Testing one’s limits looks different to every person. For some, it’s staying up past midnight to work on a prized car. Others have to go . . . well . . . a little further.Racing jets, perhaps. Or circumnavigating Africa, solo, on a motorbike.This month, 42-year-old bike enthusiast and gym teacher Spencer Conway finished his  286 day circuit around the entire continent of Africa. No camera crew. No support truck.

 It’s the height of summer. If there’s any time of year to sit back and try not to take life too seriously, it’s now.That might explain why Indy racer Alex Tagliani chose July to announce that he will now be driving a Hot Wheels car and the Smithsonian Institute just welcomed the addition of two jovial crash test dummies to their collection of historical automotive safety artifacts.Tagliani raced his FAAZT Team car in the Honda Indy Toronto, July 18.

World renowned artist Jeff Koons had his latest installment displayed in one of the most non-conventional galleries in the world this month.Since 1923 crews and drivers have been testing themselves in the 24-hour Le Mans, France Race and it’s a sure bet that most of them don’t consider the paint job to be much of a factor in their success.Yet, BMW’s Art Car initiative, now in its 17th installment, received global recognition for melding the world of artistic expression and speed together at Le Mans, a race known more for testing endurance

The following is not a typo. This summer, the American Automobile Association (AAA) expects to rescue 9.3 million motorists.9.3 million!While the AAA didn’t offer up any statistics on the number of vacations cut short, we can estimate that... conservatively... at least a million kids are going to miss out on summer fun when the family vehicle stops running.It’s nearly impossible to visualize that many stranded motorists. And that many crying kids.All of that metal slumped on the side of the road.

 Thanks to Hollywood, when people hear the words Apollo Thirteen, the image of actor Tom Hanks pops immediately to mind.But this month -- exactly forty years after the fateful lunar mission that saw the brightest minds at NASA come up with a way of bringing the seemingly doomed crew back to earth -- three Canadian ‘nobodies’ were honored for their crucial role in the rescue.The three former University of Toronto engineering professors weren’t invited to the Oscar parties when the film Apollo 13 was nominated for Best Picture in 1995.

What cuts through the hectic pace of day to day life and redirects your focus? What causes you to weigh what is truly valuable?

There’s a scene in the middle of the movie A Christmas Story (1983), when the Parker family gets a flat tire on the way home from Christmas shopping, circa 1940-something. “Time me” says Dad as he jumps from the car and grabs the spare. Seconds later, Nine-year-old Ralph Parker is stunned when his mom encourages him to go help his dad for the first time. Clearly this is a right of passage for Ralph. He’s not some little kid who has to sit in the car now.

If this is the first time you’ve heard that one of Formula 1 racer Michael Schumacher’s cars is for sale on Ebay, unfortunately you’re probably too late to cast a bid.We regret that things didn’t end differently. This could have been the first time you finished your Christmas shopping in November. The only piece left in the puzzle would have been one of those ridiculous giant bows and you could have rested easy for a month while everyone else was scurrying to the mall.

How much stuff does one person need?

While the big three auto-makers are busy reinventing themselves, many of their early assembly line offspring are proving that true classics never lose their place in the hearts and garages of true collectors, no matter how bad the economy gets.Experts are pointing to a ‘correction’ in the price of entry level muscle cars that were being bought up by nostalgia seeking middle class North Americans before the current recession.