I’ll be up front an honest here, most of this “green movement” is bogus! There I said it. I don’t want to be the way out wacko guy here, but take a minute and look at the people pushing the hardest for this agenda, they are looking to profit greatly either through investments they have in companies, or in gaining political power.
That said there are some good and common sense things that everyone can do to reduce needless waste. Ford has been doing something about this for a few years now with the “Living Roof” on the Rouge Truck plant. Mark and Joe from Re*Move (who I had beers with last night and I have to say are some really great people) put this video together on a trip to visit with Ford. Have a look.
In the past few years the measuring stick for how big and bad assed a manufactures car is has become a lap time on the Nordschleife circuit of the Nurburgring. This is the legendary 28.265Km/17.5 mile track in Germany that for many years was the home of the German F1 race. This is the track that Niki Lauda had his famous crash in 1976 and was almost burned to death.
It’s said Nissan’s goal with the GTR was to go quicker than a Porsche 911 around this track. Porsche has in the past shown in it’s TV ads engineers doing laps at the track testing the 911.
One of the great things about the track is that it’s open to the public and for a fee you can take your car or motorcycle and do a lap. This is the reference at the end of the Porsche ad when they go to the ATM machine for more cash so they can do more laps.
The cost for driving a single lap of the Nordschleife is €23 for each car or motorcycle. Multi-lap tickets can be purchased for a lower per-lap price, such as 4 laps at a cost of €76 (€19 per lap). Additional multi-lap prices are 8 laps for €146, 15 laps for €251, or 25 laps for €391. An annual ticket with unlimited laps, valid from January to December, can be purchased for €995.
Since the closest most people might ever get to this track is their XBox or PS2/3 I thought we should take a lap around the track with the legendary Hans Stuck. Stuck is an ex F1 driver and winner of the 24 Hours of LeMans twice.
Stuck takes us for a lap in the BMW M3 GTR. If you are a sports car nut and the audio of this clip isn’t enough for you to get your rocks off then you should just quit now. The motor on the over run and on the down changes of the gears is just wonderful. Add in just how fast he’s going, flat out in 6th gear on multiple occasions and it has you reaching for your passport and your cell phone to book the next flight there.
Having covered Mat Mladin for over 10 years now I have always been impressed with him, as a man, and as a racer. I have always found Mat to be very fair. Back in 2001 at a January test at Laguna Seca I interviewed Mat for the old version of Rumblestrip.net and in transcribing the interview misquoted him. It was interesting to actually get a call from Mat himself to ask if that is what he had said. It turned out that he was correct and I was not. I posed a correction to the interview and an apology for misquoting him and we were good. In fact as long as Mat wasn’t “working” he was always available for a chat, an interview or just to say hi. It was also then that I found Mat to have a very good sense of humor.
Dave Despain who I’m going to guess hasn’t always been a fan of Mat given their dust ups in the past still has great respect for the guy and says so here on a recent episode of WindTunnel.
A video review from the launch of the RSV4 by the MCN boys. There is also a 10 minute HD video from Tor of Raptors and Rockets of this, but it’s more music video than review.
The RSV4 has been eagerly anticipated by by Aprilia fans like myself, as the Mille has now been around for a decade. This bike is more MotoGP rep than WSBK machine when you break down what it’s all about, it will be interesting to see if anyone does a comparo between this and the vaunted Ducati Desmocidici.
For now have a look, it will be in the states in July according to the boys at AF1 Aprilia.
Most people in North America have no idea who Jason Plato is. He is a long time BTCC competitor and it’s 2001 champion, and one of the hosts of Five TV’s Fifth Gear show. Not only is Jason a skilled driver, but his personality is ready made for TV as you can see in the post race interview.
Jason gets booted from behind and makes an incredible save during this BTCC race.
Much has been said about Porsche’s venture into the world of luxury four door cars, going after Massarati, Bentley, and a few others. I’ll admit that I was one of the first people to pan this car and I’m still not sold on the looks. Yes the front has the 911 look, the profile makes it look like an egg and the rear is some sort of amalgamation of a Cayman, early 928 and an E Jag Coupe.
The original take on this is a much more straight cut take on the 911, which I find much more elegant.
Once again for 2009 the British Superbike Series looks to be the premier domestic Superbike series in the world. With many of last years championship contenders now gone to World Superbike and Supersport, there are many names looking to step up and take the title. Leon Camier looks to be a favorite, along with Sylvan Guintoli joining the series from MotoGP and the return of Chris “Stalker” Walker to the series as well.
With the American Superbikes series becoming a joke, do to the organizers, not the level of talent, the BSB series will be a can’t miss for those of us here in The States. Have a look at the official launch video for the BSB Series.
And as OBTW, the BSB series will have 55 hours of LIVE TV coverage. Live racing, what a novel concept. Hello SPEED/DMG!!!!
A BRILLIANT promo put out by British Eurosport to promote the return of the MotoGP season. As many of you may know, at the end of last season it was announced by DORNA that British Eurosport would not be offered a contract to continue it’s coverage and that for the UK, it would be covered exclusively by “The Beeb”
This was a HUGE shocker to everyone as even “The Beeb” acknowledged that they wouldn’t and couldn’t offer the same level of coverage that British Eurosport had. On top of that the triumvirate of Moody, Ryder and Mamola were recognized BY EVERYONE as THE BEST broadcast team in the business. Even His Holiness Pope Valentino the 46th ordained a day of fasting and prayer that this team was being banished by DORNA.
Thankfully a public outcry from around the world has fixed most of this. Toby and Julian will be back again, sadly sans Mamola, and they will not be at every race, but doing some of the long flyaway races for the studios in the UK. Better this than nothing at all I say!
With that I give you this gem that was shown after GP Zero at Jerez this past Sunday, and in a conversation with Toby on Monday he said there are more of these come come, and from the description he gave me, they only get better!!
While I’m sure Adam Dennison and the men and women of General Motors marketing didn’t exactly have this in mind for the relaunch of the Camaro, it’s still pertinent and funny anyway.
