Racing is under way in Ontario for the 2008 season. Yippee!
We only had a couple of hours at the track early yesterday morning and a bunch of that was spent in the showers cleaning poo off the 7 year old. Thankfully for him the Panoz team actually installed water heaters a couple of years ago!
While we didn’t have time to hear many stories, at least I was able to grab a couple of hundred photos around the paddock. With all the Mother’s Day festivities going on (ok…she’s doing kid stuff and I’m going to a wedding) there won’t be much time today to edit and post photos. No worries though, we’ll have a huge gallery soon!
The Escort RS you see above is reflected on the curvaceous posterior of a vintage, front engine open wheeler of some sort that was just stunning. The owner wasn’t around and there were no visible markings so I’m not sure what it was. I would guess that it is an early Formula Junior. I’ll do some digging to see if I can find the answer.
Just as the Jeeps of the Seventies lit up my imagination, the 2008 Wrangler Unlimited caught the attention of our boys and all of their friends. The big, chunky, mud terrain tires and the removable hard top were enough to get them going. The 3 piece hard top is wonderfully simple in design. The front panels can be removed or installed in under 3 minutes by one person, which is perfect for a spring afternoon drive home in Ontario. As The Garage is full of flotsam at the moment, we left the main section in place during our time with the Jeep but with the front sections off and all the windows open we felt at one with the outdoors. Continue reading →
The folks at Chrysler Canada are a pretty excited bunch this week, after watching the first 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 make it’s way out of the Brampton, Ontario plant on Thursday. The Canadian plant also manufactures the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can get our hands on one here in The Garage.
Ok, I know, The Garage is all about cars not singing so why are we talking about American Idol? Well, Ford has been involved with the hit reality contest series since the beginning and they’ve created some pretty cool videos using Idol contestants and Ford products. Oh yes, that and they are giving stuff away. Not just any stuff though, they are giving away a trip for 2 to the 2008 season finale in Los Angeles, $5000 cash and a 2008 Focus equipped with the SYNC technology package.
All you need to do is visit the American Idol sitebefore the end of today and answer a few questions about the Ford American Idol music videos. You can do it! We know you’ve been watching! I’ll even admit that my money is on the little guy.
That’s not all! Watch The Garage over the next couple of days, where we’ll be having our own contest with an American Idol give a way courtesy of Ford!
I strongly feel that sometimes a man just has to do what feels right at the time be it legal or not. The truth is, I think a lot more of us should follow this guy’s example and learn to appreciate how good a good old fashioned “Braveheart” moment can feel.
Passenger ‘moons’ at speed camera
A front seat car passenger was photographed baring his backside at a speed camera in Northumberland.
The “mooning” man was snapped by the mobile camera as the black BMW X5 drove past on the A1171 Dudley Lane in Cramlington last month.
His behaviour has been labelled as “dangerous and offensive” by road safety campaigners.
Police may take action against the man for public order offences and not wearing a seat belt.
Officers have the registration of the car, which was not breaking the speed limit, and intend to contact its owner.
It is understood the driver will not face prosecution as no driving offence was being committed.
Jeremy Forsberg, of the Northumbria Safer Roads Initiative, said: “This behaviour is simply ridiculous - it’s clear what he was thinking with what he had on show.
“Not only is it disrespectful, but distasteful and offensive, particularly to children who may have been exposed to this nonsense.
“This prank could have been a real distraction from the driver and that is not something to laugh about.”
Following my post about Lou Galanos Ferrari at Daytona shot, I stumbled across this great video clip from 1981. Clips from a documentary about the 1981 Le Mans 24 hours have been assembled into a short piece, not unlike De Cadenet’s admission part way through!
For years I wondered about that suave English dude on Legends of Motorsport on Speed TV. Here was this guy I had never heard of, who seemed to know absolutely everything about racing and yet I had never heard of him. Apparently, I had missed this little bit of racing history, as Alain De Cadenet was a true gentleman racer with some pretty solid credentials.
Newfound friend of The Garage, Lou Galanos was at Daytona in 1971 when De Cadenet co-drove this NART Ferrari 312P/71 to a 5th place finish along with team boss Luigi Chinetti and Nestor Garcia-Veiga.
This is just one of Lou’s huge collection of images taken at Daytona back in the day. You can see more of them on Flickr where he posts as Nigel Smuckatelli.
We’ve all heard of racers who’ve had their quick release steering wheel or shifter come off in their hand. That’s usually the result of some crew member who either didn’t inspect or install a part correctly. I can’t recall hearing of a new car off the showroom floor leaving it’s driver without a go pedal.
One Evo X owner had just that happen, when he brought up the rev’s and popped the clutch in front of an assembled group of Subaru owners. That’s right, right foot goes down, left foot comes up and right foot goes to the boards!
The Mitsu warranty folks apparently have deemed this to be a driver abuse situation and have refused to cover the cost of installing a new pedal. Fortunately, the dealer is stepping up and doing the right thing for their loyal customer. Somehow, I would be surprised if there isn’t some fireworks in the Mitsubishi offices, when the product quality team discover that the warranty people didn’t get that pedal back.
Not to be outdone by California taco stands, deepest Toronto offered up this cool old camper. While scouting for old race cars, the hemp express willingly presented itself for photos when I came around the corner of an industrial area.
Cheech & Chong would have been proud to pilot this crusty machine.
Once again, the crew at Flat Over Crest have managed to put together some absolutely stunning rally coverage. This time, it was the 2008 Olympus Rally, where speeds reached 130 mph on gravel, with some corners having 100 mph exit speeds. I don’t care who you are, that is fast on a loose surface!
