Car Throttle

I realized today that it's been approximately four eternities since I've done a Random Capture article. This needs to change.  I present to you: an absolutely gorgeous 4th-generation Honda Prelude. These gorgeous shots come from Flickr user Ryan Farran, who I hope won't be upset I'm showing off his work here.  He's also got a set of shots of an (S12 chassis) Nissan 200SX you should take a look at if you stop by.  As per the car... I've never been a huge fan of the 4th-generation (1992-1996) Honda Prelude, stylistically speaking.  But the addage "stance is everything" (hell, it's a forum too) rings true.  The car's naturally awkward proportions (huge taillights, narrow headlights, looks like a wedge of cheese) all of a sudden make

Saabs and Snow go together like peanut butter and jelly.  It's a Swedish thing. They're just designed to perform well in bad weather - which makes them pretty rugged road rally cars, if you so desire.  Team D, an amateur rally team from the north, decided that an '85 900 Turbo was the perfect choice for the Alcan Winter Rally.  I'd have to agree. For those unfamiliar, the Alcan Winter rally is basically a test of how huge your balls are.  It covers 4,850 miles from Seattle, WA to Jasper, Alberta - which is pretty far north.  It's a ten-day event that tests reliability, common sense, and driver endurance.  Of course, the 900 Turbo passed with flying colors.  I particularly loved Team D's caption for

For the most part, people who love fast cars also love Subaru's. And for the most part, people who like fast Subarus tend to worship the three-letter goddess, known as "WRX."  The hotrod Impreza has been the pointy edge of Subaru's attack on the performance market since it hit Japanese roads 16 years ago. But the way I see it, the WRX isn't the only respectable performance car Subaru makes.  Hidden in the back corner of every Subaru showroom, behind the "arrest me red" STi's and purple WRX's, is Subaru's... sensible performance car, the Legacy 2.5GT.  From which we get LGT.  It's basically a slightly bigger WRX, but without all the goofy boy-racer wings and 3' tall hood scoops.  A set of crisp, cleanly folded lines -

To me, it's funny how different cars age, stylistically speaking. A great example of this would be the Z32 (second-generation) Nissan 300ZX, which debuted in 1989 - and still doesn't look a day old.  Honda's well-regarded S2000 roadster is another example, with a production debut of 1999 (Japan) but stylistic roots tracing back to the Honda SSM concept car of 1995.  For such an old design, wouldn't you say the S2000 is still a rather stunning looking car? Of course, it helps that this is a particularly gorgeous S2000, and a particularly amazing photograph.  Still, for what are pretty simple aesthetic modifications, this S2k sure looks the business.  The CR front splitter, bronze alloys, and fitted hardtop (along with the drastically lowered stance) turn the S2000

Once upon a time, "M" stood for something in BMW-speak. To be technical, it stood for "Motorsport."  These days, with 556bhp automatic equipped 5,327lb SUV's masquerading as true M cars, it seems more like "M" is for "Marketing." Hasn't always been this way, though.  There was a time when the M division cranked out some of the most wonderfully hardcore stuff on the road.  If you're reading this site, chances are you need no introduction to the BMW (E30 generation) M3 Coupe.  The Group-A fighter body with it's bulky flared fenders, the huge boy-racer wing, the high-winding 2.3L twin-cam four banger, the steering that was like a Ouija board to the soul... And what goes more naturally with the race-derived E30 M3 than the most challenging, most

Thank God Jaguar still has a sense of humor. They've had a rough go at it lately - after all, they were tossed aside just when things were getting good with Ford.  Jag's now owned by Indian manufacturer Tata, which is pretty ironic when you think about it.  They're doing better than ever these days product-wise, at least: a lot of enthusiast rags have been proclaiming the new XFR to be the reigning king of heavyweight sport sedans, like the M5 and E63.  But sales haven't been pretty, and Jag's never really sold well in the first place. So, in what I think can only be construed as a deliberate attempt to bring a smile to people's faces in these glum times, this is what Jaguar's bringing

Amidst drastic restructuring and the financial horror of bankruptcy, GM still manages to give us cars to drool over. And nothing GM's making now (short of the tasty, tasty ZR1 and CTS-V) are as drool-worthy as the new Camaro.  Never mind that it's assembled in Canada and based on an Australian design, the Camaro is a reason to be proud of our domestic auto industry- at least, what's left of it. And what a gorgeous shot of GM's new halo car.  This shot was taken by DieselStation's member BlueDevil of his own personal car. The reflection in the wet parking lot is an old trick, but certainly a good one.  The Camaro is, in my eyes, easily the best-styled of the three current production

First gear, 5000rpm.  Foot jumps off the clutch, the clutch collides with the flywheel, and 300 All-American horsepower become...  smoke. The burnout, the classic American art form, isn't a difficult one to master.  It's not the flaming proof of manhood that every Camaro driver thinks it is, but sometimes you have to sit back and bask in the simple things in life, like turning $300 Pirellis into a cloud of noxious fumes and rubber particles.  Smoke 'em if you got 'em, right? I don't honestly know how you get such a clear picture of a car putting on a smoke show, but I'd guess it has to do with a really fast shutter speed.  The reflection in the water is brilliant, too.  With all the news

Once upon a time, one of the most respected names in Rally competition was Lancia. These days, Lancia's presence in rallying is roughly comparable to the US's presence in Cuba.  Regardless, Lancia made some absolutely epic rally cars back in the day, and one of the most successful was the mid-engined 037. This particular photo of the 037 in action was taken by Pietro Zoccola, and came to my computer via Flickr - my favorite place to find good photographs.  It was taken during the 6° Revival Rally Club meeting on 8/11/2008 in San Francisco.  Very nice panning work makes for an ultra-clear action shot, which is hard to capture. The 037 was loosely based on the Beta Monte Carlo mid-engined road car, although it featured a

The appeal of the Saab 9-3 Viggen is enigmatic, to say the least. Objectively, it's not that great of a car.  It's reasonably quick (2.3L turbo I4 with 235bhp in a small car will do that!) but suffers from an awful shift linkage, massive wrist-snapping torque steer, and a chassis as stiff as cooked spaghetti in convertible form. Still, I have this deep-seated urge for a Viggen (as you can see in my recent post here).  They have character.  And I like torque steer.  Also, they're quite photogenic. This beautiful Viggen-in-the-sunset picture comes courtesy of the most talented Flickr user Mugley, who seems to have an affinity for blowup sex dolls and jackal masks in his unique photography.  Takes all types, I suppose.  The clarity of