Jeep Team’s Pierre Smith wins 2-Provinces Mountain Bike Race

PIETERMARITZBURG, 10 APRIL 2015 – Jeep Team’s Pierre Smith claimed Gold at the 70km Riverside Mica 2-Provinces MTB Race in Gauteng on Monday (6 April 2015), with Christoff van Heerden in 2nd place and Wayd Needham in 3rd.

Just under 200 riders competed in the 2-Provinces MTB at Vanderbijlpark in Stonehaven-on-Vaal, with Smith fighting off strong opposition to break the tape in a fast 2h22m40s, just seconds ahead of Van Heerden (2h22m59s). Needham crossed the line in 2h23m23s.

Said Smith: “This is always a special race to me being right on my door step and it is nice to perform in front of a home crowd. I used this race mainly to prepare for Ashburton Investments National MTB Series in Clarens in 2 weeks’ time and it was a good confidence booster. I enjoyed the route a lot with all the single track and jeep track sections in it and made my move with about 10km to go and just kept the peddle down till the end.”

Other Jeep Team results

In the Western Cape, Jeep Team’s OCR champion, Dominique D’;Oliveira, took on the 22-km Old Mutual 2 Oceans Trail Run on Friday (3 April 2015) finishing 17th in a time of 2h56m.

Said D’;Oliveira: “With the Jeep Warrior still in my legs and the Impi Challenge just around the corner it was more of a training run for me than a race as such, but a great experience. It was probably one of the most challenging one-day trail runs I’;ve ever done but also one of the most beautiful.”

On Saturday, multiple world champion paddler, Hank McGregor, was out of his comfort zone, competing on land rather than in water at the Old Mutual 2 Oceans Half Marathon. Testament to McGregor’s racing spirit whatever the challenge, he finished the 21-km race in 1h24m39s, earning himself a Silver medal.

Also view:

Mountain Bike Events / Planning and the Safety of Bikers

Mountain Bike Safety and Riding on the Trail

Endurance Sports, Driver Fatigue and Road Safety

Jeep Team’s Pierre Smith wins 2-Provinces Mountain Bike Race

Chrysler Goes To Trial Over Fiery Jeep Crash, Defends Fuel Tanks

A 2006 fatal crash involving a 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee and one more 4-year-old youngster burned to death, Cassidy Jarmon, is pictured in Cleburne, Texas.

Older Jeeps with fuel tanks situated behind the rear axle might lead to explosive testimony in case against Chrysler beginning trial in Georgia. This month, a loved ones whose 4-year-old son burned to death in the back of a 1999 Grand Cherokee is beginning trial against the automaker—and in contrast to most large organizations facing wrongful-death claims, Chrysler is refusing to settle.

Bryan and Lindsay Walden of Bainbridge, Georgia, brought the suit against Chrysler in July 2012, 4 months following their son, Remington, was killed when a 1997 Dodge Dakota rear-ended the ’99 Grand Cherokee in which he was riding. According to Automotive News, the boy only suffered a broken leg from the influence but “died screaming in a fire so intense his chest fused to the Jeep’s door” as he attempted to escape his booster seat. He may possibly have been alive for an complete minute even though engulfed in flames.

As heart-wrenching as this account is, the Waldens aren’t alone. There are more than 70 fire-associated deaths from rear-end collisions in older Grand Cherokees and Libertys, according to the Detroit News. Security advocates like Jenelle Embrey—who claimed to witness a mother and teen burn to death in a Grand Cherokee and later sent an on the internet petition with 128,000 signatures to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2013—say there are hundreds far more.

Embrey’s petition led to a NHTSA investigation that discovered greater-than-average fatality rates amongst 1993-1998 Grand Cherokee and 2002-2007 Liberty models. Chrysler contends that these are higher-speed, high-energy collisions, that the Jeeps are no less protected than their contemporaries, and that they met all safety standards of the time.

In June 2013, soon after initially refusing a NHTSA recall request, Chrysler did recall 1.56 million of those Jeeps and sent letters to yet another 710,000 owners of later, 1999-2004 Grand Cherokees as a “customer service campaign,” advising them to bring in their vehicles to have tow hitches installed.

On these Jeeps, the fuel tanks are positioned behind the rear axle just inches away from the rear bumper and have fuel filler hoses that run by means of the frame rails. Beginning with the redesigned 2005 Grand Cherokee, Chrysler repositioned the tank away from the rear bumper.

The trailer hitch is supposed to provide some additional measure of protection for the fuel tank, at least in low-speed collisions. But former NHTSA administrator Joan Claybrook says these hitches may really do more damage, citing a Grand Cherokee fire in 2006 throughout which the hitch pierced the tank. Claybrook, as element of Nader’s Center for Auto Safety, suggested that NHTSA require Chrysler to set up metal shields and reinforce the filler hose, and crash-test a car with these upgraded parts.

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The Walden case presents a lot more trouble for Chrysler. As an alternative of a closed settlement, a jury will make a decision Chrysler’s fate and could simply open the door to further, effective lawsuits. Details from the case are currently getting created public, such as the deposition of Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne in January, who said that he does not think there is the “slightest proof that Grand Cherokee or the class that we’re talking about here are defective.”

That a tiny civil suit in Georgia is even involving the CEO of a giant, global automaker should be proof that these fuel tank fires have substance in court. It is not recognized whether or not Chrysler has settled any related cases.

Chrysler Goes To Trial Over Fiery Jeep Crash, Defends Fuel Tanks

Geneva Rocks: Jeep Debuts Diesel-Powered Wrangler Rocks Star

Geneva Rocks: Jeep Debuts Diesel-Powered Wrangler Rocks Star

Geneva Rocks: Jeep Debuts Diesel-Powered Wrangler Rocks Star

Wrangler owners all know that they’ll 1 day wake up with the sudden urge to bolt on a couple thousand dollars’ worth of aftermarket parts. And in these precious disorienting seconds, Chrysler wants to them to default to mouthing the word, “Mopar”—hence the mission of this yellow Jeep landing in Geneva.

Beyond its awkward Rocks Star name, this is your standard Wrangler Rubicon softtop with half doors, only with a kickin’ 2.8-liter turbo-diesel 4-cylinder banned from our residence turf. The college-bus-yellow color scheme carries over to the steering-wheel spokes, air-vent trim, and passenger grab handle, although the wheels, grille, gas cap, and the rest of the interior go black.

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A light bar/hoop fixed to the bottom of the A-pillars signifies you can’t fold down the Rocks Star’s windshield, but in return you’ll get 4 square LED lamps mounted higher and proud of the glass. We know how considerably Wrangler owners hate square lights—witness the anti-square headlamp vitriol slung at the YJ—so that is a real gamble. A distressed-looking U.S. Army–style star and circle on the hood might make up for the nonround lights, although. Even though Chrysler is not adding the diesel to Mopar’s U.S. catalog, the rest of the components ought to be offered soon.

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Geneva Rocks: Jeep Debuts Diesel-Powered Wrangler Rocks Star

Geneva Rocks: Jeep Debuts Diesel-Powered Wrangler Rocks Star

Wrangler owners all know that they’ll one particular day wake up with the sudden urge to bolt on a couple thousand dollars’ worth of aftermarket components. And in those precious disorienting seconds, Chrysler wants to them to default to mouthing the word, “Mopar”—hence the mission of this yellow Jeep landing in Geneva.

Beyond its awkward Rocks Star name, this is your basic Wrangler Rubicon softtop with half doors, only with a kickin’ 2.8-liter turbo-diesel 4-cylinder banned from our residence turf. The school-bus-yellow color scheme carries over to the steering-wheel spokes, air-vent trim, and passenger grab deal with, while the wheels, grille, gas cap, and the rest of the interior go black.

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A light bar/hoop fixed to the bottom of the A-pillars means you can not fold down the Rocks Star’s windshield, but in return you will get 4 square LED lamps mounted high and proud of the glass. We know how much Wrangler owners hate square lights—witness the anti-square headlamp vitriol slung at the YJ—so that’s a genuine gamble. A distressed-looking U.S. Army–style star and circle on the hood might make up for the nonround lights, even though. While Chrysler is not adding the diesel to Mopar’s U.S. catalog, the rest of the parts must be offered quickly.

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Geneva Rocks: Jeep Debuts Diesel-Powered Wrangler Rocks Star

Geneva Rocks: Jeep Debuts Diesel-Powered Wrangler Rocks Star

Wrangler owners all know that they’ll one particular day wake up with the sudden urge to bolt on a couple thousand dollars’ worth of aftermarket parts. And in these precious disorienting seconds, Chrysler wants to them to default to mouthing the word, “Mopar”—hence the mission of this yellow Jeep landing in Geneva.

Beyond its awkward Rocks Star name, this is your basic Wrangler Rubicon softtop with half doors, only with a kickin’ 2.8-liter turbo-diesel 4-cylinder banned from our home turf. The college-bus-yellow color scheme carries over to the steering-wheel spokes, air-vent trim, and passenger grab deal with, whilst the wheels, grille, gas cap, and the rest of the interior go black.

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A light bar/hoop fixed to the bottom of the A-pillars indicates you can not fold down the Rocks Star’s windshield, but in return you will obtain 4 square LED lamps mounted higher and proud of the glass. We know how a lot Wrangler owners hate square lights—witness the anti-square headlamp vitriol slung at the YJ—so that’s a true gamble. A distressed-looking U.S. Army–style star and circle on the hood may make up for the nonround lights, although. While Chrysler is not adding the diesel to Mopar’s U.S. catalog, the rest of the parts should be offered quickly.

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Geneva Rocks: Jeep Debuts Diesel-Powered Wrangler Rocks Star

Gearing Up: Subsequent-Gen Jeep Wrangler To Get Eight-Speed Automatic

Amongst the rumors and speculation that surrounds the subsequent-generation Jeep Wrangler, one particular point is specific: Its fuel economy need to enhance from the current model’s less than stellar 17-mpg city and 21-mpg highway numbers. A recent report in Automotive News points to a major modify that will assist in that mission.

AN reports that a current Fiat-Chrysler filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that the corporate 8-speed automatic, built by Chrysler under license from ZF, will uncover a home in the brand’s redesigned rugged off-roader: “The 8-speed transmission is at present paired with gasoline and diesel engines in the 2014 Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee and is also featured in the new 2014 Dodge Durango. We plan to use this transmission in all of our rear-wheel-drive autos, except for heavy-duty versions of the Ram pick-up truck and the SRT Viper.” The filing also noted that the 8-speed ’box “reduces fuel consumption by a lot more than 9 % more than the 5-speed and 6-speed transmissions” that it has currently supplanted in many FCA cars.

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If this appears like an obvious and reasonably straightforward way to squeeze a few extra mpg from the existing Wrangler, AN asserts that “Chrysler would have utilized the 8-speed in the Wrangler ahead of the upcoming redesign, but the transmission does not fit in the current model.”

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Gearing Up: Subsequent-Gen Jeep Wrangler To Get Eight-Speed Automatic

Phantom Menace: Boeing Solves Its Own Cargo Issue with a New-Age Jeep

It’s a typical government issue: You’ve spent billions of dollars building an aircraft in contrast to any other for the express objective of acquiring troops into remote areas more rapidly than traditional helicopters can. But the outcome, the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey, is so ­narrow that military ground cars cannot be transported with these troops. So when you’ve rushed them into position, what then?

Now Boeing, 1 of the Osprey’s designers, has created a remedy with a name almost as silly as the issue it solves: ­Phantom Badger. Why not just Phantom? Why not just Badger? The 2 together sound like bad-notion Tuesday on Nickelodeon. But Boeing and the military are significant, and the U.S. Navy not too long ago certified the Phantom Badger for flight aboard the Osprey, providing personnel a versatile, rugged option for ground transport. Previously, variations on the civilian-ATV theme were the only autos that fit in the Osprey, but their modest cargo and personnel capacity restricted their usefulness. The Phantom Badger, on the other hand, can carry 3350 pounds or tow 4000.

Courtesy of Boeing Phantom Works

At only 60 inches wide, the PB is 6 inches narrower than a Honda Fit, enabling it to slip very easily into the V-22’s cargo hold. It utilizes the very same 3.-liter turbo-diesel V-6 as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500. Here, the 6 swills either diesel or the JP-8 jet fuel that is plentiful on military bases and produces the exact same 240 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque as it does in civilian duty. The Phantom Badger weighs in at just below 8000 pounds thanks to its 4-wheel steering, it has an impressive turning circle of only 24 feet—11 feet tighter than even a Mini Cooper S’s.

It has mounts for each a .50-caliber machine gun and a 40-mm grenade launcher, but its size and open-air construction imply it is a lot more of an original Jeep than an MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected automobile). With a best speed of 80 mph on pavement and the ability to ford up to 3 feet of water, the Phantom Badger can go practically anyplace and get there quickly—just like the Osprey. But when the Badger arrives, the troops aboard it will truly be exactly where they want to be.

Pack it Up, Pack it in

The Phantom Badger is developed to travel aboard the Osprey, but Boeing is pleased to pack them into any of its cargo aircraft.

What do you get when you cross an Osprey with a Badger?

Advanced Tactics recently announced the initial effective flight test of its Black Knight Transformer, a hybrid truck/helicopter made for military use. 4 rotors on each side fold in for driving on narrow streets and can tilt forward like those on the Osprey for higher-speed flight. With the potential to be piloted either onboard or remotely, the Black Knight could manage tasks at the moment assigned to the Osprey and Phantom Badger.

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Phantom Menace: Boeing Solves Its Own Cargo Issue with a New-Age Jeep

How We’d Spec It: The Classiest Jeep Grand Cherokee Ever

Summer time road-trip season is in full swing, and there are several vehicles properly certified to carry you and yours on just such an excursion. But whilst you could always get a minivan and call it a day, what’s a family members to do if, say, their location is a tiny much less . . . paved? That’s exactly where the Jeep Grand Cherokee comes in. We’ve tested every single powertrain obtainable in Jeep’s classy SUV, but the greatest a single at combining all round worth and driving pleasure has to be the Hemi-powered, 4-wheel-drive version. If we had to hit the road toward a wild location tomorrow, this is the Grand Cherokee we’d take.

MODEL:

Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4×4 (base cost: $ 47,190)

Jeep gives a Grand Cherokee for any spending budget, supplied that spending budget begins at $ 30,490. But provided that it was split at birth from the present Mercedes-Benz M-class crossover, we consider splurging a tiny and heading for the upper finish of the lineup tends to make sense. There, you’ll locate way far more luxury for far less funds than it takes to bring house a comparably equipped Benz.

Of the Grand Cherokee’s 3 highest trim levels—Limited, Overland, and Summit—we’d take the Overland. It comes common with fairly much all of the luxe gear one particular may well require, which includes leather seats with piping (heated front and rear, cooled in front), a heated steering wheel, proximity crucial with push-button starting, dual-zone automatic climate manage, a backup camera and sensors, a panoramic sunroof, Chrysler’s superb Uconnect infotainment system with an 74-inch touch screen, an 8-speed automatic transmission, HID headlights, Jeep’s Quadra-Lift air suspension, and a lot more.

Choices:

Black Forest Green Pearl paint: $

Nepal Jeep Brown Light Frost interior: $

5.7-liter Hemi V-8 engine: $ 3195

Off-Road Adventure II package: $ 1095

Sophisticated Technologies group: $ 1995

There’s nothing wrong with the standard 3.6-liter V-6, unless you’re in a hurry, which is why we’d spec the optional 5.7-liter Hemi and its 360 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque. (Jeep also provides a torquey 3.-liter diesel V-6, but we discovered it to be too unrefined for a luxury SUV in a current comparison test and also slow to boot.) Even though the V-8 imparts a fuel-economy penalty—the EPA prices it at 14 mpg city, 20 highway 3 and 4 mpg fewer than the V-6—our testing showed the gap to be significantly closer, with the V-6 returning 17 mpg and the V-8 16 mpg. The added power is worth the minor efficiency penalty.

Beyond the Hemi, we’d add only the $ 1095 Off-Road Adventure II package, which brings a bevy of skid plates, hill-descent manage, and Quadra-Drive II (Jeep-speak for complete-time 4-wheel drive with a restricted-slip rear differential). The kit also swaps the Overland’s handsome 20-inch wheels for smaller sized-diameter 18-inchers wearing much more off-road-friendly tires that return a cushier ride. Households seeking for an additional dose of safety can look forward to coughing up $ 1995 for the Sophisticated Technology group, which adds adaptive cruise manage, forward-collision warning and crash mitigation, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and a brake-assist function. We have it on ours mostly because the set-it-and-neglect-it cruise manage makes lengthy highway slogs more tolerable, though the package’s inclusion right here was far from a unanimous choice.

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Our soft spot for green-colored cars implies Jeep’s snazzy Black Forest Green Pearl paint is a no-brainer, and the Nepal Jeep Brown Light Frost interior scheme (a dark chocolate brown over tan) is the excellent complement to each the exterior color and the Overland’s standard matte-finish wood trim.

Total price? A healthful $ 53,475, but that’s nevertheless some $ 16,000 much less than a base 8-cylinder BMW X5 xDrive50i and about 6 grand less expensive than a base V-8 Mercedes-Benz ML550. And neither of these luxury SUVs is practically as capable off-road.

How We’d Spec It: The Classiest Jeep Grand Cherokee Ever

Subsequent Jeep Wrangler Could Target “Soft” SUVs—But It Will not Be Ruined (We Hope)

“It’s a Jeep thing” may possibly be a statement that pick men and women at Fiat-Chrysler don’t understand—but let’s hope not.

As quoted by Automotive News, Jeep CEO Mike Manley says that the subsequent-gen Wrangler, which is due in 2017, would require to compete with “soft” SUVs and that not all Wranglers want to be as capable off-road.

“You can not sell 19,000-plus retail Wranglers [in May] to folks who just want to go off-roading,” Manley told the industry paper. “Why would, for example, somebody else’s SUV that’s really an on-road ‘soft’ SUV not be for me a genuine target for Wrangler?” But ahead of JK and TJ owners light effigies at the subsequent Jeep Jamboree, Manley knows that the Wrangler enjoys a thick-as-blood fan base who are far more loyal than the Secret Service. Later in the AN article, he states that “one thing that [Jeep] will not do is dilute what Wrangler stands for.”

As for the redesign, new powertrains and lighter supplies are practically assured. The Wrangler could advantage from far more gears and, as we were told by Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, possibly aluminum construction. Though the 2.8-liter diesel in European Wranglers performs nicely, Manley is on record saying that sales of the Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel require to improve prior to any new Jeep diesels arrive stateside. A 4-cylinder gasoline model might make sense if Chrysler can sort an engine, possibly by way of turbocharging, that is burlier than the 2.4 found in the new Cherokee.

But we’re not certain why the Wrangler—which is amongst the very very best vehicles extant in terms of resale value—needs to target “soft” competitors when the new Renegade and the Cherokee give lots of ammo in that fight. To that end, Automotive News speculates that the Wrangler’s strong axles could be ripped out for a lighter independent setup.

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We believe, however, that Fiat-Chrysler won’t ruin its very lucrative icon, 1 that remains in high demand and which—like the Mercedes-Benz G-class—succeeds not in spite of its archaic technologies but because of them. In addition to, if the company—which produces every little thing from LaFerraris to Dodge Darts—screws up the Wrangler, its executives from both sides of the Atlantic could want to use a single to head for the hills.

Subsequent Jeep Wrangler Could Target “Soft” SUVs—But It Will not Be Ruined (We Hope)

Claim Your Turf: Custom Jeep Hood Decals Show Exactly where You’ve Been

Thanks to the prevalence of modern GPS systems, newer drivers will probably in no way experience the proper of passage that is trying to decipher an unwieldy paper map below fading light whilst simultaneously nursing the last valuable drops of gasoline, only to finish up hopelessly lost. But thanks to the new map-themed hood decals from Mopar, Jeep owners will at least get the likelihood to attempt, even though this time about the map is vinyl, and stuck, semi-permanently, we hope, to the hood.

Created from premium 3M films that “meet automotive engineering requirements for superior graphic functionality,” owners can use Jeep’s on-line tool to decide on a map from a choice of pre-loaded trails. Or, if you’re feeling adventuresome, you can type in a zip code or name of a preferred trail and channel your inner cartographer, selecting a region, and even adding a point of interest. (We developed the map on the green Wrangler under making use of 1000 Jeep Parkway, the street address of the original Willys Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, simply because we are clever that way.) Customers can also swap the rustic topographical-themed graphics for street-level maps. We’d get in touch with that using your hood to preserve you from obtaining lost in the hood, if you will. 

Retailing for $ 295 plus installation, the program has applications for the Wrangler and Wrangler Limitless, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Cherokee. Ordering is straightforward. Soon after you finish your design and style on Jeep’s web site, you will acquire an email confirmation with a portion quantity and design and style code. Take that to the dealer, and your custom map will arrive in 8–10 organization days. Then you can schedule an installation with the dealer or independent contractor. DIY’ers are welcome to have a go at it themselves.

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Claim Your Turf: Custom Jeep Hood Decals Show Exactly where You’ve Been