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The worst rally driver you've ever seen

Fast cars and excellent driving skills might be the easy answers when asking how to succeed in rally racing, but after watching this video, a good teammate is obviously an important aspect of this sport, too. During the 2013 Rally of Coimbatore in India, driver Samir Thapar and his co-driver, Vivek Ponnusamy, didn't seem to be on the same page as the two attempted to navigate the course in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
We'd probably hear drastically different stories if we talked to Thapar and Ponnusamy about this particular event, but you know things are bad when "stay on road" and "turn the wheel" are commands given by the co-driver (and yes, that's a man running for his life in the screen shot shown above). As it turned out, though, it seems like the Ponnusamy was justified in his concerns to take care of the racecar. Race results show that despite winning three of the seven stages, this team ultimately ended the race with a DNF.
Scroll down to watch the video, and even though it's been edited down from almost 40 minutes to less than four, we get the idea that it wasn't a pleasant experience for driver or co-driver.

Junkyard Gem: 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart

I do manage to find the occasional discarded Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution during my Denver-area junkyard explorations, but such cars— like their Subaru WRX rivals— are always far too crashed and/or stripped to be worth documenting for this series. When it comes to the Mitsubishi Lancer O-Z Rally Edition, though, I get the impression that just about every Lancer sold here during the first part of the 2000s had that all-show-and-no-go package; after shooting several examples, I no longer pay attention to the O-Z Rally. The Ralliart Lancer, on the other hand, was a genuine factory hot-rod, with much more power and a stiffer suspension than the ordinary Lancer. We saw a used-up bright yellow '05 Ralliart last year, and now here's a black '04 in a different Denver yard. The Lancer Ralliart wasn't anywhere near as fast and crazy as its Evolution sibling, but (compared to the base Lancer) it came with more power, bigger brakes, stiffer suspension, better steering, and bucket seats sourced from the JDM Evolution GTA. List price was $18,572 (about $26,110 today), far cheaper than the $29,999 ($42,175 today) Evo VIII. The regular Lancer sedan had an unimpressive 120 horses from its 2.0-liter engine in 2004, while the Lancer Ralliart got this 162-horse MIVEC 2.4. Just in case you were wondering, MIVEC stands for Mitsubishi Innovative Valve-Timing-and-Lift Electronic Control, which doesn't sound as cool as VTEC, but at least seems more convincing than Daewoo's D-TEC. Nearly every O-Z Rally Lancer I see has an automatic transmission, but this Ralliart rolled out of the showroom with a genuine 5-speed manual and Evo shifter. The Japan-market front seats are a bit racier than the ordinary Lancer's, too. Though it is a Colorado car and drivers here think they need AWD to navigate a quarter-inch of snow in the supermarket parking lot, it lacks the all-wheel-drive system that went on the Evo. What more do you want for $18,572? I'm a bit surprised that some local Lancer owner didn't snag the factory strut-tower brace immediately, but I'll bet someone buys this part before the car gets crushed. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. So fast. So furious. 

Nissan, Renault in talks to merge as one company

Nissan and Renault have been tied together as an alliance for nearly 20 years, but now the Japanese and French automakers are discussing whether to merge. Bloomberg, citing unidentified sources familiar with the confidential talks, reports that the idea is to form a larger, single publicly traded company to better compete against giants like Toyota and Volkswagen. It would also mark the end of the alliance that first began in 1999 and also includes Mitsubishi, in which Nissan acquired a controlling interest in 2016. A full merger would help the companies pool resources to develop electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles and car-sharing services. It would involve Nissan giving Renault shareholders stock in the new company, with Nissan shareholders also gaining shares in the new company, Bloomberg reports. The new company would be run by Carlos Ghosn, the current chairman of both companies. But any such merger, as you might expect, would be complicated, in part by geopolitics. The French government owns a 15-percent stake in Renault, and both the French and Japanese governments might be reluctant to let go of their respective home-grown brands. Currently, Renault owns a 43-percent stake in Nissan, while Nissan owns 15 percent of its French partner. Reuters reported recently that Ghosn proposed buying most of the French government's stake in Renault as part of plans for a closer tie-up. The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance already has been working to establish a $200 million mobility tech fund to invest in startups, a reflection of how seismic changes in the auto industry have left many legacy companies scrambling to stay current. Nissan in 2016 paid a reported $2.3 billion to acquire 34 percent of Mitsubishi in order to share platforms, technology, manufacturing and other resources. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Image Credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg Earnings/Financials Government/Legal Green Mitsubishi Nissan Renault car sharing merger