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Last 2014 Ford Shelby GT500 Convertible nets $500k for charity at Barrett-Jackson [w/video]

The last 2014 Ford Shelby GT500 Convertible was sold on Saturday at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Reno, Nevada, for $500,000. Ford donated the Mustang to be auctioned for charity, and all of the money is going to the Brain Injury Association of America.
Parnelli Jones, winner of the 1963 Indianapolis 500, was there on behalf of the BIAA with his son Page, who suffered a brain injury in a sprint car crash in 1994. The bidding increased quickly, reaching $500k in no time, spreading a bit more hope to people who live with brain injuries.
The winning bidder will be able to choose the GT500's exterior, interior and stripe colors, and is scheduled to receive the car, signed by Parnelli Jones in appreciation for the donation, by the end of 2013. Watch the video below to see the auction-block action.

NHTSA closes rollaway investigation into 1.56M Ford SUVs

It's taken four years of study, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has finally closed the books on its investigation into rollaway accusations surrounding 1.56-million Ford SUV models.
The probe, which centered on the 2002-2005 Ford Explorer, 2002-2005 Mercury Mountaineer and 2003-2005 Lincoln Aviator, ends without the federal agency calling for a recall. According to The Detroit News, the investigation was closed due to a "low number of complaints" - NHTSA documented 180 such complaints that resulted in 14 crashes and six minor injuries, but the number of incidents have been slowing. The suspected defect rate for the trucks' automatic transmissions was found to be 4.4 per 100,000 units, and the brake-shift interlock mechanism failure rate was judged to be even lower at 3.4 per 100k.

Shelby GT350R offers first mass-produced carbon fiber wheels

In the world of race engineering, reducing total weight is good, but reducing unsprung weight is flippin' fantastic. That's the reason Ford is pushing the envelope in terms of technology for the Shelby GT350R's wheels. Joining the likes of Koenigsegg in the offering, Ford has teamed with Australian outfit Carbon Revolution to produce the CF rollers en masse for the first time. Destined for the hubs of the new Shelby GT350R, the new hoops weigh just 18 pounds each, versus the 33-lbs weight of a similar aluminum wheel. On top of slashing up to 60 pounds in unsprung weight, there's such a reduction in rotational inertia – 40 percent, versus aluminum wheels – that Ford actually has to recalibrate the magnetic ride control system and springs. Thanks to, we're guessing, scenes of crashed Formula One cars disintegrating and spewing shards of carbon fiber all over the track, Ford seems quite keen to do away with the idea that CF is strong, but brittle. The company conducted extensive shock testing, ramming a wheel into a curb at speed. According to the Blue Oval, the lightweight wheel allowed the suspension to respond so quickly that the impact was "greatly diminished," causing the tester to run the experiment again, thinking there'd been a mistake. After recording brake rotor temperatures of 900 degrees Celsius (over 1,650 degrees Fahrenheit, or well past the point that aluminum or magnesium would melt) during testing, Ford and Carbon Revolution actually redesigned the wheels to "a thermal standard more suitable for motorsports," by adding an "incredibly thin, nearly diamond-hard coating that reliably shields the resin from heat." The same process was used to protect engine turbine blades on the Space Shuttle. While the work by Ford and Carbon Revolution should make GT350R customers excited, the work being done here could have serious implications for performance cars in the future. That's the real takeaway here, and is something that should leave fans of all performance vehicles excited.