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Archives for October 2011

When Mustangs and 7-Up Mixed

October 31, 2011 by Tom Williams 14 Comments

I subscribe to a fun little site called Bring a Trailer, which features classic, unique, rare, and plain odd cars for sale. I was especially intrigued at a recent post about a highly original 7-Up Mustang. Um, a what? It’s no secret that Ford is famous for trotting out limited, or special edition Mustangs on a regular basis, but there was some mystique to this, so some exploration was needed, since a little notoriety always adds interest.

Apparently, in 1990 7-Up teamed up with Ford in a promotion to give away 30 7-Up Edition Ford Mustangs for the 1990 NCAA Basketball finals. Audience members would have to sink a shot from center court, and win the car. At the last minute, the promotion was scrapped, but the car was essentially ready for production. Ford went ahead and built the car, which is essentially a 1990 Mustang LX 5.0 Convertible, and sold it as a limited edition model, with no mention of 7-Up. But the looks of the car make the relationship clear, with Deep Emerald Green Clearcoat paint, white leather interior, and white canvas top (trademark 7-Up colors) and Mustang GT alloys.

Ford had intended to build a total of 5,000 of the ‘7-Up’ cars, but stopped at 4,103. Of those, 1,360 were 5-speed manuals, the remaining 2,743 were equipped with an automatic. Interestingly, 261 cars were exported. While little more than an appearance package, the 7-Up Mustang is a fun and interesting little factoid from the history book of one of America’s most beloved cars.

The Garage thanks a dedicated 7-Up Edition Mustang site for the useful information cited here.

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IndyCar and Ovals

October 30, 2011 by Tom Williams Leave a Comment

I awoke today to find my current test car, an Infiniti FX50S covered in a mix of autumn leaves and snow, a sight I’ve never seen in October here in Connecticut. But that’s not why I’m posting this. I spent the afternoon at a family party upstate, and while enjoying drinks and football, my uncle saddles up to me-knowing I am a fan of open-wheel racing, he a NASCAR fan. Despite our differences, he wanted to talk about the loss of Dan Wheldon-not so much the man, but as to why. IndyCars race at ovals-we all know that. His contention was the modern tracks are designed for NASCAR type racing and speeds, which are slower than IndyCar, and the series should restrict itself to road courses.

He’s not alone. I once read Michael Schumacher, one of the best Formula One drivers of all time, was asked if he would ever race and the Indy 500, and he dismissed it, calling the racing ‘suicidal’. There’s the story of Champ Cars at Texas Motor Speedway, where in qualifying the cars were hitting 230mph, and driver’s complaining of vertigo. The race was cancelled for fear the drivers would black out at the wheel. And these drivers are among the fittest people on the planet.

IndyCar is steeped in oval racing. I don’t see a need to cancel oval racing outright, but I think the powers at be at IndyCar should evaluate what tracks work, and which tracks don’t. In any racing situation there is risk involved. But my uncle’s feeling that there are ovals out there that IndyCars are simply too fast for prompts me to ask you, the reader, how you feel about the subject. Please let us know what you think!

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Default ThumbnailIndy 500 Winner Dan Wheldon Dies in Wreck

NASCAR – Martinsville Qualifying Gets Cancelled by Rain Putting all the Chasers Together at the Front – Edwards Gets the Pole By Points

October 30, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Carl Edwards waves to the crowd - Image courtesy of JDTImages

It seems that Martinsville has become a place for the Good the Wet and the Ugly this weekend.  The good comes in the form of NASCAR making a good decision.  Canceling qualifying because of the wet conditions in favor of a practice session is a smart move.  Sending the cars out to race without a practice would simply have been a dangerous choice.  We now know that the drivers have had time to get at least a feel for the car and that the crew chiefs will have had some time to analyze the data and have some idea of what changes to make in the early stages of the race.  It is safer for all of the drivers involved and anything to keep the drivers safe is a good call in my mind.  Because of the rain out the drivers starting positions will be determined by the points they have earned up to this point in the season.  This means that Points Leader Carl Edwards will start from the pole beside his teammate Matt Kenseth.  How does Edwards feel about being awarded the pole?

“Qualifying, I think, is one of the most important parts of this race, and it’s no secret that’s been a tough thing for me and Matt as well,” Edwards said after the cancellation was announced. “So I think it’s a best case for us that we get to start on the front row, and even better is the pit stall selection.

“I think that’s going to last all day. No matter how much we have to work on the car or things we have to do, that first pit stall will be great. This is my first time having it, I believe, so it’s the best qualifying we could have hoped for.”

“Practice didn’t go as well as qualifying went for us, that’s for sure,” Edwards said. “But we got the car better. I think the last run for us went pretty well. I’m glad we got that practice in now because in the beginning we weren’t very good. I think it would have been a pretty big struggle to start like that. Now we go do our real homework and try to figure out by gathering information from the other cars we’re going to see if we can’t make this thing faster but make it faster for longer periods of time.

“We’ve got everything going for us right now. We’re leading the points. We’re starting up front. We got a great pit stall. We just need to make the car such that I can drive it and (crew chief) Bob (Osborne) can adjust it all day and we’ll be fine.”

Matt Kenseth with the Coors Light spokesmodel in Chicago ealier this year - Image courtesy of JDTImages

The Wet – Well that one is kind of obvious.  Rained out practices and qualifying means reduced time on the track, a green race track  (the only rubber on the track is from yesterdays truck race) should definitely make for an even more unpredictable Martinsville race than we are used to.  Drivers patience will wear thin quite easily if the handle of their cars is not figured out in the early stages.

Matt Kenseth who is starting on the front row beside his teammate agrees that the starting position is crucial, but mentions the downside of limited practice time as well.

“This is one of those places where your car is a lot different on a 30-lap run than what it is on a 100-lap run,” Kenseth said. “You’ll see some guys that are real fast taking off and their cars turn really good and it seems like they end up getting really loose. And then there are guys that maybe start a little slower, but are really fast at the end of the run.

“Certainly it’s easier when you can start up front. The only aggravating part about it is you don’t have anywhere to go except backwards, so it gets aggravating if your car is not real fast and you’re losing positions.”

Greg Biffle - Image courtesy of JDTImages

And the Ugly – Drivers patience is already showing to be wearing thin before the race has even started.  An on track incident between Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle has made headlines after the 2 touched bumpers near the end of the one and only practice session of the weekend.

Harvick, who had ignition box issues earlier in the practice, bobbled coming out of Turn 4 and was hit and pushed across the start/finish line by Biffle.

That didn’t appear to sit well with the driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet, who then tapped Biffle’s left-rear fender when the two cars entered Turn 1. Both drivers stopped their cars side-by-side on the backstretch. And when they eventually returned to the garage, Biffle’s No. 16 Ford appeared to bump the back bumper of Harvick’s car while being pushed by their respective crews.

Biffle climbed from his car and hustled over to Harvick’s stall, where the two drivers appeared to have an animated discussion while being surrounded by NASCAR officials and crew members.

Biffle told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper that the incident began with Jeff Gordon “in the middle of the corner” before the initial contact on the frontstretch.

“Harvick stopped beside Jeff and kind of pulled down on him,” Biffle told the newspaper’s website. “I think he was upset because Jeff had pulled out on the track in front of him on new tires. So, I’m coming at full speed. Kevin took off right when I got there, so then I was on Harvick’s bumper coming down the frontstretch and he lifted early and you can’t blame me for that. Shoot, I didn’t know he was coming out of the gas like that. I don’t know what his agenda was.

“I, naturally, bumped him and actually I kind of wiggled him because when he came out of the gas, I shot to the top to try go (by) because I wasn’t sure if he was coming out of the gas to come into the garage. Normally, you do that off of  2.”

Harvick was not available for immediate comment but from the perspective of crew chief Gil Martin, “Biffle ran into us.”

Kevin Harvick - Image courtesy of JDTImages

“Kevin stopped on the straightaway because we weren’t going to get our car tore up,” Martin said. “Then he brought his big brothers with him down to our stall to confront (Harvick) like it was some sort of home invasion.

“I don’t think it was intentional. It was just practice. We’ll be all right. The car was pretty good in practice, but the track is going to change so much. You just have to be ready for what‘s going to happen.”

Biffle’s crew chief, Matt Puccia, who accompanied his driver down to the No. 29 stall, described the on-track incident as “wrong place, wrong time.” As far as the exchange in the garage, Puccia said Biffle just wanted to clear the air.

“I think Harvick might have taken (the bump) the wrong way,” Puccia said. “Tempers got a little heated and, unfortunately, we got in the middle of it. Greg went down there just to tell him it wasn’t intentional.”

 

 

 

 

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Have a Hemi, have a smile!

October 28, 2011 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Click on the image to open the full size and then right click to save as your desktop background. Simple as that!

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The Garage visits AJAC TestFest

October 28, 2011 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

As part of their annual TestFest event, the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada invited a group of journalists who are not AJAC members to Niagara on the Lake yesterday to get a taste of how the organization chooses the Canadian Car of the Year. Some of us that took the short flight from downtown Toronto were auto journos in our own right, while others working in other niches.

The day began with an short lesson in the history and methodology behind TestFest and then the group moved on to the fun important stuff: the cars. First up, representatives from each auto manufacturer gave a short talk about their electric vehicle programs and then the guests partnered up with an AJAC member to spend the rest of the day testing cars.

The guest journos had their choice of all of the new models and were able to drive whatever car they wanted on the same drive route that AJAC members use to evaluate each car. SUV’s were able to do a short tour of an off road test track to see how they coped with the mud after a week of rain. Some of us were able to ride shotgun for a few laps of the high speed vehicle dynamics track that was set up on the NOTL airport surface.
[Read more…]

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Kia Rio Sedan Pricing Announced

October 26, 2011 by Tom Williams Leave a Comment

Here at The Garage, we haven’t been shy about our enthusiasm for Kia’s meteoric rise from humble als0-ran to a well-respected automaker. With the all-new Rio, Kia’s smallest offering is finally blessed with the smart, Euro-inspired lines its other siblings enjoy. Already available as a five-door hatch, Kia recently announced pricing for the Rio four door sedan, starting at $13,400USD. All Rio’s share a 1.6L direct injected four cylinder rated at 138hp. The Rio will be the first non-hybrid, non-luxury car sold here to offer Idle Stop and Go, which shuts the engine off while at a stop for improved fuel economy and emissions. The base Rio LX is available with a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic, while EX and SX models can only be had with the automatic.

All Kia Rio sedans come standard with air conditioning, power steering, an AM/FM/CD/MP3 audio system, USB port and SiriusXM satellite radio. The expectation of premium features in small cars is no new concept in Asia and Europe, and is finally gaining traction here in North America. The top-spec Rio SX rings in at $17,500, with high-end features such as metal pedals, LED front accent lights, LED taillights, Kia’s UVO voice activated infotainment system and rear-view camera. These features were once the domain of only the highest-end luxury cars, but that they can be had as standard equipment in a car costing under $18,000 is nothing short of amazing, but a testament to how serious Kia is about standing out in a crowded market.

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NASCAR – Clint Bowyer Wins the Wild Card Race in Talladega – A Rough Ride For The Chasers Shakes Up the Standings Again

October 25, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

 

Clint Bowyer - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Clint Bowyer showed us that no matter what, teammate or not, when it comes down to it, you’ve got to race for the win.  Pushing his teammate Jeff Burton on the last restart after the ninth caution, the Bowyer/ Burton tandem got a massive jump on the field running almost 20 car lengths away from the pack, which allowed for them to split apart and have a drag race to the finish.  Burton opened up the bottom line coming out of turn 4 and Bowyer made an early move, almost too early, and held off Burton through the tri-oval and right to the checkered flag.    The lat 200 yds was the best acing on the track all day.  The slingshot manouver brought Bowyer door to door with Burton, who tried everything he could to sniff a little more draft off Bowyer’s car, but it was Bowyer who prevailed and took the checkered flag.  Bowyer was prepared to push his teammate to the the win but when the lead opened up and the pack fell behind, he did what it took to get himself back into the win column.

“He[Burton]  kind of moved up off of [Turn] 4, and I knew it was too early to go, but it was going to be a drag race, and it would give us both a shot at it,” Bowyer said. “He worked so well with me all day long. You hate that it comes down to that, but it is what it is, and you owe it to your team and your sponsors to go out and win the race.”

“Unfortunately, it came down to that situation, but — trust me — I was prepared to push him to the win, no matter what the cost was, if we’d have had people breathing down our necks. It just wasn’t meant to be for him. He’s been a great teammate, and I’ve learned a lot from him — but he’s already won a lot of races [21], and I’ve only won five.”

Burton took his second place finish with a smile of pride.  After all, it’s not every day that you get to break the two car tandem at Talladega and drag race your teammate to the finish line.

Jeff Burton - Image courtesy of JDTImages

“Whenever you leave here not wrecked, you ought to be happy, but at the same time, I’m heartbroke we didn’t win the race,” said Burton, who recorded his first top-five finish in more than a year. “Having said all of that, I don’t know what I would have done different.”

“Honestly, I thought he made his move too early. I kind of gave him the bottom, because you tend to be able to pull them back to you better when you’re on their right rear quarter panel. He made his move really early, I thought. I thought I’d be able to pull back to him, but he had a lot of momentum when he made the move.”

The race also made a huge difference in the points standings as some tried to hang out in the back field for safety and never had the chance to move forward at the end of the race.

Carl Edwards hung at the back with Greg Biffle all day and made his move towards the front with around 40 to go, but with the burst of cautions coming right at the end of the race, Edwards was not able to get all the way to the front having to settle for an 11th place finish.  11th was still good enough to gain points on Kenseth, who sits 2nd in the standings by14 points now, but 3rd and 4th in the standings made gains on Edwards by finishing ahead of him.

Brad Kesolowski

Brad Kesolowski finished 4th on the track and moved up to 3rd in the standings, now only 18 points behind the leader, Carl Edwards.  Gaining 3 positions in the standings from 7th to 3rd Kesolowski is showing that the consistency that got him into the chase is still working in his favor and moving him to the front of the standings slowly but surely.

“This is exactly how we needed to leave Talladega, with a strong finish — gained points on the leader; gained points, really, on all the Chase cars. ”

“I’m very proud of the effort, proud to have a good day and very fortunate to have missed all the wrecks.”

Tony Stewart, who led the most laps of the day gaining 2 bonus points along the way, held out for a 7th place finish on the track and moved up another spot in the standings from 5th to 4th.

The other teams who chose to hang back did not fare as well as Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle.  Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr hung back all day as well and when the time came to move forward they simply could nit find any room to move around the field who was running 3 and 4 wide in front of them as the final laps of the race wore down.  Avoiding the wrecks to make it to the finish is always the plan at Talladega, but it also leaves you in a precarious position not knowing if you can make it back to the front when it counts.  Jr and Jimmie talk about how their planned failed.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Image courtesy of JDTImages

“Whenever we thought they were getting a little bit crazy, we’d move into the safe areas and we rode there most of the day with a lot of other people doing the same thing,” Earnhardt said. “Then at the end, we had a lot of cautions late. We wanted to try to work our way toward the front in the last 20 laps. The cautions kept coming out, and we ran over some debris and we had to come to pit road. We just didn’t have the track position at the end to make a run with two laps to go.  Just not enough time.”

Still, Earnhardt still believes that their plan was solid, just that lady luck was not on their side on Sunday.

“Yeah. There’s a lot more room at this place,” he said. “Daytona is real narrow when it comes down to it. We felt like we were in a good position to make our move inside those 20 laps to go, and we just kept having cautions and that sort of hurt our strategy a little bit and didn’t give us a chance there with two to go. I mean, [you] run up on guys five-wide, you can’t go nowhere.”

Johnson agreed.  After being pushed across the line for the win by Jr earlier this year, Johnson stated publicly that if the tables were turned the next time around he would be glad to be pushing Jr at the checkered flag, but the opportunity never presented itself as they got mired in the field finishing 25th (Earnhardt) and 26th (Johnson).

Jimmie Johnson - Imgage courtesy of JDTImages

“We planned our strategy like we had hoped to,” Johnson said. “And on that last restart at the end, we had some issues with my car overheating. That last caution that came out, I got some trash and grass and stuff on the grille of the car. We were out of sequence the way we were lined up. I was going to push Junior, and I had to be in the lead the way we had the debris on the grille. And then as we went to make our switch, the pack was organized and with the [final-laps] situation, there’s not a lot of time to get organized, and we lost our momentum there, and got to the outside and kind of stalled out up on the top, and finished far worse than we had hoped to.”

Does he fell that the championship is beyond his grasp now?

“We’ve just got to keep fighting, and keep working on getting every point we can at every race,” Johnson said. “We have no clue what’s going to happen to all the Chase drivers, and I want to finish as high as I possibly can in the Chase. That does mean the championship. If it’s not there, I want to finish as high as I possibly can.”

“We’re going to keep fighting hard,” Johnson said. “… and see what we can do.”

Here’s how the standings for the chasers line up after Talladega.

Pos. +/- Driver Points Behind
1 . — Carl Edwards 2237 Leader
2 . +1 Matt Kenseth 2223 -14
3 . +3 Brad Keselowski 2219 -18
4 . +1 Tony Stewart 2218 -19
5 . -3 Kevin Harvick 2211 -26
6 . -2 Kyle Busch 2197 -40
7 . +1 Jimmie Johnson 2187 -50
8 . -1 Kurt Busch 2185 -52
9 . — Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2163 -74
10 . +1 Jeff Gordon 2155 -82
11 . +1 Denny Hamlin 2153 -84
12 . -2 Ryan Newman 2149 -88

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Review: 2011 Audi A5

October 24, 2011 by Tom Williams Leave a Comment

Ah, the personal luxury coupe-a breed of car most folks under the age of thirty have no memory of. Originally perfected by American automakers, the personal luxury car arguably hit its zenith at the height of the Rat Pack era with gorgeous styling masterpieces as the original Oldsmobile Toronado and Buick Riviera. And then it all went downhill from there, and badly. Interestingly, the Germans would later pick up on the concept on an even grander scale. As a kid growing up in the 1980’s, I was utterly captivated by cars like the BMW 635CSi and Mercedes-Benz 560SEC. While the descendents of the BMW and Benz are still available, they are hugely expensive. And that is where the Audi A5 enters the picture.

What separates the Audi from its German competition is that the A5 offers all the swagger and style of the original personal luxury coupes, but on a more more attainable level than its contemporary rivals. When the A5 went on sale as a 2008 model, the car’s good looks slayed me. Three years later the car is still positively gorgeous, and in future years I am convinced the A5 will be as respected and admired as 1970’s-era BMW 3.0CS coupes are today. Neither trendy or flashy, the A5 absolutely drips of class and elegance. The proportions are perfect, and though it may be hard to tell from the pics, but the A5 is delightfully curvy and voluptuous. Finished in optional Deep Sea Blue pearl effect paint, the Audi makes similarly priced cars appear forced in looking premium, while here, it seemingly effortless.

Audi has earned a sterling reputation for building some of the best interiors out there, and the A5 does not disappoint. And, after all, this is a personal luxury coupe, so it had better deliver. And it certainly does. The seats are low, as they should be, and supremely comfortable. For all the features and tech our A5 offered, all controls were within easy reach and fairly intuitive to use. I definitely prefer Audi’s MMI (multi-media interface) to BMW’s iDrive for controlling audio, navigation, and other functions. The driver is faced with two deep set gauges, separated with an LCD display screen and a meaty steering wheel. The workmanship and quality of materials here are without fault, and the optional Nutmeg Laurel wood trim added an extra level of luxe to an already polished interior. Rear seat space is not as awful as you might think, and the generously sized trunk makes the A5 a perfect choice for a weekend getaway.

At this point, it might be fair of you to think that ok, Audi has dipped its toe in an older, and largely forgotten niche, but that is where you would be wrong. While personal luxury cars of the past favored larger engines, Audi has turned that concept on its head by offering the A5 with a four cylinder engine. Before you start crying heresy, hear me out. The engine in question is a 2.0L turbocharged, direct injected four rated at 211hp. On paper that sounds pretty meager for a car the size and heft of the A5, but this lovely, torquey little engine actually works very well here. 0-60mph can be expected in the mid-six second range. In my week with the A5, the car was always satisfying. And, let’s face it. The guy buying an A5 is not heading to the local drag strip on the weekends. To sweeten things, the A5 delivers something personal luxury cars are not known for-good fuel economy. With 21/31 MPG city/highway, the A5 is frugal for the luxury and style it delivers. Even sweeter was our test car’s six-speed manual transmission, which was a joy to use. As befitting any proper German coupe, when taken to your favorite back road, the A5 is ready to dance.

While the A5 was previously available with a V-6 engine, that has been dropped. Buyers seeking more power should seek the Audi S5. The A5 is available as a coupe or Cabriolet. While the Cabriolet is offered in front-wheel drive and Quattro all-wheel drive, all A5 coupes come standard as a Quattro. While the six-speed manual is standard, an eight speed automatic transmission is available.

The Audi A5 Quattro coupe starts at a reasonable $36,500USD. Our test car, with the aforementioned pearl paint, wood trim, was also equipped with the Premium Plus package, which adds to the generous standard equipment list xenon headlights, LED daytime running lights and taillights, unique 18″ alloys, Bluetooth, three-zone auto climate control and  heated seats. Other options included navigation and a sublime Bang & Olufsen sound system for a total of $45,430, including destination. Inexpensive? No. But the content for the price paid is on par with its closest competition from Lexus, Volvo and Infiniti.

No, Audi did not reinvent the wheel with the A5, but what they did manage to do was to take an old formula with the personal luxury coupe and make a positively stunning car that offers more than adequate performance with good fuel economy to boot-a modern take on a classic recipe. The A5 is a no-apologies, bonafide grand tourer that begs for weekend trips to grand locales, where getting there in style, fun, and comfort is the order of the day. That it can do so at a fraction of the cost of its pricier rivals at BMW and Mercedes wrapped in a body that is destined for classic status is icing on the cake.

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NASCAR – Mark Martin Takes the Pole for Talladega Proving You Are Never Too Old to Go Fast

October 23, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 1 Comment

Mark Martin - Image courtesy of JDTImages

For the second time this year this season, and for the 51st time in his career, Mark Martin tops the field and shows us that experience and hard work can get you there.  This pole puts Martin in 8th on the all time poles list.  Not only did he set the fastest pace on the track but by doing so he beat his fellow teammates as well, a competition inside the company for bragging rights each and every week.  Martin paced four Hendrick cars in the top six starting spots, posting a lap of 181.367 mph (52.799 seconds) to win the pole.

“I really want to make sure that I give 100 percent of the credit to, first, the organization of Hendrick Motorsports for the incredible work that they do on restrictor-plate racing cars,” Martin said. “But also [crew chief] Lance McGrew and the GoDaddy.com team took the same parts and pieces that the three teammates had and managed to put down just a little bit quicker lap.

“It is a competition. Someone asked me [Friday] about the pole, and I said, ‘Yes, sir, we’re going for it.’ It’s a competition, too, and we try to win every single competition there is, no matter what it is. Of course, the race is a bigger, more important competition, but this is still for pride — and I’m proud of my team for the great work they have done.”

Jimmie Johnson - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Jimmie Johnson, Ol’ Five Time, will be starting from the second position and feels that , even with last weeks wreck and subsequent 34th place finish, that he still has a chance to make it 6.   A quick look back at the stats from 2006 will show you that a come back by anyone is possible from this point to the end, but it will all depend on team work.

“It is possible, and I’m expecting we need to do that as a race team,” Johnson said Friday at NASCAR’s biggest race track. “Fortune can come and go for any of the drivers at any of the tracks. There’s a lot of focus on this weekend’s race, but Martinsville has its things, then we go to Phoenix at some point, and we’re all not sure what to expect in Phoenix, so things will develop over the next five races. But myself and this team are looking at it that we need to be on fire at these next five to give ourselves a chance to win this thing.”

Trevor Bayne - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Trevor Bayne will be the only Non Chevy in the top 7 with his #21 Wood Brothers Ford starting 4th on the grid.  The Daytona 500 winner sounds elated to be running the car in another restrictor plate track.

“I think that shows how much work the 21 guys put into these cars, and they do a great job on the Superspeedways, and the work shows up here,” Bayne said. “It’s all about speed, and our car has it.”

Other drivers who have not had a great qualifying season have also found their way forward and will be starting closer to the front than their average starts would suggest.  Most notably would be Dale Earnhardt Jr starting from the 6th position beside teammate Jeff Gordon who starts in 5th.  Neither of these 2 have had a great average start thus far, but both have shown the ability to get to the front.  Hopefully their luck holds out and they can use the more forward positions to their advantage.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s massive fan base will definitely be cheering from all over the NASCAR world in hopes that this is the one where Johnson pays him back for the push to the win the last time we were racing here, and where Jr gets the monkey off his back by getting a win and breaking his winless streak.

Today’s Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is the 4th and final Superspeedway of the year and the last time this year we get to watch the 2 car push running around the track.  NASCAR felt it necessary to clarify the rule about pushing another car around the track after last weeks showed us Austin Dillon helped teammate Kevin Harvick conserve fuel by pushing him around the track under caution.

The bottom line? A driver can push a disabled car to pit road but may not push another car to assist the driver in saving fuel, or in maintaining caution pace while saving fuel on the race track.

As always, no assistance of any kind is allowed on the final lap.

In NASCAR’s view, helping a driver save fuel by pushing his car provides a competitive advantage that may not be available to drivers without teammates. There also is the possibility that such assistance could skew the results of the Chase.

“You can still push a car that’s disabled or out of power to pit road,” NASCAR spokesperson Kerry Tharp said.

What happens when one car pushes another past the entrance to pit road?

“That’s when we would react,” Tharp said.

Dale Earnhardt Jr - Image courtesy of JDTImages

NASCAR also mandated changes to the cooling system and the restrictor plates in an attempt to break apart the 2 car push while still maintaining a fast paced race on the track.  The changes made will allow for more horsepower and should allow for more pack racing, and lowering the pressure in the cooling system so that it will over heat sooner if the cars are pushing for too long.  What do the drivers think about these changes?  Dale Jr. seems to sum up what everyone is feeling the best.

“If we are going to push each other around the race track, we are going to have to swap more often,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “… Say you are working with your partner out there, and you’ve got to change more often. That is when it is going to get crazy, because you lose a lot of speed and the guys that are not changing that are behind you come flying up on you really quick, and if they do not have a lot of room and everybody doesn’t know what is going on, bad things can happen.”

“The change in the radiator to make us change more often, I don’t really see what we are trying to accomplish there and how that can bring about any good. I think that will just put us all in difficult situations more often, because when you make a swap, it is a difficult situation for the other drivers that aren’t swapping that have to dodge you, and hope they know where you are going and what you and your teammate are trying to do, because you lose so much speed in the process of making that swap. Everyone is sort of making a lot of calculated guesses out there if that is happening more often. That is a little bit troublesome, but I don’t think it will be that big of a deal. But I just don’t know what that change was really for other than to make us swap more.”

Here is the starting lineup for the top 10 spots on the grid.

POS CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME
1 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet GoDaddy.com 181.367 52.799
2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet MyLowe’s 181.360 52.801
3 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Chevy 100 Years 181.243 52.835
4 21 Trevor Bayne Ford Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center 181.010 52.903
5 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Drive to End Hunger 180.918 52.930
6 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Diet Mountain Dew “Paint the 88” / National Guard 180.904 52.934
7 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet Serta / Menards 180.655 53.007
8 6 David Ragan Ford UPS My Choice 180.608 53.021
9 99 Carl Edwards Ford Subway 180.210 53.138
10 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet U.S. Army 180.203 53.140

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Johnson Wins at Talledega – Is The 2 Car Push Here to Stay? Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Mark Martin Edges Out Trevor Bayne for the Pole at Daytona Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kenseth Wins Another With Martin Runner Up as Late Race Call Wins The Race Default ThumbnailNASCAR – David Ragan Plays NASCAR Survivor to Win at Daytona for Redemption. Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Stewart Makes it 2 For 2 in Championship Chase and Takes the Points Lead in the Standings

Review: Kia Optima SX Turbo

October 20, 2011 by Tom Williams 3 Comments

I live in a crowded neighborhood on the beach, and as such, it’s tough for anyone to sneeze without being noticed. My closest neighbors are used to seeing a new car in my driveway every week, and usually don’t show much interest unless it’s a muscle car or something high-end from Europe. And then I slowly drove up my street in the new Kia Optima Turbo, windows down on a comfortable September evening to hear “Holy ___ that’s a Kia?!”

That’s about the best, and clearest way to convey the departure Kia made from Optimas of the past. Heck, I’m an Editor for an automotive blog and I have no memory of the 2010 Kia Optima. But this car-wow. Styling is subjective, but in my opinion, the Optima is hands down the best looking mid-size sedan on the market today, and possibly of the past decade. Finished in Ebony Black, our Optima was positively sinister in appearance. Attention to detail was evident-it’s hard to tell from the pics, but the top frame of the windshield mimics that of the grille. Just the right touch of chrome adds an air of elegance. But check out the greenhouse-call me crazy, but I see a striking resemblance to the four door Aston Martin Rapide, but with a bit more height for the sake of headroom. For over two decades, nearly every automaker has been inspired by, and has attempted to imitate German design, but with the new Optima, it is the most faithful interpretation of a European-inspired design I’ve seen yet, but manages to do so without being derivative. The out of this world 18″ wheels on our car put the exclamation point on the car.

Did I say European inspired? Well, step inside, and the theme continues. The dash design makes me think of what a Saab 9000 would look like if it were done today. I loved the driver-focused cockpit, metal pedals and door sill plates helped to ratchet the Optima’s sport/luxe factor. The Optima offers a roomy, comfortable cabin. Materials are of good quality, and I found no fault with fit and finish. Still, it was easy to look around and be easily fooled into thinking you were driving a much more expensive car.

The Kia Optima is directly related to the Hyundai Sonata, a car we reviewed earlier this year. Our SX Turbo featured a 2.0L direct-injected, twin scroll turbo, cranking out a prodigious 274hp. Oh, and it does that on regular, 87 octane gas. And gets 34mpg on the highway. I said it in my review of the Sonata Turbo, and I will repeat it here. Getting 100hp per liter of displacement was once the dominion of exotic cars. The most powerful iteration of the Ferrari Testarossa, the 512M, makes 89.7hp/liter. The Kia Optima Turbo makes 137hp/liter. So, if anyone gives your grief who is still ignorant of how far Kia has come, throw that stat at them. They’ll leave you alone.

The Optima was a delight to drive, was quick off the line and in passing situations. Yes, I’d have liked more steering feel, but I felt that way about the Sonata too. The Optima did feel more firm than it’s cousin from Hyundai though-sportier, and yes, more European in feel. But never harsh-the Optima never crashed over bumps. While the Optima was competent, even fun to drive quick, I can feel this chassis has more to offer-there is a next level Kia can take this car to, and I am dying to know if they do. There is room for a serious sport spec Optima Turbo if Kia is so inclined.

True to form, Kia offers all this at a pretty reasonable price. An Optima SX Turbo has a base price of $25,995USD. For that money, you get dual-zone auto climate control, Sirius satellite radio, Bluetooth, leather/woven seats, power driver’s seat, HID headlights and LED taillights. Our test car added the Technology Package, with Navigation, back-up camera, Sirius Traffic, and upgraded Infinity stereo. The SX Premium Package added a panoramic sunroof, power passenger seat, driver seat memory, heated/vented front seats, and heated rear seats. As delivered, our Optima rang in at $30,840. That represents one heck of a bargain, considering its competition from Honda and Toyota don’t even offer some of the features the Optima has.

I don’t hesitate to say the Kia Optima Turbo has set a new benchmark in its class in terms of power, efficiency, content, and looks. While the Hyundai Sonata Turbo impressed me, the European-inspired Optima was shockingly better from a design standpoint. Sure, we laugh at the Hamster ads for the Kia Soul, but my black Kia Optima Turbo dropped jaws and got the raves from the public. For a car whose last year I cannot recall, the new Optima is now a game-changer.

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Default ThumbnailReview: 2011 Kia Sportage Default ThumbnailReview: 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe Default ThumbnailReview: 2011 Saab 9-5 Turbo4 Default ThumbnailReview: 2012 Mazda5 Default ThumbnailReview: 2011 MINI Countryman
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