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24 Hours of Le Mans live update part three

We tasked surfing journalist Rory Parker to watch this year's live stream of the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. What follows is an experiment to experience the world's greatest endurance race from the perspective of a motorsports novice. Parker lives in Hawaii and has an associates degree in dropping f-bombs. For Part One, click here. Part Two is here. Really hoped I'd be able to grab an hour or two of sleep before the sun rose over Le Mans. Dark dark dark, couldn't figure out what was going on. Commentators struggled at times as well. But I couldn't do it. Endurance racing is just too exciting. Grabs my attention with both fists. Screams, "watch these men DRIVE!" A neighbor invited me over for drinks. Told him, "Can't do it, gotta watch Le Mans!" Maybe not exactly. I'll admit, at times my attention wandered. I did a load of laundry. Ate some snacks. Half listened to the commentary. Threw a hump at my wife. I learned that Patrick Long, driving #88, is big brother to Kevin "Spanky" Long. Spanky's a bit of a legend in the skate world. Always weird how top notch talent can run in families like that. Kind of surprised I've never heard that before. Worked for a skate mag for a years, met Spanky a handful of times. Someone must've told me that he has an older brother who drives race cars. Dash cams at night are scary. High powered headlights in the P1s reach almost 300 meters. Cars outrun that distance easy. Seems like they're just steering into the black and hoping for the best. But that can't be the case. People'd be dropping dead let and right. Very amused by how the guys in GT are like, "Dude, stop flashing your fucking lights before you pass." But the LMP's are all, "Suck a dick! I do what I want." Top three stayed neck and neck nearly all night long. As the sun gets ready to creep back over the horizon the top three are separated by only eleven and a half seconds. Toyota 5 and 6, Porsche 2. Audi 8 is two laps behind Porsche, beleaguered 7 is dealing with constant trouble eleven laps from the front. GTE Pro sees Ferrari 82 in first, Ford 68 and 69 right behind. To win you've gotta drive perfect, build perfect. Fours cars retired so far. I'm beginning to appreciate the endurance aspect a little more fully. Only really considered the drivers at first. The mental and physical stress driving these cars at these speeds at length would inflict. But keeping the damn things running is the real deal. To win you've gotta drive perfect, build perfect.

Ford recalls 2020-21 Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, 2021 E-Series

Ford announced safety recalls for the 2020-2021 Explorer and Lincoln Aviator along with the 2021 E-Series early Monday. The recalls address entirely different issues.  In the case of the 2020-2021 Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, that issue is motor mount hardware. Specifically, the fasteners that secure the passenger-side motor mount may back out. In Ford's words, this can result in a "loss of power," which is the entirely predictable result of an engine parting ways with the vehicle it powers.  As alarming as that may sound, owners should not have to worry about anything extreme, as the passenger side mount is only one of multiple, and Ford says it is not aware of any incidents that have occurred with vehicles in customer hands. Ford says it impacts only about 1400 examples of the Explorer and Aviator in the States (plus two in Mexico and 65 in Canada) that were built at Chicago Assembly Plant between July 28 and 30, 2020. Ford is in the process of alerting its owners to the recall, and those with affected models will have their mount hardware replaced by their local Ford dealerships free of charge.  The 2021 E-Series is being recalled for a potential heat management issue resulting from improperly aligned thermal insulation on the underside of its engine cover. In vehicles where this insulation was not properly installed so that it reaches all the way to the edges of the cover, the resulting heat bleed can cause high in-cabin surface temperatures, and direct contact them could result in burns.  This is the larger of the two recalls, as Ford says it covers nearly 33,000 examples sold in the United States and Canada. Fortunately, as with the above issue, Ford says it has not been made aware of any customer incidents. Ford says the remedy is a set of insulation patches for the exposed areas.  Related Video:

Mulally confirms he's not leaving Ford for Microsoft

In recent months, rumors had been flying about Ford CEO Alan Mulally potentially leaving the company to take a position at Microsoft. Last we heard, Mulally was planning to stick around at Ford through at least 2014, and in an interview today, that bit was confirmed by the CEO himself.
According to the Associated Press, in a report from The Detroit News, Mulally said he will not be leaving Ford for Microsoft, and reiterated that he will remain at the Blue Oval through 2014, if not longer. Mulally has "no plans other than to serve Ford," according to the report.
Mulally did not say whether or not he had been in talks with Microsoft at any point. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said he plans to leave the software company sometime this year.