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November 5, 2009
Subaru at SEMA
By Rob Einaudi
Editor-in-Chief
Subaru made a big splash at SEMA this year with the Ken Blocks WRX on tracks this year. Nevermind that Ken Block went to Ford… More pics and video after the jump!
One Cool Little BMW Isetta
By Jim Brennan
UDMan
It was closing time at the SEMA show on Tuesday evening, and they were telling all the attendees to vacate the show, but I bagged a 24 Hour all access pass, so that I could wander around (within reason) on the show floor. And look what I found, this little copper colored BMW Isetta. Continue reading after the jump!
November 4, 2009
Gumpert Apollo: Too Much Car For a Tiny Booth
By John Coyle
Deputy Editor
Basically, Gumpert’s Apollo is a race car for the road. It sports a round-tube, chrome-moly chassis, a carbon monocoque, and a 650HP twin-turbo Audi-derived V8 mated to an F1-derived, sequential six-speed transmission. That’s a recipe for incredible performance, and back in August, it set the production car record at the Nürburgring, when it lapped the notoriously difficult course in a blistering 7:11:57. So I figured one of these babies would have been been placed a little more prominently. Hell, I missed it the first few times I walked through the main hall! But while I was disappointed to see that it was shoe-horned into this tiny little space—no room for a walk-around video, I’m afraid—I was still pumped to get to see one in person. More pics after the jump.
Continue reading "Gumpert Apollo: Too Much Car For a Tiny Booth" »
Ripping Up The Proving Grounds In A Bondurant C6
By Jen Dunnaway
Editor
When I was nine and we were visiting my grandparents in Phoenix, my dad went and did a weekend course at the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving instead of taking us kids to Disneyland. And now, after riding along for some hot laps with a Bondurant instructor in one of their c6 Corvettes, I kind of get why he did that. Bondurant had a nice little cone course set up at the Motor Trend Proving Grounds at SEMA. Comically, some Fiesta Movement rides were also running the course in amongst the burly Vettes. The Z51 coupe I rode in has a 430 hp Ls3 mated to a short-throw Tremec six speed–I can’t even imagine how rad it’d be to thrash one of their LS7 Z06′s out on the track. Click below the jump for videos of all the action!
Continue reading "Ripping Up The Proving Grounds In A Bondurant C6" »
Savini Camaro
By Jen Dunnaway
Editor
Of the gaudy 2010 Camaros on the show floor at SEMA–and there’s more than a few–this is one whose appearance I don’t mind so much. I like the smoothed-over look of it, and the minimal exterior flash. However, I’m still on the fence about the matchy-matchy wheels, which I’m guessing were kind of the entire point of the build (it was in the Savini Wheels booth, after all). I dunno, do these work for a new Camaro? Check out the video below the jump.
Street Legal Dual-Engine Hot Rod
By Jen Dunnaway
Editor
Yannick Sire’s project “Priapism” is beyond insane. Two 350s yoked together with a GTO driveline coupling. Three radiators, two of them angled out from the firewall like an Indy car. Two giant banks of header pipes. Completely hand-fabricated body and chrome-moly tube chassis. The craziest part of it all? He can drive it on the street. Priapism (look it up; it’s funny) is sitting in the DynoJet booth at SEMA bolted up to their hub dyno, but the guys there tell me that it hasn’t actually taken a pull yet. They’re guessing around 900, 950 hp. Sound about right? More pics after the jump.
Dodge Challenger 1320 Concept To Deliver Straight-Line Thrills
By Jen Dunnaway
Editor
Chrysler CEO Ralph Gilles told me to look out for the 1320 concept over in the Mopar corral, and I have to agree that it’s the coolest thing in the booth this year. The 1320 is an SRT8 optimized for the dragstrip–the package includes a 550 hp aluminum 426 Hemi run through long-tube headers and a Corsa exhaust, a Dana 60 locking rear end with Dynashaft axles, and a stripped-out interior with Viper seats. Carbon fiber accents on the exterior include the hood, spoilers, and headlight buckets, but they’re not in-your-face carbon fiber–it’s all integrated into the 1320′s awesomely nasty acid-yellow-and-satin-black paint scheme. Clever details abound, including Mopar cop car wheels, and the two inboard headlights deleted to make room for air induction ducts. See walkaround video and gallery below the jump!
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Strange Non-Pneumatic Tire Technology at SEMA
By Jim Brennan
UDMan
While wandering the Tire and Wheel area at SEMA, I found this interesting technology, developed for the military, that’s set to expand into more widespread everyday applications in the very near future. It’s a tire solution that was developed to prevent typical pneumatic tire failures caused by punctures, ballistics, or road conditions. This tire replacement has been in testing on the military’s HMMWV “Humvee” tactical vehicles–it’s meant to be a direct replacement for the standard tires currently used in “extreme” situations. Read more…
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Slammed 1970 Chevy Suburban at the Goin’ Hard Booth
By Jim Brennan
UDMan
Normally, I’m not a huge fan of slammed cars or trucks, but this Suburban is different. I found this creation over at the Goin’ Hard Wheel booth along with another cool ride I’ll talk about soon. See more…
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Rolling Bones Drove Here From New York
By Jen Dunnaway
Editor
Keith Cornell and Ken Schmidt’s ’32 Three-Window Coupe struck a nice contrast to SEMA’s scads of glittery show cars, looking spare and mean in the Motorbooks booth with its oil-leak-smelling Y-block and highway crud still clinging to the chassis. Incredibly, the guys actually drove the ’32 here from New York, setting out for SEMA on October 26th and even managing to score a speeding ticket along the way. When you look into this ride’s Mexican-blanket interior and check out the wiperless windshield, minimalist dash, and louvers-and-chicken-wire ceiling treatment, it’s hard not to consider how much we take our modern cars’ creature comforts for granted. Rolling Bones certainly gets the distance award for their burly roadtrip, and extra points for running a SEMA show car in the weather on the open road, just as it should be. More pics below the jump, and check out blogs of Rolling Bones’ cross-country adventure at the Motorbooks RideHub page.
