Bert sent me this article this morning, which is a surprisingly nice way to start off a workday as opposed to jumping right in to the grind, but I just thought I’d share it with all my car people out there:

Aston Martin ALMS car flies farther than Wright Bros.
Posted May 23rd 2006 11:45AM by John Neff
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/05/23/aston-martin-flies-farther-than-wright-bros/

Last weekend during a practice lap at Mid-Ohio Raceway the 009 Aston Martin ALMS went airborne off the track and “flew” 142 feet before landing off the track in the dirt. The track was reportedly wet and the unidentified driver lost control under braking. Fortunately his car was the only one on that part of the track at the time and it amazingly remained level during its separation with terra firma.

These pics were found on the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club (NASIOC) forum, and those guys know a lot about flying cars from watching Subies take flight in World Rally competition. One astute forum member noted that the first record of powered flight by the Wright brothers on December 17th, 1903 lasted for 120 feet and 12 seconds. We checked it out, it’s true, which means the Aston beat the Wright brothers’ first flight by 22 feet.

Now what I’d really like to know is, how he didn’t manage to completely destroy that car in the process. Update: Here’s a link to video of the accident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl2UUunlI2Q