It's confirmed now. After numerous leaks over the past several days, the 2011 BMW 335is is officially on the way. It will get a version of the N54 3.0-liter found in the Z4 sDrive35is, but in the 335is it's rated at 320-horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. It will also be the first 3 Series to offer BMW's 7-speed Double Clutch Transmission (DCT) as an option.

And why exactly does the 335is have 320-hp while the Z4 with the same engine boast 335 horses? Our man on the scene asked BMW officials and the answer wasn't entirely clear.

"First an engineer said it was because the standard manual in the 3 Series couldn't handle the extra torque. Then another engineer said it was a marketing decision. Quickly after that another BMW representative cut in and said it was all about the underhood packaging that required a more restrictive intake." 

So there you have it, the longest non-answer possible. Other than that small detail, the 335is is everything we thought it was when we first reported on it primeval this week. It will come as a coupe and convertible and cost $50,525 and $59,075 respectively when it goes on understanding in the spring.

Other notable upgrades include an extra radiator and oil cooler along with larger intakes in the revised air dam. There are also stiffer engine mounts to compensate for higher G-loads expected of owners willing to pop all that extra money for 20 extra horsepower. Oh, there's a special sport exhaust system too.

On the inside there's a whole laundry list of M-badged parts like a sport steering wheel, sport seats, stainless steel pedals and a M shifter. The car will get an official unveil at the 2010 New York Auto Show in March.

This semi-regular column is written (in his own blood) by an automotive chromatic and noted malcontent, known as The Mechanic. Mercilessly beaten as a child with rolled-up back issues of old car magazines, our free-spoken hero developed a unique "for your own good" take on cars and the auto industry, along with an unfortunate usage of setting himself ablaze. Later, after a distinguished career as an automotive journalist and entrepot editor, he cast off the reins of his musty oppressors, carved out his superego with a plastic spork and became The Mechanic.

CONCORD, North Carolina — Whew. It's over. After four days of hearing race drivers, team owners and sponsors insist that they are "taking it to the next level" this year, The Mechanic is still trying to take it to this same level, right here. Next level? Talk to me tomorrow.

What we take away from this week of hearing from teams and touring their shops is a moderately upbeat attitude that suggests the worst is over. This time last year, teams were dumping employees like GM is dumping dealers. Everybody is running lean, prepared for tight budgets, but hopeful. Whether or not everybody is whistling past the graveyard remains to be seen, but this time last year, they were standing in the graveyard with a shovel.

On the final day, NASCAR finally confirmed a bunch of stuff we already knew; the two loudest mouths in motorsports got together for a non-NASCAR announcement, and then everybody hugged and kissed and went home.

Showtime Sports breakfast with Inside NASCAR
Hey, great news! You know how it's so hard to find stuff about NASCAR? That Speed TV and ESPN and TNT and everybody else actually have a period between 2:45 a.m. and 3 a.m. that has no NASCAR show? That the 24-hour NASCAR station on Sirius Satellite Radio has some commercials, so there are periods of 2-3 minutes with zero NASCAR news?

Showtime is helping to fill that void with NASCAR Insider, which will run for 38 weeks and has Michael Waltrip and 11-foot-tall former NBA player Brad Daugherty as personalities. Why Daugherty? Because his next-favorite sport was NASCAR, and he wore number 43 on his jersey to honor his hero, Richard Petty.

He co-owns Marcos Ambrose's Sprint Cup team, and knows what he is talking about. And even if he doesn't, who is going to tell him? Waltrip, by the way, said he is "absolutely thrilled" about the show, which for him, is sort of downbeat.

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
There wasn't much sign of the "Earnhardt" part of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, which is pretty much Dale's widow Teresa, who wouldn't show up to take questions in front of a bunch of unwashed media if her life depended on it.

This is now a two-car team, with Roush castoff Jamie McMurray joining Juan Pablo Montoya (when did he become Pablo? Wasn't it like just overnight? Is that so we don't get him confused with all the other Juan Montoyas in NASCAR?). Anyway, they are excited about taking it to the next level, and everyone was patient even though they were eying the big Bass Pro Shops bags in the back that would be given out to media members who stayed for the whole speech.

NHRA-zMAX Dragway announcement
Huh? NHRA? Why are we at a drag strip on a NASCAR tour? Because Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts the tour for NASCAR, and they own a drag strip. O. Bruton Smith, 82, who is the top dog at Speedway Motorsports, which owns this track and Bristol and Las Vegas and Atlanta and Texas and a bunch of other things and places and people, including Sonic Automotive, the third-largest dealership network in the country, remains the most entertaining loose cannon in motorsports.

As if he needed the money, Bruton filed suit against the county for $80 million in incentives he thinks they stiffed him on, and at one point in the interview he looks right at a TV camera and starts talking about how local officials are crooks and cheaters and liars and don't clean up after they have a picnic and have questionable hygiene and heritage, and everybody who didn't know Bruton just sort of started to back up and look for the exit. The Mechanic is chesty to live in a country where billionaires can say anything they want.

Anyhow, when Bruton built this new drag strip two years ago, he told the NHRA that we wanted to run cars four wide, and the NHRA said no, that wasn't safe, potential disaster, never work, ain't gonna happen, but this being Bruton, it's admirable they held out as long as they did because in March, they're going to have the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.

It was heartily endorsed by the other leading motorsports loose cannon, NHRA Funny Car racer and political analyst John Force, who noted, "Like Obama says, we've got to have change." Bruton also owns zMAX, the engine additive that "penetrates metal," and we got some free bottles, which The Mechanic plans to try out on your car, OK? Of course, Carroll Shelby endorses it, and Shelby never does anything for the money, right?

Visit to the NASCAR technical center
Finally! Sort of like the way they make you sit through the whole time-share condo presentation to get your free dinner, members of the media hoping to sneak away primeval had to hang around for NASCAR's only real official part of the tour. Chairman Brian France gave his "state of the sport" talk, again revealing that all is well, and to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Which may have been Bruton Smith, who knows?

Then Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition, told us stuff we already knew: Sprint Cup cars would be going from the big Pep Boys-style wing back to spoilers, which we sort of guessed because they had already released specs for the spoiler and cars were already on the track testing it. And he said they would use a bigger restrictor plate at Daytona for the carburetors, going to 63/64ths of an inch, from, I think, 62/64ths of an inch, which won't make hardly any difference, especially since everybody gets the bigger plate, so there's no advantage.

Then Pemberton gave us The Quote NASCAR Will Regret all year. They had been restricting "bump drafting," which is when one car literally pushes another car around Daytona or Talladega. It's scary at Talladega in the turns, but it's insane at Daytona, which is rougher and has worn-out pavement. Even though, said Pemberton: "We will place it back in the hands of the drivers and we will say, 'Boys, have at it and have a good time.'"

Which is like saying, "Foxes, there's the hen house. Have a good time!"

NASCAR may well have to backtrack at Daytona after a front-runner or two gets spun in the corner, and the spinner says to the spin-ee: "Hey, NASCAR said it was OK."

At any rate, it should be interesting.

The only other bit of news is the announced "promotion" of John Darby, series director and top cop at the racetrack every weekend, to an inside position with R&D. The timing is weird, especially since NASCAR has no replacement ready. Lots of people think there is more to the story, but it's time to go home, and that's what The Mechanic is doing.

Later, dudes. I'm taking my zMAX and Extenze and hitting the road. – The Mechanic, Inside Line Contributor

E-mail me at themechanic@edmunds.com.

Remember that practice flip Red Bull never let us see during the massive PR buildup before new year's eve? It's in there. So are a few other interesting moments in which Pastrana contemplates his own mortality. 

Good stuff.

The Dodge Viper ACR-X has hit the track in preparation for its small production run that will commence soon. Engineers took the track-only Viper to Sebring International Raceway in Florida for a shake-down test and the car "kicked butt" according to one eloquent onlooker.

The ACR-X is designed for SCCA and NASA competition events as well as the new Viper Cup, a 10-race spec series that begins on July 9 at Virginia International Raceway and ends on October 24 at Daytona International Speedway. Dodge says it will pay out more than $200,000 in contingency prize money.

There's no getting through the Mercedes-Benz image armor. It's the defacto camouflage for almost all of the company's prototypes these days and it does a fine job of masking the true shape of its upcoming products.

Case in point, the 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK. It's getting a full redesign yet this image just looks like a mangled mess of sheetmetal. If anything, this test mule confirms that the retractable hardtop will remain.

Recent information on Mercedes' future product lineup obtained by Inside Line suggests that this SLK will debut sometime next year. The engine range in the U.S. will most likely feature a normally aspirated 3.5-liter V6 on base models and a smaller displacement, turbocharged V6 for the top-end version.

Mercedes-Benz Future Product Plans

Lexus fans want it to happen so bad and now they can practically feel it. Or at least hear it.

We're talking about a F-version of the GS sedan, one preferably with the new V10 that debuted in the LFA. It's an intent that has been thrown around for years and now Pistonheads has run a story that suggests a GS-F is being considered very seriously within Lexus.

There are some major hurdles of course. Cost is the big one as that new V10 is not cheap. They figure it would add $50-60K to the price of the GS making it far more expensive that its European competitors. Sound DOA based on that alone, but count on the Lexus truehearted to keep the rumors circulating for a another couple of years.

Pistonheads vis Lexusenthusiast

Who knew seatbelt airbags could be so fun? Well, at least these guys seem to be enjoying them. Why, we're not entirely sure.

Got a caption to sum it this one up?

Forget the 16C Galibier. We'd rather have the Veyron Mouse. It turned up last night on The Tonight Show as part of Conan's farewell series of "crazy expensive" sketches. Skip to 2:10 to see just the car.

New York Times Wheels blog

This semi-regular column is written (in his own blood) by an automotive chromatic and noted malcontent, known as The Mechanic. Mercilessly beaten as a child with rolled-up back issues of old car magazines, our free-spoken hero developed a unique "for your own good" take on cars and the auto industry, along with an unfortunate usage of setting himself ablaze. Later, after a distinguished career as an automotive journalist and entrepot editor, he cast off the reins of his musty oppressors, carved out his superego with a plastic spork and became The Mechanic.

CONCORD, North Carolina – The 200-odd NASCAR-covering media here for the 28th Annual NASCAR Sprint Media Tour Hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS) – we promised to spell all that out at least once for our gracious hosts – are getting kind of bored, since everybody pretty much says the same thing. Such as "excited."

Twenty-two times in one brief press conference on Wednesday. Drivers and owners are excited about the new season, excited to be heading to Daytona, excited about Burger King's new $1 value breakfast menu – it doesn't take much to excite what must be the most excitable people north of Haiti.

Well, with one exception, and we'll get to him in a minute. Here's what happened on Day Three:

NASCAR Nationwide Series Announcement
The Mechanic was not excited about getting up primeval for this announcement, especially after a late night at Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s downtown club, Whisky River (no, Junior didn't show), but that's what we dedicated media types do: show up. In this case, for an declaration that NASCAR.com is stepping up its coverage of the second-tier Nationwide series.

Making the declaration was John Aman, some sort of vice president for the company. They will also continue a program that awards $25,000 to a driver who can win all four races at selected tracks – Iowa, Kentucky, Nashville and Texas – an opportunity that driver Colin Braun revealed was "pretty neat." Media training on aisle three, please.

Charlotte Motor Speedway Press Conference
Our regular dose of Charlotte Motor Speedway excitement was actually pretty interesting: In July, the track will host a $1-million-to-win event for the Legends series, which are the little racecars that look like 1930s coupes and sedans, powered by 1200cc Yamaha engines. And – imagine the coincidence! – they are manufactured and sold by Speedway Motorsports, owner of CMS.

Even so, for a car that costs about $13,000 new, that's a pretty compelling purse. The bad news: They are expecting like 1,000 entries. Also interesting: One of the young racers who showed up with his Legends car was towing it in a triple-decker, 38-foot trailer with a diesel tractor – this for a car that fits in the back of a pickup truck. Lots of NASCAR racers like Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and David Ragan – his father, former NASCAR driver Ken Ragan, ran the Legends program – all came up through the series. Good for them.

It was CMS's second declaration that, finally, added some Flair to the proceedings, and I capitalize "Flair" because they trotted out Ric "Nature Boy" Flair, the ancient pro wrestler who turns 61 next month but still snarls like a man of, like, 55.

Flair is featured on a poster that pits Dale "Wahoo" Junior vs. Kevin "Baron Von" Harvick, and Kyle "Rowdy" Busch vs. Tony "Smoke" Stewart, all in the May 22 "Backyard Brawl," otherwise known as the Sprint All-Star race. At the bottom of the poster is Ric Flair, saying "WOOOOOOOOO!" This is, of course, his trademark mating call, and the track wants fans to submit videos of themselves sounding like Ric Flair, for a chance to win tickets to the race.

But the press release lists "WOOOOO!" with only five Os, four fewer than the poster, so you are on your own here. At least Flair didn't bleed all over the podium, which must have required restraint for the best blade man in the business. Poor guy's forehead looks like a road map to Red China from decades of pre-match razor blade cuts, which conveniently split open and gush during matches. This suggests correctly that The Mechanic knows way more about professional wrestling than he should.

Lunch at Hendrick Motorsports
This is the happiest place in Charlotte, with Jimmie Johnson the reigning four-time Sprint Cup champion; Mark Martin, who finished 2nd in the points, and Jeff Gordon, a four-time champ who finished 3rd.

But the fourth driver on the podium looked and sounded as depressing as Conan O'Brien's agent: Dale Earnhardt, Jr., not only didn't make the Chase for the Championship, but he didn't win a race last year. NASCAR's perennial "Most Popular Driver" seemed absolutely morose, fielding questions from the crowd with a quiet resignation that suggests 2010 will be little better than 2009. He only used the word "excited" twice, which in this business is the equivalent of a suicide note.

Then, privately, meeting with small groups of media members, he was no better. He was polite – always is – but just seems beaten down. He was asked about chemistry with his team and new crew chief, Lance McGrew, who must force himself to be part mechanic, part Dr. Phil. Junior said he wasn't sure what good chemistry was, but that he has never experienced what he thinks Jimmie Johnson and his crew chief, Chad Knaus, have.

"Is chemistry a myth? Maybe it's a myth," Earnhardt said. "I guess I'll know it if I see it." Sigh. And this is the guy who had been sipping on his sponsor, AMP energy drink, all day. Imagine what he'd be like on herbal tea?

Anyway, Mark Martin, at 50, seems more than ready for 2010, though he admits he's worried that his only son, Matt, is about to join the U.S. Marines. Semper fi, little dude.

Michael Waltrip Racing Dinner
This was a weird little evening, with the media bused to Cornelius to Waltrip's big, beautiful shop, which used to be a movie theater, appropriate for the most theatrical NASCAR driver. Except Mikey is backing away from driving in the Sprint Cup series, replacing himself with journeyman Martin Truex, who is still fighting to get past the "also-ran" status.

Mikey was dressed in a too-short blue suit – "Looks like he's ready for class at a Catholic school," somebody said. Even so, no one is a better, or more tiresome, shill for his sponsors, which is good because his other drivers – Truex, David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose – didn't have much to say, except to note that they were "excited."

Hospitality With Speed TV
Low pressure, lots to drink and a chance to mingle with stand-up comic/driver Kenny insurrectionist and the retired Jimmy Spencer, sporting an ever-improving toupee and the biggest unlit cigar you ever saw.

Tomorrow, for the finale, we get to hear from Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, travel to the CMS drag strip to listen to John Force – that should take a few hours – and then finally, it winds up with a two-hour visit to NASCAR's Charlotte facility, where we will hear all about new rules changes such as spoilers instead of wings on Cup cars, and maybe NASCAR will even admit that it is going to fuel injection in 2011, something it decided last year but still hasn't announced.
 
And then, The Mechanic heads home. I'm "excited." - The Mechanic, Inside Line Contributor

E-mail me at themechanic@edmunds.com.

GM is doing its own special kind of seism relief by donating this Corvette to the Barrett-Jackson auction. All proceeds from the auction of the Corvette will go directly to the Red Cross relief fund which has already received a $100,000 donation from the General Motors Foundation.

If you're curious, this is a limited-edition 2008 Z06 Corvette that features an exclusive Crystal Red exterior color, chrome exterior accents, a stinger hood stripe and Crystral Red center trim plate. The car will cross the block this Saturday night as lot# 1318.

Barrett-Jackson