By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Today’s pic was snapped by automotive photographer Dean Smith, whose work can be seen on Speedhunters.  I think this is about the coolest use of blurring I’ve ever seen–can’t you just feel the velocity in it?

By Karan Singh

StreetFire.net

Nothing like starting them off young! Let’s hope their next video doesn’t involve this kid actually driving the car though.

Caner Baki testing R21Turbo.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Just the other night I was watching “What’s My Car Worth?’ and feeling a bit despondent about the astronomically overinflated prices that a lot of owners (egged on by the stand-to-gain auction companies) believe their cars should command. Seriously: $70K for an Impala? Oh well, I thought, at least you can still get an AMC Eagle for under a grand. Or a Trabant. Hey, yeah, a Trabant! I’ve wanted one ever since U2 used them for their ZooTV set back when I was a kid. And now one has shown up on eBay in Washington State, just down the road! Oh, but wait, it looks like the seller’s probably got the reserve set at around 4 grand. Yep, for a duraplast car with a two-stroke motor and a kind of speckled history of kimpchy-cob repairs. The seller’s rationale for jacking the price is interesting, but the Trabant has acquired such a culty hipster following over the years that I’m sure there’s someone out there who will actually pay that for it. Check out the auction here.

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

Smell that? It’s cheese. This video produced by Pontiac to teach dealers and salespeople about the “all new” 1987 Pontiac Fiero is late 1980′s perfection. Featuring two stiff, fake news people and some really campy skits and acting to promote the car, you just can’t help but watch. The Fiero never quite caught on as GM wanted it to. There were a multitude of reasons but the anemic 2.8L V6 may have been one of the biggies.

Fieros have a cult following today and of course thousands of them have been “converted” into kit cars with oddly proportioned Lambo and Ferrari bodies hanging off of them. 370,000 Fieros were produced between 1984 and 1988. We hated them for a long time, but now we kind of want one to mess around with. Time heals all wounds.

Here’s the cheesy promo video!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Will they break into the 9s…?

World’s Fastest Drag Time Attack NSX

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I had one of those thwarted weekends where I’d hoped to get a lot further than I ultimately did. I’d planned an oil change and a new radiator, thermostat, and hoses for my Escort GT, and a starter for my diesel Escort. Turned out the new starter mounting holes are threaded differently from the ones on my original, and matching hardware is going to take some tracking down–ditto for the GT’s lower rad hose, which is an obsolete two-years-only deal. So I had to settle for the oil change, and I threw in a new fuel filter for the GT and my new pressure cap on my old radiator just for the hell of it. On the upshot, I might not even need to change the radiator now after all, since it’s running cooler already.

How about you–what did you do this weekend?

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

Did you ever wonder what goes into making a tire? It’s an incredibly complex process with all kinds of neat chemistry and processes going on. I’ve been digging around for a while to turn up some details on it, and I found a few really great webpages on the materials used and the manufacturing process all in one place: Toyo’s Japanese website. It has the best page I’ve found on materials, and equally great info on tread pattern design and the tire manufacturing process. There is some pretty high-level info included, but don’t let the big words scare you. The tread pattern design info will clear up a lot of misconceptions people have about how to choose a tire, while the occasionally hilarious graphics keep the tone light.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I totally missed the Nationwide race this weekend–I was lulled into complacency by the fact that Sprint Cup is on hiatus. But from what I hear, it was Carl Edwards FTMFW, Brad Keselowski again bore the brunt of it, and the ensuing hellacious wreck got Brad’s dad threatening to bring on some serious fisticuffs (“he ain’t gonna kill my boy”). Wow. I kind of think that Brad should tread lightly with Carl, (otherwise a very nice guy until you mess with him), if he doesn’t want to get ganked. It’s like Denny Hamlin said a season or two ago: you throw a rock at me, I’m going to throw a brick right back. Your thoughts–was it just hard racing for a clean win, or is outrage in order?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Rich Truesdell spied what he believes to be the upcoming SLK 350 on Friday while cruising in California. Is there anyone else who feels that from the front wheels forward it might resemble the next-generation Dodge Charger? See more pics at Automotive Traveler.

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

If you are going to modify your fuel system, it’s wise to understand the basics of fuel system modification. There’s nothing “hotter” than a front row seat to your vehicle going up in flames like a Benihana onion volcano. The following clip is intense, but I think it’s good we all understand the magnitude of fuel vapor meeting up with an ignition source; it’s much more shocking than you expect. Read more about the hot Honda at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.