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Rowan Atkinson crashes at Goodwood Revival

To quote Harry Hogge (played by Robert Duvall) in Days of Thunder, "rubbin, son, is racin'." That can mean some unfortunate damage to high-end racing machinery, which may be repaired easily enough in stock car racing, but when it comes to vintage racing, the stakes can be that much higher. And yet incidents do occur, like at this weekend's Goodwood Revival.
Among the many competitors taking part in the retro racing event in England was none other than Rowan Atkinson, the actor perhaps best known for playing Mr. Bean. Driving a classic Ford Falcon Sprint in the Shelby Cup event, Atkinson (pictured above at the 2012 revival) reportedly crashed head-on into another car on track.
According to reports, the two cars up spun out. The driver in between managed to avoid a pile-up, but Atkinson couldn't steer clear and hit the obstructing vehicle. Fortunately Rowan walked away unscathed (and, we imagine, in a humorous manner), but while we don't know how extensive the damage was to the Falcon, it was enough to take it out of the race.

The next-generation wearable will be your car

This year's CES has had a heavy emphasis on the class of device known as the "wearable" – think about the Apple Watch, or Fitbit, if that's helpful. These devices usually piggyback off of a smartphone's hardware or some other data connection and utilize various onboard sensors and feedback devices to interact with the wearer. In the case of the Fitbit, it's health tracking through sensors that monitor your pulse and movement; for the Apple Watch and similar devices, it's all that and some more. Manufacturers seem to be developing a consensus that vehicles should be taking on some of a wearable's functionality. As evidenced by Volvo's newly announced tie-up with the Microsoft Band 2 fitness tracking wearable, car manufacturers are starting to explore how wearable devices will help drivers. The On Call app brings voice commands, spoken into the Band 2, into the mix. It'll allow you to pass an address from your smartphone's agenda right to your Volvo's nav system, or to preheat your car. Eventually, Volvo would like your car to learn things about your routines, and communicate back to you – or even, improvise to help you wake up earlier to avoid that traffic that might make you late. Do you need to buy a device, like the $249 Band 2, and always wear it to have these sorts of interactions with your car? Despite the emphasis on wearables, CES 2016 has also given us a glimmer of a vehicle future that cuts out the wearable middleman entirely. Take Audi's new Fit Driver project. The goal is to reduce driver stress levels, prevent driver fatigue, and provide a relaxing interior environment by adjusting cabin elements like seat massage, climate control, and even the interior lighting. While it focuses on a wearable device to monitor heart rate and skin temperature, the Audi itself will use on-board sensors to examine driving style and breathing rate as well as external conditions – the weather, traffic, that sort of thing. Could the seats measure skin temperature? Could the seatbelt measure heart rate? Seems like Audi might not need the wearable at all – the car's already doing most of the work. Whether there's a device on a driver's wrist or not, manufacturers seem to be developing a consensus that vehicles should be taking on some of a wearable's functionality.

Will the Ford GT make 630 hp?

Ford intends to build just 250 examples of the next-generation GT annually when production begins next year. That's low even by supercar standards, but anyone with an Xbox One can drive the highly anticipated model right now in the demo for Forza Motorsport 6. The car is even on the cover of the retail version, but the game might be giving a glimpse at one of the upcoming vehicle's biggest secrets. According to the specs page, the GT makes 630 horsepower and 539 pound-feet of torque, according to Motor Authority. Weight is shown at 2,890 pounds with a front/rear distribution of 43/57. Until now, Ford's only comment on the GT's output from its 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 is "more than 600 horsepower," and that's certainly the case here. If accurate, the figures make the new model 130-hp more powerful than than the last GT, while also being hundreds of pounds lighter. Compared to modern competitors, the GT would be less powerful than a Ferrari 488 GTB and heavier than a McLaren 675LT. Unfortunately, Ford isn't commenting on the numbers in the game. "As we stated back at NAIAS, the Ford GT will produce more than 600 horsepower, and we can't speak to what Forza includes as specifications in their video game," company spokesperson Matt Leaver said to Autoblog via email. Don't think this is all doom and gloom, just yet. For one thing, more than numbers make a great car. Plus, the GT is still quite some way out from production, and spy shots still show it under development. Even if these figures are accurate at the time of Forza's development, that doesn't mean that they can't change in the meantime. Related Video: