Autoblog

Click either image to enlarge

Toyota and Baja racing have become synonomous thanks to one man, Ivan "Ironman" Stewart, who has won the Baja 500 a record 17 times in Toyota's trucks. Despite Ford's obvious interest in wrestling away some of the dune jumping glory with its upcoming F-150 "Raptor", Toyota still dominates in the desert. The Japanese automaker is apparently celebrating that fact and the man who made it all possible with an Ivan "Ironman" Stewart Signature Series Tundra that will be available sometime this Spring. While not a whole lot of details are available from Motive Club where we found the story, we can tell you the truck gets big tires with deep treads, new alloy wheels, a tuned exhaust, lots of limited edition numbered badges and, get this, a shifter made from billet and carbon fiber that's modeled after Ivan Stewart's own grip. Very cool, and a little creepy, too. The truck also features a number of other upgraded components that are being supplied by Stewart's own sponsors, though they weren't listed in detail. It doesn't appear that power from the 5.7L i-Force V8 will be much improved, which means it should be no match for the "Raptor", whenever that truck arrives. But Toyota's got the backing of Iron Stewart himself behind its trucks, which is worth something in this game of one upsmanship.


[Source: Motive Club via Pickuptruck.com]

Don't tell Toyota, but Iron Man drives an Audi - at least in the movies. Not to be confused with longtime Toyota off-road truck racer Ivan "Iron Man" Stewart, we're talking about Tony "Iron Man" Stark here. Word from Variety is that the newest big screen superhero will be piloting Audi's latest supercar, the R8. The Ingolstadt flyer was chosen by Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures to be the personal wheels of billionaire industrialist Tony Stark. At least when he's not donning his armor as Iron Man, he'll be tooling around in this mid-engine stunner. And from the sound of it, the movie will be a family affair with the A6, Q7 and the upcoming S5 playing supporting roles. Expect a huge movie tie-in campaign for the film's release that's scheduled for May 2 of next year.

Thanks for the tip, Jay!

[Source: Variety]