 1969 Lamborghini Espada (pictured), and at the other side of the building, the team is rebuilding a wood-bodied 1914 Detroit Electric from scratch. He eventually plans to slot a more modern electric drivetrain into it. If bikes are more your interest, there's a freshly completed Brough Superior just waiting for a ride, and if American models are your thing, a Ford Bronco is getting a Coyote V8 installed into it. You have some very specific tastes if you can't watch this clip and start wishing at least one of these vehicles could be in your own garage. Other than the personal projects his mechanics are working on in the shop, Jay gets to have them all, plus plenty more.

180,000 new vehicles are sitting, derailed by lack of transport trains

If you're planning on buying a new car in the next month or so, you might want to pick from what's on the lot, because there could be a long wait for new vehicles from the factory. Locomotives continue to be in short supply in North America, and that's causing major delays for automakers trying to move assembled cars.
According to The Detroit News, there are about 180,000 new vehicles waiting to be transported by rail in North America at the moment. In a normal year, it would be about 69,000. The complications have been industry-wide. Toyota, General Motors, Honda and Ford all reported experiencing some delays, and Chrysler recently had hundreds of minivans sitting on the Detroit waterfront waiting to be shipped out.
The problem is twofold for automakers. First, the fracking boom in the Bakken oil field in the Plains and Canada is monopolizing many locomotives. Second, the long, harsh winter is still causing major delays in freight train travel. The bad weather forced trains to slow down and carry less weight, which caused a backup of goods to transport. The auto companies resorted to moving some vehicles by truck, which was a less efficient but necessary option.