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Modified Trabant takes on Nissan GT-R in 1/4-mile battle

The little yellow guy in the right lane above with the "Flitzer" license plate looks like a Trabant 601 wagon and it's called a Trabant, but it's got little to do with the impoverished East German runabout that did its part to drive Communist ideals further into the ground. You'd almost be forgiven for not knowing there's a turbocharged 3.0-liter engine up front, until you have look at that rear track... and the wheelie bars in back.
So with a power-to-weight ratio akin to an LS9-powered scooter, it's no surprise that the Trabbi puts a pasting on a slightly tuned, 580-horsepower Nissan GT-R - we don't know what happened with Godzilla's shifting, but it was all over from the hole shot. It's still fun to watch, though, and you can do that in the video below.

Here's how to follow this weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans

In the pantheon of motorsports, the 24 Hours of Le Mans stands as one of the great endurance challenges to man and machine. This year's event in France already looks to be one for the ages with Porsche setting record-breaking times in practice and the competition debut of Nissan's front-engine, hybrid racer. Thankfully, there's a massive list of ways to follow this automotive attraction. Reilly Brennan, the Executive Director of the Revs Automotive Research Program at Stanford University, and a friend of Autoblog, has once again assembled a helpful couch-kit to organize many of the options. Unfortunately, the old-school way of just turning on the television might be the most frustrating way to watch Le Mans this year. Fox Sports 1 and 2 are carrying about half the race, but the coverage bounces between them seemingly at random. The broadcast begins on Fox Sports 2 at 8:30 AM Eastern ahead of the 9:00 AM start and lasts there until 12:00 PM. Things don't pick up again until 7:00 PM Eastern on Fox Sports 1 for an hour, and the channels swap back and forth more from there. The Fox Sports Go streaming app offers more, but even it stops showing the race a few times. Thankfully, streaming Le Mans is easy. If you can't dedicate 24-hours on the couch, Radio Le Mans lets you listen to audio commentary anywhere with some of the best announcers in the biz. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest, the governing body for the race, also offers an official video stream in an app for $9.99. For a really low-tech solution, the official Twitter is another choice. Brennan is keeping his list updated with coverage changes. You can also check out and download the spotter's guide (from Nissan) in the gallery above. Enjoy this year's race. If you miss anything, don't worry; expect a full report from Autoblog. In fact, editor-in-chief Mike Austin is attending Le Mans this year, so follow him on Twitter for on-the-fly impressions. Featured Gallery 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans Spotter's Guide News Source: Reilly BrennanImage Credit: Nissan Motorsports Audi Nissan Porsche Toyota Hybrid Racing Vehicles

Ghosn flight prompts renewed focus on Japan's strict justice system

TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn's daring flight from Japan, where he was awaiting trial on charges of financial wrongdoing, has revived global criticism of the nation's "hostage justice," but in Japan is prompting talk of reversing more lenient curbs on defendants. The ousted boss of Japan's Nissan and France's Renault fled to Lebanon, saying on Tuesday that he had "escaped injustice" and would "no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system." Ghosn was first arrested in November 2018 when his private jet landed in Tokyo and kept in jail for more than 100 days as prosecutors added more charges, all of which he has denied. He was released on $9 million bail in March — only to be arrested and bailed again the following month. He was facing four charges, including underreporting his Nissan salary and transferring personal financial losses to his employer's books while he ran Japan's No. 2 automaker. His apparent escape from Japan's legal system — Tokyo and Lebanon don't have an extradition treaty — will likely halt or even reverse a trend of recent years toward granting bail in more cases, said Colin Jones, a law professor at Doshisha Law School in Kyoto. “I would expect it to be more difficult for foreign defendants to get bail,” Jones said. In Japan, suspects who deny the charges against them are often detained for long periods and subject to intense questioning without a lawyer present, a system critics call "hostage justice." Japanese civil rights groups and the main bar lawyers association have long criticized a system that convicts 99.9% of criminal defendants. They say it gives too much power to prosecutors, who can detain suspects for long periods before indictment, and relies too much on confessions, some later found to have been forced and false. Ghosn's escape is clearly a shock to Japan's legal establishment. "This case raises the extremely serious issue of whether it's all right to continue the trend toward bail leniency," said former prosecutor Yasuyuki Takai. "The legal profession and lawmakers need to quickly consider new legal measures or a system to prevent such escapes," Takai, who was formerly with the special investigation unit of the prosecutor's office, told public broadcaster NHK.