Archive for October, 2009
October 31st, 2009 at 10:55am
Under Cars
Filed under: Aftermarket, SEMA Show, Classics, Performance, Ford
Ringbrothers 1964 “Afterburner” Ford Fairlane - Click above for a high-res image gallery
If you’ve followed our SEMA coverage the last few years then you’ve heard of the Ringbrothers. We’ve had a close eye on the talented siblings ever since the debut of their 1967 Reactor Mustang at the Roush booth a few years ago. It was and still is one of the most impressive custom cars we’ve ever seen. Last year they wowed us with their 1969 Razor Camaro, which earned them the Street Machine of the Year award for the second straight year.
How do the Ringbrothers plan to top these two terrific muscle cars? With a 1964 Ford Fairlane nicknamed “Afterburner” due to debut on the first day of the show next week. We don’t know much about the Fairlane right now, but we fully believe our high expectations will be met. Car buff and comedian Adam Carolla will be on hand to introduce the car, and naturally, we’ll be there with cameras in hand, so check back next week for all the details.
[Source: Motorator.com]
SEMA Preview: Adam Carolla unveiling latest Ringbrothers project - “Afterburner” originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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By Mikel
October 31st, 2009 at 10:55am
Under Cars
Filed under: Aftermarket, SEMA Show, Budget, Minivan/Van, Sedan, Performance, Japan, Subaru, Luxury
1969 Subaru 360 SPT Delivery Van — Click above image for high-res gallery
SEMA is just around the corner and aside from the inevitable Camaro riot that will be taking place in the convention center’s parking lot, many auto folks are showing up with tuned rides. Like, for instance, Subaru. SPT is Subaru’s in house tuning division and they’re cooking up three nifty cars to put on display, each one better than the next.
First up is the WRX STI by SPT designed to demonstrate, “what a WRX STI owner can build at home using just the SPT catalog as a source for bolt-on parts.” It’s got ten more ponies (315, up from the stock STI’s 305 hp), big old gold wheels, and special springs, sway bars and a lower chassis brace. Surely nice, but nothing new.
In Tokyo, it’s all about “bippu,” which is JDM for VIP. As such, Subaru has gone ahead and built a Legacy 2.5GT VIP for big ballers everywhere. What sets it apart? Well, for one thing, bippu means going low. To facilitate this, the top mounted Subaru intercooler is removed and replaced with a Mishimoto front-mounted intercooler to make room for the custom engine bay cover. But you got to go lower than that — so the Legacy VIP gets air suspension to really kiss the ground. There’s a whole bunch more, too, including Shinjuku Black Plum paint and the pleated leather interior.
But, the car we’re really excited about is the van. Yeah man, a 1969 Subaru 360 delivery van to be precise. An honest to goodness microcar! Ten feet long. Four feet wide. Two-cylinder, two-stroke 25-hp engine. Suicide front doors — and it’s being fully restored as an SPT parts delivery van. But here’s the cool part for those of you not making it out to SEMA — the SPT parts van will tour the country going from dealership to dealership. Have you ever seen anything so close to perfection in your life? Didn’t think so. Big old press release, after the jump.
[Source: Subaru]
Continue reading SEMA Preview: Subaru bringing tuned STI, Legacy and 1969 360 van
SEMA Preview: Subaru bringing tuned STI, Legacy and 1969 360 van originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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By Mikel
October 31st, 2009 at 10:55am
Under Cars
Filed under: Aftermarket, Performance, SUV, Europe, Mercedes-Benz, Luxury
Expression Motorsport ML63 AMG — Click above for high-res gallery
Those of you well heeled Halo players looking for an upmarket version of the Warthog, here you are: the Expression Motorsport ML63 AMG. Hailing from Belgium, the gents at Expression planned to “differentiate this ML from those of a more traditional variety,” and to that we say, “Mission Accomplished!”
Things get a bit tricky up front with a snowplow masquerading as a front air dam, then Lorinser-esque around the front wheels, and just plain thick and juicy in back. Speaking of wheels, we will give Expression credit where it’s due: nice wheels, guys. To check out the rest of the kit, look no further than the gallery of high-res photos below.
[Source: Expression Motorsports]
Introducing the Expression Motorsport Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG Widebody originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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By Mikel
October 31st, 2009 at 10:55am
Under Racing
Fernando Alonso today spoke about his high hopes for 2010 in a Ferrari, but that’s not the news of interest for F1B.
Oh, no. The big news is Fernando admits to knowing that we all think there is an “Alonso Clause.” Only he calls it a “rule.”
Here is it, courtesy Autosport, with his talking at first about the underwhelming 2009 [my emphasis added]:
“I think it was a disappointment, because we started the championship with very high hopes,” Alonso told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
“We were thinking to fight for the world championship and very soon we realised we were not in that position. So it was a frustrating season. Overall, you need to take away the positive things.
“Myself, and my performance, I am happy with. Relating to my team-mates all season, I know that people think that I need to beat my team-mate always by rule – but this is not mathematics. F1 is always different and I have been beating them for two years guys who are winning in GP2 and are champions in different categories.
“It is not that I am beating someone who arrived in F1 by luck. I am happy with my performance and hopefully next year I can prove that I am better than ever now.”
I’ve got nothing snarky else to say. I’ll leave that to you all. [Also, PAGING GRACE!]
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By Mikel
October 31st, 2009 at 10:55am
Under Racing
About an hour ago, Bruno Senna “tweeted” the following:
“I’d like to thank God, my family, friends and all of my supporters! Thanks”
“Gostaria de agradecer a Deus,minha familia, amigos e toda torcida de voces pela forca”
That makes it official: The nephew of legend Ayrton Senna will be on the 2010 grid, driving for Campos.
[Huh. Funny. I just checked the Autosport story, which confirms it, and they are leading with the "Tweets," too. Swear I went there before I looked!]
Here’s what Autosport is adding:
Bruno Senna has confirmed that he has secured a Formula 1 deal for next season – with an announcement about his move to Campos Grand Prix expected imminently.
The Brazilian has been locked in negotiations with several teams about a deal for 2010, but there has been mounting speculation in Abu Dhabi that he finally signed a contract to join the new Campos team in the last few days.
Todd sent me a note that Bruno may be partnered with Pedro de la Rosa. I’m still hoping for an all-Brazilian team.
With Nelson Piquet Jr.
More to come as this one unfolds — when it unfolds.
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By Mikel
October 31st, 2009 at 10:55am
Under Racing
I bet he does! And Kimi. And another Kimi. Oh, and that whole run-in with Nick.
But I digress.
Autosport is reporting that Adrian Sutil very much wants to put the Brazil crash to rest, although Jarno Trulli is still toting around “photographic evidence” of the come-together.
Hey, at least there’s something lively going on with the drivers!
Here it is in a nutshell:
When asked by AUTOSPORT if he felt the matter between himself and Trulli was now finished, Sutil said: “Hopefully it is. He will walk around with his pictures for a few weeks more and tell everybody but… [shrugs shoulders]
“Maybe I will draw a picture for him with a Mickey Mouse, or Donald Duck or a Goofy or whatever. It’s done. I cannot listen to it any more.
“The last race was just really hard driving in a lot of cases, which is why we have to talk about it. It is always the same at the end of the season, everyone drives harder and harder, but as I said there will always be discussions about incidents as we are both racing, and we both want to win. But only one can win. That is the problem.”
Trulli said after the meeting that he hoped the drivers could get together again before the race on Sunday to discuss the clash further – as he felt it was too important to be ignored.
“I didn’t come here [to Abu Dhabi] to bring up anything. I didn’t start the discussion at yesterday’s press conference,” he said.
“He said he was hit on the back, so I said comment on this picture because I am next to you way before I was on the kerb. All I want is that we understand what happened there.”
Trulli confirmed he spoke to F1 race director Charlie Whiting about the incident, but refused to expand on what response he got.
“I did talk to Charlie and I showed him the evidence, but I’m not going to tell you what happened,” he said. “It’s a safety issue, and not just that accident, but a general trend over the last few races where some moves have been a little too much on the limit.
“We are going to set up a meeting with all the drivers because today was a very long drivers’ briefing and GPDA briefing.
“We should try and meet up on Sunday in order to discuss the behaviour, but if we can’t agree between us, I know who I can trust and cannot trust. It doesn’t change anything for me.”
Will this all be moot if Trulli doesn’t get a drive next season?
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By Mikel
October 31st, 2009 at 10:55am
Under Racing
AJ Allmendinger, whose name has surfaced at times as a possible USF1 driver, was arrested this week and charged with drunken driving by police in North Carolina.
ESPN has the details.
The Richard Petty Motorsports driver, according to the police report, was driving a 2007 Lexus when he was pulled over at 1:27 a.m. He was released to others at the owner’s request. Police said he blew a .08 on a Breathalyzer test.
He has a court date for Dec. 18.
NASCAR announced Thursday afternoon Allmendinger has been placed on probation by the sport until Dec. 31.
“I made an error in judgment last night for which I take full responsibility,” Allmendinger said in a statement released by RPM. “I went out to dinner and I had a couple of drinks. I honestly felt fine but I obviously should have erred more on the side of caution particularly given what I do for a living.
“It was a bad judgment call and I apologize for that … To my fans, sponsors, team and NASCAR. If anything good can come of this then hopefully I can be an example of being more aware of drinking responsibly and even if you feel fine, take a cab, call a friend … just don’t risk it. I will do my best to make it right and use this to learn myself and hopefully educate others.”
Allmendinger, who is 27, will race this weekend at some track called Talladega Superspeedway but NASCAR did put him on probation.
AJ’s name has not been the highest on the USF1 list lately, but I can’t see how this does anything but move him further down the wish list. Although the way USF1 goes after any PR….
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By Mikel
October 31st, 2009 at 10:55am
Under Racing
The telefax machines at the new teams’ HQs are on overdrive this Friday.
In no particular order (except to put USF1 last)…
The Lotus F1 team — or as it is known on its official site, “1Malaysia F1 Team (1MF1T)” — today named its CEO, Riad Asmat. Asmat, according to the release, “was attached to the Managing Director’s Office of Proton Holdings Berhad as General Manager.” OK….
To clean up the name confusion, if there is any, 1Malaysia will be “debuting” in F1 “through Lotus F1 Racing.”
In addition to Asmat, the team also named Keith Saunt as its COO. Saunt has a solid F1 background: “Keith has over 20 years worth of experience in Formula 1 including senior roles with Team Lotus International, Benetton, Renault and most recently Red Bull Racing, where he held the role of Chief Operating Officer and Director of Red Bull Technology.”
Second up, and while it isn’t a telefax release [quick digression, if this joke isn't resonating, the telefax is basically a pre-fax machine that used to be, years back, how media outlets received releases... so I'm keeping alive the joke about the new teams' lack of state-of-the-art equipment], it is some keen news:
Timo Glock is admitting he’s likely to abandon Toyota, despite the team giving him an offer. And according to Autosport, while Renault is the front-runner, Manor — I’m sorry, Virgin Manor — is also in the running. Here’s Timo’s quote to get the Timo-to-Manor fire going:
“Everybody says that the new teams are not interesting, but next year everything is possible,” he said. “With the new rules, 150-160kg on board, it will be different. When you see the rule changes this year, and the ups and downs during the season, even a smaller team like Force India had the chance to come up to the top five.
“Brawn GP won the championship and Red Bull – there is no real constructor at the moment fighting for the championship. Sure, McLaren-Mercedes-Benz is really, really strong again at the moment, but the point is that it is more equal.
“I think you have to look in every direction because nobody knows what is going on next year. That makes it interesting and you can make the right decision, or you can make the wrong decision.
“It doesn’t matter where you go, you never know what is going on next year. Sure the strong teams like McLaren and Ferrari, they will be on the top and fighting at the top, but you have to be open for everything.”
And, finally, USF1, aka Todd’s team. It announced its European base would be at Spain’s Motorland Aragon facilities. It’s a fairly large technical center with Herman Tilke track.
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By Mikel
October 31st, 2009 at 07:55am
Under Racing
It’s probably just me but after watching FP1 today; I find Abu Dhabi visually confusing on TV. There are so many lines, curves, painted lines and curves, swooping structures, background clutter and majesty, railings, stands, canopies, buildings, lights, huge boats, flags, people walking across glass bridges while cars are running, graphics on screen, trees, swooping architecture and an occasional swoopy car.
Don’t get me wrong, it could prove to be a terrific circuit and race for many years to come. It’s just that I found myself wondering if anyone in that country had ever seen or heard of a right-angle. After an hour or so, I realized that it was the enormity of the architecture that was throwing everything off for me visually speaking. The architecture was so massive and so uniquely designed and dominant that the cars barely registered anymore. The bridges, structures and buildings were so huge that they dwarfed the track and cars and I found myself distracted by the massive structure as it went by and not really absorbing that there was actually a car on track.
It wasn’t until the on-board cameras were shown or a close up of a car that it became more visually digestible and even then, I had no idea where they were on track. Regardless, the track and it’s surroundings are stunning and I must say I am excited to see how the race will proceed. It’s a proper lap time around 01:41:00 and that is refreshing in this Tilke-verse.
It also seems the drivers feel it is unique in character and challenge as well:
“There is no criticism. I think they have done a very good job,” said outgoing Williams driver Nico Rosberg. “It is an interesting track and every corner is unique”
“There are some good parts of the track, like the first sector, high-speed corners, and then the last sector is a combination of very similar corners – always 90 degrees. But you enjoy it because there is always something to do on the track. There is no time to breathe,” said the outgoing Renault driver Fernando Alonso. “Maybe the middle sector is a little bit more normal, with two long straights, with two big braking points, and maybe the part of the track that you enjoy less. But overall it has been a good first day.” .
“I think it is better than Singapore for sure,” said Force India driver Adrian Sutil, “Singapore is too light, it is too bright and you don’t have the feeling of a night race. “Here there is definitely enough light – you really see the track clearly – and it is nice. Driving into the sunset was quite cool with the sun there. It was a good feeling.”
The only criticism so far has come from the pit lane tunnel. I was concerned by the turn 3 pit exit but it seems that has actually worked well.
“It is very difficult and a little bit dangerous,” said retiring Ferrari driver Giancarlo Fisichella. If there is an accident with two cars, I don’t know if there is a space to go through. I guess we will see if there is an incident.”
So while I am in my own world of visual obscurity and petty whining about a stunning track; it seems the drivers are excited and so am I. McLaren seemed to set the pace today but the usual suspects aren’t far behind. As it stands, Ferrari had better work a little harder if they want to secure third in the constructor’s points battle.
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By Mikel
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