The 2013 running of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb will have an unexpected addition: Peugeot. Peugeot Sport is bringing a specially designed 208 T16 to Colorado this summer; a car that has more in common with the company’s 908 Le Mans racer than it does the production 208 road car.

Note the Sumo sculpture in the forground made of modeling clay.This is the first of a couple of Nissan videos I stumbled across, and know you’ll enjoy. It shows Hiroshi Kato and Naoki Maekawa sculpting the new Nissan Note clay model. Despite a massive increase in the use of digital modeling, it’s still necessary to do a full-size clay model to make sure that the design translates into the real world correctly. It’s only when you have the property sitting before you, and can view it under different lighting conditions and with other vehicles around it, that you can accurately judge whether the design is correct.

Fuel was scare in Japan, but excess electric capacity was not, and the engineers got together to harness that energy to power this vehicle. It uses a series-wound 3.3 kW (4.5 hp) DC motor, and speed is controlled by sending the electric current through a resistor. There’s no regenerative braking. This is a total-loss system where any electricity that’s not used radiates out as heat, which explains the need for a cooling system.

The frame was made out of wood wrapped in steel, and the body are panels hand-formed. This makes it a something of a Japanese Morgan, but far less sporty. Hand labor was all that was available in post-war Japan. People needed work, and the industrial capacity of the country lay in ruins. This was the only option.

Overall length/width/height: 119.5/48.4/64.2 inches

Wheelbase: 78.7 inches

Curb weight: 2,425 lb

Seating capacity: 4

Cruising range per charge: 40 miles

Motor (36V): DC series-wound, rated at 3.3kW (4.5hp)

Batteries (capacity): Lead-acid battery (40V/162Ah)

Top speed (economical speed): 22 (17) mph

Xtrac’s latest gearbox is aimed at makers of premium luxury road cars; limousines as well as supercars. The 1010 H-AMT has the same transverse gear cluster orientation as used in the Pagani Huayra supercar, and Xtrac claims it offers a compelling solution to the supercar sector’s preference for high power, multi-cylinder engines while still meeting 2020 emission targets. Torque capacities ranging from 800 to 1,000 Nm (590 – 738 lb-ft) are possible with this automated manual, hybridized transmission.

Brimley is a small town about half an hour outside of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on the upper edge of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Soo, the phonetic spelling of Sault, is home to shipping, fishing, and is a small town with a few tourist trap overtones. Busiest in the spring, summer and fall when the Soo Locks between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes are operating, it’s a cold and desolate place in the dead of winter; the combination of flat land, deep snow and plentiful pine trees making it an interesting cross between Bavaria and… Kansas.

The cold, snow and remoteness also make it an ideal place to do winter testing. Many automaker, both foreign and domestic, have test centers in this area, as do many automotive suppliers. Continental Automotive has a 540-acre test facility in Brimley that it uses for the development and testing of brake and chassis systems. Soon after our arrival, eight vehicles were arrayed before us, some with current technologies, and others with new ideas. It’s the latter that is of the most interest.

Jon Bereisa is a GM retiree, but not just any GM retiree. He was the Systems Architect responsible for the extended range electric vehicle we now call the Chevy Volt. Before that, he was the Chief Engineer, Propulsion Systems on the EV1 electric vehicle and S10 electric pickup. He also spent time as Director Advanced Engineering and Technology Strategy Powertrain for the development of GM’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technology, helped develop inverter power switch technology and the GM EV1’s inductive charging system, and a whole lot more. To say that he knows a bit about hybrids, EVs and vehicle electrification is, at the very least, a massive understatement.

A survey conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety shows that motorists who use cell phones while driving are more likely to engage in additional dangerous behaviors such as speeding, driving drowsy, driving without a seatbelt and sending texts or emails. As if that wasn’t enough, the study also showed that 69% of licensed drivers reported talking on a cell phone while driving within the last month despite the fact that 89% of survey participants believe other drivers using cell phones are a threat to their personal safety.

The survey also showed the following behaviors:

Obviously, the problem is going to get worse before it gets better as drivers, especially the youngest, believe they are capable of multitasking, even when data suggests they are not. This is where in-car technology may help mitigate the problems that arise from driver distraction.