By Rob Krider

Racerboy

The first event of National Auto Sport Association’s (NASA) Western Endurance Racing Championship (WERC) was held last weekend at Buttonwillow Raceway in Southern California. The series showcases six different classes and hard fought battles as teams race into the night in an enduro format with multiple driver swaps and fuel stops. The culmination of the multiple race series ends in December during NASA’s 25 Hours of Thunderhill. See the full write up and results from NASA’s first Western Endurance Racing Championship event of 2010 at Jalopnik.

By Chris Bicknell

Bick66

In recent years, it seems the gap between racing and production is greater than ever. With our modern wave of pony cars, it’s nice to see that this seems to be changing. Still, with its 50 years of racing experience, the Corvette stands above the rest, but have you ever wondered exactly how components from legitimate race cars translate to their “track edition” counterparts in the showroom?  The sixth-generation Corvette is packed full of technology developed by the C5R racing team, and the new 2011 ZO6 Carbon edition is a great example of a production vehicle that employs real racing hardware. Check out the Corvette racing series video below to see for yourself.

Continue reading "Track To Street: The ZO6 Carbon" »

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

During the height of the dot com boom, I lived right around the corner from a bar that had a two-player version of Sega Super GT. And there were many, many nights when I’d come home burned out from a 12-hour day staring at my machine, head there and wind up pumping an entire roll of quarters into it. So as impressed as I am with the new racing games like Forza 3 and Gran Turismo, I’ve never bought an X-Box or a PlayStation. I know myself, and I know that as much as I like virtual racing, I also like to do things like have friends, eat things that aren’t delivered, go out with girls and see the sun. But if I came home and suddenly found this F1 simulator chair in my living room, I would probably forget about those things. It tilts to simulate G-forces and everything. Keep this incredible piece of awesomeness out of my house. Please.

Formula 1 – Simulator

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

This in-car footage from the 24 Hours of LeMons  shows exactly how quick things can go sideways when a bunch of cars are being driven in anger. This racer makes some contact while overtaking some slower cars, and the disruption winds up putting him into the wall. Obviously, nobody wants to crash out of contention, but there’s got to be some consolation if the incident at least looks burly. Maybe it’s the old skateboarder in me talking, but I think that upside down and on fire is a bad-ass way to go out!

In Car Rollover Upside Down on Fire: 24hoursoflemo

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

When I make a minor mistake at work, it generally involves losing a power cord, putting a spelling error on the hompage or missing a StreetFire clip that shows boobs. But when Ken Block makes a little mistake, it results in a rally car on its side. Yup, being a race driver is pretty awesome. Fortunately, he’s fine and seemed pretty relaxed about his recent wreck during the WRC in Mexico.

Ken Block crashes in Mexico 2010

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

We’re only a few episodes into this season of the Bullrun, but some of the teams have started pulling some dirty tricks. That’s all well and good of course, this is Bullrun, not a Girl Scout meeting.  But I have to say that I feel a little bad for some of the contestants. Not because their fellow competitors are screwing with them, but because it seems like some of the challenges have the potential to seriously screw up their rides. One example? In the latest challenge, the drivers had to ram their way through a locked gate. Now, that seems totally fine for team Hummer, but the Viper and Hemi Cuda teams might not have such an easy time of it. Check out this clip to see some behind the scenes footage.

Bullrun Season 3 Behind the Scenes: episode 3

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Not even fearless leader Kazunori Yamauchi knows exactly when Gran Turismo 5 will hit shelves, but deep down in my greasy little heart, I know the latest installment will be amazing. Want some proof? Check out this clip that shows just how well the company’s data logging technology maps the movements of this driver lapping a circuit.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Over the past year, the folks at Orange County Racecraft have seen some terrible accidents on their local streets, and in response, they’ve decided to hold a free driving safety class. Along with some classroom instruction on basic car control principals and a driving demonstration, students will get the opportunity to take their cars out on the track and apply what they’ve learned. If you’re in SoCal, I’d recomend stopping by, because this sounds like a blast. The classes are going to be held January 15th and 16th, head over to the OC Racecraft website to register.

By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

Aside from actually winning a race there is perhaps nothing in racing as difficult as securing sponsorship. That’s what makes the contents of this post seem that much more incredible. Performance lubricant manufacturer Royal Purple and Stark Motor Racing recently announced that they are seeking requests for racing proposals for the upcoming 2010 season. Yes, you read that right. They want to sponsor you, provided you fit the bill of a dynamic professional or amateur racers who has an interest in primary sponsorship for the month(s) of April and/or May 2010 in order to promote Royal Purple’s new racing oil, XPR 3.1.  They will be accepting proposals from automotive, truck, motorcycle, off-road and marine racers.

“We’re looking for racers and teams that really connect with tech-savvy fans” said Royal Purple VP of Sales & Marketing Mark McFann.  “It doesn’t matter whether it’s drifting, circle track, straight track, whatever…we just want racers that connect with fans”.

Racers can get more information and submit proposals at www.starkmotorracing.com. Proposals will be accepted until January 31, 2010.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Sometimes it can take a little while for these race comps to get uploaded to StreetFire, so I wasn’t surprised when I started seeing multiple version of all the action from the F1 race in Brazil in the approval que this morning. But even though it’s not exactly breaking news, there’s some seriously scary contact between the cars, and there’s at least one corner dude that could have been seriously injured. The battles were heated enough that drivers Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil actually got into each up in each others grills, but it turned out to be a total sissy fight. Enjoy.