By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of slow-motion drifting footage on StreetFire, but this is the first clip I’ve seen where F1 machines get the treatment. The amount of force these cars have to take in the corners is just incredible, and seeing how every part of the car is shaking gave me a new respect for what the drivers must go through when cornering. For the record, I still think race drivers are athletes…

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

The Impala guys were back with both Vlad the Impala and the Pimpala. The Pimpala, another of the FWD versions these guys prefer, was replete with a cougar vinyl roof, a green and gold paint scheme, and a gold grille bearing a pimp hood ornament. It was voted People’s Curse, thanks to the aggressive and pretty offensive driving going on behind its wheel. A fair number of penalties were assessed to the team, but they did not get the message. The mechanics of the field were given five minutes to trash the car, and the mob of sledge-wielding wrenchers inflicted heavy damage, particularly to the heads involved. The heads on the engine, that is. In LeMons spirit, the team brought a cracked up Impala in to retrieve heads from and started working. By 4:55, the team was one part shy of getting the car back on the track, but no amount of black flags were sufficient to bring Vlad in for a retrieval and a victory over the peasants with pitchforks. Sucks to be you guys. You should have invested in some radios. More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "LeMons: Pimpala Gets Cursed" »

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Running a red light is one of the most dangerous things a driver can do, and one 74 year-old resident of Lanzhou, China has had enough of it. Citing the fact that he’s almost been killed by drivers ripping through the crosswalk in front of his residence, Yan Zheng-ping has taken to bashing the offending cars with a brink. Though he’s reportedly attacked 30 vehicles, local police haven’t taken any action yet, and his vigilante actions have some residents referring to Zheng-ping as the “elderly hero.” Check out the full article—and an interview with the crosswalk crusader—over on China News Wrap.

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

The guys in the picture cracked me up. Their theme was Italian, in every way imaginable, including the North Jersey way. Their car was decorated with a Martini scheme, and they were wearing big gold chains with assorted VW badges dripping. Apparently, as they entered the BS zone, Jay Lamm appropriated one as a bribe. Hey, if it works. The bad VW news was that yet another 16v failed to finish. Prospects are improving for the high-strung 1.8l mill, because this one died the ignominious death of transmission failure instead of going the normal dropping-valves route.

Continue reading "LeMons: VW Bling, and Yet Another 16v Goes Down" »

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

Driving the Corvair for Team Trailing Throttle Oversteer was quite possibly the most hilarious driving experience I’ve ever had. I had precious little (none) RWD track time going in, and was a bit nervous about getting behind the wheel of Ralph Nader’s death bomb. Ten laps in, I spun it out, endured a rather funny penalty (I had to apologize to a cone), and went back out with a vengeance. The entire trick to driving the car was to hold your line on the track. This caused no end of terror in the rest of the pack at the chicane entrance, because not even I knew where the brakes were going to send the car. Sorry to all you guys stuck behind me. The steering input required was minimal and the braking was a bit iffy, but it worked if you got on it early enough. And if you got on it early enough, only the driver knew where the car was going to go. Again, sorry to everyone stuck back there. They say that there aren’t any bad cars, only bad drivers. I think it’s true. I really enjoyed driving the Corvair, and after my hour-plus session was up, I can see why even an old swing axle RWD car is so much more fun at speed than a FWD one. Too bad “at speed” in this one was a whopping 60mph!

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

Did you hear about it yet? We won!!!!!! Yup, UDMan’s Corvair held up for 14 hours of hard racing, and we won the Ugly class (slowest cars) on laps. What an awesome way to close our first LeMons venture. But there’s more: we also pulled down the Index of Effluency, an award given to the car and team most in the spirit of the event. With the oldest car ever run in a LeMons event, we knew we had a good chance at this award coming in. We just had to keep the car on the track. We did, right up to the bitter end, when I had the audacity to ask the track staff to drop the checkered flag on us. Mr Angry took the flag and a victory lap in style. I think we’re all hooked….

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Saturday’s night race saw veteran driver and comeback kid Mark Martin score his fourth win of the season in his ultra-dominant No. 5 Chevrolet, after leading the lion’s share of laps in the LifeLock 400. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch screwed the pooch once again, driving into the wall and blowing an engine before storming off in a sulk. See more pics from Chicagoland Speedway below the jump, courtesy of Getty Images.

Continue reading "Mark Martin Rides Off Into The Sunset At Chicagoland" »

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

So I know the ‘Ring is a tough circuit, and that rain makes everything more tricky, but you’d think even a terrible driver would be able to get through the first turn without a wreck. While the video is anti-climactic, there are some good shots of the toll station before you get onto the track. Hopefully, I’ll get to pass through myself one of these days…

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Jaguar is one of my all-time favorite marques, and I can still remember the first time I saw an XJ6. I loved it so much that  even though my Dad repeatedly warned me about the Big Cat’s reliability issues, when I turned 30, I bought one.  But even the most die-hard Jaguar fan has to acknowledge that the XJ’s basic design is well past its prime, so I was stoked to see get a look at the all-new 2010 model. Since I loved the XF so much, I had high hopes, and I’m happy to say Ian Callum didn’t let me down. Watch Automotive Rhythms’ coverage below for interviews with Jay, Managing Director Mike O’Driscoll and Callum, and check out this clip for more glamour shots of the pretty new Kitty.

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

We were still hard at work here at the BangShift.com news desk Friday night, and that’s a good thing because that’s when Chrysler laid a press release in our paws which says they will not be selling the Viper brand and will continue production of the iconic bruising sports car. Hope springs eternal! Read the full press release after the jump.

Continue reading "Chrysler Keeps Viper; Will Not Sell Brand" »