Last week, the Provincial government here in Ontario announced that they would be working to make street racing a criminal offence. Within days of this announcement, a couple were killed on the way to celebrate their 17th wedding anniversary when they turned left in front of a street race in action. Investigators estimate that the Civic that hit them was travelling in excess of 150 kmh, or just under 100 mph. The 18 year old driver will be facing criminal charges when he is in more stable medical condition. Of course the timing of this tragedy was perfect for the media and the politicians and this kid will spend years in prison, because he was a moron who thought he was invincible.

Of course the biggest tragedy here is the 7 year old who has no parents. Why? Because 2 delinquents didn’t have the smarts to take it to the track and (here comes some controversy) because the parent who was driving didn’t look properly before turning into oncoming traffic. Yes, sometimes people die because they too made a mistake.

The purpose of this post though is to ask the question “when does street racing become a crime?”

Any warm blooded male (and many females for that manner) would be lying if they said they had never left a light a little bit faster than they should have when there was an opponent of some sort in the next lane. Last night, while returning home from a kid’s baseball game, Mrs. G ran her Protege5 through the gears to “beat Daddy” at the urging of our 2 boys, while Miss Shelby sat beside me and asked why Mom was racing us. Just to have fun. People have been having impromtu street races since we’ve had cars. Before there were cars, there were bicycles and even horses. Unplanned, uncontrolled races are nothing new, nor are they ever going to stop. It is the competitive nature of humans. Modern pop culture owes a lot to the hot rod culture of the 50’s. Where would we be without the Beach Boys or Jan & Dean. But wait…as we groove to the tunes, it is really a song about death from street racing.

The very lawyers who are campaigning to make steet racing a criminal offence show up at the courthouse in Audi S4’s and BMW M3’s, not to mention the odd CTS-V. Are we to believe that each one of them hasn’t lit their beast up when leaving a light even once?

Obviously it is tragic when someone dies of any cause, even more so when it is a result of someone’s selfish misbehaviour. That is not my point. If someone dies, it seems pretty basic that the racers involved are guilty of criminal negligence. But what about the 2 guys who make eye contact at a light, notice each other’s sweet ride and launch the car when the light turns green, only to stop at the next light, wave and drive away normally. Did they just commit a criminal act?

Where should the line be drawn? What can we do to add some element of control to the more extreme street racing?

Whenever a blogger misses their stride, they always seem to post some sort of apology to their readers. In most cases, life has just caught up with them and the blog suffers. In The Garage, it really isn’t all that much different, except for the fact that it really is garage stuff that has been catching up with things.

Over the last week, I’ve been busy moving from the Nissan store to the Mazda store & the change has been fairly time consuming, not to mention a bit stressful. The up side to this is all the new road test candidates! First up will be my new 2006 Mazda6 wagon. I know it’s got all the toys & a gearbox, but I don’t know what colour it is or even how many gears it has!

Kart racing season truly starts for our house this weekend, with the arrival of the new engine, fresh from Arnold Racing Engines. Both days this weekend will see the Grant family invading Mosport once again.

Last weekend saw me cleaning a winters worth of kid crap out of Mamma’s Protege5.

Occasional contributor Petri has been getting caught up in the IRL world lately. The daily grind of highway management has been interrepted with schmoozing with the likes of Dan Wheldon and Buddy Rice, not to mention Scott Pruett and a certain Nascar champ. Hopefully he’ll have some time to bang off a few words here and there in the near future.

As for The Garage, we should be back up to our normal pace soon, as life settles in at the dealership.

Watch soon for opinions on street racing penalties from The Garage, along with more road tests and maybe an interview or two.

Just think, full battle gear just like in motocross. Pit his highness against Hill, Villenueve and Alonso & see how long he can go without getting his butt kicked!

For some stunning photos from qualifying at Monaco, be sure to visit Axis of Oversteer

For those of you who haven’t heard, Michael Schumacher is at it again. Treating Formula One like his own little sandbox where he can do whatever the heck he wants, never receiving any retribution for his actions. Perhaps Flavio Briatore said it best when he said “because it’s this place & it’s Ferarri, nothing will be done”. Historically, Mr. Schumacher has been able to get away with his blatant bad behaviour. His poor sportsmanship has left a very bitter taste in the mouths of F1 fans all over the world. Why has he been able to do it? Because he drives for Ferarri and he is arguably the best driver of all time and the Bernie and Max show don’t have the stones to deal with him. They would rather play dumb & make comments like the one quoted in the title.

This time however, it seems that he may have gone too far. Continue reading →

The 1963 Player’s 200 at Mosport featured theheadlining sports racing cars, production sports cars, touring cars and Formula Junior. Feature race entrants included such racing legends as Graham Hill, Parnelli Jones, Roger Penske and the list goes on. There are several Grand Prix drivers in the field. Eventual winner, Chuck Daigh was driving a Lotus 19 owned by Arciero Brothers Racing.

Over at AutoSpies, they are having a bit of fun with an ever growing list of cars owned by the stars. The Garage thought we might show the top ten celeb whips:

1. Britney Spears- SLR McLaren/MINI convertible
2. Paris Hilton- Bentley Continental/MB SLR
3. Lindsay Lohan- Mercedes SL65 AMG convertible
4. Tom Cruise - Porsche 911
5. Rene Zelleweger- Porsche 911
6. Madonna - Maybach 57
7. Charlize Theron - Land Rover Range Rover
8. Shaquille O’Neal- Rolls-Royce Phantom/Lots of SUV’S
9. Jerry Seinfeld has over 20 Porsches and is a huge collector. He owns a Mexico Blue 993 that was the last 993 off the production line
10. Jay Leno has the largest collection with a fleet of European cars but no reference to any Toyoya or Lexus in his stable. Also too many classic cars and motorcycles to mention

To see the full list & check out Lindsey’s front bumpers visit AutoSpies

There have been a few spy pics of the 2007 Land Rover Freelander floating around the net lately, but now we have an actual image of the new model thanks to worldcarfans.com who have found this leaked brochure copy.
While it was rumoured that the truck was going to debut at Detroit this year, but didn’t surface at the show. Now it is believed that the Freelander will first be seen at the British Motor Show in July.

If things have seemed a bit quiet in The Garage over the past couple of days, it’s because life has been pretty hectic around here. I’ve been asked to leave my post as Service Manager at the Nissan store & move to the Mazda store our dealer group owns. It seems that the service department there is having some problems and they are hoping that little ol moi can help solve them. It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s also going to be a lot of fun learning the ins & outs of the new product line.

I’ve already started scanning e-bay for a beat up old miata to turn into a lapping day warrior.

Originally posted on the North American Subaru Impreza Owner’s Club message board, these pics were taken during practice for the ALMS race last weekend at Mid-Ohio. The 009 Aston Martin DB7 left the track and flew a whopping 142 feet! That is a whole 22 feet farther than the Wright Brother’s first flight. What is most incredible is that the aerodynamics allowed the car to stay upright & that it didn’t flip when the left side wheels landed in the gravel. Word has it that the crew had the car torn down, checked out & reassembled for the qualifying, but there has been no report on the condition of the driver’s shorts!

Related : Pucker Factor

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On Sunday afternoon, King Juan Carlos I of Spain accepted delivery on his new wheels, a “Cote D’azur” blue Maybach Saloon. His time with the car began with a heck of a test drive. His Majesty, joined by DaimlerChrysler head honcho Dr. Dieter Zetsche, took the 612 hp monster on a tour of the Grand Prix Circuit de Catalunya.

This event allows the Maybach brand to continue the tradition of supplying vehicles to Royals that spans back to the 1920’s. The catch in this case is the happy coincidence that this Royal is a known automotive enthusiast. He will spend the next few months driving the car and reporting his opinions back to the factory.

The interior of this particular car is adorned with special silver ornaments on the shifter, center console and ash trays, made by london silversmith Patrick Mavros.

Source: DaimlerChryslerAG