We wish all of our American friends a very happy 4th of July!

Sports Car Digest has published a great story by friend of The Garage, Lou Galanos, about Peter Revson at the 1972 Daytona 6 Hour Continental. As always, Lou’s article is accompanied by some incredible photos. Lou describes the changes that were made to the FIA sports car endurance racing in 1972 and follows Revson and the Autodelta team through the Continental weekend.

For those with an interest in the history of sports car racing, this is an absolute must read.

The Dude and I were out for a dog walk last night and came across a parking lot full of hot rods. It only took a few moments to realize that it was the kick off for the Canadian Hot Rod Tour. Even though I was aware of the tour, I wasn’t aware that it was beginning a block from my house! As I had to leave for the day job early this morning, The Dude put on his photographer hat and set out on his bike to document the event.

The Canadian Hot Rod Tour is a collection of rods and other interesting rides that are driving from Whitby to Moncton, New Brunswick over the next 10 days. Hosted by Canadian Rodder Magazine, the event actually goes further than Moncton. The really intrepid rodders will head south to Maine and then through Vermont and onto the ferry from Burlington to Plattsburgh New York and then back into Ontario. If you live along the route, be sure to keep an eye out for the convoy and say hi from us in The Garage!

Gallery of The Dude’s photos after the break
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Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday is an old cliche from the golden years of motor racing and car sales. Some folks just can’t see that in today’s politically correct, recessionary world. Fortunately, the folks at Ford have a deep history of sales resulting from wins so today’s news should not come as a surprise.

As part of their Fiesta Movement to build hype for the upcoming Ford Fiesta, Ford is entering 3 rally prepped Fiesta’s in the 15th edition of X-Games at the end of this month in Los Angeles. Prepared by Olsbergs Motor Sport Evolution race team, these 3 cars will be piloted by a trio of superstar drivers. The Olsbergs MSE branded car will be driven by Swedish IndyCar driver Kenny Brack while a pair of ROCKSTAR Energy Drink cars will be entered for drift star Tanner Faust and 10 time X-Games Moto X medal winner Brian Deegan.

Unlike traditional motorsports, X-Games is wildly popular with the video game generations, who are drawn by the extreme action of bikes, boards and rally cars. A win at X-Games pretty much guarantees interest from a whole new crowd of car buyers, a demographic which Ford desperately needs in the showrooms.

This post is our first for a contest Ford is hosting to invite non traditional media to a product launch later this month.

Full details of the Fiesta X-Games attack after the break
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My first introduction to the BMW 3 series came way back in the first half of the Eighties when a buddy’s private school girlfriend arrived at our public high school to pick him up in her new 320i. The car was small and sporty yet actually held 4 people. Even better, it was priced low enough that us poor high school students could actually envision the possibility of affording one. Unfortunately, this is the image I had in my head when I picked up our 2009 BMW 335D tester.

Normally, when I review a car I don’t look at the press kit prior to driving the car. In this case, I had laid it on the seat and something jumped off the page at me. Price as tested: $62,200.

We’re not in the Eighties any more Toto!

It took me a couple of days to get over the shell shock of having my perception shattered. Lest the dear reader think that tainted my view of the car, I’ll be clear that the 335D is one of the most stunning sedans I’ve driven on many levels. It just took me a few days to get there.
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Car museums can be a tad boring for kids, even those who are certified junior gearheads. All these really cool cars, but you can’t actually get in them. Of course the Porsche museum has some priceless machines and ice cream hand prints just wouldn’t do. Still, it is so important that Dad and Grandpa bring the young kids out to see the cars that have generations of enthusiasts have lusted after.

The Museum Rally gets kids excited about the history of the cars as they scour the displays looking for clues to get them to the end. Lucky kids have a chance to win a monthly prize. This is pretty cool because it takes the boy behind the rope and puts him right in the action, ensuring that he’ll inherit that lust for Porsche.

Full details after the break
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I remember the last time I went trick or treating: I was 13ish and cruised through the neighbourhood attempting to look somewhat like one of the members of KISS. Thanks to my feeble memory, I can’t recall which face I attempted to imitate. Fast forward a few decades and my world comes crashing into the KISS legend once again.

Gene Simmons has been named the Grand Marshal of the upcoming Honda Indy Toronto. Toronto has always been one of the jewels of Indy racing, and was never lacking in glitz but our fair city has been off the circuit for a season so maybe kicking things up a notch isn’t a bad thing. We’ve already got Andretti’s galore coming to Toronto next week and now we have one of the biggest rock gods of all time coming too. Ok, so I put in the rock god bit just to stroke Gene’s ego a little!

One thing is for certain: With Simmons around, you can be sure that our pit girls gallery will be hotter than ever!

Official press release after the break complete with info on fan events leading up to the race.
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Its always fun when someone new comes to hang out in The Garage, swap stories and bench race. This weekend, fellow Canadian auto writer Michael Banovsky dropped by and has decided to tell a few tales.

Michael is a bit of a new thing in automotive media: a young guy who has worked in traditional print. While he has been published in the Toronto Star’s Wheels section, he has been far more prolific online. Banovsky has been published at AutoGuide.com and is currently a contributor at vLane. As an early participant on Twitter, @michaelbanovsky has become one of the most influential auto peeps on Twitter which led to a guest spot on AutoBlog’s Autoline.

Like most auto writers, Michael’s personal set of wheels is a little bit offbeat. I have a feeling that his old Volvo 740 is probably almost as old as him!

Oh yeah, Michael takes photos of cars too and you can see them at his Flickr page. Man, this guy pops up in more places online than I do!

While Saturday was a rainy, nasty mess at Mosport for the 2009 VARAC Festival, Sunday was bright and beautiful. A perfect day to for vintage racing. Over the past few years, my racing galleries have been mostly pit lane and paddock stuff as I just couldn’t seem to get the knack for using the manual focus on my point & shoot camera. It seems like the practice has paid off, as I can now take passable on track shots. This set was taken at the top of the hill on the Mario Andretti Straight, where the big cars like the Mustangs would be traveling somewhere north of 160 mph.

The classes here are what VARAC terms Historic Production Sedans & Sports Cars and Vintage Sports Racers.

Huge gallery after the break
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