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New car delivery squad charged with street racing

April 5, 2014 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

gg_hotwheelsford

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.
[Read more…]

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When German street racers try to go legit.

November 22, 2009 by John Heintzman 2 Comments

DEU BW  Formel 1 Hockenheim I will classify this article under “Odd automotive news from around the world.” Police in Baden-Württemburg raided the famous Hockenheim race track Saturday night.

Around 100 individuals with 43 cars slipped into the famous F1 track to hold some nighttime racing when they were confronted by German police.

The illegal participants were fined said a police spokesman. He also said that it quite likely illegal racing has been held regularly for some time now.

Those who had taken part organized the event on the internet. They had arranged to meet at a local parkplatz before entering the track to begin their nocturnal races.

http://www.localxxl.com/de/lokal_nachrichten/hockenheim/polizei-stoppt-illegale-autorennen-am-hockenheimring-1258888987/

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I Rest My Case

November 4, 2009 by Gary Faules 1 Comment

I have seen so many blogs and websites that blatantly brag about street racing and if that isn’t idiotic as it is, trying to tell them how dumb it is is more akin to preaching to the Choir.

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Shutter Speed: Tragedy strikes again and again!

November 3, 2009 by Allan De La Plante 8 Comments

skid marks

During the next two summers we hit the race tracks when we could afford it, but mostly we just hung out and partied. There were three events that hit us all very hard over this period of time. The first involved one of my co-conspirators in the ‘blue movie’ caper in high school. Of the other likely suspects was a lovable character by the name of David Barham. He and I did a lot of things together during our high school years. One was splicing about ten seconds into a geography movie. Everyone knew we were involved as we had been showing the movie in his basement, for a fee, for a whole weekend. Nearly every guy that played sports in our school and several others had seen the movie, yet no one said a thing to the powers that be when it accidentally ended up in an assembly one Friday morning. Needless to say they tried very hard to discover the creators of the excitement, but it eventually faded away. David played right behind me on the defensive line in football. At the time I was the left defensive end. Barney, as he was known, played corner linebacker. Every time there was a play that came around our end there was a blood curdling scream as he came hurtling through the line to make or assist in a tackle. He scared the shit out of me every time it happened! If I went to the Capital Theater on a Friday night you could tell Barney was there by his high distinctive laugh that just went on and on. We skied together in the winter and water skied in the summer. We chased girls together all year long. Barney was also a first class musician. He played bassoon in the school orchestra and sang and played bass in his own group that played all the local high school dances and any other gig they could find. It was on the road trip of one of these gigs that Barney, two of the band members and one of their girlfriends were killed on the way home in Barney’s new Chevy convertible. It was very early on a Sunday morning. They were returning from Gravenhurst where they had played a dance the night before. Just south of Trout Creek, the same town that I had found my three-window-coupe, Barney pulled out to pass several cars. At the end of the line was a yellow school bus. As Barney pulled past the bus it turned left into a side road. The left front fender of the bus caught the right rear bumper of Barney’s car. The slight impact caused Barney to lose control. The car swerved then dove for the left ditch. It stopped dead when it hit a steep culvert next to a driveway. My Mother woke me early the next morning to tell me of the accident. She had heard about it on the radio. It did not take me long to find out Barney was involved. Several of us drove down to the crash site where there was still wreckage in the ditch. We saw the car in a local wrecker’s yard. I could never figure out what a school bus was doing out at two in the morning on a Sunday. The ride home was long and lonely.
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The Road Runners 1952

May 11, 2009 by Gary Grant 1 Comment

Think street racing is a new problem? Think again. The youth of today have been ripping up the streets since they were the youth of yesterday. Your parent’s parents terrorized their towns in their beaters just as the neighbor’s kid in a clapped out Civic blasts down your street. Coffee can tailpipes? Grandpa did it with no muffler at all.

Back in 1952, The Man put together this wonderful little video aimed at getting the hooligans off the street and onto the strip. More specifically onto the salt.

A great video courtesy of Ryan at The Jalopy Journal. Be sure to watch in full screen to take advantage of the great quality copy.

The Road Runners: 1952 from The Jalopy Journal on Vimeo.

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Best street race ever. Don’t try this at home.

April 5, 2009 by Gary Grant 2 Comments

For years and years, people have been stuffing American muscle in Volvos. This must be the absolute king of the Volvo conversion.

Volvette beats R1.

190 mph!

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Win tickets to see Fast & Furious preview in San Francisco

March 11, 2009 by Gary Grant 4 Comments

ff2

The first Fast & Furious movie brought together action, cars and girls in a way never done before. Whether it was the wicked car scenes or the the hot girls, the move brought tuner culture to the mainstream and even crusty old car guys like me got into it. Heck, even Mrs. Grant got into watching Vin Diesel strut his stuff. With round 3 about to hit theaters, we’ve got a great offer for our readers in California: 10 free passes to an advance screening in San Francisco.

The gist of the movie:
Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso

Directed by: Justin Lin

Rated: PG-13

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed—Fast & Furious. Heading back to the streets where it all began, they rejoin Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster to blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert in the new high-octane action-thriller.

When a crime brings them back to L.A. , fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Conner ( Walker ). But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmaneuver him. And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what’s po ssi ble behind the wheel.

Check out the trailer & more shots from the movie after the break and find out how to get your free ticket.
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Where oh Where is that new Corolla?

August 6, 2007 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Well, its no secret that the current clad Corolla is well over-due for its model year makeover. Toyota has now hung onto the current design, extending the conforming, utilitarian, and conservative (read: boring) outlook for 2 extra years. In some circles I have heard this to be a really interesting strategy:

1. Civic/Mazda3/Lancer are all enjoying a facelift late 2005 Impreza hits the scene in new-dapper present, mid-2006.

2. Celica is retired, RSX is hung, Civic SIR/TypeR is introduced in respective domestic markets, WRX/STI/MazdaSpeed3 readily available

3. Yaris making a nill impact with the dealership offered ‘aero package’ For those that absolutly unaware of Toyota’s new “flagship” sports compact, let me paint you a picture:

Yes, get a good look at that rear. This thing doesn’t have enough horses for you to see it again once you’ve passed it.

WTF is up with Toyota? are they too busy ENJOYING WORLD DOMINATION WITHOUT A SPORTS CAR? WTF???????
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Should street racers cars be crushed?

June 21, 2007 by Gary Grant 33 Comments

crushed.jpg

With street racing related deaths on the rise across North America, governments and police forces are having to try new and drastic measures to combat the illegal and dangerous activity. On Wednesday in California, several known street racer’s rides were sent to the crusher to send a message to other racers that their hobby will not be tolerated.
[Read more…]

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Blogosphere talks street racing

June 6, 2006 by Gary Grant Leave a Comment

Like it or not, street racing is part of our culture. Long romanticized by song writers and authors, there is no denying that songs like “Dead Man’s Curve” are anything but a glorification of the danger surrounding street racing.

I was cruisin’ in my Stingray late one night
When an XKE pulled up on the right
And rolled down the window of his shiny new Jag
And challenged me then and there to a drag
I said, “you’re on, buddy, my mill’s runnin’ fine
Let’s come off the line, now, at Sunset and Vine
But I’ll go you one better if you’ve got the nerve
Let’s race all the way
To Dead Man’s Curve”

But isn’t that part of what it’s all about? The danger of getting caught. The risks. The humbling experience of losing. Somewhere along the way though, the reality of those same dangers sets in. Killing an innocent bystander is not an acceptable byproduct of some fun today, nor do I suspect it was a very welcome outcome in the Fifties.

Over at Left Lane, there was a bit of talk about Toronto’s own Jim Kenzie’s recent article about some possible upcoming legistlation to ban performance mods in the wake of the tragic death of a married couple. Joe at MyFordDreams2 and Jalopnik have posted about similar laws coming in the Bay area in sunny Cali. What nobody noticed though was the news from the day after Kenzie’s article was published.
A 31 year old Torontonian died when he wrapped his late model Porsche 911 around some immovable object while racing his cousin. It’s not just teens who do stupid things. You would think that this guy would have discovered the Driver Advancement days held by the local PCA region.

As true enthusiasts, it is all of our jobs to show the green, testosterone filled racer wannabes that there are safe places to drive their rods. Most car guys really have no training & the first time they have any advanced training they are blown away by how little they really do know about car control. A couple of weekends of autocrossing will change a driver’s skill level and awareness forever. All for about the cost of a decent lunch.

By all means folks, let’s keep enjoying the fun, impromptu stoplight battles. Just a little common sense and a little less cajones and maybe we can stop killing people in the name of fun.

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