Car Throttle

Germany's DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) racing series has been without BMW as a competitor since 1994. That is quite a long time. Its absence left the competition with three manufacturers; Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Opel. Opel pulled out in 2005, leaving just two competitors - pretty sad for a racing series. Now BMW is changing that with the entrance of a new M3 DTM car. For now, it is officially a "concept" but what you see here is basically the car that will be out on the track competing. The finished product will be unveiled in in September at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The M3 DTM is finished in a matte black plaint, and it looks quite aggressive. BMW says it looks forward to its entrance

XDC - Xtreme Drift Circuit - is a nationwide drifting competition with stops at some of the most well-known race tracks in the US - Irwindale, VIR, Summit Point, Texas Motor Speedway, etc.  It's a high-level exhibitionist drifting competition, mixed with a car show, mixed with some racing.  If it comes near you, you oughtta go - the closest XDC event to me was held on July 3rd at the Charlotte Motor Speedway - which is primarily a NAPCAR track - and the 2.5hr drive down there was totally worth it.  Some of the most insane cars I've ever seen showed up, both competitive drifters and perfect show cars. The car in the intro image is Sikky Manufacturing's 350Z drift car.  How do you

Formula One drivers are supposed to be the best drivers in the world, with unbelievable car control and feel for the vehicle underneath them. You would therefore expect them to know what they are talking about when it comes to road cars. We therefore took a look at the road car choices of F1 stars. Car insurance and fuel prices will not be a concern for multi-millionaires race drivers, this is all about performance: Ayrton Senna - Honda NSX The legendary Brazilian won three world championships for McLaren Honda between the years of 1988 and 1991, establishing himself as one of the sports all time greats. His uncompromising attitude, remarkable dedication to his driving and supreme natural speed helped establish an almost god like following of Senna

I brushed on this topic in my article yesterday, about the Higgins brothers both breaking track records in two different Subaru STi's on two different continents, but frankly it deserves an article of it's own: this Sunday, Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima, a Pikes Peak veteran since the early 90's, finally broke the 10-minute barrier up the world's most famous hillclimb.  And it's an impressive feat in a lot of ways. Competitors have been saying for years that this was the year they were going to break the 10-minute barrier; Rod Millen was saying it back in the 90's with his insane 3S-GTE powered Toyota Celica hillclimb special, but it never happened.  Tajima wheeled his custom-built Monster Sport Suzuki SX4 hill climb special (all 910 horsepower of

I've always liked Subaru's attitude towards performance measurements. While BMW and Audi will brag about their 0-60 metrics, or how many lateral G's of acceleration their cars can pull on a perfect skidpad, Subaru is all about their racing record.  And within a month, two different Subarus - driven by two brothers, no less - have both laid down new lap records on two of the toughest race courses on planet earth. I'm talking about the Isle of Man, and the Mount Washington Hill Climb.  The Isle of Man hosts a yearly motorcycle race that dates back to 1904, although the current course used for the race (the Mountain Course) has been in use since 1911.  This twisting, winding intricate piece of road spans almost 38

Late last year, McLaren confirmed a racing program for the MP4-12C. With an extensive history primarily rooted in motorsports, it was a no brainer. McLaren Automotive wants to get in on the action and attention afforded by racing the new MP4-12C. The result is the MP4-12C GT3 racing program, done in partnership with CRS Racing. For now, McLaren is starting out small, entering the 2012 European FIA GT3 Series in full force. This year, just one car will be fielded for competition, but McLaren is preparing 20 cars for next year's series. The company is accepting entries from private racing teams who would like to purchase the car to race. We walked away impressed when we checked out the McLaren MP4-12C at a private event in San

For real.  I love drag racing. I know it's simplistic, primal, and perhaps a bit stupid.  "Real racers turn, too!"  Yeah, I know.  Still, it's one of those sports that's not hard to get into.  You don't have to have a long attention span.  If you don't like the car on the tree, it's gonna be done racing in a few seconds.  And something else is coming up behind it.  Hell, it's a sport that not only condones but encourages burnouts, which is the automotive equivalent of a testosterone storm. So there's not really "news" to report from a local drag strip.  But it's loud, smells great, tons of fun to watch or participate in, and talk about.  Plus, I just picked up a new camera

I attended the Team Mercedes GP Petronas 'Meet the Fans' session on Wednesday 6th April 2011 at the Suria KLCC shopping mall located at the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The event was held in conjunction with the Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix that will be held on the 8th, 9th and 10th of April over at Sepang. Both drivers were present, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher and they answered some questions and then signed autographs. All the usual pre-race event stuff with the Mercedes Formula 1 car on display, some race queens or grid girls and F1 souvenirs but the only difference was that this time Michael Schumacher basically met his ultimate fan and Mercedes Benz displayed the newly launched W218 CLS

There's a lot of smack-talking that occurs among the import tuning crowd. "Yo, bro, my B20/VTEC EG hatch could walk all over your H22-swapped EK hatch."  Sadly, these are not the type of discussions that can be settled on the street, because that's illegal. So local drag strips spend a lot of their weekends hosting drag racing for street cars.  This was the case the other weekend - local import speed shop Phantasm Racing hosted their first Street Wars event of the season.  As with any import drag racing event, there were some wickedly fast cars - and also some loud slow junk.  I'll be skipping the loud, slow junk and showing you a mix of pictures and video of the good stuff.

Need a moment of zen today?  Then plug in your speakers, turn it up, and just listen to it. It's a compilation of footage from the 2011 Rallye Legend Boucles de Spa, a gathering of classic rally cars that's a yearly occurence.  Old (RWD) Escorts, stage-prepped air cooled 911's oversteering wildly, just... just watch it.  It's beautiful.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khmBVFjBrIc

My goodness.  Feeling more in tune with your inner Chi now?  Not yet?  How about footage from 2010?  Take two and let me know how you're feeling later.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M8jsU2E8eE

It's already too late to go see the action this year (it was held Feb 18-19), but for more info on the event you can visit the organizational page at Race-Rallye.be.  The language