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Race Recap: 2013 Indianapolis 500 better than Bollywood; all the emotion, none of the music [spoilers]

If the 2013 Indy 500 were a movie it would be the one expected to win all the little statues come awards season, and if it were an athlete it would have made spectators watch in awe as it broke record after record. And this kind of talk comes after last year's race was considered one of the best ever - the last lap hijinks in 2012 and Takuma Sato's crash leading to a podium ceremony straight out of a Golden Globes tearjerker.
But this year's race delivered more than anyone expected, from the 250,000 fans to the commentators to the IndyCar series itself and, finally, to the guy who hopped through a two-mile window on Lap 197 to take the lead and keep it until the end.

Is the Acura Legend coming back?

Great news for fans of the Acura Legend: Honda has applied for a trademark in Europe for the word "Legend," pertaining to "Vehicles; Apparatus for locomotion by land; Apparatus for locomotion by air; Apparatus for locomotion by water; Parts and fittings for land vehicles; Parts and fittings for air and space vehicles; Parts and fittings for water vehicles." This trademark was first spotted by AutoGuide.com, and gives more credence to our speculation from a couple months ago about the possibility of the Legend nameplate returning to the Acura lineup in the States. If you were reading closely before, you'll notice that it was actually Honda that applied for the trademark, not Acura. The Legend was sold with a Honda badge on it in Europe back in the day, so this trademark filing in Europe makes perfect sense. In our previous report, we put forth the idea that Acura could bring the Legend name back with a successor to the RLX flagship sedan. Specifically, we were thinking that Acura would use the four-door coupe form previewed by the Acura Precision concept. That story also suggested a new Legend flagship could debut during Monterey Car Week. The 1986 Legend sedan was one of Acura's first two vehicles when the brand launched (the other being the Integra). It had a smooth 2.5-liter V6 that made all of 151 horsepower at the time. A sweet-looking coupe soon followed the sedan. The name Legend would be applied to a second-generation, which is arguably the one best-remembered. The coupe in particular has lived up to its name. Much of that legendary status, though, is the result of what followed: the Legend name and coupe body style dying for 1996 in favor of the RL, a four-door sedan as bland as its name. Acura's flagship has never recovered. We'll be quite pleased if Acura ultimately decides to reveal a totally new Legend to blow us away in Monterey. The return to actual names for the lineup would also be lovely. It's certainly working for Lincoln. Now if they'd only trademark "Integra" ...

SAE World Congress: Testing out the Honda UNI-CUB, Walking Assist Device

Based on the downstairs display at the 2015 SAE World Congress in Detroit this week, you would think that Honda is barely an automaker. Instead, it was a company that focuses on robots, bizarre unicycles, motorcycles, and jets. We were not adverse to the car-related tech on display upstairs, but we wanted a closer look at the UNI-CUB and the Walking Assist Device. The UNI-CUB is one of the strangest vehicles we've ever experienced. It feels telepathic, because when you're sitting on it and think you want to go forward, your body naturally leans and then the UNI-CUB starts to move. The UNI part of the name stands for unicycle, but that's kind of a misnomer, since this thing has more than one wheel. First off, there's a tiny wheel for balance at the rear, but the main wheel itself is made up of multiple smaller wheels, which Honda calls the Omni Traction Drive System. This is what lets the UNI-CUB move side to side instead of just frontwards and backwards. The Walking Assist Device is a small setup with motors, leg straps, and a battery pack. The idea is to have the machine help lift up your legs as you walk, with the target audience being people who have had an injury, like a stroke. The WAD sits outside your clothes and can help someone walk for about an hour from a 22.2V-1Ah lithium-ion battery. You can see more in the video above.