Video: Camaro leaves the premises in hairy Grand-Am crash at Road America
Topic: Cars and Trucks
4:05 pm EDT, Jun 26, 2011
During the weekend's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car race at Road America, Günter Shaldach radioed his crew to report what he called "a brake issue." Shortly after that, as Shaldach's CoolTV Chevrolet Camaro was hurtling toward turn one behind Joe Foster's Florida.com Mazda RX-8, he locked up at full tilt, and plowed into the Mazda. Then it got really ugly. Shaldach continued straight through the gravel trap and tire barriers, then flew over the course fence into the outside world.
Fellow team driver Oliver Gavin later said Shaldach had pushed the brake pedal and it went to the floor, then everything simply locked up. The airborne red blur in the pic above is Shaldach's leaping Camaro, the trail of dust on the right is the Mazda. Thankfully, Shaldach got out of the car and walked back up to the track on his own.
We're fairly confident in saying, this is by far, the coolest set of Audi B-roll driving footage we've ever seen. And by cool, we mean full opposite lock Audi RS3 hoonage on a snowy track at last week's Fascination quattro event in Quebec, Canada. Following the driving scenes are exterior and interior glamour shots, along with some great exhaust revs showcasing the RS3's venerable five cylinder turbo growl.
One of the UK's most popular series since 1977, Top Gear now brings its high-adrenaline action entertainment to America. The series tracks the colorful history of the automobile and showcases an offbeat celebration of the art of driving, featuring super-cars, extreme stunts and challenges, car reviews and celebrity interviews, as well as the eccentric adventures of its hosts with Top Gear's customary wit and humor. Hosted by comedian and car buff Adam Ferrara, champion rally and drift racer Tanner Foust and racing analyst Rutledge Wood, Top Gear explores the history of America, one lap at a time.
Premieres Sunday, November 21, at 10/9c Also.. Sunday, Nov 28, 10/9c Blind Drift: TVPG
Fans of Top Gear might want to prepare themselves for another Stig death soon. When "Black Stig" Perry McCarthy revealed himself, Clarkson, Hammond and May offed him. Now, according to the UK's Telegraph, the "White Stig" has apparently ended the mystery, revealing himself as 33 year-old Ben Collins. Collins has raced professionally in everything from NASCAR to LeMans, and most recently served as Agent 007's double for sequences of Quantum of Solace that required fancy wheel work. It's been such a secret for so long, how did the veil of silence come to be broken? Collins himself apparently revealed his day job to the owner of an art gallery in Bristol, England when asking for help producing a limited-edition print of The Stig plying his trade.
Koenigsegg unveils limited Edition CCX and CCXR models
Topic: Cars and Trucks
1:33 pm EST, Nov 30, 2007
Wouldn't that be a hell of a drive!
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Koenigsegg claims that customer demand has led them to produce a limited edition version of its CCX and CCXR supercars. They'll be called - get this - the Koenigsegg Edition CCX and CCXR. Pretty creative, huh? Regardless, we all know Koeni cars have the goods to defend their funny names with peerless performance. What makes these Edition models truly special is, of course, more power thanks to a bump in displacement for Koenigsegg's V8 from 4.7L to 5.0L. When fitted with its pair of superchargers, the Edition CCX produces 888 horsepower (up from 806 HP) and the CCXR that can also run on E85 ethanol produces the same 1,018 horsepower as the standard model. Both the Edition CCX and CCXR actually have similar performance figures according to Koenigsegg, each running to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds. Keep the pedal to the floor, however, and the CCXR with its higher octane fuel will begin to pull away from the CCX, eventually topping out at 250+ mph.
Japanese court rules Toyota employee died from too much work
Topic: Cars and Trucks
1:30 pm EST, Nov 30, 2007
We've all heard the horror stories of life in middle management. In Japan, the ill appears to be especially acute. So many Japanese workers die from simply being overworked that there's a name for it: karoshi. Wikipedia says, "The major medical causes of karōshi deaths are heart attack and stroke due to stress." From March 2006 to March 2007, 303 people were claimed to have died of it with 147 of those cases acknowledged as accurate by the government.
Thirty-year-old Kenichi Uchino worked 60 hours a week for five months for Toyota in Japan, and then worked 70 hours a week for a month -- and then he died.
] When David Hasselhoff (news) gets his driving record in ] order, there's a set of hot wheels for sale that just ] might interest him. ] ] Joseph M. Maddalena of the Beverly Hills-based ] memorabilia dealer Profiles in History said he expects ] bidding on KITT to open at $35,000.] ] ] "Nineteen-Eighties television is just huge," Maddalena ] says. "That's all people want. It's just the ultimate pop ] culture icon, and that's what the KITT car is." ] ] Maddalena won't reveal the identity of the KITT owner ] (and seller), but he confirmed it's not Hasselhoff, who's ] due in a Los Angeles court Oct. 28 to be arraigned on a ] misdemeanor drunken-driving charge.
] Italian drivers who like to use highways as their ] personal speed-tracks are about to lose the race. ] ] Italy's state police presented a sleek new addition ] Friday: a Lamborghini Gallardo, with a top speed of 309 ] kph (192 mph). ] ] The car is ready for service, bedecked with a siren, ] painted blue-and-white, and the word "POLIZIA" -- ] "police" -- stenciled on the side.
