Gallery: Review: 2010 Nissan GT-R

Gallery: First Drive: 2010 Shelby Super Snake

Continue reading VIDEO: Godzilla vs. Super Snake: MT pits Nissan vs. Shelby in amusingly epic battle

VIDEO: Godzilla vs. Super Snake: MT pits Nissan vs. Shelby in amusingly epic battle originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Dodge Challenger Mopar drag package cometh

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Dodge Challenger Mopar drag package cometh originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

At highway speeds, your vehicle is fighting an invisible foe trying to hold it back. The nemesis is wind resistance, and it is an automobile's worst enemy. Overcoming the resistance of the air is the key to increasing acceleration, top speed, and improving fuel economy.

Wind resistance is often measured with sophisticated computers in multi-million dollar wind tunnels. The result is usually expressed as a number called the "drag coefficient" (Cd). While having a low drag coefficient is important, the size of the vehicle (expressed as "frontal area") is also important. In general, as drag coefficient and frontal areas decrease, a vehicle becomes easier to push through the wind. Automakers are well aware of this, so they go to great lengths to ensure a low Cd on vehicles designed for high efficiency. Some approximate Cd values for well-known vehicles.

• .25 Honda Insight
• .26 Toyota Prius
• .27 Nissan GT-R
• .34 GMC Acadia
• .36 Bugatti Veyron (spoiler retracted)
• .36 Chevrolet Suburban
• .48 Classic VW Beetle
• .65 Tractor Trailer (with fairings)
• .75 Formula 1 Car (downforce = high drag)

There are a couple of ways to determine the Cd of your vehicle. If your vehicle is stock, simply look it up on the Internet. If you have modified your car with wider tires, spoilers, roof rack, or changed the ride height, then your Cd has changed. To determine whether your mods are hurting or helping you at the pump (or the track), why not calculate it yourself with a few household items and an Excel spreadsheet? Of course, this requires a bit more effort... but, if you have any geek in your bloodstream, this will really get your juices flowing. The process is too long to detail here, but check out the simple instructions, grab your household items, and let us know what your results are. Thanks for the tip, Farris!

[Source: Instructables]

How To: Measure your vehicle's Cd without a million-dollar wind tunnel originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

What do you do with a Porsche GT2, a Corvette Z06, and an abandoned aircraft runway? That's obvious: you line both cars up, nail the throttle and crown the victor. Thankfully, that's exactly what the chaps at Autocar did when they pitted the new GT2 against the Z06 on a long piece of straight pavement. No timing lights, no start/finish line, just two guys with heavy right feet and a camera crew to capture the action.

To refresh your memory, the GT2 is the hottest car currently in Porsche's inventory. Under its decklid, a 3.6-liter twin-turbo six-cylinder powerplant pumps out an impressive 530 hp and 500 lb.-ft. of torque. The Chevrolet Z06 has been in showrooms a bit longer, but nothing holds back its 7.0-liter eight-cylinder engine packing a 505 hp punch with 470 lb.-ft. of torque. Oh yeah, we should mention (before you all point it out) the German costs about twice as much as the American.

We won't tell you who wins the Porsche vs. Chevrolet battle, but we will say the contest will be significantly more "balanced" when the blokes can bring the upcoming 620 hp 2009 Corvette ZR1 to the tarmac. Thanks for the tip Mike!

Check out the video here.

[Source: Autocar]

Autocar pits GT2 against Z06 in a drag competition originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8

Rumormill: Dodge Challenger SS Drag package weeks away originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

GM engineers dressed in drag while designing new SUVs originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 09 Aug 2007 08:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There could hardly be two more different approaches to the exotic supercar than the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the Porsche Carrera GT. One's a production Italian gran tourismo with a front-mounted V12, and the other's a rare German targa with a mid-mounted V10. The Ferrari was designed and executed to be easy to drive, while the Porsche is reportedly twitchier than a monkey drinking coffee. As far as exotic sportscars go, they're like apples and oranges.

The question is, which one is faster? The video after the jump has your answer. The two supercars make two runs from a rolling start. One pulls ahead but by the end of the drag strip the second is ahead by a couple car-lengths. Follow the jump to find out which took the checkered flag.

(If you're thinking the Enzo would be a more fitting adversary for the Carrera GT, you're not the only one.)

[Source: German Car Blog]

Continue reading VIDEO: Ferrari 599 GTB vs. Porche Carrera GT

VIDEO: Ferrari 599 GTB vs. Porche Carrera GT originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Rapom V8 bike produces 1,200 horsepower and loose bowels

Rapom V8 bike produces 1,200 horsepower and loose bowels originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mickey Thompson murder trial begins originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 08 Nov 2006 08:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading SEMA: Fords builds a GT500 for street, strip and scary track driving

SEMA: Fords builds a GT500 for street, strip and scary track driving originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In a tragic accident on Sunday, 17-year-old Canadian drag-racing protégé Kendall Hebert died when her jet-powered dragster crashed into a wall at Toronto Motorsport Park in the suburb of Cayuga, outside Hamilton, Ontario.

The accident occurred during a demonstration, not a race. The young Hebert had just finished a quarter-mile sprint down the track, reaching over 480 km/h (just under 300 mph) when the car inexplicably hit a concrete wall, sending the vehicle rolling and throwing its driver out of the cockpit. To make matters even worse, Kendall's family was in attendance and saw the crash that took their young daughter's life. According to provincial police, the event was also being broadcast over the internet.

(For those who have been following the news and might be wondering what made this accident fatal, while Top Gear's Richard Hammond is alive and recovering after a similar accident, the difference may lie in Kendall sadly having hit a wall directly, while Hammond rolled over grass, lessening the impact.)

Kendall came from a racing family; her father and sister both race competitively, and Kendall was looking forward to joining them after her 18th birthday, which she sadly never reached. Our condolences to the bereaved Hebert family.

(Our gratitude to Kevin for having sent us the sad news.)

[Source: the Toronto Sun]

Teen driver loses life in jet dragster accident originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Oct 2006 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While most racing fans probably recognize Jack Roush's name from his teams' success in NASCAR, the man in the hat got his start in drag racing and holds a number of national championships in that sport. It should then come as little surprise that the first half-dozen components in ROUSH Performance Products' new Competition Line are aimed squarely at the quarter-mile crowd.

Heading up the new lineup is a two-piece upper trailing arm relocation bracket, which works in conjunction with adjustable-length upper trailing arms (with spherical bearings) to move the instant center of the rear four-link. This increases the anti-squat and improves traction while reducing wheelhop. An adjustable-length Panhard bar (also with spherical bearings) keeps the rear axle centered when the ride height is changed, while relocation brackets allow the use of a heavy-duty cast "girdle" axle cover (a popular modification with drag racers). Brackets are offered to relocate the rear sway bar to allow the use of small 15" wheels and drag tires. With the use of dedicated drag tires comes an NHRA requirement for a driveshaft safety loop, and so ROUSH is offering up one of those as well. A second wave of components is on the way, but no word yet on when they might drop.

Even with ROUSH's typically high level of engineering, proper validation is always a must, and so the team proceeded to rack up some 135 trips down the strip in the process of performing track testing. Yea, we're sure that it was really tough convincing employees to put in those hours.

[Source: ROUSH Performance Products; press release is posted after the jump]

Continue reading ROUSH Performance Products introduces new Competition Line of racing parts

ROUSH Performance Products introduces new Competition Line of racing parts originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 15 Sep 2006 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When creating a vehicle to commemorate a pair of Super Stock drag racing legends - in this case, Hubert "Georgia Shaker" Platt and Randy "Mr. Big Stuff" Payne - it's important not to mess around. Thus, Pure Power Motorsports created the Shadrach, a twin-turbo Mustang that boasts 900 hp and the necessary hardware to put that power to the ground.

Starting with a 2006 Mustang GT, the team stripped the car down to the shell. The engine, built by Al Moody Racing Engine, consists of the OEM block and CNC-ported 3-valve heads stuffed with some aftermarket forged parts. Up top sits a vintage-looking Kinsler velocity stack injection unit, with two injectors per cylinder. A pair of scrolls from Precision Turbo provides the pressurized intake charge, which is then cooled by a water-to-air intercooler setup. A T56 six-speed manual has the unenviable task of directing all of this power rearward.

Think not that the rest of the vehicle has been neglected in the pursuit of power. Ohlins dampers connect to a variety of AJE and Metco suspension parts, while a set of huge Brembo brakes slow things down. A Strange 9" Ford rear axle puts the power to the hopelessly overworked rear wheels.

The exterior gets treated to a Shadrach body kit, a trick side-exhaust systems, a monstrous Pro Stock-like wing, a set of 20" rollers, and vintage "The Going Thing" graphics. Inside lie a 6-point roll bar, a pair of leather-wrapped Recaro seats, and more carbon fiber than the average aerospace plant. Of course, Mr. Platt and Mr. Payne affix their signatures to the dash once everything is to their liking.

Hit the Read link for some more pics.

[Source: Modded Mustangs]

Pure Power Motorsports lives up to its name with 900 HP "Shadrach Edition" Mustang originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Aug 2006 10:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Anyone who's ever taken some time to observe professional Top Fuel drag racing has probably marveled at the teams' ability to rebuild an engine between rounds. In less time that it takes most of us to TiVo through a week's worth of The Daily Show, the crews in charge of engine maintenance are able to swap out the parts required to keep these ticking time bombs together for another five seconds.

A mere thirty seconds after pulling the car into the pits after a run past 300 MPH, a specialized tool organizer is set into place on top the car's roll cage, and a team of about eight men goes to work. Less than 14 minutes later, the engine is torn down to a block containing only the camshaft, cam bearings, crankshaft, and upper crank bearings, and the reassembly process begins. The cylinder heads get dropped back on the block just a bit more than a half-hour into the overall process, and at five minutes past the one hour point, it's time for each crew member to man his station for the warm-up process.

Check out the Read link for a lengthier tear down of the the 75-minute rebuild.

[Source: Hot Rod]

The art of the 75-minute rebuild originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 23 Jul 2006 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Having offered up some tips on running the quarter-mile in a previous post, it's now time to line up and take a few passes ourselves. We did so courtesy of a close friend who was nice enough to hand over the keys of his '96 Impala SS; presumably, the favor will need to be returned once our own land yacht returns to the road.

For some reason, certain people see a car of this size and automatically dismiss its performance potential. Sure, there's over two tons of mass to accelerate down the track, but surely Newton would smile at the potential force that can be unleashed by the 5.7L LT1 upon his famous laws of motion.

Continue reading Autoblog hits the dragstrip, Part II: We actually take a few passes

Autoblog hits the dragstrip, Part II: We actually take a few passes originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 12 Jul 2006 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For gearheads, there's little better place to be than the local dragstrip on a cool summer evening. Indeed, for anyone with blood running through their veins, the words "Test-n-Tune Night" should indeed raise one's pulse and get Metallica's "Fuel" cued up in the ol' mental jukebox.

Our beastly Impala SS is still laid up in the garage waiting for some new transmission internals (more on this soon!), but fortunately a couple friends from the local B-body club were nice enough to invite us along to US-131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI. We'll start things off by providing some tips for those who haven't yet attacked the 1320.

Continue reading Autoblog hits the dragstrip, Part I: A first-timer's guide to drag racing

Autoblog hits the dragstrip, Part I: A first-timer's guide to drag racing originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.