Latest Auto Reviews Blog: racing

Показаны сообщения с ярлыком racing. Показать все сообщения

Italian Stallions' Fiat X1/9 Totally Reliable At LeMons, Other Than The Blown Head Gasket [24 Hours Of Lemons]

Most racers see a blown head gasket as a huge setback, but not Tony, Tony, Tony, and Tony from the Italian Stallions Fiat X1/9 race team. They know it's time to fix it again!

I predicted that the Stallions would finish just 27 laps before the race, though I was hoping they'd do better. Come on, I thought, it's an X1/9! As it turned out, the Stallions managed to knock off 260 laps at Thunderhill- nearly ten times my guess. Not only that, they turned a best lap time of 1:39.258, which is down in BMW E30 and Acura Integra territory.

Of course, it is a Fiat, so the team members probably knew they wouldn't be kicking back in a nice warm motel room and swapping race stories on Saturday night. Hey, why is the engine running so hot?

Turns out that some sort of cooling-system drain valve on the engine let go late on Saturday, which resulted in overheating and a blown head gasket.

Hey, no problem! Here's Tony removing the cylinder head, no doubt enjoying the bracing effects of Thunderhill's 34-degree night air and howling winds, while her assistant- also named Tony- helps out. That's right, this team has an all-woman pit crew, and they got the Fiat back in working order in time for the next day's racing. For having selected an X1/9 and getting numerous mistaken black flags, the Italian Stallions grabbed the I Got Screwed trophy for the race. Be sure to check out their website when you're done here. Thanks to Mad Science Senior and Mad Science for many of these photos.
And here's some in-car video for you; be sure to turn the sound way, way down before you hit the Play button!

Read More!

Junked BMW E30s Provide Cheap, Easy Way To Trunk-Mount Your Battery [Junkyard Find]

Moving your race car's battery to the rear of the car helps reduce the nose-heaviness problem inherent in most front-engined designs, but heavy-gauge battery cable is mighty expensive stuff when you're on a tight budget. When you're trying to squeeze under that $500 limit at the 24 Hours Of LeMons, you won't be buying any new cables… but your friendly wrecking yard has the solution!

BMW E30s are easy to find in the self-service yards, and they came right from the factory with a very nice trunk-mounted battery setup. The big self-service junkyard chains generally have a single price for all battery cables, which means that the 15-footer that runs from the trunk to the engine compartment will cost the same as a skinny 18" job from a Sentra. When the Half Price Sale is on, we're talking about $7 for both cables and terminals; not a bad deal for 20 pounds of copper!

For its trunk-mounted battery setup, the Black Metal V8olvo used some 1-gauge welding cable I'd hoarded for years, but then the LeMons safety requirements mandated a battery cutoff switch. That meant we needed about 8' of additional cable in order to install our switch. I went right to this 325i, to do a little shopping. All you need to do to remove the positive battery cable is get the carpeting and passenger-side interior trim out of the way, then start clipping various tie-downs and clamps. BMW believes in ~~absurd levels of overengineering~~ leaving nothing to chance, which means this task will take a little while, but it's nothing very challenging.

Speaking of overengineering, why did a small car like the E30 need a super-fat 00-gauge battery cable? Was there a little-ordered in-car arc-welder option, or perhaps an antiaircraft searchlight mounted on the roof with certain trim packages? In any case, here's the new cable hooked up to the battery in our (somewhat cluttered) Volvo's trunk.

Here's the switch installed and wired. Thanks, BMW! Note: trunk-mounted batteries in street-driven cars need to be fully enclosed and vented outside the car, because otherwise they'll fill your trunk up with hydrogen and you'll go up like the Hindenburg.

Read More!

Cobra Daytona hauls in $7.25 million

1965 Shelby Daytona

Back in 1967, Bob Bondurant sold a Cobra Daytona for a paltry $4,000. Over the weekend, Bondurant (pictured above right in the red shirt) watched a Daytona cross the block for an astounding $7.25 million at Mecum’s inaugural Monterey sale, setting a record for the highest price paid for an American car at public auction, according to Mecum.

“Selling this amazing piece of American race history at our first Monterey auction has been the crowning achievement of my career and Mecum Auction’s 22 years of selling collector cars,” said Dana Mecum, president of Mecum Auction. “This hand-built car beat the fastest cars in the world and has now added another ‘win’ to its list of accomplishments. It certainly finished in record form again.”

Mecum deserves credit for cranking up the publicity machine in major fashion for this one, though this is clearly the ultimate catch for the Shelby cognoscenti.

The 1965 Daytona Cobra was one of six cars built by Shelby to compete against Ferrari in the FIA World Manufacturers Championship GT class. It stared out as an experimental coupe body designed by Peter Brock built on an existing Cobra chassis, immediately increasing the top speed by 25 mph. That car won its first race, the 1964 Daytona Continental (hence the car’s Daytona name), and five more coupes were built, including CSX2601, the car that sold on Saturday.

After competing at Daytona, Monza, Spa and Nurburgring, CSX2601 clinched the 1965 World Manufacturers Championship on July 4 in Reims, France, with Bondurant at the wheel.

For more results from the sale check out Mecum.com.

Read More!

BMW X5 And X6 M: Power To The SUV

The racing influence of the BMW M series is now available for their X-series SUV’s with the release of the X5 and X6 M. What began as a “super” version to the ordinary cars that BMW began some 25 years ago, the M badge is now a welcomed addition to BMW’s road cars needing a much needed racing treatment. The new X5 and X6 M gets a turbo-charged, 4.4 liter V8 M engine churning out 555 horsepower along with 500 lb-ft of torque that powers the car from naught to 60 in 4.5 seconds. Stopping the car are massive brakes and the restyled body along with accompanying add-ons like a redesigned front and rear fascia plus the four outlet exhaust gives a more aggressive look. A new six-speed automatic transmission with different selectable modes give total shifting control to the driver according to his needs.