Friday, November 23, 2012

Not So Silent Hill: Chip Ganassi's Secret Wind Tunnel


So you need a full scale wind tunnel on the cheap. What do you do? Well according to Chip Ganassi of Chip Ganassi Racing, you get creative. 


Rumors of a secret wind tunnel buried deep under Laurel Hill in Pennsylvania had been swirling around for a while. Hikers reported hearing V8 engines roaring at high speeds in the deep woods and they eventually found barrels of discarded racing fuel, confirming their suspicions.


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Car Art You Can Do: Framed Head Gaskets


Women will love it. Surely nothing ornaments a man's (or super cool woman's) domain quite like some car art. Framed prints are nice but if you really want to be a complete car dork make a statement, you gotta use some real car parts for your art. 

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

The Death of Suzuki in America and why it Matters


There are no French cars sold in America. The only Italian car available besides the exotics like Lamborghini and Ferrari is the little Fiat 500. (Which is just an adorable little barstool) Then you have four German brands, three American corporations, two "British" brands and a host of Japanese manufacturers. 

Well you can now count one less independent from that list because as of today, the small motorcycle manufacturer turned car maker has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and is withdrawing from the American market. No word yet on how Canada will be affected.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Hometown Hero: Jim Hall and Chaparral Cars

The Chaparral 2D won the 1000 km Nürburgring in 1966 and some say it's the design inspiration for Speed Racer's Mach 5.
When it comes to building performance cars, Texans are awesome. Carroll Shelby and John Hennessy are prime examples. However there's one man who never built a single car for the road (Didn't stop him from driving his racers on the street every now and then) but developed active aerodynamics, semi-automatic racing transmissions and countless other innovations to motorsport. His name is Jim Hall.