By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Most of the time, the soundtrack of in-car rally footage is either just the sound of the engine—which is great—or the kind of crappy Euro-techno that makes me want to pierce my eardrums with an ice pick. But in this clip from the Targa Newfoundland Rally you can hear the co-driver’s directions along with the report of the STILLEN GT-R’s motor, which I think is completely awesome. I mean, I know it’s par for the course in rallying, but it still blows my mind to think that drivers are pushing this hard without knowing exactly where they’re going.  And how cool is it to see this bad-ass machine ripping through a neighborhood? Obviously, it’s not the kind of thing you want to do if the roads aren’t closed, but it made my inner hooligan smile…

By 993C4S

Porsche Purist

I offer a simple piece of advice for all aspiring drivers out there; If you’re going to steal your dad’s Porsche, be sure you know how to drive it! As a side note, it would be great if the reporter could pronounce Porsche correctly and tell the difference between a 911 and a Boxster, but maybe that’s just me…

[Source: KABC-TV LA]

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

To my friend John Sibal – You’re taste in cars is phenomenal. I usually don’t like to feature much content from other blogs but you leave me no choice with your latest post. This car needs to be seen! It is everything that is right about JDM hardcore tuning ethos, yet it is not JDM (by literal definition). This is a great example of what I was talking about a few years ago when I wrote a two part series on the redefinition of JDM tuning as a philosophy. Part 1 Part 2

Check out John’s blog for more pics of this car.

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

It just got really expensive to get caught at a street race in Hayward, California. A loophole has been closed in an ordinance passed in May, so police now have the ability to levy large fines to anyone at a street race, no matter if they are racing or not.

The original ordinance was set up so the only way that spectators could be punsihed was through the criminal process. Fearing that mass prosecutions would gum up the DA’s office, the police sought to instead punish spectators financially. Their wish was granted, and according to InsideBayArea.com the new punishments step from $500 to $750 to $1,000 for getting caught spectating at a street race. We’re guessing that the racers really get the heavy hand.

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

What a year it’s been, the 2009 Time Attack season has come to an end, part of the Modified Live show run in tandem with the Need for Speed European Drift championship. It was a capacity crowd and fine weather – until it really mattered – bringing the unpredictable nature of all motorsports into Time Attack. The weather was dry if windy for the entire day, until approximatley 3 minutes into the SuperBattle when a light drizzle began to fall. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Ed Fahey

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Recession? This year’s Hershey was big. More vendors than the last few years; just as many spectators; 1,600 cars in the car show; and business was reportedly brisk for every major vendor. Oh, and the weather didn’t totally suck like it normally does. Look for our coverage in upcoming issues of Hemmings Motor News, Hemmings Classic Car and Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car, but for now, a sampling of what caught my eye in the swap meet. See the pics at Hemmings

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

You’ve seen it frequently in Craigslist and eBay advertisements: “mechanic owned”. No matter what the make, model or age of the vehicle, those two little words are supposed to evoke confidence in the quality and completeness of the service history.

The only problem is that if you ask most mechanics, they’ll tell you that mechanic-owned cars are usually in more dire need of past-due maintenance than most urban public schools. As the saying goes, a cobbler’s kids wear no shoes…and when it comes to a mechanic’s car, its brake shoes are probably down to the rivets.

The crux of the issue is that anyone who spends all day doing something for someone else doesn’t want to continue doing the same monotonous task for himself. I can understand, because I once tried doing oil changes on just four of my cars in one day and by the end of the afternoon I was ready to set myself on fire.

Despite all I’ve just shared, it didn’t stop me from jumping at the opportunity to buy a 1979 Chevy K10 pickup from a friend who is a professional mechanic. As fate would have it, he had purchased the truck from another mutual friend who is one of the best professional mechanics I know.

Continue reading "The Perils of Buying a "Mechanic Owned" Vehicle" »

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

An Impreza and Corvette dual it out on the track bumper car style! Once the Subaru gains the lead, the Corvette plays a dirty trick and spins the vehicle out. Then, out of either retaliation or a terrible blind spot the Impreza upon re-entering the track slams into the Corvette. Awesome! The fun starts around four minutes in the video below.

Should this type of chaos be allowed on the track? It is hard to tell whether there were any penalties involved from the video below. Who do you think started this mess? Is it the Corvette’s fault for bumping the  pre=”the “>Impreza in the corner? Or did the Impreza cut the Corvette off leaving the driver no option but to bump? It’s really hard to tell exactly what happened. By watching the footage, you can clearly see the drivers are in a heated battle. Read more commentary about this bumper car mess at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

Last weekend at the Japanese Classic Car Show, the Showa car lovers that gathered in Irvine California for this year’s event were treated to a sensory overload of Japanese nostalgic cars of all sorts – from Skylines to Corollas to rotaries to Hondas to Datsuns… Oh, the Datsuns!

There were so many cars from Datsun/Nissan lineage represented at this year’s JCCS, it was hard to focus on them all. Everything from Japanese style G-nose S30s to US market 240Zs were in abundance at the event this year, but there was one Z in particular that had a certain combination of presence and shock value. I just knew I had to feature it on our site… but there was just one problem. The car (and its owner) live in San Jose, California. And they would both be returning to the Bay Area on the morning after the show.

I had to figure out how (and where) to somehow shoot the car before it went back to San Jose – and I knew I didn’t want to do one of those “on the grass” photo shoots after the show, because I think photos of cars on the grass are cliche, unimaginative and overdone… especially since there were 236790 photographers from different magazines doing the same photo shoot on different spots on the grass after JCCS.

The owner of this shakotan (super low down) boogiemonster is Yuta Akaishi. Let’s pronounce it together. His first name is Yuta, pronounced like “Utah” and his last name is pronounced “Aka-ishi.” I was first drawn to this amazing 240Z because it is just so damn low… it’s mind boggling, seriously! The car may be showing its age with the presence of surface rust and dents here and there, but hell… to me, it’s just a sign that this car lived a full life. It’s kind of like battle scars on a seasoned fighter – they actually ADD to the look.  Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Pretty tough sounding M5.