Sports Car

The nation's two leading sports-car racing series, Grand-Am Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series, said Wednesday they plan to merge in 2014. "This merger will strengthen professional sports-car racing beyond what either of our organizations could have achieved separately," ALMS founder Don Panoz said in a statement. Both series hold races -- some of them long endurance events -- that feature different classes of sports cars, led by the exotic Daytona prototype cars in Grand-Am and the LMP1 cars in the ALMS.

Imagine it'?s 1932 and you'?re an automobile lover with a robust bank account looking for a sports car that will turn heads and land you at the front of the valet line and also at the front of the pack at your local racetrack or road rally. You would then, as you might now, look for a Bugatti. Today, it?'s the Veyron. In 1932, it was this Type 55 Cabriolet, which will go up for auction Sunday at Gooding & Co.'?s Pebble Beach event. The Type 55 was considered a road-going race car, built using the same 2.3-liter inline, supercharged eight-cylinder engine as the Type 51 race car. Here, it makes 135 horsepower at 5,500 rpm. This Type 55 routs that power through a four-speed non-syncho manual transmission.

Car buyers are trading down to smaller vehicles and are finding that they are just as satisfied as they had been with larger autos, according to a study by market research firm J.D. Power and Associates. In its 2012 APEAL (Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout) Study, J.D. Power found that 27% of new-vehicle buyers during a four-month period this year replaced an existing vehicle with a smaller new auto. Only 13% went in the opposite direction during that period, while 60% purchased a vehicle in the same size class of the auto they were replacing.

Car buyers are trading down to smaller vehicles and are finding that they are just as satisfied as they had been with larger autos, according to a study by market research firm J.D. Power and Associates. In its 2012 APEAL (Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout) Study, J.D. Power found that 27% of new-vehicle buyers during a four-month period earlier this year replaced an existing vehicle with a smaller new auto. Only 13% went in the opposite direction during that time period.

Car buyers are trading down to smaller vehicles and are finding that they are just as satisfied as they had been with larger autos, according to a study by market research firm J.D. Power and Associates. In its 2012 APEAL (Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout) Study, J.D. Power found that 27% of new-vehicle buyers during a four-month period earlier this year replaced an existing vehicle with a smaller new auto. Only 13% went in the opposite direction during that time period.

Singer Justin Bieber was stopped and cited Friday for driving in a "reckless manner" on the busy 101 Freeway, the California Highway Patrol said. Bieber was pulled over in a Fisker Karma sports car about 10:45 a.m. by CHP officers on the 101 at Vineland Avenue and Ventura Boulevard. The 18-year-old was allegedly weaving in and out of traffic. CHP Officer Ming Hsu said the entertainer was driving in excess of 65 mph, but said his precise speed was not available. According to Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine, who called 911 to report the incident, paparazzi were pursuing Bieber on the 101 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley.

A bizarre custody battle between the children of automotive legend Carroll Shelby and the last of his seven wives has left his body stuck in a Dallas County morgue while a Texas court decides who gets to dispose of his remains. Shelby, a famed auto designer, has been in the morgue since his death May 10. His children want to cremate him, and his surviving wife has said she wants to decide what happens to his remains. Adding to the imbroglio is a cryptic comment by Dallas County Medical Examiner Dr. Jeffrey Barnard, who said he was in control of the body "because an allegation was made which falls within" Texas laws pertaining to criminal procedure.

Here's a big oops for Ferrari, the maker of megabucks sports cars: It made a mistake making the crankshafts for the engines in its California and 458 Italia models and now will have to repair or replace them, depending on what the owners prefer. Ferrari said it would recall the 2011 and 2012 model-year cars because the crankshaft error could cause the engines in the vehicles, which sell for $200,000 or more, to freeze suddenly and possibly cause a crash. The Italian automaker learned of the problem in a uniquely embarrassing way. The first of the cars to have its engine freeze was the one the company lent to critics to review.

You look fat in that. Of course I'll be late. Your baby reminds me of Gollum's uncle. This is what the 2013 Subaru BRZ might say if it could talk. The all-new, rear-wheel-drive sports car starts at $26,265, and boy is it honest - perhaps more so than any other car on the market today, save for its mechanical twin, the Scion FR-S. The two were jointly developed by Subaru and Scion's parent company, Toyota, with both assembled by Subaru in Japan. The question about the BRZ is, can you handle the honesty?

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, who designed the first 911 sports car and went on to found a consumer products design firm that also carried the Porsche name, died Thursday in Salzburg, Austria. He was 76. Born Dec. 11, 1935, in Stuttgart, Germany, he was the eldest son of Dorothea and Ferry Porsche, who along with Ferry's father Ferdinand Porsche founded the business that grew into the sports car maker. Porsche grew up in the auto business during a turbulent time. His grandfather designed the original Volkswagen Beetle for the Nazi regime in Germany in the 1930s as well as tanks that were used by the Germans in World War II. As a child, "Butzi" - as he was known to his family and business associates - enjoyed designing and building his own toys.