Small car scribbles

November 15, 2016 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

In addition to organizing the Canadian Car of the Year awards testfest event last month, I had also been tasked by a print editor to evaluate the small car category. Doing double duty means that I typically don’t have time to actually write about the cars during the event.

Unlike some of the old guard, paper note pads aren’t my thing. Instead, I use Google Keep, which allows me to keep great notes. It occurred to me while writing the story yesterday that it also allows me to share my scribbles with you.

In no particular order, here are my roadside observations of the vehicles entered in small car this year.

Chevrolet Spark

Hyundai Elantra

Subaru Impreza

Mini Cooper Clubman

Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback

Camaro is UK Bound! But There’s a Catch…

August 18, 2016 by Tom Williams Leave a Comment

The new 2016 Chevy Camaro is being lauded as possibly the best ever, and come this September our neighbors across the Atlantic in the UK, according to a post from www.roadandtrack.com. But Chevy’s expectations for the Camaro are low. I mean, really, really low. Making this trip across the pond will be either the 2.0L turbocharged four and the mighty 6.2L V-8-the V-6 Camaro will not be available. Anticipated sales? Chevy is exporting a total of 18-yes, 18 Camaros. Total. Of that, 15 will be hardtops, leaving only 3 convertibles to fight over. And all 18 are headed to one dealer only, Ian Allan Motors in Surrey.

Why such a ridiculously low number? For one, the Ford Mustang is already sold there, and it holds two major advantages over the Camaro. For one, the Mustang is priced cheaper, but far more importantly, UK Mustangs are right hand drive. No surprise Chevy is not going to the trouble to build a right hand drive Camaro, so that is a major disadvantage. Second, the Camaro is a big car with gun-slit windows, so the narrow roads of the UK were the furthest from any designer’s mind. Then consider the fact you’re sitting on the wrong side the car and driving your Camaro through town could be downright harrowing. As for roundabouts, I’d advise the UK Camaro owner to drop a gear, bury the throttle and power slide your way ’round whilst either praying or laughing hysterically.

Still, 18 cars total seems timid. Just as there are plenty of British car clubs in North America, so to does the UK have American car clubs. No word if all 18 are already spoken for, if there is further demand if Chevy will send more over. But whatever the case, you will be in very rare company.

In The Garage: 2016 Chevrolet Camaro 2LT

May 19, 2016 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

Once upon a time, the six cylinder versions of muscle cars were sort of the red headed step-child of real muscle cars. Those days are gone and the V6 version of the sixth generation Camaro is a real contender.

Jessi Lang meets a vintage T/A Chevy

August 14, 2014 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Driving an Infiniti. To a Mazda sponsored track. To drive a Chevy. Gotta love the little ironies that working in automotive media throws at us sometimes!

After spending a year in rehab following a devastating car accident, Jessi Lang takes the bull by the horns so to speak with her first automotive assignment. As part of Motor Trend’s lead up to the Monterey Historics, Lang had the opportunity to take a couple of hot laps around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in a full on ’69 Camaro Z/28 from the glory days of the Trans Am series. Sadly, a couple was all she got in, as the beast clocked in at 113 db, which is above the sound limits at the track.

Even though my Dad raced an AMX and not a Camaro, I am oh so jealous!

Source: Motor Trend via Youtube

The 2014 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance: Part I

June 14, 2014 by ponycargirl Leave a Comment

The 19th Greenwich Concours d’ Elegance: A Festival of Speed and Style was held over the weekend of May 31 – June 1 in Roger Sherman Baldwin Park by the Greenwich Harbor. The Connecticut Concours is just the right size – big enough for an incredible selection of cars, yet small enough so that every car on the field has a chance to parade by the stand at the end of the day. Concours organizers annually assemble a show of unique cars which can apply to show once every three years. Concours proceeds benefit AmeriCares programs.

Saturday is the Concours Americana where domestic antique automobiles share the lawn with 70’s muscle cars. It was a warm but cloudy day, but the passing rain ended just in time for the parade and awards, while the clouds hung around for dramatic photos. [Read more…]

Review: 2014 Chevrolet Silverado

May 8, 2014 by Tom Williams Leave a Comment

Stereotyping. It’s an ugly habit of us humans, and as much as we show disdain when we see others engaging in this behavior, we’re all guilty of the same. A couple of weeks ago my family was sitting outside a four star restaurant in Florida waiting for our table. We got up for a minute to take a selfie of the three of us, my wife’s purse and bag still on the bench we had just gotten up from. In an instant, an impeccably dressed family of four descends upon our bench, with our belongings on it. I hear them talking to each other. They were French. My reaction? I thought to myself “Typical French arrogant bastards. They think they are so much better than us.”

That was not very nice of me. I personally do not know any French people. I just buy into the stereotype. To flip that around, I often hear ‘Oh, typical American’, which usually means lazy and stupid, or a myriad of things. It’s never meant as a compliment. And if you judge Americans by what cars we buy, well, the numbers tell a story. Of the top ten best selling vehicles in America in 2013, three of them were full-size pick-up trucks. So, yes, we are as a nation, collectively in love with the pick-up truck.

It’s almost strange that in the five years I have been reviewing cars for The Garage, this is only the second pick up truck I have ever had. The trunk in question is the all-new 2014 Chevy Silverado. The competition is cut-throat for full-size trucks, and with its F-150, Ford has owned the sales crown for years, with Chevy’s Silverado coming in at second place. The highlights for the new Silverado are a lighter curb weight, new base V-6 engine, and an improved interior. The aesthetics of the Silverado definitely look up to date, but this is first and foremost a vehicle designed with utility in mind.
[Read more…]

Classic Player’s Challenge Racing in the rain

April 28, 2014 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

Few who were around to experience the Player’s GM Challenge will argue that there has never been a more exciting racing series in North America. The cars were stout, fast and came out of a showroom. The drivers were talented, fast and tenacious. The fans were drunk and rabid.

As the series took place from the late Eighties to early Nineties, before the age of digital cameras, there is a sad lack of media material available from the series. Hopefully, more fans will start scanning their old photos soon.

Through a friend on Facebook, I just came across this fantastic (for the era) in car video from a race at Shannonville in the rain. The driver is not identified. Do you know who is driving this machine?

Update: Canadian racing legend and top competitor in the series, Ron Fellows, has weighed in on the video. Ron believes that this is one of the Motomaster cars, which he drove himself at Shannonville in 1987. That was a dry race, so Fellows thinks this is David Empringham in the ’88 race.

15 Seconds With: 2015 Chevrolet Corvette

April 8, 2014 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Our buddy Russ Bond from Painkillerz was intending to drive the 2015 Chevy Corvette today. Mother Nature had other ideas.

Impatient Camaro driver clips oncoming Volvo

March 25, 2014 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

A number of years ago, I remember reading a Q & A with then Sgt. Cam Woolley, when someone asked when it was ok to pass on a rural road. The not so obvious answer was that on a single yellow line, one can pass provided it is safe to do so. Then there were the obvious dotted line discussions and the fact that you may never, ever pass on a double yellow line. Common sense that one.

When that double yellow is on a twisty canyon road, it shouldn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that you should stay in your own lane, even if there is a local turtle ahead of you. Last weekend in California, a current generation Chevy Camaro driver felt that the law and common sense didn’t apply to him. #becausecamara ya know.

Reddit user humanwire was out for a drive and had a couple of cameras on board.

Went out this Saturday to hit up my favorite canyon road with some friends, but it ended up being closed once we got there. Hesitantly, we decided to give a Malibu canyon road (Decker Canyon, aka Route 23) a try on the way back, so the whole day wasn’t a complete waste.
I was quickly reminded why I don’t like driving on Malibu canyon roads, and why I head out much further away from Los Angeles for some frisky driving.
A group of three cars came barreling up behind us; a black Comaro, a red Mazdaspeed 3, and a black M3, unable to wait a second for a turnout.

Completely ruined the fun mood of the trip, and my friends and I turned around almost immediately so we wouldn’t be associated with that group. Wouldn’t want a CHP call to go out including us with that group.
Too many dickhead drivers. Too much traffic. Too many police patrols. Less than stellar roads (not all of them).

Pony car boy gets fed up with idling along behind a slowpoke in a Ford Explorer, and decides to pull out and pass, on a blind corner. He actually clips a Volvo that was headed in the opposite direction. Things could have very easily been a deadly incident, so everyone involved were very lucky.

Here’s to hoping that the local police get hold of this and track the moron down.

Source: YouTube via Reddit

On board at Interlagos in a V8 powered Chevy Sonic

March 24, 2014 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

When most North Americans think of the term stock cars, we tend to think of NASCAR style taxi cab racing. In Brazil however, the cars used for the Stock Car racing series are V8 powered silhouette racers that are more like Aussie V8 Supercars.

Likewise, when we think of a Chevrolet Sonic, what comes to mind is a diminutive five door sub-compact car.

Things in Brazil are just a bit different than they are here.

Ozz Negri, usually a driver for Michael Shank Racing in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, made a trip to his home country over the weekend to take part in a race at the Interlagos Formula 1 track. Negri, at the wheel of a beastly sounding Sonic, finished in P14 out of 33 starters. Mid-pack may not be so bad when you consider that the field contained names like Rubens Barichello, Nelson Piquet Jr., Raphael Matos, Bruno Senna, Antonio Pizzonia and Ricardo Zonta among others.

The folks at RACER set up a GoPro in Negri’s Chevy for a lap.

Source: RACER via YouTube
Image Source: Vickie Miller via Twitter

Chevrolet Spark

Hyundai Elantra

Subaru Impreza

Mini Cooper Clubman

Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts: