It’s Thanksgiving weekend up here in Canada and that means falling leaves, drizzle and soon the scent of turkey wafting through the house. We have a lot to be thankful for here in The Garage this year and we fully intend to enjoy our long weekend with friends and family. Now that the early morning hockey practice is over, it’s time to take our weekly hot lap around the auto blogs, so grab a coffee, strap in and get ready for some reading.

It’s been a while since we’ve had any really good tech stuff in the CoW, and this week Henry from The Pansy Patrol comes to the rescue. Henry’s Protege has been a bit sloppy of late and installing a new set of Energy lower control arm bushings was just the ticket to keep things pointed in the right direction. Henry walks us through the install with a few helpful tips along the way.
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Sometimes, work in the real life version slows things down in The Garage. Over the past week, we’ve been dealing with month end, year end inventories and the like which means I haven’t had an awful lot of time to keep up on all the happenings in the blogosphere. That’s one of the nice things about the CoW. It let’s everyone keep up to date with a few of the weeks hot topics. So, without further ado, let’s strap in for a hot lap around the auto blogs.

First up, Jeff Fisher is reporting on Car & Driver’s report of a press day road test of a JDM Mitsubishi Evo X. Even though it’s not the same as the cars we’ll see here in North America, it’s still pretty cool. This is kinda fitting for us here in The Garage, because if all goes well tomorrow we might have some special Evo stuff to share with our readers.
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That’s it folks, Summer is over and Fall has arrived. Though looking outside today you’d never know it was Fall in Ontario. Fear not though, I spoke with a friend in Alberta last night and they already have snow above the tree line. With the onset of Fall means the end of racing soon and the beginning of snowy rally conditions. Today’s Carnival of wheels is a quick one with a bit of fun and a bunch of motorsports. It’s after 12 here in sunny Ontario, so crack open a cold one and join me in a quick hot lap around the blogosphere.

First up, let’s have a bit of fun with the folks at Hello Kitty Hell. This poor guy is living an automotive cartoon nightmare. First there was the Hello Kitty tailpipe and now she wants to install these Hello Kitty wheels.
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It’s hard to believe that summer has flown by so fast and is coming to an end. Here in The Garage, it’s been a whirlwind of races, road tests and running kids around to baseball. It looks like September will be more of the same, as we are heading to the Poconos for the IMPA Test Days at Pocono Raceway later this week. As a result, the CoW is going to take a week off next week while we spend a couple of days enjoying the scenery. Don’t worry though, we’ll still be posting lots of photos. For now, let’s strap in and take a hot lap around the automotive blogosphere.

First up, the NASCAR world has been all abuzz with rumours of a big move between manufacturers. The story goes that one of the big Chevy teams might cross over to the Toyota camp. Many pundits suggest that team might be Joe Gibbs Racing. That’s got Brian Vermette at RaceDriven wondering what Chevrolet is failing at. Let’s face it, the combo of JGR and Chevy is a winning one. What flaw could be so bad that Gibbs would consider switching brands?
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Good morning everyone and welcome to the lazy Sunday morning, I slept through the start of Turkish Grand Prix edition of the CoW. It must have been the excitement of being at the track yesterday, or maybe just the residual soggy feeling, but I just didn’t want to get out of bed. The coffee is ready though, so let’s get rolling through another big honkin’ Carnival of Wheels.

First up, the folks at Automotive.com are all excited that Top Gear has found it’s way to BBC America and it’s a damn sight better than Pimp my ride. If you’ve never seen Top Gear then you owe it to yourself to give this a look. It’s damn good TV. The Brits manage to do the crazy things we just wonder about. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could blow up a limo to see what would happen? These guys do it. Now if we could just figure out a way to get it back on BBC Canada.
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The Carnival of Wheels has been a bit lame for the past few weeks and I’ve been chalking that up to summer activities for everyone. Then, earlier this week, I discovered that this week’s CoW didn’t even have a submission page! I’ve been screwing with everyone’s timing over the past few weeks. Now, after an appologetic plea, we have all sorts of cool reads for this morning. It’s a good thing we decided that The Girl was to wiped out to race today following a full day at the beach yesterday. So sit down, grab a java and strap in for the first real hot lap in weeks! The Carnival of Wheels is up and running!

Every time I get a visit from Hello Kitty Hell, I get a little excited. What crazy new Hello Kitty nonsense has the Mrs. dragged up this time? Now, Hello Kitty is getting a little sexy and joined the Zent Super GT racing team. Now there isn’t just a bevy of super hot asian girls, but also a little furry kitty in a short skirt. Do I need to say more?
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Welcome once again to the late summer Carnival of Wheels. As automotive bloggers, like everyone else, take vacations during the summer, things are a bit sparse again today. That’s ok though, as I’m off to a golf tournament for the dealer group. Silly thing is, I don’t really want to go. At least there are some windy cart paths at this course & I should be able to do a bit of creative driving in the cart! For now, let’s get on with the show!

Formula 1 has always had a somewhat rocky relationship with the United States. Canada has been a bit more stable, other than a brief squabble over TV rights a few years back. The US Grand Prix is done once again, and Brian from RaceDriven thinks that’s just fine given the current formula which seems to have become more of a procession than a race.
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It’s the middle of summer and everyone’s schedules are jam packed with activities. Things are no different here in The Garage, where non automotive activities are taking up far too much time. Call it the realities of life, and obviously all our regulars are working hard to enjoy the summer, as we’ve only got one submission this week. That’s ok though, as we’re enjoying a long weekend here in Ontario and spending time at the computer doesn’t make me a popular dad. So grab a coffee, sit down and buckle up for one super hot lap of the blogosphere.
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As a young car enthusiast reading car magazines, I used to wonder what it would be like getting to meet all manner of special car people, just like the writers did. What a thrill it would be to meet artists, celebrities, racers and even race fans who shared my love of cars. Fast forward a few decades and here we are visiting the Carnival of Wheels. Each week, car bloggers and readers alike join up for a bit of an automotive love in. It just gets me all warm and fuzzy. Now that you’ve got that wonderful visual, strap in and hold on while we take a hot lap around the blogosphere.

Usually, we hear about brawling over at our brother blog 8 Feet, but lately there has been a bunch of dust-ups in the racing world, both on and off track. In ALMS, an on track battle has been brewing all season between Mika Salo and Tomas Enge with the cars acting as hockey gloves. The series penalties weren’t enough to deter these guys and as Brian from RaceDriven points out, the team has taken things into their own hands. On the topic of Formula 1, Brian has a few words about last week’s activities. It’s hard to say what was more soggy, the European GP or the court proceedings.
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Finally, I’ve got a chance to sit down and get to work on this last week’s Carnival of Wheels. It was a crazy week that finished up with the eldest kid having a great final race yesterday. I’ll tell you all about that later, but for now buckle up and we’ll take a hot lap around the auto blogs.

With all of our running around these days, I haven’t had any time to keep track of any NASCAR rumblings. Brian at RaceDriven does keep tabs on the good old boys though and it seems that they’ve entered their silly season. You’ll have to visit to get all the details on the driver moves that are coming. It’s good to hear that our boy Smoke finally won a race again! Come on boy, get your stuff in gear and take a run for the top 12.
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