by Gabrielle DeSantis

For those who dream of a little destruction and mayhem, there’s nothing like a Monster Jam rally. Seeing humongous trucks racing over smaller vehicles is a thrilling experience for drivers and audience members. As with most sports, some trucks have become more popular than others, however, and the Grave Digger is one of the top picks. Is it the original monster truck, however, or does that title go to another?

Grave Digger is a Monster Jam legend

Getting a chance at driving a monster truck on major circuits isn’t easy, especially when it comes to Monster Jam. Grave Digger got lucky, however. A competitor that was supposed to jump in and crush some cars didn’t show up, and Grave Digger was given the slot. So, ever since, it’s been a fan favorite.

According to Motor Trend, “Originally built as a mud-bogging machine, Grave Digger got its name after its owner, Dennis Anderson, told his competitors that he’d dig their graves using his beat-up old truck. The first Grave Digger was a 1952 Ford pickup shod in mud-bogging tires and powered by a Chevrolet small-block engine.”

Monster trucks take quite the beating, however, and it’s common to replace them. The heir to the Grave Digger name was a 1957 Chevrolet Panel Wagon. It was given black and green paint and red headlights that gave it a creepy but appealing look that suited its name perfectly.

There are currently nine Grave Digger trucks on the circuit, and each is outfitted with a supercharged V8 engine that pushes out 1,500 horsepower. While Motor Trend refers to the Grave Digger as the OG Monster truck, that title actually belongs to another.

Bigfoot started it all

Bigfoot is the original monster truck and was created by Bob Chandler. He decided to put huge tires on his Ford F-250 in 1975, and a monster truck was born. It had a 640-cubic-inch Hemi engine and made quite the impression of crushing cars and zipping through mud runs.

Since then, Bigfoot stars in an average of 1,000 shows a year, according to Car and Driver. It’s been in over seven movies, the first of which was Take This Job and Shove It. There are now five Bigfoot trucks making the circuits, and it’s appeared all over the world. There’s one place you won’t see Bigfoot, however, and that’s Monster Jam. 

More about Monster Jam

There is no more well-known monster truck show than Monster Jam. It’s sort of like the NASCAR of the monster truck world. For those who dream of designing and driving monster trucks, it doesn’t get any bigger than Monster Jam.

Monster Jam was created in 1992 and took a different approach than other competitors. To perform in a Monster Jam show, the creator and owner of the monster truck must sell it to Monster Jam. This stipulation is due to licensing issues. When Monster Jam owns the truck, it owns the rights to things like photos, videos, and advertising rights. It makes things easier when Monster Jam puts out a new game and doesn’t have to worry about which trucks appear.

However, not all monster truck owners want to play by Monster Jam’s rules, which costs them. Chandler was one of them. He decided not to perform in Monster Jam because the company wanted to buy Bigfoot before advertising it. Chandler refused, and as a result, Bigfoot hasn’t been in a Monster Jam show in decades.

In an interview with Car and Driver in 2017, Chandler did express some regret for not “tying in” with Monster Jam because it would have gotten Bigfoot more of the attention that is now going to Grave Digger.

RELATED: How Much Does a Monster Truck Cost?

The post Is Grave Digger the 1st Monster Truck? appeared first on MotorBiscuit.

by Gabrielle DeSantis

Tesla’s beta Full Self-Driving (FSD) software has been a major topic of discussion in the Tesla community since it first rolled out. Initially FSD was only released to a very small group of people, mainly Tesla employees. As the software has been improved, the number of people with access to it has grown. Now, with only days left until a more widespread release of Full Self-Driving in the form of FSD 10, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software has been leaked. What are people doing with FSD?

How are people using the leaked software to their benefit?

According to Electrek, Tesla’s binary firmware is what’s been leaked, and hackers have been using root access to manipulate the software. Sometimes people can use root access to look through Tesla’s software and do things like activate features or even put Tesla Full Self-Driving in a car without it. 

Though this sounds kind of scary, it turns out that most people with access to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software don’t want to do anything bad with it. They just want to use it.

Hackers are using the leaked software to put FSD in their cars

Teslas are sold in countries all over the world, but that doesn’t mean that everyone in every country where Teslas are available has access to Full Self-Driving. In fact, in many countries it isn’t yet available. This is at least partly due to the fact that road signs and markings in other countries are different, and FSD isn’t ready for that. 

When a Twitter user asked Musk about FSD in Canada, Musk responded with, “Not sure, but maybe a few months. In general for any region, we need to make software work well, test it extensively & then get regulatory approval. If we could go faster while being safe, we would!”

Yet with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software being leaked, that means that some people in areas without access to FSD have been able to program it into their cars. Electrek points to a user in the Ukraine who posted a video of using root access to put the leaked Tesla Full Self-Driving software in their car. Up until that point, it wasn’t widely known – or at least talked about – that some users had access to the leaked software. In fact, Electrek says that until now Tesla didn’t even realize that there was a security breach.

There’s a reason the software has been released on a limited basis

Tesla has good reason to want to take their time with the Full Self-Driving release. In the United States, Tesla has come under fire for its advertisement of FSD and Autopilot, its other semi-autonomous system. Two senators want Tesla investigated for touting that these systems are autonomous, when really they are only Level 2. This means that a user still has to be in full control of the vehicle at all times. 

Unfortunately, some people are either ignoring or unaware of this, and they aren’t paying attention while behind the wheel of their Tesla. Some are even tricking their Tesla into believing there’s a person in the driver’s seat. Accidents while Autopilot and Full Self-Driving are engaged have people wondering if the software rollout is going too quickly. 

Now that Tesla is aware of the leaked software, it’s likely they’ll do something about it. It may not be much longer that people are able to get into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software. 

RELATED: Teslas Keep Crashing Into Emergency Vehicles

The post Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Software Leaked, and Hackers Are Having a Field Day appeared first on MotorBiscuit.