Falcon Heavy is launching soon. Here's some info about this historic launch.

There is plenty of information available about the Falcon Heavy.  But here are a few for my friends that get their SpaceX news from me instead of the dozens of space related sites (as well as the SpaceX Falcon Heavy page).

• Falcon Heavy is comprised of 3 Falcon 9 rockets.  
• It will be the most powerful rocket ever launched.  
• The most powerful rocket since the Saturn V, which took us to the Moon.  
• It will be over twice as powerful as any rocket currently flying (the Saturn V was retired in the early 70's).

The first "demo" launch will also be historic.

• SpaceX will attempt to recover all three boosters: two will return to the SpaceX landing site near the lauch pad, and the center booster will attempt to land on the autonomous "drone" ship "Of course I still Love you".
• It will be the first time a private company has launched a spacecraft beyond Earth's orbit.
• It will be launching from the same historic launch pad that the Saturn V Apollo missions launched from.
• The payload will be Elon Musk's personal Tesla roadster. 

And why launch a car into orbit around the Sun?
First, because something had to simulate a payload (dummy weight is usually used).

But mostly it seems it's because Elon Musk thinks it would be cool -- and it's his rocket, and his car, so...

But Tesla or not, a successful mission would provide valuable data for future Mars missions.

So, in addition to flight testing a new rocket configuration, the mission - if successful - will also be a tangible step towards landing on Mars, which has been the company's stated mission from the beginning.

But as Elon Musk said himself, is may also end in a big fireball.  "Some things can't be tested" without launching them.  There is a lot that could go wrong in something this complex.

But when?
Who knows.  There have been delays in the critical testing that leads up to a launch.   And these have been exasperated by the recent (and potential future) government shutdown as explained here.
So there is no official launch date, but the end of January is getting close, so we could it slip into February.

UPDATE: The hold-down firing of the rocket could occur tomorrow, with a tentative schedule between 2 PM and 6 PM EST (1700-2300 GMT).  This assumes the fueling and countdown rehearsal that precedes it goes according to plan.