One Lap of the Web: Rubbin' and racin'

Car news and videos from all corners of the Internet

Potential trouble for the kei car, Japan's famous 660cc tiny-wheeled wonders of mirth and merriment. It's hard building for just one market, and kei cars are limited to the Japanese market and the occasional campus of a state university. The government is getting tired of the generous kei tax break. And carmaking nations say the kei car is restricting foreign competition -- 90 percent of cars sold in Japan are Japanese. But, says the New York Times, the kei isn't yet banished to the land of wind and ghosts -- last year, 40 percent of new cars were kei cars. And with awesome stuff like the Honda N-One and Suzuki Hustler X Turbo, is it any surprise? We here at Autoweek will gladly deplete your fair island nation of its Autozam AZ-1s.

-- Mayhem ensues amongst a bunch of hot hatches at the Snetterton 200 as these guys two-wheel around corners, nearly roll their race cars, rip each other's bumpers off, and general smash and crash their way to success -- all on the first lap. To the untrained eye these guys are either morons (pillocks, in the Brit vernacular) or the last breed of manly men unencumbered by wussy thoughts of self-preservation ('ard-asses, in Britspeak, again). Rubbin's racing, right? Dale Sr. would be proud.

-- As we speak, hundreds of street rods, Pro Stocks, jalopies, hoopties, and general-ne'er do-wells are embarking on Hot Rod Magazine's annual Power Tour: one week, 1,600 miles, and split eardrums and nitromethane fumes from Charlotte to Wisconsin Dells. We're partial to the LS-swapped Rambler and the Darrell Waltrip Regal, which we assume -- like his Monte Carlo -- is all ate up with motor.