Fast Cars

That’s one thing that’s terrible about street racing.. it’s a nocturnal activity. I get so tired by the time Sunday comes around. Last night I started feeling really ill so we left. I felt flu-ish. I think it was from lack of sleep and lack of food in my tummy.

It was with a slightly nervous disposition that I went into this years championship, after all Schumacher had dashed all my hopes in '04 by literally going through the competition as smoothly as a knife through butter. If that was not bad enough Ferrari had put their poor pre-season testing effort behind them and the modified F2004M started the season after some record breaking laps around Mugello.

Truth is, as you might or might not have known, I recently sold my car. And since I just paid for my car insurance, I'm getting a refund enough to cover the iPod. I figured I should at least compensate myself with something worthwhile now that I'm carless.

Now, a little while ago, I wrote up on here that I was entertaining the idea of going to the Toyota Rally here in SA at the Mt Crawford forest. Well, I’m going.

I felt several years ago that I had nitrous in my veins, it just seemed natural to want to go the race track on weekends and spend the night racing. Lately with the fam that has vanished, but the want to have a high performing car has not escaped me. I grew up watching my dad work on cars, building race cars, owning hot rood camaro’s and I tell you I just cant do it. This last Focus has probably been one of the most fun cars I’ve owned. I love its handling (after the suspension kit I installed) and I love the looks (except for it being egg yolk yellow). It’s time to move on though, the two doors are just a modern form of a torture device.

The Drive Summit also included an SUV course where I got to sample the Caddy Escalade EXT, Caddy SRV V8, and a BMW X5. The X5 rocked - luxurious, high performance, stellar handling for a SUV. The Escalade was huge and luxurious, but I don't foresee myself in that type of gas guzzler, however, it did rock on the "terrain" portion of the SUV course. The SRV was a little wimpy SUV - not my favorite.

Today, Ford reported a 19% drop in Q2 profits — a direct result of loss of market share in North America. This marks a 13 month slump in auto sales with a dramatic slowdown in sales of its SUVs as a result of the skyrocketing gas prices.

Tony Stewart climbed the fence again, this time to celebrate atop the flag stand following his win at Loudon, NH. This is Stewart’s third win out of the last four races with his first fence-hopping coming at Daytona a few weeks ago. It is a gimmick. He said as much declaring it was his thing and if anyone else did it, they would be crude imitators. Maybe he came up with this in response to the victory back flips of rookie Carl Edwards. Maybe it was pure inspiration at finally pulling off a Daytona win. Either way, I approve. (I like the back flips too, mind you.)

Quit using our money for buying officers SUV's that they don't need. Why would a cop need an SUV? i guess a lot of cops do arrest a family of 7.. or after a hard day of fighting crime he stops by home depot to do some shopping.. i guess he could use that SUV do to the many high speed chases that end up off roading in the mountains... come on guys give me a break.. quit slicking your hair back, take off the black sun glasses when its cloudy and when you go to the gym try to mix in something other than chest and biceps.. you're not cool.

And on the seventh day, He created an event so amazing and yet so odd that it could only be named...NASCAR. Before Sunday, I was a car racing virgin. I'd been to the horseracing track a couple of times, but nothing with engines, or bikini tops, or barefooted attendees.

Let’s face it: while the Exige is a sports car enthusiasts’ dream, it is not above criticism. For example, the 1.8-litre Toyota engine has to be worked very hard to enjoy the best of its performance. And despite those track car looks, the Lotus’ chassis lacks the adjustability which circuit drivers crave.

Anyway, back to the Tour de France. The first thing I’ve noticed is that only teams compete, no individual riders. Much worse, out of the the twenty-one teams of nine riders, twenty-one of the teams are sponsored by corporations. That’s every one of them!

I realize Formula One is getting that way, but motorsport at least has privateers. Evidently there’s none of that in bike racing, which I have to say pretty much turns my stomach. The only reason a company would sponsor a bike team is for advertising exposure and I’d prefer it if some people who loved the sport itself could have some teams.

It’s about time I get a more practical car: non-neon colored, no body kit, no exhaust where you can hear the car idling alone from three blocks away… So many choices: luxury sports car, or pure sports car. Coupe or convertible. Rear wheel drive or all wheel drive. Fast and cheap, or fast and more than downpayment on a home in the Bay. Black/silver or red/yellow/big flashing lights that say “pull me over.”

A radio listener has gone to court claiming to have been snookered by a California station that awarded her a new Hummer H2 in an April 1 prize contest–and then instead presented a toy replica of the expensive SUV. Shannon Castillo, 25, apparently did not recognize the possibility that KBDS, a Bakersfield hip-hop/R&B outlet, was perpetrating an April Fool’s stunt when she went to the station to claim her vehicle.

In the space occupied by the regular Clio’s back seats sits a 3.0-litre V6 developing 255bhp. It’s enough for a top speed of 153mph and 0-60mph in 5.8sec - figures more usually associated with serious sports cars such as the Porsche Boxster. Renault has said only 20 Clio V6 models remain unsold at UK dealers, costing £27,100 each.

At one point he didn’t notice that traffic ahead was backed up and a loud gasp from a women in the seat next to us got his attention. He slammed on the breaks and everyone got a nice taste of the seat in front of them. The guy was a maniac. He did get us home in four hours. I understand the average time is about 5 hours. If I were a race car team, I ‘d start scouting the bus lines for new talent.

Feeling guilty about that gas-guzzling, toxin-belching SUV? Help is on the way. No, not actual help; that's in your own hands, should you decide to trade it in. This "help" is the "let us make you feel better about yourself" variety in the form of a decal called TerraPass. You pay $80 for it and the money gets invested in environmentally responsible projects. The idea, more of less, is that you can "undo" the damage your vehicle does by paying someone to do something better. Somewhere else.

This weekend at Road America in beautiful Elkhart Lake WI, the Brian Redmond International Challenge or BRIC is held. If you haven’t been to Road America before, you need to go. Imagine a beautiful 4 mile road course with plenty of elevation changes, that someone dropped into a lovely state park, and you are getting the idea. Not only is the track great, with it’s clean facilities, ample camping areas, and pleasant staff, but it’s only a couple miles from downtown Elkhart Lake. This weekend the town will be rockin! Friday night the local authorites open the public highways for the racecars to come on down and gather in the center of town. The streets will be filled with exotic and awsome racing machines from the past. Cobras, Ferraris, Can Am cars, even a Cheetah has been known to show up.

For starters, it had a story. I know that sounds like a revolutionary concept for a movie, especially in the middle of the summer blow-up-everything-and-make-it-loud mega-super-blockbuster event time that we find ourselves, but this film actually has a compelling story about a man learning the difference between vengeance and justice. It also resolved one of my first questions about Batman’s mythos: How the heck can Bruce Wayne have all of this high tech equipment show up at his place and have no one at his company ever question it? The suit is quite cool (no nipples) and the car was perfect; seriously, how can you knock over concrete barricades if you’re driving a sports car?

So my job at “The Big Dog” is mainly NASCAR. So I thought I would share with you the wonderfulness that is my voice over music reading sponsors of our NASCAR broadcast. Go ahead, LISTEN TO MY SEXY VOICE!

Conclusion: Charger is a welcome addition to Chrysler’s LX family of RWD cars. Its not only have the same merits as its 300/Magnum silibings, which are powerful engines, comfortable interior, confident handling dynamics and great value. It also provides a much sportier driving feel than its sedan silibing, while you can treat it as a “4-door Magnum". In a nutshell, if you are shopping for a sports sedan for somewhere around 40k, you must put Charger into your shopping list.

So to finally break through at Daytona was a relief for Stewart. Sure, the summer race doesn’t come close to rivaling the Daytona 500 in significance. And Stewart is the first to admit a win in Indianapolis — in either NASCAR or an open wheel car — would make his career.

Back in July of 2001, Daddy and I were watching a NASCAR race on TV. when we heard Benny Parsons-- former NASCAR champion turned race commentator-- say he’d never heard a song about a hatchback so as quick as he said it I put my pen to paper and in less than three minutes I wrote this song I’m dedicating to Benny Parsons and my Daddy, John B. Jones, who passed away on August 5, 2004. By the way, Benny, if you ever happen to read this, Daddy and I were always fans of yours going all the way back to before your Trans-American days with Dewitt Racing.

A businessman who bought a brand new Ferrari is demanding his money back because it only goes 175mph.

Berlin businessman Joerg Winterberg, 60, is unhappy his £111,000 Ferrari Challenge Stradale didn't reach the advertised 186mph.

Developed alongside the Corvette C6.R race car, the Corvette Z06 uses advanced lightweight materials typically found only in the most exotic supercars. Use of weight-saving materials such as carbon fiber, aluminum, titanium and magnesium give the 3,132-pound car a highly competitive weight-to-power ratio of 6.2 pounds per horsepower.

The economic effects of unrest in faraway Nigeria are immediate. Crude oil prices soar above $80 a barrel. June's then-record $60 a barrel is a distant memory. A gallon of unleaded gas now costs $3.31. Americans shell out $75 to fill a midsized SUV.

To hell with everything else. I found a car that runs on the same amount of energy as an effin light bulb. Now I know this may not seem very exciting to the majority of you being that you care more about 5.0 Liter engines and 20″ rims; however, I find all of the SUV’s and giant trucks to be such a waste. I get so annoyed driving around everyday neighborhoods and seeing people with gigantic trucks and tanks without tred in their driveways when you know damn well it’s unneccessary. Most of these people don’t even do any type of work that would even require the use of such a massive vehicle.. They just like how monstrous it looks. Gluttony at its finest.. Granted I don’t have a hybrid vehicle but I at least went for a fuel effecient car (Honda).

I always get annoyed when I hear things on TV or read food packaging that says things like, "Cheez Nips--Official Cheese-flavored Snack of NASCAR." Some schools are dealing with the same thing: "Sierra Mist--Official Drink of Woodbridge Elementary School." Next, people will be getting paid to name their kids after products: "I'd like to introduce you to my kids, Hyundai Elantra and Ruby Tuesday."

i’ve got a simple philosophy on cars. drive a humble little japanese one til you can afford to upgrade to either a) a nice continental saloon, like a 5 series or b) wait a little longer til you can afford a decent sports car. or if you want a bigger car, how bout a sports saloon? say.. the BM 645 or the CLS 500.

On another topic, does anyone agree me with that Fox’s coverage of NASCAR is far superiror than NBC’s last night. Granted NBC’s first night was mared by the three-hour rain delay, but even so, NBC’s coverage is just borderline unwatchable. This year, they threw Alan Bestwick out of the booth, who was the lead commentator for the first four years, and stuck in Bill Webber, who from what I heard last night, is nothing more than a walking cliche. And I have been saying this since the first year NBC had NASCAR: Wally Dallenbach is just horrible.

Hello folks, I am back and I am actually going to get a blog update on Monday. Imagine that. Anyway, first I would like to say both of the Nascar and Busch races this weekend were awesome. In the Busch race seeing Carl Edwards win his first Richmond race by gently nudges Elliott Sadler out of the way in front of his home crowd. Needless to say he was not a happy camper. Carl Edwards lived up to his good boy image and went over to talke to Sadler. Which looks like a giant in comparison. And of course I have to congradulate Kasey Khane on his first Nextel Cup win.

I was expecting a few more high end sports cars to be in the lot, but I guess that it was a quiet day with only 1 Ferrari (it did have a clear glass engine cover) and about 6 Porsche's of various recent models.

I was watching Muscle Cars on the History Channel and whadya know… they did a segment on my car.

I used to sneak down to the K-Mart parking lot and drive in tight circles (the thing could turn on a dime) It was a blast to drive and saved my ass more than once when I could have been slammed into by other cars.

Well, for one thing, Michael Shumaker and others reportedly use it for training themselves on various tracks without actually getting inside a racing car. Now we are showing it off on British racing tracks. !