It seems like forever since we’ve had a morning like this. Here I am, on the deck with a coffee, starting this week’s Carnival of Wheels while the dog tries to decide whether to poo or not. Believe it or not, we still have snow in spots, yet here I am in my shorts enjoying the sunshine, feeling my batteries recharge. This CoW is probably going to come at you in dribs and drabs, as there is still lots of life going on in The Garage, so why don’t we get rolling with a pretty big CoW.

Last week, I bashed Brian Vermette’s grammar and this week, RaceDriven has fired back with a barrage of NBC’s automotive related programming. Can an American version of Top Gear get away with product bashing like the Brits do? Will a full series of the remade Knight Rider create ratings? Perhaps they should have Larry The Cable Guy stand alongside Adam Carolla to give a reel genuine American twist. Maybe cast Gary Coleman as the third spot!
Continue reading →

Popularity: 4%

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.
Continue reading →

Popularity: 5%

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.
Continue reading →

Popularity: 5%

Wow, what a time we’ve had here in The Garage since the last Carnival of Wheels. I’ve been to the Pocono Mountains for the IMPA Test Days, where I spent a day testing 4×4’s and another day lapping Pocono Raceway. During that time, there has also been RM’s Auction of the Fawcett Movie Car collection. Out west, Gary Faules finally got Lucky on the road and managed to rip the spring perches off the rear axle and get a 3 car police escort home from a toot around the neighborhood! Today will be a day to catch up on some work, relax a bit and watch the Belgium Grand Prix. So grab a coffee and enjoy the race with me!

First up, we have Jody DeVere from Ask Patty with a new video about BMW’s clean energy program from a new service that claims to be BMW Web TV. Now I am having a bit of a tough time with this one. I received the same press e-mail that Jody did earlier in the week, but there seemed to be a problem. The site is slick and very well put together. The content looks great. There is just one problem. It doesn’t conform to BMW’s brand image in any way, and BMW is VERY careful about anything their brand is attached to fits their standard. I replied to the person that sent out the original e-mail to query this and he hasn’t responded. Maybe I’m skeptical, but something doesn’t feel right here.
Continue reading →

Popularity: 3%

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.
Continue reading →

Popularity: 4%

After 3 weeks of motorsports madness here in The Garage, we have a racing free weekend. We are having a floor laying good time however, as we are installing our new laminate in the living room. You now the stuff, we bought it months ago, did the dining room and then spent May and June recovering from an oddball illness in the house. So today, it’s nice that we’ve got a short CoW. The only problem is that I’m groovin’ to The Clash and not concentrating on reading! Why not join me, top up your coffee, crank up some old punk and see what this week’s hot lap will bring.

There were a few notable happenings in racing last weekend. From wild and woolly John Force finally breaking his slump, to wild and woolly parents from the IRL at The Glen, to NASCAR fighting passing on the grass, Brian from RaceDriven has a bunch of details. As a racing parent, I have to weigh in on the Hornish incident, but I think it may take a post of it’s own!
Continue reading →

Popularity: 3%

Spring finally seems to have arrived for real here in The Garage. Mamma G’s P5 has new summer boots, I’m cleaning out The Garage and today will be the 8 year old’s first time driving a go kart. On a track. I’m afraid. You’ll read more later about all 3 topics, but here’s a bit of a hint. We’re about to have our first ever contest in The Garage! For now though, grab a pail o java and let’s check out this week’s submissions to the CoW.

The Nextel Cup race in Texas last weekend was full of bumps and drama, and Brian from RaceDriven has the full scoop. One question though. Where the hell was Kyle Busch? Having a sit down with the latest Speed Sport News in the nearest porta john?
Continue reading →

Popularity: 3%

There is now another way to find the Carnival of Wheels. Blognetbiz has now featured us on their front page! For those up and coming car bloggers, Blognetbiz is an aggregator of automotive blogs. Sort of a public feed reader. It’s a nice tool and a good way to find new feeds for your reader. Thanks for including the CoW!

Popularity: 2%

So we’ve woken up to the news that Paul Tracy has broken his back in practice for todays race in Long Beach. Let’s hope things go well for him and he’s back in the car soon. The Formula 1 grid is about to take the green in Bahrain, so let’s get rolling with the first couple of submissions.

Sporting a new look, Alborz from Australian Car Advice is tackling an age old beef. Does speeding really kill, or are our governments just trying to rid us of our hard earned dough?
Continue reading →

Popularity: 2%

The sun rose way too early here in The Garage today. Well, the sun really didn’t rise early, as it was rainy and crappy when I started into the Cow this morning. A couple of doses of hockey and a headache induced nap later and here I am finishing things off, now that the Car of Tomorrow has run it’s first race. We had some great submissions this week, so sit back with a cold one and enjoy this week’s Carnival of Wheels.

Would having diarrhea get you off a speeding ticket? I don’t know about that one, but the cop is sure to have a giggle. Over at WiseBread they are having a little bit of a contest to find the best lines to get out of a speeding ticket. They are even giving away a car for the best entry! I still think that nothing beats great cleavage and a tear or two.
Continue reading →

Popularity: 2%