Autoblog

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Four years after it first hit showrooms, the Scion tC will finally make a showing in a professional road racing series. And no, factory optioned and equipped vehicles being tossed around Long Beach by B-list celebrities cannot be considered professional. A tC has already been heavily modified to compete in the Formula Drift series, but the peppy compact's road race profile, outside the annual celebrity race of course, has been relatively low. This weekend though, Toyota's sporty little coupe will be moving up from amateur abuse to make its big time debut in Grand-Am's KONI Challenge Series. This week's race will take place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, OH and the tC will be part of the ST (Sport Touring) class.

The Scion's venture into the KONI series is being fueled by communications firm Jackson-Dawson, TRD and BGB Motorsports. Driver and team manager Dan (pronounced Don) Gardner has taken his Scion's setup through the NASA club ranks to prove its worth. Having already tackled that territory, moving onto a production-based national series is the next logical step for the team. In the KONI Challenge ST class, Dan and his tC will face formidable foes such as Mazda RX8s, BMW 330s and Acura TSXs. While Toyota may be competitive on the ovals, hopefully this one can do better on the curves than the company's F1 effort. Check out the gallery below for snap shots of the Jackson-Dawson Scion tC and hit the jump for the full press release.


[Photos: Brian Reynolds - CaliPhotography.com]

We've finally found video of the 009 Aston Martin ALMS racecar that "flew" 142 feet off the track at Mid-Ohio Raceway last weekend. The racecar traveled in the air 22 feet farther than the Wright brothers' first powered flight on December 17th, 1903. Unfortunately the video is not nearly as exciting as the pictures that first surfaced, but we'll let you be the judge.

Last weekend during a practice lap at Mid-Ohio Raceway the 009 Aston Martin ALMS went airborne off the track and "flew" 142 feet before landing off the track in the dirt. The track was reportedly wet and the unidentified driver lost control under braking. Fortunately his car was the only one on that part of the track at the time and it amazingly remained level during its separation with terra firma.

These pics were found on the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club (NASIOC) forum, and those guys know a lot about flying cars from watching Subies take flight in World Rally competition. One astute forum member noted that the first record of powered flight by the Wright brothers on December 17th, 1903 lasted for 120 feet and 12 seconds. We checked it out, it's true, which means the Aston beat the Wright brothers' first flight by 22 feet.

Check out more pics after the jump including the takeoff and landing. Word is there was video shown on TV of the accident, so kudos to whoever can find it first.

Thanks Amp for the tip!