Happy Earth Day!

How does Ford mark Earth Day.....by announcing that the 2015 Mustang will be a hybrid.  It will burn gas and rubber!  

Ford has announced that the 2015 Mustang GT will feature a standard electronic line-lock feature!  I love how the announcement and video released explain the practical aspect of line-lock for all the drag racers out there who need to heat up their tires for maximum traction at the drag strip.  Just like your buddy who swears he subscribes to Playboy for the articles......there is obviously an ulterior motive behind Ford's new feature.

Ford identified a marketing gimmick which will provide tons of press coverage and is inexpensive to package. Its not aimed at the science of drag racing, it aimed at the inner hoonigan in all of us. I guarantee you'll see more 2015 Mustangs doing brake-stands at your local cruise night than at the drag strip. I'm not even considering how many "Mustang line lock' videos that are going to flood YouTube! So what do I think about Ford's shady marketing move.....well done Ford!

Vegas for Car Guys

I haven't been posting for a while.  I've basically been waiting for some descent weather to visit New England so I can start getting out and reporting on the local scene.  However, I just spent the last week in Las Vegas on a business trip.  During my trip I managed to spend a little bit of time enjoying myself.....turns out Vegas is a fairly car guy friendly place.....

I had some time to kill to so I checked out http://www.fantasycarrentals.com right by the airport.  Other companies offer exotic car rentals in Vegas (such as Hertz) but Fantasy Car Rentals has a great selection ranging from vintage American cars to modern European exotics.  They will also pick you up at the airport or hotel and drop you off afterwards.  Since I was on a budget and the weather was fantastic I ended up with a convertible Camaro SS.

A view from Fantasy Car Rentals

Another view from Fantasy Car Rentals

First stop was Red Rock Canyon.  Its amazing that a place like Red Rock is within 30 minutes of the strip and yet the completely polar opposite of what the strip is.  Its a great drive out there and the 13 mile scenic loop is breathtaking.  The speed limit in the loop is 35 MPH so it is in fact a scenic loop and not a high speed circuit.  I didn't do the Hoover Dam or Lake Mead on this trip because I did that on a previous trip (in a rented Cobra!).

On my way back from Red Rock I decided to swing by Count's Kustoms. The speedshop owned by Danny 'Count' Koker and made famous by shows like Pawn Stars and Counting Cars. The people were extremely friendly and they have a section of the shop dedicated to displaying some of Danny's collection. Free, laid back, and about a mile from my hotel on the strip.

Next morning I headed north to where Las Vegas Motor Speedway is located.  The area of the speedway is a car guy's paradise.  In addition to the race track, the area hosts a dragstip and a few companies that specialize in exotic car driving experiences such as http://www.exoticsracing.com.  The area also houses an industrial complex loaded with racing teams and automotive related businesses.  My favorite is the headquarters of Shelby American Inc.  The facility includes a museum area. The contents of the display is always changing and includes some of the most famous cars ever produced from the first Cobra CSX2000 to prototypes of the Series 1, Shelby GT-H, Terlingua, GT500KR, and others. Shelby also runs a free tour of the shop at 10:30AM Monday through Saturday.

I arrived at the speedway area early one morning during the week (so I could take the Shelby tour). When I pulled off the highway exit and entered the track complex I was immediately met with the sound of a race car circling the speedway, Shelby moving cars around their lot (including a Shelby 1000) and a herd of exotic sports cars coming up the street on their way to the lot location where they operate their driving experience business.  Just for an extra helping of testosterone, fighter jets from nearby Nellis Air Force Base would make intermittent cameos overhead! Freakin' awesome!

Another thing I did not do on this trip to Sin City was visit the Auto Collections at the Quad Resort & Casino (which used to be the Imperial Palace).  I went there last year and did have to get some work done on this trip. 

But there you have it.....Vegas from a gearhead's perspective.      

Snake and Mongoose coming in 2013

The untold story of how Southern California drag racers, Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen combined with corporate giants to change the face of sports and ultimately became the most famous rivalry in racing history.

From the trailer, it looks well done and seems chocked full of period correct cars and set pieces.

The College Years

After high school I headed off to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York.  RPI is made for people like me.  No fluff courses like literature or gym, but a state of the art education based on science and technology coupled with access to things like machine shops and wind tunnels to put your classroom studies to the test.

I quickly made friends with a kid who had a lifted GMC Jimmy in the parking lot.  This friendship yielded a slew of stories about getting stuck in mud and ultimately rolling the truck over on one of our many an off-road excursions. I'm sure I'll give a detailed account at a later date but here is just a taste of what we used to be up to:

While at RPI I became involved with the Formula SAE race car team. I even became involved with the Formula Electric race car team which was a full sized open wheel race car with an electric power plant.
I also ended up running the Rensselaer Student Auto Shop and the Rensselaer Sports Car Association while at school.  The Auto Shop was a student run organization that operated a shop facility for RPI students.  The idea was there was a fully equipped four bay garage on campus that any student could come to and use to perform their own work.  This was a tremendous asset to have on campus and was ultimately where all us like-minded car guys found each other.   At its peak, we had some serious iron (for a bunch of kids) being worked on in that shop.

The Sports Car Association was basically the same group of guys but we organized and held autocross races on campus and road rallies in the area.  We would get some cool hardware showing up for our races. Plus we'd get some of our recently graduated friends showing up with company rental cars!

 

I still can't believe the school supported both of these organizations.