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James May picks 13 most significant cars ever for London Classic Car Show

James May tends to be the most pragmatic of the Top Gear UK hosting crew. Jeremy Clarkson obviously likes his vehicles loud, brash and preferably British, and Richard Hammond seems to have a thing for American muscle. May appears to find joy just in the mechanical nature of things, whether high performance or simply made for getting around. He's getting a chance to put that appreciation on display by curating a 13-car collection at the London Classic Car Show called The Cars That Changed The World. May actually wants to provoke debate from visitors about the exhibit and is separating his choices into two categories: The Halls of Obviousness and The Chambers of Bloody-mindedness. The first bunch includes the usual important vehicles you expect to see, but the other group has the really interesting picks. As May explains these selections in the event announcement, "I believe they are just as significant historically but they've simply been forgotten or misunderstood." The obvious choices are: 1886 Benz Motorwagen 1908 Ford Model T 1938 Volkswagen Beetle 1959 Austin Mini 1964 Ford Mustang 1997 Toyota Prius And the more eccentric ones are: 1901 Waverley Electric 1906 Cadillac Model K 1933 Standard Superior 1972 Honda Civic 1980 Lada Riva 2009 Bruno ExoMars Rover If you notice, there are only 12 vehicles listed above. That's because the final one is being kept secret for show attendees, but May considers it the most significant car ever made. The London Classic Car Show runs at the ExCeL in London's Docklands from January 8-11, 2015. In addition to May's exhibit and the other vehicles there, Formula 1 designer Adrian Newey is also curating a display from his own collection. May is hoping to spur conversations with his choices. Let us know in Comments if you notice any glaring omissions that should be among the 13. Read the full announcement below, along with a brief explanation for each choice from May. GET READY FOR A CLASSIC ARGUMENT 30/12/14 James May has chosen the 13 most significant cars of all time for The London Classic Car Show... but is he right? It's bold, controversial and bound to cause arguments... and that's just the way BBC Top Gear's James May wants it. May has stuck his neck on the line and has chosen what he regards are the 13 most influential cars of all time. The result is The Cars That Changed The World and it's one of the star exhibits at the London Classic Car Show taking place at ExCeL in London's Docklands from 8-11 January 2015.

Ford reveals EcoBoost-powered Riley prototype for Daytona 24

It's not the first time Ford has participated in the Daytona Prototype class as an engine supplier, but in revealing this new EcoBoost V6-powered Riley Technologies prototype for the new United SportsCar Championship, Ford is making a statement: "We want to show Ford EcoBoost's capabilities as an engine that provides both performance and fuel economy, on and off the track," says Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing.
In addition to supplying the 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6, Ford had its production designer Garen Nicoghosian give the racecar brand-inspired design cues with support from Ford Racing chief aerodynamicist Bernie Marcus.
The car is scheduled to compete at next year's Rolex 24 at Daytona on January 25-26, but before that, Michael Shank Racing is working with Ford at another goal. Driving his Ford Thunderbird, NASCAR champion Bill Elliott set the track's top speed record at 210.364 miles per hour during a qualifying run for the Daytona 500 - way back in 1987 -- and Ford thinks it's about time for that record to fall. What better time the introduction of this new Ford-powered Daytona Prototype? Michael Shank Racing plans to use the twin-turbo V6-powered racer to beat Elliott's record, and it expects to begin prepping for the top-speed run on October 9. Scroll down for the full press release below on Ford's latest race effort.

Obama Administration wants 200-mile EV that charges in under 10 minutes

When it comes to electric vehicles, you can find issues preventing mass adoption pretty much anywhere. Which is why you can then also look for solutions pretty much anywhere. That's the method the Obama Administration announced yesterday and it involves everything from shorter charging times to more public chargers, from bigger government fleets of electrified vehicles to an "Electric Vehicle Hackathon." The new plan is looking into blistering charging speeds of up to 350 kW. Perhaps most exciting, there was a commitment made to try and increase the speed of fast charging. Today, Tesla's Supercharger network has the fastest public charging available ( up to 145 kW), but the new plan is looking into blistering speeds of up to 350 kW. That's fast enough to recharge a 200-mile EV in under 10 minutes. Another cool future was promised by the Battery500 Consortium goal, which wants to create better batteries that cost under $100 per kWh. There was no actual technology revealed at this time, but announcements like this are about new ways to approach the future, not the nitty-gritty technical details. That's why the new announcement touts the fact that 12 utilities and charging companies have committed to increase their deployment of EVs and charging infrastructure, that there are 35 new partners (businesses, non-profits, universities, and utilities) for the DOE's Workplace Charging Challenge, and that there will be an EV "Hackathon" this fall to, "discover insights and develop new solutions for electric vehicle charging." The White House's announcement comes on the heels of the first-ever Sustainable Transportation Summit (STS). The STS was sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) and was held earlier this month in Washington, DC. After all this activity, almost 50 companies and organizations have signed on to the new "Guiding Principles to Promote Electric Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure" document, including the usual suspects: Tesla, BMW, Nissan, Ford, General Motors, Chargepoint, the California Air Resources Board, and the State of California (notably, the usual suspects are also missing). You can read the entire announcement from the White House here, but we've put the Guiding Principles below. The Obama Administration has made strong pushes for electric vehicles before, including proposals to increase the tax credit for EV buyers to $10,000, among other things.