This is the final lap of the 2010 Gold Coast round of the Australian V8 Supercar series. Series champion, Jamie Whincup, has to hold off a hard charging Shane Van Gisbergen to win the race. They make some contact, but it’s still classy racing. This is why I like this series so much.
Source: KimiRa1kkonen on YouTube
Some people say that we are in the second golden age of the muscle car. Each of Detroit’s Big 3 have revived their performance car nameplates and the horsepower wars are on again. Further proof that the muscle car is alive and well is that you can buy factory built drag racing cars again. Ford turned the Mustang into the Super Cobra Jet and Dodge has a MOPAR Drag Package for the Challenger. Now GM has joined the game by reviving the COPO Camaro. COPO stands for Central Office Production Order which was a process used by a dealer in the 60’s to get GM to install a 427 into the Camaro even though that combination was never intended for production. 69 COPO’s were built in the 60’s and now GM will only build 69 of the new COPO’s. The new COPO was developed during the off-hours at the GM Powertrain Plant in Wixom, Michigan by all the hot rodders who worked there. The rear suspension has been converted to a 4-link solid axle and it will be available with three engine options.
The guys from Hot Rod Magazine also got a chance to tour the Wixom Performance Build Center in the other half of the building in Wixom. That’s where they hand build all the LS3’s for the Corvette Grand Sport, LS7’s for the Corvette Z06 and the supercharged LS9’s in the Corvette ZR-1. They also got to play with the Camaro ZL1 on the dragstrip and take a look at the new 1LE handling package.
One of the signature characteristics of the British Touring Car Championship is that they’re not afraid to do a little gentlemanly bumping. Combine that with world class car control and you get the highlights contained in this video.
The W Racing Team (WRT) has been releasing these documentaries of their race weekends as they campaign two Audi R8 LMS cars in the Blancpain Endurance Racing Series in Europe. The cars use the same V10 as found on the Lamborghini Gallardo, but are RWD only. I really enjoyed these videos because they give an inside look into how much preparation the entire team does for every event. They’ve posted videos for the first two rounds so far. It looks like they were chasing some suspension setup issues in the first round and had some tire choice difficulties in the weather for the second.
Round 1: Monza
Round 2: Zolder
These are trackside videos presented without background music and without commentary. It’s just the pure essence of racing and race cars. I recommend playing these videos in the background instead of your music. The first video is a compilation of clips from the 12 Hours of Sebring. It starts with a pit crew practicing their stops and then moves to different spots on the track during the race. It’s kind of interesting listening for the distinctive exhaust tones of the Ferraris, Porsches and Corvettes.
The second video is of the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 doing some track testing. All you hear is the magnificent roar of the 6.2 liter V8. It’s one of the best sounding engines that is currently on sale.