The 2022 FIA World Touring Car Cup continues in Aragon for this season's Race of Spain event.
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| Screengrab from WTCR |
The first race of this event saw a win for Gilles Magnus while the final race of this event saw another win for Mikel Azcona.
After Aragon, Azcona remains in the lead with 129 points while Gilles Magnus advanced to 2nd with 85 points and Santiago Urrutia remains third with 93 points.
The next event is at Vila Real for the Race of Portugal this July 2-3.
In the fourth episode of Top Gear Season 32...
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| Top Gear S32E04 |
Two awesome new cars made their Top Gear debut in this season's penultimate episode; the Maserati MC20 and the Rivian R1T. Chris Harries tries out the newest Maserati around the Top Gear Track while Freddie Flintoff flies to America to sample the newest electric truck that came from a new American carmaker.
Of course, this episode hadn't forgotten about old cars as the trio is searching for old cars with 500 pounds on their budget.
Next week is the Top Gear S32 finale! Don't miss it!
The 2022 season of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship continues in New York's Watkins Glen for the Sahlen's Siz Hours of the Glen endurance race.
Despite being interrupted by a yellow flag due to a certain incident and a red flag following a severe weather warning, this six-hour endurance race rattled the entire New York in various ways never seen before.
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| Screengrab from IMSA |
After six hours of intense action in the Glen, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing emerged as the winner while the #27 and #23 Heart of Racing racing machines win the GTD and GTD Pro Class, the #52 PR1 Motorsports for the LMP2 class, and the #74 Riley Motorsports for the LMP3 class.
The next event is the Chevrolet Grand Prix at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this July 1st to 3rd.
The Safari Rally Kenya is the next event for the 2022 WRC season and this is the true test for the hybrid-powered Rally1 cars as they're tackling through the African wilderness by all means necessary.
The shakedown saw Kalle Rovanpera showcasing his potential but it was Sebastien Ogier who storm his way through an early lead in the opening stages. As the event progresses, Rovanpera stormed his way through the lead and kept on going until he was named the winner of this year's Safari Rally Kenya.
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| Screengrab from WRC |
Rovanpera won at the rate of 3:40:24.9, which is 52.8 seconds more than Elfyn Evans, while Takamoto Katsuta finished 3rd. It's a podium sweep for Toyota Gazoo Racing for the first time in 12 years.
After Kenya, Rovanpera remains in the lead with 145 points while Thierry Neuville's in 2nd with 80 points while Ott Tanak's in 3rd with 62 points.
The next event will be the Rally Estonia from the 14th to the 17th of July, 2022.
With the success of the Mustang Mach-E electrified crossover and the E-Transit, the first electrified Ford F-150 has arrived and it brought back an iconic nameplate to match its electrified stance. This is the all-new Ford F-150 Lightning.
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| 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning |
With prices starting at below 52 grand plus additional costs, the new Ford F-150 Lightning is the electrified take on the best-seller that promises to deliver the same "Built Ford Tough" philosophy in this age of the new normal.
So, why did Ford decide to bring back the Lightning brand for this electrified F-150? For those who owned a super-old F-150 SVT Lightning, the one with the supercharged engine in it, consider the new F-150 Lightning a bit of a joke, just like the Mustang Mach-E when it was a crossover instead of being a muscle car that purists wanted. Sacrilege it is, the F-150 Lightning is built to tackle all kinds of demanding tasks like a true blue-collar worker.
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| 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning interior |
Beginning with the styling, the Lightning features a unique exterior design that differentiates it from the normal F-150, which is common sense for carmakers trying to differentiate it from normal ones. The same story goes for the interior because instead of using a similar dashboard layout to its ICE-powered equivalent, it dons a tall touchscreen similar to the one used on the Mustang Mach-E, which is packed with numerous gadgetry, including the annoying Amazon Alexa feature.
While it can accommodate up to five people and has a big interior space which is typical for full-size trucks, the F-150 Lightning's convenience doesn't stop at the rear trunk because, with the unique electric powertrain position, the front hood has motors in it. Instead, it's a front boot that's almost as spacious as a Porsche 911. Ford calls this the Frunk but the Frunk is nothing new for carmakers. Mid-engined supercars had the frunk but nothing as spacious as the Ford. Besides, you can plug in it and enjoy manly stuff anywhere, especially tailgating parties with your bros.
Thanks to its dual electric motors that made it a 4WD offroader, the F-150 Lightning can be bolted with either a 98 kWh or a 131 kWh battery pack. With the latter, it generates about 563 horsepower, 775 lb.-ft. of torque, and a 0-60 mph time in the mid-4-second range, that's quicker than the Ford F-150 Raptor. As for range, it's good for up to 320 miles while running on the extended-range variant.
Because of its electric powertrain, driving the F-150 Lightning feels like weightlifting a 1000lb barbell repeatedly. It feels like hard work while on the go and even when you go offroading or using the available towing package, guess you'll have to go exercising first before handling this electrified truck. This is a real man's electric truck doing extreme jobs. This is no time to sit back and enjoy binge-watching your favorite painting TV show from your childhood. Once you're in the Lightning, the hard labor begins and every day is a work day.
At the end of your arduous day, the F-150 Lightning comes prepared with a list of safety features some may find shocking behind the wheel, including the intriguing Ford BlueCruise hands-free driving which works like Tesla's AutoPilot. It's shocking to have an autonomous driving feature implanted in the F-150 Lightning and with a long list of ADAS, welcome to the new normal, cowboy.
Although mediocre to reviving the Lightning brand to the electrified F-150, this deserves all the attention it deserves like blue-collar workers. With its electric powertrain, shocking tech features, the same F-150 capability, and unique front boot, the new F-150 Lightning has the earnings of being a Built Ford Tough vehicle. Macho-bellied men are more than welcome to drive this electrified F-150 by all means necessary and such capability means jealousy for those who wish who want to drive one.
Photo: Ford Motor Company
As Kirameki Powers ends today, the era of the GirlsxHeroine Series is sadly over...for now. It's kinda sad that the only tokusatsu franchise made for girls will be gone for a while but fans of the franchise will never forget our favorite tokusatsu magical girls doing lengthy transformation dances, fighting evil, and saving the world. Anyway, in honor of the Kirameki Powers finale, which marks the end of the era, it's time to have a quick trip down memory lane about the only tokusatsu franchise made for girls.
Idol x Heroine Miracle Tunes! (2017) - The Girls x Heroine Series began with Idol x Heroine Miracle Tunes!, which aired on TV Tokyo in April 2017. The Girls x Heroine Series is a culmination of Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy, animation studio OLM, and famed filmmaker Takashi Miike. It's a response to little girls who wanted to have a tokusatsu show for them. With famed tokusatsu franchises like Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai targeted mostly at boys, there wasn't a tokusatsu franchise for girls until Miracle Tunes went on air and fans had fun with the adventures of Kanon Ichinose, Mai Kanzaki, Fuuka Tachibana, and the Shiratori twins, Akari and Hikari, as they use their idol powers to fight evil.
Magical x Heroine MagiMajoPures! (2018) - Following the success of Miracle Tunes, the Girls x Heroine Series got expanded with its second offering titled Magical x Heroine MagiMajoPures. Aired on TV Tokyo in April 2018, it's about three girls; Momoka Aino, Rin Shiroyuki, and Mitsuki Hanamori who are granted magical powers to save people from the curse of the Jama Jama Gang. As the story progresses, they were joined by Shiori Hoshina, a MagiMajoPure who got succumbed to the darkness until the girls freed her, and Yuria Nijiiro, a powerful MagiMajoPure who granted the girls their Royal Form.
Secret x Heroine Phantomirage (2019) - Hold your siopaos, kids, because the third installment of the Girls x Heroine Series left viewers with spiral eyes of joy. It's called Secret x Heroine Phantomirage and it's by no means the installment that scored the most episodes in the whole franchise when it aired on TV Tokyo from April 2019 to late June 2020. Kokomi Sakurai, Saki Asumi, and Yotsuba Shizuki were summoned by a mysterious person named Phandy and they became the phantom thieves of justice, saving people from a group of evil cops who cursed them. As the story progresses, they were joined by Seira Kuraha, who has the ability to disguise herself. Their TV antics prompted the Phantomirage to spawn a movie adaptation. Mind you, one of the recurring characters in the series named Sarai managed to hang on to this show as a villain turned supporting character until she became the main character in its successor show Police x Heroine Lovepatrina.
Police x Heroine Lovepatrina (2020) - The fourth installment of the Girls x Heroine Series, Police x Heroine Lovepatrina!, is about a group of young girls; Tsubasa Aiba, Sarai Shihara, and Kohana Aose, who are summoned by intergalactic police to save the world from the nasty antics of the WaruPyoco Gang, which are causing havoc by turning normal people into troublemaking Love Zero people. As the story progresses, their supporting character, Sora Nanairo, became a full-fledged Lovepatrina.
Bittfriends x Heroine Kirameki Powers (2021) - Bittfriends x Heroine Kirameki Powers is the landmark fifth installment of the Girls x Heroine Series and sadly the last of its kind...for now. The princess of a popular video game flees the kingdom that was taken over by an evil witch, who is plotting to take over the world, and she summoned the help of Kirari Momose and Yuzuki Shimori to get their game on and save the day as the Kirameki Powers! As the story progresses, their cute little animal friends Hamry and Pippi became Koyuki Aoba and Honoka Akahoshi, two powerful additions to the team.
...and that's the rest of the GirlsxHeroine Series. Thanks to them, the dream of having a tokusatsu franchise for girls has come true and after five years, it's farewell to the GirlsxHeroine Series...for now. Although the franchise is over, for the time being, the dream goes on.
Thank you, Girls x Heroine Series!
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| Elvis (movie) |