The Garage: Your daily dose of automotive news, reviews and motorsports coverage
The boys over at Flat Over Crest have put together a great video of BMX legend debut in his rally debut. It’s pretty cool that Mirra’s first event was the historic Rally of The Tall Pines here in Ontario. Visit FOC to see the video.
Photo by Dave Campbell for FOC
Following up his work with Team No Hot Wire earlier in the weekend, Will Faules scouted out the pits and paddock of Daytona to bring our readers some great behind the scenes images. He even got a few pit babes!
Slideshow after the break
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Race cars and wildlife are never a good combination, just ask Christiano da Matta. Travis Pastrana found out the hard way at the SnoDrift Rally last weekend. While in a solid first place, Pastrana smoked a 4 legged forest dweller with authority. Fortunately, Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom weren’t hurt, but the damage to the Subaru was terminal and the even was over just miles from the end.
I would suspect the deer’s event was finished too.
In car video after the break
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Regular readers know that I rarely comment on the business side of the auto industry. It’s just not my thing. Over the past few weeks though, the Carnival of Wheels has received an increasing number of submissions from Indian bloggers since the Tata company announced their $2,500 Nano.
Who would have thought that the manufacturer of throw away cars would also take on two of the worlds’ top luxury brands? That’s right, Tata Motors is about to buy Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford, lock stock & barrel.
The auto media, both new and traditional, have been full of news & speculation about Tata in the past months. With the impending purchase of two significant brands, how long will it be before we see Indian cars on our continent?
Reuters article after the break
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Not only has the route been changed but so has the name. Now it will be called the Dakar Series which will take place in three stages. The first stage will start on April 11th in Budapest and finish in Hungary and Romania. The second stage will begin in Portugal in September and then they race through Spain and Portugal from Buenos Aries Argentina to Chile and then return to Buenos Aries for the finish.
Got a bad case of ‘NASCAR Withdrawal Syndrome’? Hang tight, there’s only 21 days left until the 50th running of the Daytona 500 and we will, once again, be talking NASCAR, arguing NASCAR & getting our general fill of everything NASCAR.
When NASCAR fans look back on the 2007 season, most often the first story that comes to mind is Dale Jr. leaving DEI. In no particular order here’s a look at some of the other moments that rounded out the 2007 NASCAR season:
Chaos in Canada as Robby Gordon & Marcos Ambrose Lock Heads
Who could ever forget the chaos that was the inaugural Busch Series race in Canada? Whenever there’s controversy on the track, one of the first names that always comes to mind is Robby Gordon. Let’s face it, controversy ignites the sport of auto racing. Let’s take a moment to recap….
GM’s Product Czar Bob Lutz told the media who had surrounded him like overly polite sharks looking at a meal that the likelihood that GM would produce a $2,500 car is highly unlikely.
Tata Motors’ new Nano is basically a step above a moped, which is what many folks in India are carting their families around on right now. He also noted he’d like to see which version of the Nano is available for that price, suggesting that the version that was rolled out for the media was going to be $2,500.
He also noted that GM’s Wooling Motors venture in China has been turning out $2,500 minivans and other small commercial vehicles for several years now and that it was ultimately not that big a deal.
Finally, Lutz reminded everyone that in order to develop a $2,500 vehicle for the North American market, there would need to be a demand for a $2,500 new car…or even a $6,000 new car for that matter.
“You can get a seven- or eight-year-old Taurus with 60,000 or 70,000 miles on it for about that much money and will have a lot of miles left on it,†he said after a speech during the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit last week.
Ultimately Lutz reminded us all that basically the way to meet the needs of consumers while achieving government-mandated requirements is not a moped on steroids, but working on a variety of new technologies simultaneously to figure out how best to make everyone happy.
We’ve spent a lot of time lately in traditional domestic family movers, now the time has come to sample what the Big T has on offer. Our tester this week is a 2008 Toyota Highlander SR5. The first thing that really got my attention was the fact that the Toyota folks have gone to the trouble of installing Toyo Observe snow tires on their media vehicles. Thanks for realizing that it is winter here in Ontario. One thing about testing different vehicles every week is that one doesn’t always become accustomed to how a vehicle handles in slippery conditions. It’s good to know that the Highlander is ready for anything winter can throw at it.
Out on the road, the Highlander feels much smaller than it actually is, and actually feels more car like than some of the competitors. With 270 horsepower, the Highlander is only 5 up on the Taurus X we had a couple of weeks ago, yet the Toyota feels much more powerful. It will be interesting to see how the fuel economy compares.
Will the Highlander pass the 3 hockey bag test? Stay tuned!
This weekend was the beginning of the 2008 racing season, with the Rolex 24 at Daytona kicking things off. We’ve been pretty lucky here in The Garage to get some killer pit lane coverage from Will Faules, while yours truly runs from the SpeedTV coverage to the kids hockey games. Somehow, I even managed to get a nap in this afternoon while I tried to prepare myself for this week’s CoW. That said, it has been a long crazy day with the emphasis on crazy. I’m going to begin this week’s CoW with one quick but striking submission and then I’ll finish up tomorrow.
Over the past months, I have noticed an increasing amount of traffic to The Garage coming from India. Recently the CoW has been flooded with submissions from Indian auto bloggers, which really give us North Americans some idea how many enthusiasts there are in this far away land. None have made me realize quite how different our worlds are so much as CoW newcomer Sidhusaaheb who writes:
It appears almost surreal now. For all of a hundred and twelve rupees, a nearly destitute, sometimes-employed man like me could go and take a close look at some of the loveliest automobiles in the world. Twelve rupees, incidentally, was the to and fro fare for the train ride between home and the venue of the exposition i.e. Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, with the rest being the entry fee.
I’ve been excited to follow our man to Daytona this weekend, while real car guys like Sidhusaaheb hop on a train to grab a glimpse of the vehicles we see every day. The sight of an H2 is a great highlight, where here we see soccer moms battling for a parking spot in them every day. It shows that we are all car enthusiasts, regardless of our location or means, yet our worlds are so very different that many of us experience things daily that others may never even see.
I’m not feeling very eloquent right now, but Sid’s post has affected me.
See you tomorrow, for the rest of the CoW.
I suspect that Will is currently on a plane somewhere between rainy Fla and flooded Ca as I write this. Will was kind enough to grab a bit of pit lane video in the early evening yesterday during the Rolex 24. This was a typical DP stop, with no repairs. During this stop, they dump in enough fuel for about an hour of racing. I’m sure Will will have more details later on.
