The last time we checked in with the guys from Hot Rod Magazine, they let us in on the Unlimited Class of their 5 track, 1400 mile Drag Week road trip. This video is something a little different from Drag Week. It’s the story of a British man named Wacky Mick Wilkes. He shipped his Vauxhaul van to the US just so he could do Drag Week and meet his heroes. He did that and so much more. Check out the story of how he was awarded the Spirit of Drag Week.
The folks at Top Gear put together this back to back loop-the-loop, the Deadly 720, as part of their live show. There’s some interviews followed by footage of the stunt rider pulling it off. There’s plenty of camera angles including from the rider’s point of view.
They actually got the world record for doing The Deadly 720 on 4 wheels during their first live show:
Source: Top Gear on YouTube
Round 5 of this year’s Global Rallycross Championship had the guys competing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The course looked pretty fun with the traditional jumps and features as well as a banked dirt turn and really tight chicane to set it apart from the other rounds. The last round of the season will take place at the SEMA show in Las Vegas. Hit the “GRC” tag to see the first four rounds. The coverage of round 5 is broken up into three parts:
Part 1:
Jay Leno’s Ecojet is a project that’s been two and a half years in the making with the help of his garage mechanics and industry friends. The goal was to build a high performance car powered by a turbine burning soy bean oil based biodiesel. Like engines, turbines turn thermal energy into rotational mechanical energy. Instead of compressing air and fuel for detonation, the expansion of heated air turns a fan-shaped turbine on a rotating shaft. The most common automotive application is a turbocharger 
that harnesses the thermal energy of exhaust gasses. It’s work is then used to compress fresh air to force into the engine’s cylinders. Turbines are only used for direct mechanical drive in heavy duty applications like tanks, trains, ships and helicopters. They’re a lot more efficient when they can stay spun up at high rpm’s. Piston-cylinder 
engines are generally more efficient for the stop and go duty cycles seen in cars, but that’s not to say that turbines were never used in cars. Check out this vintage promotional video for Chrysler’s turbine car program from the early 60’s. Jay Leno owns one of the 50 cars that were made available to the public.
At one point in time the Blitzen Benz was the fastest object on the planet besides a bullet. The 200 horsepower, 21.5 liter (1300 cubic inches) engine propelled this car to speeds higher than the fastest planes and trains of the time. It was also one of the first cars to attempt land speed records at the Bonneville salt flats. The US Mercedes Classic Center displayed the car and started its engine at Pebble Beach. Check it out: