The Garage: Your daily dose of automotive news, reviews and motorsports coverage
Hurley Haywood and Brian Redman at 2011 NAIAS
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a picture of Hurley Haywood and Brian Redman must tell the tale of thousands upon thousands of laps behind the wheel of a Porsche.
Our good friends at Tangent Vector have put together yet another stunning video featuring the racing history of Porsche’s most iconic model, the 911.
After the break.
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Debuting this spring as a 2012 model, Porsche has announced the 911 Black Edition. This limited production 911 will see a total of 1.911 cars built, with about 573 cars earmarked for North America. The 911 Black Edition is based on the 911 Carrera, and is mechanically identical in every regard. Which means power comes from a 3.6L flat six delivering 345hp. Porsche claims a top speed of 180mph, and expect 0-60mph times in the mid-four second range. A six-speed manual is standard, and Porsche’s twin-clutch PDK is optional.
As the name suggests, this 911 is available in black only, but the buyer does have a choice of black-either the standard solid black, or optional Basalt Black Metallic. Other visual cues unique to the Black Edition are 911 Turbo II wheels, which showcase black brake calipers. Porsche sprinkled some minor interior changes, most notably black-faced gauges, which just looks right in a 911.
There has been a lot of talk amongst the fans about how hard the points system has been to understand since I started watching the sport. Trying to explain the system to new fans required a degree in algebra, a scientific calculator, and the student had to be versed in quantum physics, or at least that is how it was explained to me when I first started tuning in weekly to the races. Even after watching for over 15 years I still had no idea of all the intricacies of the points system. Well those days are gone as the powers that be FINALLY listened to the fans and made it into something that we can better understand. [Read more…]
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The longest racing series title in Canada just became a bit longer. Thankfully they’ve shortened the acronym! Now, the CCTCC is the CTCC.
Over the past few seasons, the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship has provided race fans and racers alike with some of the best racing in North America. For 2011, series President John Bondar has brought on Continental Tire as a new title sponsor for the series.
Obviously, this comes with a switch to Continental Tires. There is more to it though, as the switch also puts the cars on slicks. As the first race weekend will be the first time some drivers have been on slicks, that first event should be even more exciting for the fans as drivers adjust to the higher levels of grip that come with treadless tires. Once the field becomes used to the tires, we can expect the action to be even faster than it was last year!
The new package was revealed at the Canadian Motorsports Expo last weekend, along with the new series name: The Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship presented by Continental Tires. We’ve got photos of the launch after the break.
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While most shoppers for larger, premium SUV’s have switched over to more popular crossovers, the recently redesigned Lexus GX460 is proof that a market for true-blue premium truck-based SUV’s still do exist, even if the market has shrunk from its hay day a decade ago. Now in its second generation, the GX is still a body on frame SUV, based on the new 4Runner. A concept some would call antiquated, but how does the Lexus fare in modern times? Read on to see!
One of the great things about publishing The Garage is meeting gearheads from around the world and getting a peek into their lives and sometimes even a visit to their garage.
Reader Jack Olsen has sent us a pile of pics of his garage. Besides the fact that Jack owns one of my favorite Porsche’s of all time, a ’72 RSR, he also has a sweet space for it to reside. Jack has done all of it himself, including building the sweet work bench with the arched lower support you see in the pic above. Jack also has a full complement of shop equipment, which I’m guessing he uses for occasional repairs on the 911.
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Sir Stirling Moss
Long before he became Sir Stirling, Stirling Moss was a young racer much like any other. Except of course that he was bloody fast!
This photo of Moss came to us from Ken Graham, through a friend in the UK.
The 2011 Canadian Motorsports Expo kicked off yesterday at the International Center in Toronto’s west end. While not on the same scale of PRI south of the border, the show still offers more than enough action to break up the winter with a bit of bench racing. The show is about the same size as last year, but includes a bit more variety in the displays.
For the fans, the highlights will likely be a meet and greet with Dario Franchitti today or Brad Keselowski tomorrow, along with lots of race cars from 3,000 horsepower alcohol funny cars to on and off road racers.
Interestingly, the most excitement yesterday (aside from the Inside Track girls of course) seemed to center around a crusty old 1972 Chevy Nova! This wasn’t just any Nova though, this was a car raced by legendary Canadian racer Don Biederman. It is about to be restored to racing condition.
John Walker is at the show today and I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon, so you know we’ll have tons of photos to share! For now, we’ve got a teaser gallery after the break.
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1978 started off rather slowly with just preparations for the coming racing season and finishing up Greg Athans new book Ski Free. I had enjoyed the past season with the best freestyle skiiers the world had to offer and Gilles finally getting a ride in Formula One made it look like a great year was in store. Len Coates also got prepared to head out for the Grand Prix season. His assignment from the Toronto Star was to let Canada know what we had representing us on the Grand Prix circuit. To date he had little to offer but Gilles’ seemingly tough struggle to keep up. We quietly had Clark Irwin Publishing in our pockets. The Italian press was already crucifying Gilles for his apparent reckless attitude in their beloved Ferrari. Formula One drivers were also concerned about the way Gilles approached racing. They could not figure out what he was doing when he would sit on the grid during race morning practice and make several outrageous starts leaving half his tires on the grid. Again on the formation lap, he would tear away from his starting box. It was simple. Gilles was doing what drag racers did before they made their run. He was laying down a nice thick patch of rubber to give his car grip and the advantage from the standing start. When he repeatedly spun during practice they thought he was way over his head. In actual fact he was finding the limit of the car and its tires in many corners. He was fast and he wanted to prove it. It was never about who’d win. It was about who was fastest. Gilles was qualifying in the top ten, but he was leaving hulks everywhere. His accident in Japan was haunting him with every line written about him. When the GP Circus got to California for the GP at Long Beach Gilles proved he belonged. He sat on the front row beside his team leader Carlos Reutemann. At the start Gilles out dragged Reutemann into the first turn and never looked back for the next 38 laps. Then he did it again! Naturally doing his late braking he came upon Clay Reggazoni in a narrow twisting part of the circuit just before the hill that led to the pit straight. As we saw him do at least twice in Formula Atlantic and again in the Japanese Grand Prix of 1977 one of Gilles front wheels came in contact with a rear wheel of Reggazoni’s car. Villeneuve’s leading Ferrari was now air-borne over Reggazoni’s car spinning around and coming to an abrupt halt in a tire barrier. One of Gilles tires had brushed Clay’s helmet on its way past. Clay continued and Gilles climbed from the wreck of his Ferrari. A stern talking to from ‘the old man’ was on his list when he returned to the factory. He had accidents in both his next two outings, but finally got on the points board with a fourth in Spain. He was called everything by the Italian press who demanded his release. He was not spoken of favourably by too many others in the press corps. To Ferrari he was the Crown Prince of Destruction. He finally picked up points in Austria and Holland to round out his year…well almost…we still had the Canadian race on the new track in downtown Montreal.
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