By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Last year in New Jersey, Falken Tire swept the podium for the first time ever at a Formula Drift event. Tonight in Vegas, the teal and blue repeated that feat, led by Tyler McQuarrie in his drop-top Z. Tyler took the win on a hot night in Vegas while Dai Yoshihara and Vaughn Gittin Jr. took second and third respectively, with the battle for the championship getting hotter by the minute. We’ve got plenty of coverage on the way, but for now big congrats go to Tyler, Dai, Vaughn and everyone at Team Falken.

See more on Formula D Las Vegas on Speedhunters.

-by Mike Garrett

By Steve Little

SouthernGuy8503

The 2011 Chevy Volt has been a long time coming, but Chevrolet has been taking pre-orders for its new electric for the better part of a month now. Though there have been reports of dealer gouging, the Volt is offered at the official site for $350 a month with $2500 down. Or purchase for as low as $33,500 after the $7,500 tax credit. The Volt is so far only available in the major markets of New York, New Jersey, D.C., Michigan, Texas, California, and Connecticut. It’ll be interesting to see if and where it gains traction–what are your thoughts, does Chevy have a winner? More pics below the jump.

Continue reading "Chevy Volt Ready For Pre-Order" »

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Ever since this year’s New England Concours d’Elegance, I’ve had a jonesing for a Corvan, and this 1963 for sale on Hemmings.com isn’t helping much to alleviate that jonesing. Thing is, other than drive it around during the summer, I’m not sure what I’d end up doing with it. Put the stock wheels back on it? Build an AGL-4 clone out of it? Go autocrossing with it? Build Elvair II? From the seller’s description:

144 cid flat six dual carbs, 4-speed manual, custom chrome wheels with spinners, AM/FM stereo, lined cargo compartment, Spyder dash cluster – Super Nice Driver – Runs & Drives Great – Soild & Original Body – Clean Older Paint & Interior

Continue reading at Hemmings.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

John Z. DeLorean is interred at White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery in Troy, Michigan. Wow: kind of gets you thinking about what car you might want on your own headstone, doesn’t it? R.I.P. Via Facebook.

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

Just when you think for a second you can drift like Foust through Mulholland, you’ll find California’s finest waiting around the next bend.  Read more about the Mulholland Miata at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Nestor seems pretty much determined to take literally every hinged panel on his “Crazy Jetta” and make it so it opens all cattywampus. I can’t wait to see what he does with the gas filler door! Check out his ride page.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Take a close look at that couch–am I right? Buckle it right up into a “coffin” and you’ve got instant portable seating for your next car show or tailgating event. See more at Matt’s ride page.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Today’s photo comes from BangShift, whose team has been exhaustively documenting Speed Week at Bonneville, which is just wrapping up today. Check out their galleries for a ton of great pics of a whole week’s worth of action on the salt.

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Well, I never in my life thought I’d be selecting a Pontiac Sunfire for the Hemmings Find of the Day, especially one that looks like it crashed through a Pep Boys on the way to a screening of “The Fast and the Furious,” but hey, it’s Friday, and I’ll play along with the seller’s assertion that GM built this 1997 Pontiac Sunfire as a concept vehicle, even though the only Pontiac Piranha concept vehicle I’ve ever seen mention of looked substantially different than this. From the seller’s description:

This vehicle is one of two GM built concept vehicles. The Piranha features an L850 2.2 Liter supercharged L4 engine that cranks out 212hp and 204lb/ft of torque. The supercharger is a polished GM Performance belt drive unit used for high performance and low maintenance. A 4-speed automatic transmission was used with a steering wheel mounted Tiptonic system. All four corners have independent suspension.

Continue reading at Hemmings.

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

The last time I witnessed Reece McGregor’s NZ based R32 GTR was back in 2006 when I first started taking photos. It hasn’t changed very much on the exterior, but has come back to Australia with a load more power. Let’s see if a new record is on the books.

This past Tuesday was quite a day of testing for this weekend’s Jamboree drag event, the most important Australian drag meeting of the year. McGregor ran an 8.3 @ 184mph pass on his second run, but the team wasn’t too impressed with this time. The clutch was pulling the car down and wasn’t set up correctly for the sticky track. After adjusting the clutch, the next pass was an 8.22 @ 183mph. With testing ending at 4PM the end of the day was already upon us, they put in one more pass: a 7.73 @ 187 mph. That’s a huge improvement over a short period of a few hours, it will be exciting to see what times it can pull this weekend’s Jamboree, Australia’s biggest sport compact and custom event of the year. Be sure to tune in, it’ll be streamed live all over the globe. See more at Speedhunters.

-by Casey Dhnaram