The first downloadable pack for Codemasters' Race Driver: GRID (Xbox 360, PS3) was dated and detailed today in a press wire sent out by the company. The pack, dubbed 8 Ball, will feature eight new cars, two new online events, and an additional four achievements for the Xbox 360 version. Hit the jump for details.

Car crashes. Every year, there are 1.2 million deaths and 50 million injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes. By 2020, the Volvo Group hopes that car injuries will be a thing of the past. By that time, they hope to release an "injury-proof" car that has everything from sonars and radars, to AI that allows the car to steer and brake on its own in the event of a crash situation. Find out more about their plans for this injury-proof car by going to the full article.

 

Microsoft Game Studios just came out with an announcement regarding certain developments of Forza Motorsport 2 for the XBox 360. We are all stoked to see the full version to be released this May. For one, the car list has been expanded, revealing cars from European manufacturers such as Aston Martin, Jaguar, Bentley, Lotus, TVR, Saab, Volvo, McLaren, and more.

The developers at Turn 10 have also created a feature that they're calling the "Xbox Live Auction House." This is basically a mini marketplace where one can show off his creations or even sell them off to a global audience for in-game currency. This wouldn't be such a big thing until you consider that Forza Motorsport 2 has more than 300 cars, multiple after-market modifications and customizable paint jobs. This innovative feature is something that will have players going crazy over this game when it's released.

As a final note: those of you who have been checking the Forza website may have noticed that it looks different from before. They redesigned it to be easier to navigate around the site. Its new look is also in keeping with the site's eventual goal of providing a destination for fans to socialize and talk about racing, tuning, design, and games and car culture in general.

4 million kilometers is like the distance you'd travel if you ran around the world almost a hundred times (on the equator!), 5 round trips to the moon, 1,111 completions of Tour de France, and 114 Great Races from New York to Paris. That's also the distance Irv Gordon and his 1966 Volvo P1800 have travelled for the last 40 years. He began driving his Volvo in 1966 and haven't stopped to retire yet.

He broke the barrier this September as he was cruising his way down Lake Placid. Although he wished that it happened while he was in Italy or Australia, he still described his moment as a "metric milestone." He's also drove over different countries like the British Isles, Sweden, Canada, Denmark, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Germany.

His next trip will take him to Las Vegas, where he just might break the 2.5 million mile barrier. He's also planning to go farther by planning a trip to Italy, Greece, France, Belgium, and Hawaii. So will 5 million kilometers be far behind? We'll see in a few months if he does break it.

Since we began this article with some shocking statistics,we'll end it with another one. The numbers below will show how well he's taken care of his car despite the massive kms it's done so far. He's had: 710 oil changes, 100,000 plus miles per year since 1996, 0 false starts, 0 replaced engines, 1 new starter, $4,150. What the Volvo cost him then in 1966; 99 tune ups, 8,285 tanks of gas...and he's still running folks.

Car manufacturer Volvo has been developing a new generation Collision Warning system over the years that it hopes to at least reduce the chances of a car accident taking place. They have made a development with the incorporation of fully automatic brakes to their system.

The Collision Warning system helps in predicting threatening collisions so that the driver will have enough time to avoid them. But since this relatively old system doesn't really stop the car from getting into an accident as the system is still dependent on the driver, Volvo Car Corporation has finally launched its Collision Warning System with Brake Support with the Volvo S80.

A radar sensor has been designed to monitor the front car area, and a red light on the windscreen and buzzer sounds will be activated if the driver does not respond quickly as the car approaches another vehicle from behind. The system will also be monitoring the pressure placed on the brake pedals. When it assesses that the pressure is too light on the brake pedal, the braking power is amplified by the system.

The new generation Collision Warning System will have full automatic brake power and a wider field of view. The system is designed to automatically stop the car if the driver does not hit the brakes right away.

Volvo plans on having the system incorporated in all of their cars soon. Check out the Collision Warning System with brake support from Volvo.