Carscoop Version 4.0: Tell us What You Think About our '2010MY' Revisions

We promised you that as soon as the Frankfurt Motor Show came to an end, we would write a post listing all the changes made on Carscoop the past few weeks, and well, here we are. The last time we updated our site was in April 2008 when we replaced the HTML template with a newer XML version. Now, instead of redesigning and updating the site all at once, we decided to slowly refresh and incorporate the new features changing or tweaking them as we go. This means that we're far from done yet.

Before we list the upgrades, allow me to say that many claim Blogger's platform has serious limitations, is much less SEO friendly, draws less attention from advertisers and is far more difficult to work with than Wordpress and we'd agree 100 percent.

But if anything else, despite all the blogger cons, it's worth mentioning that Carscoop has managed to achieve a respectful ranking of 21,485 on Alexa, 4,589 on Technorati and a 5PR on Google. Not saying that we're even close to the segment leaders in terms of traffic, but not bad overall for a blog that began and still is treated as a 'home-made' product.

But enough with that. Let's sum up the changes that have been made on Carscoop these past weeks:

-a wider format with larger photos for the homepage and individual posts

- smaller summaries and thumbnail pics for the archived and categorized posts (e.g. Frankfurt Motor Show -->)

-the addition of a new section with eight rotating stories at the top of the page, right under the navigation bar

-a zoom function for the photo galleries where the pictures open in the same page but more importantly, are automatically re-sized according to the width / height of your browser screen without affecting the original download quality / pixel size. As we've mentioned before, if you like, you can still open the photos individually on a new tab.

-the ability to have a profile aviator for comments - currently, only for those with an account on Blogger and Google (the limitations we talked about...)

-a new 'Related Posts' feature that now incorporates teaser photos of the articles

-a redesigned 'Carscoop' logo plus several cosmetic/color/size tweaks that include but are not limited to the navigation bar, the comment section and the bars on the right-hand side of the page

-quite possibly something we forgot to mention ;-)

We'd like to hear your opinion about these changes and if you have any ideas on how to better Carscoop, feel free to leave your suggestion(s) in the comment section below.

John

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Driver Plays Dodgem Cars in Poland - with Video

A Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was completely destroyed in Warsaw, Poland this past weekend when the 23-year-old driver of the German supercar lost control of the vehicle and crossed onto the opposite side of the road colliding with several oncoming cars including a Mitsubishi Outlander SUV. Though not officially confirmed by the police, Polish media reported that the SLR McLaren driver was racing against a Ferrari when the accident happened.

If we translated the report correctly, it also appears that the McLaren driver was traveling/racing with his young child in the car... Fortunately no one was killed in the crash though some of the accident victims were taken to the hospital.

Thanks for tip Martin ! Source: Alert24

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing to Star in Gran Turismo 5 Video Game

Having already celebrated its real-life premiere during the 2009 International Motor Show in Frankfurt, the new SLS AMG Gullwing is now getting ready to make the jump to the virtual world as Mercedes-Benz announced that the supercar will be featured in the latest installment of Sony's PlayStation 3 Gran Turismo video game, the highly anticipated GT 5 that's expected to be released sometime towards the end of the year or early 2010.

Japanese fans of the racing game will get a chance to see the SLS AMG in the flesh as Mercedes-Benz said that the gullwing supercar will be on display at the Tokyo Game Show that runs from September 24 to 27.

The SLS AMG is powered by a front/mid mounted 6.3-liter V8 engine with 571 horsepower linked to a 7-speed double clutch transmission in a transaxle configuration that launches the car from standstill to 100km/h (62mph) in 3.8 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 317km/h or 197 mph.

First deliveries of the €177,310 (around $258,000 US) supercar are set to start in Spring 2010 while a Roadster model is expected to join the range in late 2011.

Gallery: Ferrari Owners Get Together in Sundern, Germany

More than 80 Ferrari models of all sorts and kinds made their way to the town of Sundern in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, for a meeting that was organized by Antonio Capristo, owner of Capristo Exhaust Systems GmbH, a company that specializes on customized exhaust systems for sports cars. Oddly enough, aside from the Prancing Horse supercars, a few Lamborghini and Maserati owners also took part in the event. You can check out all the photos from the Ferrari gathering right after the break.

VW Launches New Scirocco R Racing Game for iPhone and iPod Users

You may not get a chance to drive the real Scirocco R at the Nurburgring race track but Volkswagen is giving iPhone and iPod uses the chance to take the hottest version of its coupe for a virtual spin at the legendary Nordschleife through a new racing game that is available now to download for free from the Apple App store. We haven't had the chance to play the "Scirocco R 24 hour Challenge", but according to VW, users can pick from three different play modes aka a qualifying mode, a 24 hour mode and a multiplayer mode via Bluetooth.

As with other available games for the iPhone, playes can choose to control the Scirocco R by touchscreen or by tilt sensor.

The real life Scirocco R is powered by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine producing 265 HP and 350 Nm of torque that are channeled to the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox or optionally, VW's double clutch DSG transmission. The Scirocco R hits 100km/h (62 mph) from standstill in 6.0 seconds with the stick shift and in 5,8 seconds with the DSG.

At this past week's Frankfurt Motor Show, VW also presented an "R" version of the latest Golf which comes with a slightly more powerful version of the 2.0-liter turbo with 270HP and an all-wheel drive system.

Das Babes of the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show Part II

Here's our second piece on the ladies that spiced up the press days of the 63rd International Motor Show in Frankfurt. If by any chance some of you missed out on our first 'femme-fatale' photo gallery, all you have to do is click here. If you haven't done so already, hit the break and enjoy...