The Garage: Your daily dose of automotive news, reviews and motorsports coverage
Somehow I know that I am going to be thrashed upon by some of my female colleagues for sharing this one, but OMG!
Tanner Faust does a little Gymkhana of his own in X Games Fiesta
Ken Block busts out Monster World Rally Team Fiesta photos and video
Up close & personal with Ken Block’s Monster World Rally Team Ford Fiesta during tech inspection
Massive rally crash caused by missing roof vent!
Global Rallycross carnage compilation by GoPro
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...]
Mother’s Day can be a tough one to shop for, so the folks at Ford sat some kids down and asked them what kind of car they thought their Mom should drive. Then they had artists bring those ideas to life. I don’t know about Mom, but I would totally rock the under water Pinto!
Yesterday we saw a perfect example of what happens when the driver of a front wheel drive machine lifts off the throttle mid corner, panics and drills the brakes. Today, we have another public lapping participant at the Nurburgring who with a bit of patience and a lot of luck, manages not to hit anything with his precious Ford Fiesta ST after running a bit wide at the exit of a previous turn.
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In case you have missed it, earlier this week Ford announced that the 2015 Mustang will be equipped with an old skool drag racing tool: line lock. Line lock allows the front brakes to remain engaged, locking a vehicle in place, while the driver puts heat into the rear tires, (read:spinning them!). While this has obvious hooning benefits, primarily creating huge, smokey burnouts, line lock’s primary use is to allow a car to hook up and haul ass down a drag strip. Of course this has sent many internet based morons gearheads into a tizzy as they think Ford is giving them a license to go racing in their new ‘Stang. They couldn’t be more wrong.
For years, pretty much every owner’s warranty guide has contained a clause that says something to the effect of “taking part in any form of competition will render a vehicle’s warranty void”. The cats at Motor Authority did some reading and found the line “Racing your vehicle will void your warranty” in the Mustang’s paperwork, so they set out to find out exactly what that meant by speaking with some of the engineers involved in the project. Basically, what they are saying is that an owner can partake in a track day, but the first time there is actual competition, the warranty is kaput.
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Crazy Leo Urlichich, the Canadian rally driver who came by his nickname thanks to his wild driving style, has successfully completed his first ever WRC event, in Portugal. Taking part in a driver search program called the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy, saw the fan focused driver trading his signature orange and black Subaru for a front wheel drive Ford Fiesta.
Saying that the competition at an FIA World Rally Championship event is stiff would be stiff is somewhat redundant, but the DMACK Fiesta Trophy itself features some tough competitors including Max Vatanen, son of rally legend Ari Vatanen.
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Many consumers worry about car dealership staff driving their new car before they take delivery, fearing that dealership employees are laying down smokey burnouts or racing around the neighborhood for kicks. The truth is that dealership staff rarely have time for such shenanigans and even if they did, most dealership workers sadly are not car enthusiasts. They just don’t have the interest in ripping up someone’s new pride and joy. Besides, most consumers don’t realize how many people may have been behind the wheel of a car before it is even offloaded from the truck at the dealership.
A story this week in Canadian Manufacturing is a perfect, although extreme example.
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I had a conversation with the organizer of an upcoming motosport series yesterday who commented that they have had one time visits from Porsche drivers who don’t stick around because they don’t like being humiliated by guys in Honda Civics. Today’s first video is kinda like that.
This morning, Bill Caswell from BUILD RACE PARTY posted a video from the infamous Nurburgring, where a Porsche 911 GT3 driver got a taste of why Sir Jackie called the place The Green Hell.
Caswell is in the black forest preparing for his first ever race at the ‘Ring, this weekend. The driver, who you may recognize as the guy who took a Craigslist BMW, converted it to a rally car and competed in the WRC Mexico a few years ago. Caswell has enlisted the help of Robb Holland, an American who races in the BTCC in an Audi S3, to help bring him up to speed. While touring the track in a Ford Focus RS, Holland catches up with a GT3 which is clearly being over driven. It isn’t too long before we see the Porsche driver put two wheels off and then a few corners later he stuffs it into the Armco. What is really cool is that Holland calls the off well before it happens!
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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.
If rallysport is the purest form of motorsport, then rallycross has to be the purest form of racing. It certainly is the most exciting, for fans and drivers alike. The sport isn’t new, having been active across the Atlantic for decades, where competitors battle it out of race tracks that are a combination of dirt and pavement. With the launch of the Global RallyCross Championship a couple of years ago though, the excitement was pushed to a whole new level.
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