Honda CBR1000RR

Honda's Fireblade revolutionised the sportsbike market in 1992, setting new standards in performance, handling and excitement, but over the years - like all of us - it has become slightly more civilised, and now even comes with optional luggage. Could the Fireblade's fire be fading? Chris Moss finds out.
Racetracks are the only place to test the latest generation of road-going superbikes. Their huge power and speed dictate no other environment is sensible enough to sample them to the full in any sort of safety. That's clearly what Honda thinks too. and the Losail MotoGP track was the venue chosen for the press to ride its new 2008 Fireblade.

Ford F-150

For Matt O'Leary and Pat Schiavone, P415 was just another assignment. To their bosses in Dearborn, though, P415—the internal codename for the 2009 Ford F-150—was almost certainly the Ford Motor Company's single most important new-model design and development program this decade. The F-150 is a phenomenon: More than 33 million have been sold since the nameplate was launched in 1948, and the F-Series has been America's best-selling truck for 31 years straight. Last year, one in three vehicles carrying the Blue Oval badge sold in America was an F-Series. On a world scale, the F-Series accounts for 13 percent of global Ford Motor Company sales—including Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, the lot. This thing is a big deal in Dearborn.

Cadillac CTS-V

THIS IS IT. The fastest, most powerful Cadillac ever built. The fastest, most powerful American sedan in history, for that matter. Locked, loaded, and gunning for Europe's heavy-hitting sport sedans—BMW M5, Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, Audi RS6. Read all that again. Now pinch yourself. No, you're not dreaming. Motown— well, GM at least—has its mojo back. Meet Cadillac's monster new CTS-V. Cadzilla, if you will.