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Archives for March 2011

Another Mosport based challenger to join 2011 Trans Am series

March 30, 2011 by Gary Grant 3 Comments

We’ve been lucky to share a bit of the Trans Am series with our readers here in The Garage through our long time friend Blaise Csida, who runs Gateway Racing at Mosport when he’s not racing in the series. I received a note earlier this week from Jon Brett of Time Warp Racing, telling me that he would be entering the Mosport round of the 2011 Trans Am series.

TWR press release

Plans are being made by Time Warp Racing to field a Derhaag bodied C5 Corvette in the upcoming Mosport Trans-Am event on the May long weekend.

The car is currently at Gateway Racing where it is being prepared by Trans-Am competitor Blaise Csida and staff.

Jonathan Brett who owns and drives the car does not expect to be competitive, but says “yeah we are probably a field filler but we are dipping a toe into the water, and who knows where it could go from there” he said.

The original chassis was created in 1977, by Mo Carter and ran succesfully as an IMSA GTX car. It also saw action in Trans-Am in the hands of Jerry Simmons during the 80’s and 90’s. It has held short track records at the Glen and won the South Atlantic Road Racing Championship. Over the years many upgrades have been done, but it is still old school compared to the modern designs.

Jonathan has raced with VARAC, CASC and SVRA for a decade and is ready to try something new and hopes to support the growth in Trans-Am.

I’ve seen the car and was a little bit surprised to hear that the chassis is as old as it is, so I decided to do a bit of digging. This car has some serious Canadian racing history!

Robert Barg, another Canadian who raced T/A back in the glory days says:
According to IMSA info on the net this was actually an early De Kon Monza (Horst Kwech & Lee Dykstra) that was crashed and sold to Mo Carter.

I had always assumed that Brad Francis built this car for Mo, but maybe it was just restored by Brad and that wild camaro bodywork was put on the car? As I remember the engine that was used and raced by Mo was a big block Chev with 2 inline 4 bl. carbs. Roy Bean, who helped look after the ex Mo Carter 67 camaro that I raced for Al Richards, also ended up working with Brad on that Carter car. Last time I saw it racing was at the 1980 Sebring 12 hr – co-driver with Mo was Craig Carter (no relation). It was later sold and raced in the T/A series with different Corvette bodywork I understand and has found it’s way to the Toronto area some time ago. I understand Roy has been working for Leo Romano and built a truck racer for him that runs at Mosport. It would be nice to see it back on the track as raced by Mo, but you can update a chassis from those years and they are still fast. The current closed wheel track record holder at Mission is a late seventies era T/A Corvette that has been updated and driven by Dave Kunicki.

It is going to be very cool to see local car, with 3 decades worth of racing history under a modern skin, in action with the big boys in a couple of months. We’ll keep our readers up to date with news and images as the race weekend comes closer!

Current photos courtesy of Malcom Haylock. Vintage photo of Mo Carter Camaro from Gene Felton Restorations.

Editor’s note: Oops, the vintage photo appears to be the 1970 Camaro That Mo Carter raced earlier. The correct car is pictured below, in a shot by Jerry Winker.

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Default ThumbnailThe story of the Mo Carter/Robert Barg ’67 Camaro Default ThumbnailKen Wilden to run a Corvette in Mosport round of Trans-Am series this weekend Default ThumbnailSCCA Announces Trans Am is back on the schedule for 2009 Default ThumbnailTrans Am returns to Mosport: Mike Skeen race report Default ThumbnailThings are hot at Mosport already

Porsche Introduces Boxster S Black Edition

March 29, 2011 by Tom Williams 1 Comment

Following the announcement of the Porsche 911 Black Edition, Porsche followed up with the Boxster S Black Edition, which will also get a limited run of 987 (Porsche’s internal code for the Boxster) cars with the black treatment. Sticking to the black theme, all cars will be available in one color combination-black exterior, interior, and top, along with 19″ black painted wheels. Even the roll hoops and exhaust tips are painted black. The Black Edition Boxster sports black-faced gauges, and a special interior highlighted with aluminum and stainless steel accents.

While we griped that the 911 Black Edition was simply cosmetic, Porsche did add some muscle to the Boxster S Black Edition. The 3.4L boxer six-cylinder is rated at 320hp, a ten horsepower increase. Optioned with Porsche’s PDK transmission and Sport Chrono package, this limited edition Boxster will reach 60mph in 4.6 seconds, with a top speed of 170 mph. The Boxster S Black Edition starts at $65,200USD, and with normally optional packages thrown in as standard, this represents a $3,200 savings over a similarly equipped Boxster S.

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Default ThumbnailPorsche rolls out the 100,000th 997 Default ThumbnailPorsche reveals 2010 Boxster Spyder Default ThumbnailPorsche Adds V-6 to Panamera Family

Mike Skeen captures podium finish at St Petes

March 29, 2011 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

Racer Mike Skeen became a friend of The Garage a couple of years ago, largely because he’s one hell of a personal marketer who uses new media better than most other racers. Sure, the big teams have hired staff loading content into Facebook and launching the occasional tweet, but Skeen does it all himself and does a great job.

Since Mike began sending us content, we’ve ridden shotgun with him as he has raced Trans Am and even a few lapping days. Today’s video is by far the most awesome flick he has sent our way!

This 25 minute video is condensed from Sunday’s full race in the Pirelli World Challenge Championship race in St Petersburg, where Skeen battled hard to a 3rd place finish in the Cragar Wheels/CRP Racing Corvette. Skeen’s pace during this race is astounding, and had his luck been better during the race he might have even taken the top spot. Do not be tempted to turn the video off partway through, as the most exciting bits are in the last 10 minutes!

Turn the speakers up really loud, select full screen on the highest resolution your monitor will handle and sit back and enjoy the race!

Opening photo by Mike Lee at 26 Inch Productions.

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Default ThumbnailRon Fellows confirmed for World Challenge at Mosport Default ThumbnailRon Fellows is still the Mayor of Mosport Default ThumbnailIn car video from Elkhart Lake with Mike Skeen

Auto Writer David E. Davis Jr. Passes at 80

March 28, 2011 by Tom Williams Leave a Comment

Famous automotive journalist David E. Davis Jr. died on Sunday, March 27, 2011 from complications of bladder cancer surgery at the age of 80. Davis, or David E, as his friends called him, was once called by TIME Magazine the ‘Dean of automotive journalism’. The description fit the man whose career in writing about cars spanned decades. Davis shaped the look and tone of car magazines as we know them today.  While Davis will best be remembered for his role as Editor at Car and Driver and foundedr of Automobile, his work at the digital auto magazine Winding Road shows that even late in his career, he was always on the leading edge of automotive journalism.

Back in my college days, I wanted more than anything to be able to write about cars, but had no idea how to break into the business. On a whim, I e-mailed David E. Davis Jr while he was still at Automobile. To my amazement, he actually took the time to respond to me, encouraging me to seek opportunity where I found them, and not to give up. I saw Mr. Davis at a Greenwich Concours d’Elegance a few years ago. He was a judge at the event, and I was speechless at the sight of him-dashing and dressed to the nines. Standing next to this titan of automotive journalism, I froze, but marveled at the man whose beautiful writing I had enjoyed for more than half my life.

Mr. Davis’ work will live on for others to see how automotive journalism was raised to art form. He is survived by his wife and three children. The Garage offers their deepest sympathies to Mr. Davis’ family. I thank him for the indelible mark he made on automotive journalism, and the affect he had on all of us who write about, and read about our shared passion, the automobile.

And finally, I thank him for the advice he offered me.

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NASCAR – Harvick Makes An Outstanding Last Lap Pass For The Win in Fontana

March 28, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 2 Comments

For those of you who may have missed the race this past Sunday you didn’t miss a whole lot, until the last 20 laps that is.  For the majority of the race it was a Green Flag race with the cars doing nothing but turning circles.  With a total of 5 cautions for the entire race, the first few for debris on the track, the race ran really fast with so few Yellow Flag laps to slow things down.  But with 20 laps to go a Bobby Labonte spin changed the entire face of the race. In fact the first caution never even showed until Lap 74 setting a new record for green flag laps at Auto Club Speedway.

While Kyle Busch had led for most of the day,  Jimmie Johnson’s  was coming in to it’s groove and the 12 and 48 cars battled lap after lap as the race ran down, all the while Kevin Harvick was lurking behind them and gaining ground as they raced each other for first.  With 2 laps to go Jimmie got around Kyle as Kyle got a tiny bit loose in turn 2, which also allowed Kevin Harvick past him and up into second place.  Then it was Jimmie’s turn to play the blocking game.  Harvick moved right up onto Johnson’s bumper coming into turn 3 and Jimmie got that same tiny bit loose as Busch had the lap before allowing Harvick to get by for the lead on the last quarter of a lap.  Although Kevin Harvick only led one lap all day, he led the lap that counts the most.

[Read more…]

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Porsche announces GT3 Cup Challenge Canada

March 28, 2011 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

As regular readers of The Garage know, Canada has a played an important role in Porsche’s rich racing history. Some of the top Porsche drivers over the past 5 decades have been Canadians, while the wildly popular Rothmans Porsche series of the 80’s was considered by many to be the top single marque series of all time.

“Canada has always been a part of the Porsche motorsport family,” said Joe Lawrence, President and CEO of Porsche Canada. “Canada was the stage for one of the most competitive one-make Porsche series in the 1980s and Mosport has hosted the American IMSA GT3 Challenge every year. It’s great to once again have a Canadian series and Porsche Canada looks forward to playing a more active role in the worldwide Porsche motorsport community.”

With that history in mind, Porsche announced today that Canadian race fans will once again be able to cheer for a Porsche series on home soil instead of just seeing them on television. The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada is the 20th such series around the globe, and will take place at 3 separate events in Ontario and Quebec.

Series Schedule

  • May 14, 15 at Calabogie Motorsports Park, just outside of Ottawa.
  • June 3, 4, 5 at Circuit ICAR, at Mirabel, near Montreal.
  • July 23, 24 at Mosport as part of the Mobil 1 Presents the Grand Prix of Mosport American Le Mans weekend.

Competitors will be driving Porsche GT3 Cup cars which are derived from the popular GT3 RS road car specifically for the Challenge Cup world wide. The series is being coordinated by IMSA, an organization that has a long history at Mosport and also organizes the American GT3 Cup series. For the Mosport round, American competitors will be included on the entry roster. This combination of both series very well make the GT3 Cup the most exciting race of the weekend.

The Rothmans Porsche series included some of the top names in motorsport 20 years ago and many of those drivers are still active in racing. While the entry list has yet to be finalized, one has to wonder if guys like Ron Fellows, Ken Wilden and Richard Spenard are going to be drafted into service.

Keep checking back, as we will be sure to keep you up to date on any series developments as the season approaches.

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A new look for The Garage Blog

March 28, 2011 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

The long standing 2 column look we’ve had here in The Garage served us well, but it was getting a bit tired. We decided that the place could use a bit of sprucing up both visually and functionally.

We know some of the other gearhead blogs out there have had redesigns recently and one of them in particular sucks badly! We were determined not to follow that trend. Instead, we wanted to make it easier for our readers to find the great content you are looking for.

A few new features

  • Those tabs at the top right will take you to some key pages
  • The navigation bar below them links to our most popular categories
  • The cool features box at the top provides a peek at our hottest new stories
  • Featured posts are stories we think you should see first
  • NASCAR and news have their very own spots down below
  • The “blog” tab up above displays content in line like the old version

Have a look around and let us know what you think!

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NASCAR – And Then There Was Juan

March 26, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Race #5 in the 2011 Sprint cup season in Fontana California at Auto Club Speedway. Juan Montoya who has had a rough start to the season this year when it comes to qualifying,  has found his way to the front of the field in Sunny California.  Maybe it was the sunshine, maybe it was the cool mountain air, or maybe it was Montoya’s will to succeed in Sprint cup, but whatever his motivation it seems to be working.  Montoyas average starting position so far this year has been a disappointing 23.5 so winning the Coors Light Pole Award for this Sunday’s race was a marked improvement for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 Sprint Cup race at the 2-mile track.

With a lap time of 38.992 seconds (184.653 mph) Montoya was the only driver to turn a sub 39 second lap in time trials.  Denny Hamlin will be sitting beside him on the front row with his qualifying speed of 184.270 mph. [Read more…]

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Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Sprint Cup Heads to Phoenix – New Points System Makes the Standings Look a Whole Lot Different Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Edwards Takes Vegas, Stewart Has a Late Race Pit Stumble But Ties For First in Points Lead Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Jeff Gordon Gets His First Win Since ’09, Denying Kyle Busch a Weekend Sweep Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kenseth Takes the Pole in Record Setting Fashion – Busch Brothers at the Tops of the Points Board Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Where Did The Real Kyle Busch Go? Dale Jr. Moves into the top 10 in Points.

Review: 2011 Dodge Avenger

March 23, 2011 by Tom Williams 1 Comment

The Dodge Avenger holds an unenviable distinction here at The Garage, as it was named 2009’s Worst Car of the Year. Naturally, when after booking a winter getaway to the most opulent region of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, I cringed a bit when I found the Avenger would be the car I would be reviewing that week. The good news was Dodge had improved the Avenger for 2011 with revised sheetmetal, an improved interior, suspension, and a brand new engine. While my fears were somewhat assuaged by the improvements, the nagging fear of the Avenger’s reputation as nothing but a “rental car” persisted. The greater question is if Dodge has managed to bridge the canyon that separated its mid-size sedan to the white-hot competition it faces. Read on to find out!

[Read more…]

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Boosted at Performance World

March 22, 2011 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

While sifting through photos of Performance World that I shot for another publisher I write for, I noticed that there was an awful lot of cars with assisted breathing. From superchargers to some of the biggest turbos I’ve ever seen, this is some heavy duty performance equipment!
[Read more…]

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Default ThumbnailPerformance World in Toronto this weekend
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