It’s a busy week for us BangShifters, folks! We have Optima racing at Pikes Peak International Raceway, the New England Nationals in New Hampshire, and American Endurance Racing at NCM Motorsports Park in Kentucky, and we all are actively playing the game! You’ll see plenty of stuff coming down the pike from that later this week, but as we bust our asses for you guys in the field, let’s take a look at some of the stranger or otherwise kind-of noteworthy news that crossed our desk. This is Scrapple, enjoy!

1. File this one in the “no s#!t, Sherlock” folder…

Would you have guessed that your chances of surviving being run down by a pickup truck or an SUV were minimal? Ok, too easy…of course you aren’t likely to have that happen. You were taught to look both ways and to use crosswalks, and to keep your head on a swivel. But in 2016, over 6,000 pedestrians were killed in the United States, usually in major cities, and over 40% of those fatalities were caused by a truck or SUV.

Of course, if your vehicle hits the brakes for you, then everybody wins! …right? According to this piece, it must be the case. Heaven forbid that a competent human…oh, I don’t know…NOT PLAY IN TRAFFIC. But this actual quote is in the article: “The technology is really going to be our savior…In the short term, we’ve been getting dumber faster than our cars have been making us smarter.”

I quit.

2. How do you say “Hellcat” in Korean?

Just when we thought we had heard the last of FCA trying to merge with another company, the rumor mill lit on fire over a suspected FCA/Hyundai partnership. This has been rumored before, but Hyundai officials were quick to quash it before it turned into anything more than speculation.

3. Lightning Bug!

In another round of “Please forget the word ‘Dieselgate’, we hear that it’s just about the end of the line for the Volkswagen Beetle, the second-generation of reborn VW playfulness that…well, did alright, we guess. It’s a Beetle…new, old or otherwise, it’s difficult to get excited about one. But VW is in deep scheisse, and could use an iconic shape to help move memories past these dark times. You know, something like a four-door electric vehicle with a very familiar, rounded shape? We might see that coming soon, maybe even with a return to rear-drive. IF VW manages to keep their heads above water in the meantime.

4. Speaking of interesting Korean cars…

Aussie hoons, here’s another set of headlights you need to worry about. Queensland is picking up a fleet of Kia Stinger GTs for cop duty. Yeah, the full-kill, AWD-equipped four-doors that have been scoring quite a reputation since they debuted. Trust us, it’ll be plenty to be worried about.

5. Crack Pipe Dreaming 101

That Lamborghini Centenario ripoff Batmobile dream machine you see above you is called the Alieno Arcanum, and as best we cam make out, is simply a rendering at this point. Alieno is out of Bulgaria, an eye-raising location for a supercar company if there ever was one, but that isn’t the shocking part…that’s the power levels for the four models they intend to offer. Here’s their horsepower figures, verbatim:

2,610 horsepower/3,275 lbs-ft of torque

3,482 horsepower/4,336 lbs-ft of torque

4,351 horsepower/5,458 lbs-ft of torque

5,221 horsepower/6,490 lbs-ft of torque.

Oh…and a top speed of 303 miles an hour. And since it’s an electric vehicle, you have to talk range: up to 634 miles on a single charge.

*sniff, sniff*….I smell bullshit.