The participants of the 2008 running of the Transsyberia Rallye who will be driving specially prepared Porsche Cayennes have descended upon Leipzig, Germany to prepare for the rally that runs from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar in July. Included in the teams are friend of The Garage, Laurance Yap who is posing above with the machine he will share with fellow Canadian Kees Nierop.
During this session, teams will learn the ins and outs of their Cayenne S Transsyberia and the navigation equipment. Basic maintenance and repairs are performed en-route by the driving team, while more major repairs are looked after by a team of Porsche technicians that follow the event. Teams are instructed by last year’s winner Rod Millen and pro co-driver Andi Schulz, not only in use of equipment but also with tips regarding things such as reading the terrain, vehicle extraction and how to control the vehicle at high speeds on loose surfaces. Teams with prior experience work with new teams to ease the path. Continue reading →
I’ve finally had a chance to slide my fat behind into the driver’s seat of Mitsubishi’s much awaited Evo X. Unfortunately, time only allowed a very short blast through mid day Toronto traffic, but it was enough to make a bit of a comparison with the Subaru STi following a similar short trip in that monster machine.
Our ride today was a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR, with the 5 speed manual. The car is a pre production model that is destined for the mandatory crushing that PT units receive after they’ve been flogged repeatedly by anyone who has the opportunity. This particular car has seen media road tests, track days and heavy road use. The clutch is releasing fairly high in the travel due to many, many drivers launching it hard. Still, the drivetrain hooks up and leaves no question as to the potential of the beast. Continue reading →
In the tunnel a mid-90’s blue Cavalier pulls along side. Glancing to the right, through the glass, I see the driver mouthing the words, “Is that the new Monster?” I nod. He gives me a thumbs up, and with a roll on of the throttle the tunnel fills with the 2009 Monster 696’s twin under-seat exhaust barking their departure.
Remember that stripped down 49 Mercury that Aaron Von Minden was cruising in? Well, things have taken a slightly different direction with a coat of shiny black. More images to come when the wrapping is off!
Having visited Buffalo, New York several times over the years for dance competitions (our kid, not me in case you weren’t sure), it occurred to us that we had never visiting the Anchor Bar. What is the Anchor Bar you ask? Well, for those of you not versed in the history of chicken wings, the Anchor Bar is storied to be the place where the Buffalo chicken wing was born. We recently saw the place on an episode of Bobby Flay’s Throwdown and thought for sure the place would be worth a visit.
Walking in the lobby, things were looking good. Not only does the place have a genuine ambiance, but it’s a gearhead’s dream, with hundreds of license plates lining the walls and a bunch of motorcycles on display. Beyond the decor however, I have to say the place was underwhelming. Continue reading →
The folks at Shell just love sending me cool videos that I just have to share because they are too fun to keep to myself. This time, we’ve left the Ferrari guys and going around in circles. And around, and around. Harvick looks like he’s out for a Sunday drive, but be sure to keep an eye on the guys in the back!
We only had a very short time to visit Mosport this weekend, but I just couldn’t let the first race of the season go by without hearing some race engines and sharing some photos with our readers. For the first outing of the year, there was certainly a wide range of cars in the paddock. Vintage cars were out in full force and the Ontario GT Sprints crowd were well represented also. There was even a big horsepower floppy body Ford pick up that was trying to find a way past Darth Viper. Our next visit to the track will be the Grand Am event on Father’s Day weekend and you can be sure we’ll have a ton more photos, and an interview or two.
Next up in our NASCAR podcast series, we have Tony Stewart’s comments following his win at Darlington last week in the Nationwide Series. Stewart took the lead in his Old Spice Toyota with just 2 laps left in the race following a 6 car crash. This was the now mulletless Stewart’s 4th win of the 2008 season.
Over the past few years, we’ve sort of put our own involvement in racing on the back burner while we do important things like shuttle kids and pay the mortgage. Fortunately, we’ve been lucky to have friends still involved in racing and we live vicariously through their stories. We might even pop in and help out every now and then when time allows.
One of those lucky folks who we’ve glommed onto is Perry Ianuzzi, the jolly leader of Team Mad Macs. TMM is essentially Sentra central in Ontario and Perry and his crew have assembled a new beast for the 2008 Ontario GT Sprints season and the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship presented by Toyo Tires.
The 2008 season started well, as once Perry “shook off the cobwebs” he was able to put in a podium finish on Sunday in the GT-B event. Great way to start the season guys & girls.
Photo gallery and Perry’s race report after the break Continue reading →
About 50 of us fellow La Carrera Panamericana nuts got together in Pasadena California for a fiesta at Ron Lee’s home where we lied about how fast we go, how cool our cars are and how big our… Engines are. Our host Ron Lee and his wife were extremely gracious and the grog and ale were as good as it gets. Besides drivers, navigators, fans and some directors, we were honored by the presence of Eduardo Leon the President of La Carrera Panamericana.
Ron has an incredible car collection many of which he built himself to his impeccable standards. As the evening continued not only did we get to enjoy each other’s stories and company and but we also got to enjoy the sounds and smell as Ron revved up a few of his awesome sounding toys. The Philharmonic Orchestra doesn’t hold a candle up to the sounds we enjoyed!
There is already talk of another La Carrera Fiesta at Laguna Seca on the same weekend of the Monterey Historics. Do I hear Lucky asking to be uncaged?
