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Savannah Corps of Engineers via Facebook

It took a year to plan, but the salvage efforts started in earnest in November 2020.
This weekend, the first massive chunk was cut off of the ship and schlepped to shore.
At least one SUV fell off the wreck and into the ocean when the section of the ship, weighing 6000 metric tons, was airborne.
The saga of the Golden Ray continues. Once a simple cargo ship plying the seas, the 656-foot-long vessel made the news in September 2019 when it capsized off the coast of Georgia near Saint Simons Sound with around 4200 new vehicles on board. It’s been sitting on the shallow ocean bed since then while plans to extract the ship and its contents from the scene were developed and, now, finally, implemented.
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That’s why, all through November, salvage workers were getting ready to slice the ship into eight smaller pieces in order to move them back to shore. A giant chain powered by two large engine made the first cut through the keel this weekend. This work required a giant piece of equipment called the Versabar VB 10,000 crane vessel that was first built a decade ago to help with oil rigs damaged in hurricanes.

Cargo Ship Capsizes with 4000 Cars on Board

Capsized Cargo Ship Full of Cars to Be Dismantled

This enormous work vessel is made up of two barges with two truss space frames between them and is able to lift heavy wreckage out of the water so it can be loaded onto other ships and carried away. The VB 10,000 can lift 7500 metric tons, and it’s estimated that the first section of the Golden Ray weighed 6000 metric tons, with all sorts of cars and sediment inside.

St. Simons Sound Incident Response

St. Simons Sound Incident Response

Once lifted in the air, the first cut slice of the Golden Ray was placed on the barge Julie B and taken to Port of Brunswick before eventually heading to a recycling center in Louisiana. It wasn’t easy work. During all of the work and commotion this past weekend, an SUV fell into the ocean from the large chunk of the Golden Ray that was lifted in the air. It was not the first to fall, and the salvage team has installed a giant net to catch things like this. Smaller chunks of debris have also washed up on nearby shores and oil-skimming craft prowl the waters around the wreck to clean up any spills.

St. Simons Sound Incident Response

This kind of unusual activity is bringing out the gawkers. There’s a 200-yard safety barrier around the wreck, keeping the sightseeing boats and drones all trying to get good views of the situation a safe distance away. A Saint Simons resident told local news station WJXT that viewers can see distressed vehicles from shore.
“With the binoculars we can see cars and things inside the lifted section,” she said. “The cars are jumbled, right? Some of them look like they’re upside down, some of them look like you’re looking at the roof. The ones we can see are red, white, and black. They’re definitely in all sorts of orientations and not great conditions.”

St. Simons Sound Incident Response

It’s not just locals who are interested in the Golden Ray, which was only two years old when it capsized. The Brunswick News says documentary filmmaker Josh Gilligan is making a movie about the wreck and salvage mission. “The size and scope of it is just unreal,” he told the News. We can’t wait to see his finished work, but at least we have some local news footage to watch until then.

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The electric Pininfarina Battista has finished its first high-speed test at the Nardò test track in Italy.
This is one of nine prototypes being used to tune the car, which has torque vectoring and five selectable driving modes.
Pininfarina will build 150 examples of the 1873-hp Battista, with first deliveries scheduled for 2021.
After completing engineering work on simulators and in wind tunnels, Pininfarina engineers have put the Battista hypercar on a real-world playing field. The electric coupe, with its claimed 1873 horsepower and 1696 lb-ft of torque, whizzed through its first round of high-speed laps on the 7.8-mile-long banked circuit at the Nardò test track in southeastern Italy.
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Pininfarina would have had some insider trading about what to expect on the speed and handling courses there, since Croatian hypercar maker Rimac tested the upcoming—and closely related—Rimac C_Two at the same place almost exactly one year ago. Pininfarina paid Rimac $91 million for the carbon chassis and EV powertrain, the same as the one found in the C_Two.

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Next up is a testing program that puts nine prototypes on more tracks as well as public roads. People in white coats and Balenciaga sneakers need to hone the Battista’s suspension, four-motor torque-vectoring system, brake feel, aerodynamics, and regeneration from the Brembo CCMR carbon-ceramic brakes. There are also five driving modes to tune: Calma, Pura, Energica, Furiosa, and Carattere.
On top of that, the Battista needs its soft luxuries fettled, including the “external soundscape” the hypercar creates while moving slowly. Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R or Pirelli P Zero tires wrap around a set of 20-inch Prezioso wheels, or staggered 20- and 21-inch Impulso wheels, both in forged aluminum. Pininfarina promises a zero-to-62 mph sprint in less than two seconds, a run to 186 mph in less than 12 seconds, and a top speed of 217 mph. It’s expected to reach customers starting in 2021.
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Audi is adding the stealthy black Panther Edition (first seen on the RS5) to the 2021 R8 supercar.
It’s finished in Panther Black with carbon fiber trim, red wheels, and a red interior.
Limited to 50 cars, the R8 Panther Edition will arrive in dealers this month starting at $184,795.
Audi product manager Anthony Garbis spec’d his 2018 SQ5 with a Panther Black paint job, giving him the idea for the RS5 Panther Edition, which we spotted at the L.A. auto show last year. The stealthy black Panther Black, which appears more like a deep purple at a closer glance, is now making its way on to the 2021 Audi R8, and it’ll be limited to just 30 cars.

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Audi

The R8 Panther Edition, available on the rear-wheel-drive model, is finished in the Audi-exclusive Panther Black crystal effect paint with carbon-fiber mirrors, engine compartment, and side intakes as well as blacked-out Audi badges. It sits on 20-inch matte black with bright red trim five-double-spoke wheels wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires. Whether or not those wheels look good is a matter of personal taste.

Audi RS5 to Come in Panther Limited Edition

Red dominates the interior, too. Audi racing seats are wrapped in Crimson Red leather with the rest of the interior trimmed in Audi exclusive black leather with Crimson Red stitching. There’s alcantara on the headliner, gear selector, and steering wheel, which has a Crimson Red 12-o’clock marker. A Bang & Olufsen sound system is standard on the Panther Edition.

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Audi

A naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V-10 is at the heart of the 2021 Audi R8 Panther Edition, and it produces 532 horsepower and 398 lb-ft of torque, while the all-wheel-drive R8 Performance model makes 602 horses. Audi claims that the 532-hp R8 launches to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds with a top speed of 201 mph. The Panther Edition cars are equipped with a sport exhaust system to amplify the 10-cylinder roar.
The 2021 Audi R8 Panther Edition, which is limited to 50 units, will arrive in the U.S. this month starting at $184,795.
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Hyundai reportedly wants to buy Boston Dynamics from Softbank. It could be part of a wild effort to build walking cars. More

Mazda will give away 50 of its MX-5 Miata 100th Anniversary Edition cars to 50 people who have helped their communities during this year of pandemic.
The individuals being honored include teachers, health-care workers, and small-business owners and were chosen from among nominations sent in by the public this fall.
The 100th Anniversary Miata is named to celebrate Mazda’s 100th year in operation.
As the year comes to a close, one way Mazda is celebrating its 100th anniversary is by honoring 50 people who have helped their communities through this challenging year. Those individuals are being given 100th Anniversary Special Edition MX-5 Miatas as a thank-you gift. The special Miatas are normally priced starting at $33,615.

100th Anniversary Mazda Miata Unveiled

Mazda Celebrates 100 Years with Special Editions

Mazda MX-5 Miata History, from 1989 to Today

The winners, chosen after a call for nominations this fall, include health-care workers, teachers, small business owners, and people who have done various good deeds. New Jersey middle-school shop teacher Jason Erdreich is one such winner. Erdreich organized a team of people with 3-D printers to manufacture 12,000 pieces of personal protection equipment (PPE) and also came up with innovative ways to conduct STEM classes remotely.
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Christie Purviance, an ICU nurse in Texas, is another. While Purviance cared for COVID-19 patients, she went above and beyond in helping connect them with their families through video chatting and photos.

Mazda

The 100th Anniversary Edition has many nods to Mazda’s first vehicle, the R360 coupe, including its Snowflake White Pearl Mica paint job, red interior, and red soft top. This special edition Miata is based on the 2020 MX-5 Miata Grand Touring model. It wears Mazda’s 100th Anniversary logo on the leather headrests and floor.
Erdreich’s 100th Anniversary Edition Miata will be the second in his garage: he already has a first-generation Miata. So it’s safe to assume that he’ll have his 2020 Miata diving into corners on back roads in no time—an experience which he and the other 49 winners richly deserve.
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Jaguar has updated the high-performance SVR version of the F-Pace SUV for 2021.
It has 14 more lb-ft of torque from its supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 engine.
There are also exterior and interior enhancements.
The V-8–powered SVR version of the Jaguar F-Pace is getting many of the same updates as the standard model for 2021—and then some. In addition to the visual changes and new infotainment system, the SVR also benefits from more torque and tuning changes that promise to improve its performance.

2021 Jaguar F-Pace Has New Powertrain, Tech

The Jaguar F-Pace SVR Should Be Quicker

The supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 engine makes the same 550 horsepower as before, but an additional 14 lb-ft of torque are on board for 2021. Jaguar says this raises the top speed by 2 mph, to a claimed 178 mph, and quickens the sprint to 60 mph by 0.3 seconds, to a claimed 3.8 seconds. We tested a 2019 F-Pace SVR and recorded a time of 4.0 seconds, so we’ll see if the 2021 model can outdo that time when we’re able to strap our test equipment to one.
Jaguar also says it has made tuning changes to the suspension, steering, and brakes. The sharpened exterior styling not only looks a bit more modern but is apparently functional, with the company claiming that aerodynamic drag has been reduced and additional vents improve cooling for the engine and brakes.

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Jaguar

Inside, there’s a new 11.4-inch touchscreen running Jaguar’s latest Pivi Pro infotainment software. Faux-suede upholstery is standard with leather optional, and the steering wheel and certain knobs feature new designs.
Jaguar has yet to announce pricing for the updated 2021 F-Pace SVR, but we expect it to start a few thousand dollars higher than the outgoing model’s $81,750 base price.
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Hyundai announced an electric-vehicle platform called E-GMP that will serve as the base of Hyundai and Kia’s global EV future beginning in 2021.
Vehicles on the new platform can generate as much as 600 horsepower, and a high-performance model will be one of the upcoming EVs, Hyundai said today.
Hyundai didn’t share details on battery pack size, but said that it’s targeting 310 miles of range.
EVs today have become major parts of auto companies’ road maps. By now, automakers have come to the realization that shoving electric vehicle parts into vehicles built to run on gasoline doesn’t always result in the type of efficiency an EV and a manufacturing line need. With that in mind, Hyundai is the latest automaker to announce a modular EV-only platform, also announcing that it will produce 23 battery-electric vehicles by 2025.

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The new Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) will be the underpinning of new Hyundai and Kia EVs starting in 2021. The first vehicle will be the Hyundai Ioniq 5 that we’ve so far only seen in concept form. It will then be used in other vehicles from Hyundai and Kia, likely to include the other Ioniq EVs we’re expecting from the Korean automaker. It will also be used for future Genesis EVs.

Hyundai

The platform’s main components will be a battery pack under the cabin and an all-in-one motor, transmission, and inverter designed and developed by Hyundai. By bundling the components, Hyundai said, it raised the maximum speed of the motor by up to 70 percent compared to existing motors, despite its small size. The company says that it can squeeze up to 600 horsepower from the system and that the company will show off a high-performance vehicle next year.
Both Tesla and Lucid design their own motors for the sake of efficiency. Hyundai doing the same thing instead of using something off the shelf from a supplier could help it accomplish they type of efficiencies found in EV-centric automakers.
Hyundai says that the planned high-performance vehicle on the E-GMP platform will be capable of doing zero to 60 mph in less than 3.5 seconds and have a top speed of 161 mph, with rear- and all-wheel-drive versions available. The all-wheel-drive version will be powered by two electric motors instead of one. To save energy, the front motor will decouple from the wheels when it’s not needed.

Hyundai

EVs based on the new platform, Hyundai said, would be capable of about 310 miles of range on the WLTP scale and capable of charging to 80 percent in 18 minutes, thanks to an 800-volt architecture that supports charging speeds up to 350 kW. A five-minute charge can add about 60 miles. Hyundai did not release details on battery sizes that will be available on any of the upcoming vehicles or even a range of battery-pack sizes for the upcoming platform. It does note that the batteries will sit under the cabin and the vehicles will have a long wheelbase that would enable more cabin space for occupants and cargo.
Albert Biermann, president and head of R&D for the Hyundai Motor Group, said the rear-wheel-driven-based E-GMP will extend Hyundai’s “technological leadership into segments where customers demand excellent driving dynamics and outstanding efficiency.”
Finally, the E-GMP supports bidirectional charging. This means that with a charging station that supports the feature, a vehicle using the E-GMP platform can discharge its energy from its battery back to the grid or to a house that supports such a feature. The vehicle-to-load (V2L) function supplies 3.5 kW of power which, according to Hyundai, can operate a mid-size air conditioner and a 55-inch TV for 24 hours. A customer could conceivably use that to get the power out of a vehicle during a heat-wave-induced power outage. But more important, it can be used to charge another EV.
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