This is a shout out to all of our readers in the Southern California area. There's a new racetrack on the verge of final approval and those involved are asking for help.
The proposed facility is called Fairmont Butte Motorsports Park and it would be built in Palmdale about 60 miles north of L.A. You can get all the details on the Fairmont Butte Motorsports Park website.
The last public hearing is scheduled for this Saturday at the Lancaster Public Library, anyone that can attend and show support would help immensely. You can also help the cause by submitting a letter or email of support to the County of Los Angeles.
As the Formula One season approaches, the new USF1 team is scrambling to get ready. Car building, testing, FIA paperwork, it's all coming down to the wire.
Popular Mechanics took a closer look at the issues facing the start up team as it prepares for the first race in Bahrain on March 14th. Kind of makes you realize why there aren't more American teams in F1.
Can anyone beat Team Eyesore? Apparently not. After becoming the only two-time overall winner in the 24 Hours of LeMons, the Ghettocharged Miata returned to the track this past weekend and won the Chumpcar World Series event at the Streets of Willow Springs.
We already showed you a glimpse of the 2011 Dodge Charger today. Now take a look at a current Charger that has been modified by Speedfactory Cars. It used to run 10s with a full interior, but in order to get the car into the 9s they had to gut the interior and put the car on a diet. Oh, and it runs a supercharged 426 Hemi in place of the stock 5.7, so yeah, other than the body there isn't much stock about this Charger.
Toyota made big news when it displayed several eye-catching cars in its booth at the Tokyo Auto Salon a couple weeks ago. These cars were like nothing Toyota has shown before, slick interpretations of future and existing models, which not only looked sporty but supposedly featured significant performance enhancements. These cars wore the G's logo with the words "Toyota G Sports" written underneath.
G's is a new brand from Toyota that will gradually roll out cars in mid-2010, specializing in complete conversions of Toyota's existing products. In a word, G's will be the company's in-house tuning division, providing Toyota fans sporty cars customized to their own tastes. What will separate G's from other OEM tuner divisions like AMG, BMW's M and even the Lexus F cars is the customization angle as customers will be able to choose their level of tweaks. The changes to the cars will be applied to the exterior, interior and to the mechanical components, most notably the suspension.
Here's a better look at Ken Block's new Ford Fiesta rally car going through tech inspection before the Sno*Drift Rally in Atlanta Michigan yesterday. Look carefully and you can see inside the door frame that the car was once red (same thing inside the hatch). We're going to go out on a limb and say that this is the same Olsbergs-built Fiesta which Kenny Brack drove to victory over Travis Pastrana in the X Games last summer. Really, how many of them can there be?
You may remember the Ultimate Streetcar Challenge from the heyday of Sport Compact Car magazine. Editors Dave Coleman and Josh Jacquot (now Senior Road Test Editor at Inside Line) created the event to find out which reader-built cars were the real deal. The car had to do more than just go fast in a straight line, they had to stop, run a road course and be usable on the street too.
That event ended with the magazine's unfortunate demise years ago, but a similar event has taken up the cause. Dubbed the Optima Batteries Ultimate Streetcar Invitational, the modern version pits the best of the aftermarket tuning crowd in a similar contest of speed, handling and all around driveability. It was held just after last year's SEMA show and will be broadcast on Speed this Saturday at 11:00 AM EST and again on Sunday at 4:00 PM EST.
He hasn't even started his comeback season yet and Michael Schumacher is already hinting that he may drive beyond his 3-year contract with Mercedes.
According to an article on ESPN, Schumacher told reporters, "It doesn't have to be the end after three years - the three-year deal was Mercedes' idea and it was a sign of confidence. I thought about everything very carefully: Am I just spontaneously high or will my enthusiasm last? I have been excited for quite some time and can imagine doing this for a few years."
Well, we can all imagine driving Formula One for years, whether or not he'll actually be able to pull it off is quite another matter.
We hope you haven't tired of seeing video of Travis Pastrana's heroically insane jump from the Long Beach Pier, because this latest video from Red Bull is easily the best yet. You get to watch the jump from three different POV cameras:
(1) One is mounted atop Pastrana's Subaru WRX STI and pointed behind it. You'll watch the jump ramp and water fall away as Pastrana takes the car airborne.
(2) Another is mounted in the undercarriage of the STI.
(3) And, best of all is the one mounted in the hatch and aimed at the cockpit. Here you see how utterly relaxed Pastrana is as he yanks the handbrake in midair and slides the car to a hard stop after landing.
"Woo-hoo. That was sick!" Yep, you'll hear that three times as well.
Big congratulations to Team Eyesore for its win at the 24 Hours of LeMons in Phoenix this past weekend. They dominated the race, and the costume contest, with their ghetto-charged Alice in Wonderland Miata, a car which has now finished in the top five in each of its five races.
Team Eyesore also made history as the first two-time winner in 24 Hours of LeMons race series.
Inside Line Engineering Editor Jay Kavanagh took the wheel for first stint on Sunday while our very own Copy Chief Caroline Pardilla was once again part of the pit crew.
It's going to take a while to get used to writing Ken Block and Ford in the same sentence. But here we go: Pictured above is Block's new Rally America Championship Ford Fiesta race car. And while the dripping-paint motif of the Monster-sponsored Fiesta is, you know, pretty ugly really the car is cool.
Block will debut the car at this weekend's Sno* Drift rally in Northern Michigan. It'll be the first of six Rally America races Block will race the Fiesta in this season. Ford will also provide his race car for seven rounds of the World Rally Championship, although that car will be a Focus RS. And, naturally, Block will also perform at the X games in July driving a Ford.
We'd be surprised if Block didn't squeeze in the filming of a sequel for his hooliganism-as-high-art Gymkhana series of videos.
Make the jump for an more photo and video samples of the new Fiesta racer as well as links to Block's earlier work with a certain Subaru.
What you thought because it was a U.S. based team that it would hire American drivers?
Well, it's still possible, but the team's first choice was confirmed yesterday and we're pretty sure he doesn't have any dirt track experience in a sprint car.
His name is Jose Maria Lopez and he's from Argentina. He spent most of his career racing in Europe and was a test driver for Renault's Formula One team for three seasons. They didn't hire him, but according to USF1's press release "he didn't mope around" instead returning to his home country where he won a bunch of local races and become a national hero.
Maybe you thought Toyota exited Formula 1 hastily, a rash decision in the face of falling worldwide sales and trouble in its biggest market (that would be the U.S.). We can assure you that wasn't the case, but if you're still not convinced check out the website Toyota put together to say goodbye to its fans. Yes, a farewell website and a quite nice one at that.
Not too long ago one Johnny Greaves set the world record for a four-wheel vehicle by jumping his racetruck over 300 feet. Now his Monster Energy teammate, Ryan Capes, is back with a world record motorcycle jump. No flips or bridges involved, just a nearly footfall-field-long jump on a 500cc dirtbike that's all.
