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Land-speed racer Bill Warner dies from motorcycle crash at 285 MPH

Motorcycle land-speed record holder Bill Warner died yesterday after crashing during an attempt at setting another record. The 44-year-old was clocked at 285 miles per hour on the runway of a former air base in northern Maine, before he lost control of his modified Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle and veered off the runway.
It is not known what speed he was traveling when things started to go wrong and unclear what caused the crash, which happened shortly before 10:00 AM. Warner's crew suspect there were mechanical difficulties on his last run, in addition to a slight breeze, according to the video news report. Warner was conscious and able to speak after the crash but died an hour and 15 minutes later at a hospital in Caribou. The event and runway were closed for the rest of the day as police investigated the incident.
Warner was participating in "The Maine Event" at Loring Air Force Base in an attempt to reach 300 mph in one mile. Warner's best land-speed record, set in 2011, was 311.945 mph in 1.5 miles on the same runway, according to the Loring Timing Association, a record that still stands today for open-cockpit motorcycles. After that run, Warner said the scariest part was stopping the bike before the end of the runway. Be sure to check out the video news report after the jump.

Junkyard Gem: 1991 Geo Metro LSi Convertible

Beginning in 1985, General Motors brought over Suzuki Cultuses and sold them here with Chevrolet Sprint badges, which Americans bought in surprisingly large numbers (considering the crash in fuel prices around that time). When the time came for The General to launch a separate brand selling rebadged Japanese machines— Geo— the second-generation Cultus became the Geo Metro. Sporting a fuel-sipping three-cylinder engine, the Metro mostly sold to penny-pinchers interested only in cheap commutingÂ… but GM decided to make a fun convertible version, anyway. Here's one of those cars, finally retired near Denver at age 30. The 1991 Metro hierarchy started with the El Cheapo base and XFi models, at $6,795 (about $13,810 today), then moved up to the better-equipped LSi. The LSi hatchback coupe cost $7,795 ($15,840 in 2021), while the LSi convertible stood at the top of the Metro pyramid at $9,740 ($19,795 now). Believe it or not, Ford managed to undercut the 1991 Metro with its Mazda-built Festiva, priced at $6,620 in its cheapest form. You could buy a Suzuki-badged version of this car, known as the Swift, and the Swift GT had a screaming four-cylinder engine. 1995 and later Metros also had the option of a four-banger, but a 1.0-liter three-cylinder was the only engine available in the 1991 Geo Metro. If you wanted to get close to 60 highway miles per gallon, the Metro XFi had a specially-tuned 1.0 that delivered, though it sent a mere 49 horsepower to the front wheels (the last new car available in the United States with under 50 horsepower— including highway-legal EVs— was the 1993 Metro XFi, by the way). The engine in today's Junkyard Gem was rated at 55 horses. A five-speed manual transmission was standard equipment in every 1991 Metro, though a thoroughly miserable three-speed slushbox could be had for $465 extra (about $945 today). Because most Metro buyers wanted fuel economy first and foremost, automatic Metros are rare (though I have managed to find one in a boneyard). How many total miles? The five-digit odometer means we'll never know. The 1991 Metro convertible came from Japan, but all the others sold here that year were built in Canada. Today, that plant builds the Chevy Equinox. A new convertible for less than 10 grand was a steal in 1991, when a new Mercury Capri convertible cost $12,588.

Question of the Day: Most heinous act of badge engineering?

Badge engineering, in which one company slaps its emblems on another company's product and sells it, has a long history in the automotive industry. When Sears wanted to sell cars, a deal was made with Kaiser-Frazer and the Sears Allstate was born. Iranians wanted new cars in the 1960s, and the Rootes Group was happy to offer Hillman Hunters for sale as Iran Khodro Paykans. Sometimes, though, certain badge-engineered vehicles made sense only in the 26th hour of negotiations between companies. The Suzuki Equator, say, which was a puzzling rebadge job of the Nissan Frontier. How did that happen? My personal favorite what-the-heck-were-they-thinking example of badge engineering is the 1971-1973 Plymouth Cricket. Chrysler Europe, through its ownership of the Rootes Group, was able to ship over Hillman Avanger subcompacts for sale in the US market. This would have made sense... if Chrysler hadn't already been selling rebadged Mitsubishi Colt Galants (as Dodge Colts) and Simca 1100s as (Simca 1204s) in its American showrooms. Few bought the Cricket, despite its cheery ad campaign. So, what's the badge-engineered car you find most confounding? Chrysler Dodge Automakers Mitsubishi Nissan Suzuki Automotive History question of the day badge engineering question