Here’s further proof that tarmac based motorsports are awesome when you pick them up and plop them down on dirt. This is the Modified Cuts class of the Great Texas Mud Race.
Cycle World rounded up the the current crop of superbikes and took them for two days of testing at Miller Motorsports Park with Eric Bostrom. They first tested the “workhouse” bikes that cost under $20,000 and then pitted the winner up against the “exotics” that were over 20 grand. This year has been pretty interesting in the motorcycle industry because just about all of the big companies are introducing traction and stability control. Eric Bostrom says this shootout is really about who was able to best tame the power and inertia of the 1000cc engines.
The RAUH-Welt Begriff story is a pretty amazing one. The organization started off as a street racing team in Japan which then turned into a tuning shop whose work became a worldwide sensation a couple of years ago. Lucky for us, they also caught the attention of a talented videographer named Luke Huxham of Maiham-Media. I’ll let him tell you the RWB story.
Meet the heart and soul behind RWB style, Akira Nakai.
EV West just posted these videos of their 700 hp E36 M3 race car qualifying and practicing for this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC). The course is split into three sections to allow the drivers to pre-run the course before competition day. Qualifying is done based on their time for the lower section. It turns out the car was making too much power which was causing some powerslides on corner exit. The team derated the controller to help with traction.
Part 1: Qualifying the on the lower section. The motor controller cut out for 30 seconds right off the bat, but then it fires up again without any problems. The alarm is required for electric cars so that the people out on course can hear the car coming.
The current owner of the Delorean Motor Company is in the process of developing an electric version of the DMC-12. The hope is to have turn-key cars built from their inventory of new-old-stock parts available for purchase next year for $95,000-$100,000. They’re also planning on retrofitting electric drivetrains into existing DMC-12’s. Bradley Hasemeyer of Translogic visits the DMC warehouse and test drives the DMC-EV test mule. Delorean Motor Company paired up with Epic EV for a complete battery, motor and charger package. The prototype car has a basic brushed DC motor, but the production version is slated to have a 400V AC induction motor that produces 260 horsepower and 360 ft-lbs of torque. There’s also some bonus footage of the new chassis that Epic helped DMC make with the original molds. Instead of hand laid fiberglass, they are now using vacuum bags and honeycomb reinforcement to make a lighter and stronger chassis.