Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we've got reports from Scientific American, Green Car Reports, The New York Times, and Hemmings.
The Physics of Fred Flintstone's Flaming Feet – Scientific American
If you've never wondered how it's possible that Fred Flintstone could power a car solely with his feet you've never dropped acid and watched The Flintstones. The physics show poor Fred would probably lose his legs if tried it in the real world.
The worst-case is much more likely. If Fred pressed and held his feet to the ground, he would most likely lose them. Sadly, we know this would happen because of the unfortunate cases where people’s feet are run over by cars (study link includes some graphic images).
Will Future Tesla Electric Cars Use Metal-Air Batteries? – Green Car Reports
John Voelkcer does the deep digging and finds a number of patents that show Tesla is interested in the range offered by the metal-air battery.
Most advocates and industry analysts expect lithium-ion batteries to dominate electric-car energy storage for the rest of this decade.
But is Silicon Valley startup carmaker Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] planning to add a new type of battery to increase the range of its electric cars?
Breaking Laws and Fighting Fire Ants in a Rush to the Texas Bluebonnet Fields – The New York Times
Spend enough time in Texas and you'll find yourself dodging rows of cars lined up on the side of the highway, their inhabitants filling the medians to get photos of their kids (and pets) in the glorious Bluebonnet.
“It’s like a feeding frenzy every spring,” said Damon Waitt, a botanist and senior director at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. “Every parent in Texas must have at least one picture of their kids in the bluebonnets, so you’ll see dotting the hillsides little baby butt prints where the flowers have been smooshed down.”
Racing Heroes – Dan Gurney – <Hemmings
Is Dan Gurney the greatest American race car driver of all time? Hemmings makes a good case.
When it comes to American racing drivers, perhaps none has accomplished more in the span of his career than Dan Gurney. His racing resume includes stints in Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR and Sports Car racing, with 312 races, 51 wins and 47 podium finishes to his credit. Gurney drove an astonishing 51 makes and more than 100 different models over his professional driving career, and has the distinction of being the first driver to post wins in Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR and Sports Car racing (a feat since duplicated by Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya).
Photo Credit: AP/Getty Images