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 John Coyle

Deputy Editor

In-car clips are great and everything, but I think it makes all the difference when you can see the driver working, as well as the speedo and the car’s location on the track. I especially like it when there’s a camera down in the driver’s foot well, so you can see their feet in action, but since this Lambo is an e-gear, that’s really unnecessary here. Even thought the mount seems a little loose—there’s some pretty serious vibrations at high speed—this is still a great clip. I wasn’t able to determine which track these guys are at, but since the since the video was tagged with the address of a German Lambo dealer, I’m assuming it’s somewhere in Germany. Maybe Sachsenring?

By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

The good people from Al and Ed’s Autosound and Lamborghini of Beverly Hills invited me out to Southern California’s Auto Club Raceway to indulge in the Ultimate Lamborghini Experience. Much to my chagrin the day wasn’t all about supermodels and bottle service. It was about driving a Lamborghini the way it’s meant to be driven, with all of the power and passion that can only be exploited on a dedicated circuit. As a much-needed bonus I received personalized instruction from a professional driver who knew how handle these raging bulls. Note the extremely rare and even stunningly sexy LP670-4 SV in the image. Hit the jump to see how I flung it around the Auto Club Raceway’s high-speed roval.

Continue reading "Ultimate Lamborghini Experience With a Side of Awesome Sauce" »

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

Performance engine management chip companies brag about dyno results and buyers brag about butt dyno results. I put my Wetterauer tuning chip to the test at Grattan Raceway, which has a 1/2 mile straight to play with. The chip takes my boost limit from the stock 7psi to 15 psi. The factory electronic boost controller is very spike sensitive, so last summer I installed a manual boost controller in parallel with the electronic one to damp spikes. This has significantly reduced the amount of time I spend in “boost limp,” held back to stock boost. The electronic limiter didn’t kick in until my last session at Grattan a few weeks ago, the results were impressive. On full boost, I was able to hit 108mph. I admit I chickened out and backed off, but I could have easily gone over 110. On stock boost, my top speed in the straight was about 92mph. That’s a 20% increase in top speed due to the chip tuning, repeatably tested on the track. I like those numbers a lot better than arcane dyno math! Thanks to 00photo.com for the pic.

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

My Mother’s Day weekend was just about perfect! I spent it at the track(s) with my sons, running the wagon into the corners. Saturday was at Grattan Raceway with 3BallsRacing (when two just won’t do), and Sunday was at GingerMan Raceway with Michigan Volkswagen Enthusiasts. The two tracks are very different—Grattan favors small, light cars on the back turns and high horsepower on the long front straight, while GingerMan is a more forgiving course where almost any car can turn a good lap. Grattan is a very technical track that is not forgiving dry and even less so wet. The morning rain led to more cars off track than at any other event I’ve attended. The sun was out on Sunday, and the dry conditions combined with GingerMan’s wide runoffs meant a lot less yard work.

I recently had the opportunity to partake in Skip Barber’s Intro to Road Racing class. It was held up at Limerock Raceway in Limerock, Connecticut. The class is about three hours long with more than an hour of track time in a small 2 liter Barber formula car. The cars are these little itty-bitty open wheel machines with 150 hp Dodge Neon mills. Now this doesn’t sound too muscular, but let me tell you that these little buggers will do 130 mph as they only weigh 1,100 pounds. Basically, you’re driving an engine bolted to some plumbing parts with wheels attached. Contine reading…

Continue reading "Open Wheel Racing Barber Style" »

Not sure? Then you might want to read the small print on your policy. Many insurance companies have started removing the loophole that covered cars and drivers on racetracks. And think twice before you ask your insurer to clarify your coverage—they might drop you simply for asking. Read the full article at The New York Times.

Believe it or not, the motor on this wicked track toy is still completely stock. But everything else? Everything else is completely custom, and there isn’t an ounce of extra weight left on this baby. Wow. And. Wow. Head over to J-T Culture to read the full specs and check out a bunch more pics.

Well, yesterday was an interesting one as I had the good fortune to attend the Bentley experience up at Pocono Raceway in sunny Pennsylvania. For those of you that are unaware of these things, they are days that are set up by the manufacturer for buyers or perspective buyers to come out and experience what it’s like to actually drive the latest and greatest that Bentley has to offer. On hand we had a few Continental Flying Spurs, and two Continental GT Speeds (these are REALLY cool).

Now for those of you that think that Bentleys are just big old lumbering tanks, I must inform you that you are dead wrong. My first go round was with the Flying Spur, all 5000+ pounds and 552hp of it. Not only did I drive the Flying Spur, but I also had three other people in the car with me and went out to do some hot laps on Pocono’s tight East Course. That’s right, 4-door Bentley, 5000 pounds, three full grown people and hot laps.

Simply stated, the Flying Spur is an astounding automobile. Loads or power, great brakes with all-wheel drive to boot–amazing. Is it a Ferrari? Nope, and it doesn’t claim to be. What it is, however, is a massive machine that is not only well balanced but confidence-inspiring, to the point where if you were brave enough and a good enough driver, you’d be able to take it to a track and surprise the heck out of a few people. Yes, it’s that good. We did 0-80-0 tests, slalom runs and track time with the thing and I always came away very impressed.

BTW, I forgot to mention that Derek Bell was also there. You know, he’s the guy that won Le Mans five times, raced Formula One for Ferrari and McLaren and is considered to be one of the greatest race car drivers in world. Watch the blog for my review of doing hot laps with Derek in the Continental GT Speed–now that was a trip. If you have questions then ask them and I’ll respond as I could talk about this thing all day long. One more pic after the jump.

A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, and a picture of yourself at speed on the track is golden. Track days go by so fast, you often forget to snap a couple of pictures, and that’s if you even remembered to pack your camera along with all of the other stuff you have to bring. It’s also pretty hard to get shots of yourself, because you are driving. If you have the option, consider a professional photographer. Experience shooting motorsports events is important: a camera crew that can get the perfect motion blur and knows where to set up in the turns for a truly hot shot will be worth their fee. Many tracks and clubs contract with professional sports photographers such as Sideline Sports and 00Photo. If you sign up with the photographer ahead of time, you can purchase a package including electronic negatives and prints for a nominal fee. After-event fees are somewhat higher, but for those interested in only one or two shots, this is the way to go. Digital photography makes it easy to select your images right at the track. Clubs contracts can reduce prices even further. 00Photo photographer Hector Padilla shot this pic at my most recent day at Grattan, rain and all. I think I have some new wallpaper! I’ve got five more shots after the jump. Which is your favorite?