Where was I?

My new 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon

A few weeks ago my wife made the comment to me that my brownish "gold" 1994 Volvo 940 Turbo was a crappy car & wouldn't look very good for me in the parking lot of my new job. Prior to that statement, I had no intention of buying a "newsed" (new/used) car for at least a few more years. After that statement, I started thinking about it & found myself daydreaming about a car I could be proud of. Initially my search for a new vehicle had me focusing on an older model Audi A4. I even found one at a small used car dealership that I had planned on purchasing until I took it to a mechanic & found out it wasn't in as good a shape as I had hoped. I then spent a solid 3 days perusing the internet for potential cars when a good friend suggested I check out the NASIOC forums to find a Subaru for sale that I might like. Am I glad he did, because it wasn't 15 minutes later that I found THIS thread showing a car that immediately got my attention. Well, as you can tell from the photos below, I ended up buying that car & I'm really glad I did. The car was actually for sale near Houston which was convenient since I had to spend my last 2 weeks with my current employer working in Houston. The first day I was in town I took it for a test drive and immediately fell in love with the modified "Subbie." I've had the car for just under a week now and I've already gotten the windows tinted & purchased a few items for like a catback exhaust & yellow foglight tints. I will probably post a few more pictures of my new ride after I install the exhaust & foglight tints when I drive it town to Florida for my family vacation but until then, enjoy these photos taken in downtown Houston.

You can see more on my Flickr profile from tonight's photoshoot.

My new 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon

More pics coming soon along with a list of specs.

2011 Indy 500 World Record Jump

I didn't get to watch the entire Indy 500 this past weekend but what I did notice while watching the aerial shots was this giant roll-in & massive orange jump at one end of the in-field. Well, thanks to StumbleUpon this morning, I learned what that ramp was all about. Tanner Foust (Hot Wheels team driver) just set a new world record for the longest 4x4 truck jump at 332 feet. Check out the videos below to check it out. FYI, his identity was kept a secret until after the jump which is why his face is pixelated in the video. Enjoy!

Here is a video where Tanner talks about the jump during practice.

The Smoking Tire .com

I don't remember exactly how I came across this website (mostly because I've spent the last 3 hours perusing their site & can't remember where it all started) but being a "car guy" I'm a little disappointed in myself that I haven't visited it before. As you can tell by the name of the site, TheSmokingTire.com is a website for anyone who likes cool or fast cars & enjoys watching videos of said cars doing what they do best. The main host of the episodes that they post on-line is Matt Farah and I must say he's rather entertaining. Like I mentioned, I've spent quite a few hours clicking through page after page of their webisite and have truly enjoyed the videos and posts that I clicked on. I've decided to post a few of my favorites below so you can get an idea of what their site is all about. Anyways, if you're a "gear head" like me then check it out and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

This first video is a music video from one of my favorite musicians Sir Mix-A-Lot. The song is entitled Carz (with a Z) and it's chock full of actual car knowledge, plus it's kind of a catchy tune.

The next video is one of my favorite TV personalities (& a hell of driver to boot) Tanner Foust drifting his way up Mulholland Dr. in California.

This last video is one I found on The Smoking Tire but it doesn't exactly relate to cars other than the fact that it was filmed at a McDonald's drive-thru window. The customer gets mad that they won't serve her Chicken McNuggets at 6 am so she attacks the employee. Watch all the way to the end because the next customer pulls up like nothing happened for their Big Mac. Hilarious.

Ken Block - Gymkhana 3.2

If you've been following my blog or if you are a gear head that loves anything and everything car related then you've probably heard of Ken Block's web video series Gymkhana. If you haven't then you are in for a pleasant surprise. Gymkhana is a combination of rally driving & drifting in a very artistic arrangment. Last month Ken released his latest Gymkhana video in a Ford Fiesta and it is impressive. Enjoy!

Motocross Front Flip - Crusty Demons

Jackson Strong lands the first ramp to ramp front flip on a motocross bike this last weekend at a Crusty Demons event.

2010 Gumball 3000 "Total Eclipse"

If you've never heard of the Gumball 3000 rally then you cannot call yourself a Gear Head. If you have then you know that all sorts of craziness happens during this race and the video below from Mike "Rooftop" Escamilla is a perfect example. During a chartered flight from Europe to the U.S. Mike and his friends (Xzibit, Eve, Ricky Schroeder, Bun B & more had a little fun with the song "Total Eclipse." This is funny stuff so check out this video (songs starts about a minute in) then follow THIS LINK to Shred or Die to see other videos they made documenting the 2010 Gumball 3000.

Gumball 2010 pt.3 - "Total Eclipse" from mike escamilla on Vimeo.

Clouds365 & Speeding Tickets

Thanks to the amazing power of Twitter, I came across two websites I found very interesting. The first is called Trapster.com which offers a place for users of the internet to share known speedtraps with each other. They even have an iPhone app. It also has a blog page where somebody shared the fastest speeding tickets known to man. The world record for speeding tickets happened in the great state of Texas at 242 mph. Follow THIS link to learn more about speeding tickets and click the link above to share any known speedtraps with the rest of the world.

 

I found the next website because of a Twitter account that I follow called Amazing Pics. They tweeted a story about a guy here in Dallas that took a photo of the clouds as a part of a 365 project. Some of the photos are really cool but the timelapse videos below were what really got my attention. Enjoy the videos and then follow the link to Amazing Pics for more photos of happy little clouds.

8-25-09 from Kelly DeLay on Vimeo.

11-08-09 from Kelly DeLay on Vimeo.

2010 Dallas Auto Show - Lexus LFA

I went to the Dallas Auto Show and took some photos & a video. I made a video of the new Lexus LFA that is at the bottom.

Lexus LFA Supercar from Nudnik on Vimeo.

First ever Monster Truck backflip during competition

Cam McQueen the driver of the Nitro Circus Monster Truck landed the first ever backflip during competition. This is pretty impressive considering the fact that the ramp wasn't designed for this purpose. Enjoy!

The hubless BMX bike?

I found this via a Ride BMX Facebook update and I must say it looks really cool. They posted the video below of the hubless motorcycle which is even cooler. I have no idea if this concept will ever come to be but if it does I bet my kids will be riding one. These photos were taken from Falling Pixel.

Audi A4 Deutsche Tourenwagen-Masters

When it comes to touring cars, the DTMs are the most advanced out there and the Audi A4 is the top contender. There are more carbon-fiber aerodynamic wings on this car than in a hanger full of Red-Bull Air Race planes. The A4 makes 460 bho & 370 lb. ft of torque and with a double wishbone suspension, this car screams around the track like no other. Not mention it's kinda cool to look at, check out Top Gear for more pics and info. Enjoy!

2010 Rolex 24 at Daytona 01/29/2010

Today was the first day of my 3 day (or 2 depending on how you count it) Rolex 24 experience. I attended the Rolex 24 in 2009 and this year is already 100 times better than last. So many great things happened today that I don't know where to begin. How about I start with the most exciting and then ramble on from there. I went for a pace car ride around the road course of Daytona International Speedway! This is the 5th race I've attended so far and I've been trying to get a pace car ride since the first. I finally achieved my goal today and it was definitely worth the wait. I got to ride shotgun in a 2010 Mazda Speed3 and the driver put that car deep into the corners. I have video of it that I will post when I get home next week.

These are the two guests with my company that won the drawing to take a ride. I tagged along and got lucky. Oh yea!!! That little car was fun on the track, if only it wasn't front wheel drive.

Of course there was more than enough race car action to go around. The "Red Dragon" was involved in an incident on Thursday during practice that almost took the team out of the race all together. JJ used his private jet to fly the parts and the mechanics down to fix the problem overnight. It's good to be king. The photos below were from the last 2 practice sessions before the race.

 

This is the driver's practicing driver changes.

Today I also got to participate in my first team meeting. I have been asked to be the one responsible for waking up and delivering the drivers from the trailer to the track. When I was asked to do this, I immediately said yes without considering the importance of the task. It was made a little more clear to me when I was sitting in the driver's motorcoach with the drivers, owner, manager, PR guy & 3 team geniuses and they were all looking at me. Oh wait, did I forget to mention the HBO film crew? Yep, that's right. JJ has a film crew following him around making a TV series. To make a long story short, I was given a golf cart that only I have the keys to and my own radio with transmitting capability. Kind of a big deal in my eyes but then again I am a little biased, I suppose.

The rest of the day was kind of a blur that included me trying to get a bicycle into the track (not allowed), a lot of waiting to unload the car, attending the company dinner, driving horribly at the race car simulator, hit 3 holes in one on the virtual golfer, and played some "Band Hero" (Wii's version of Rock Band). Today was an awesome day from beginning to end. I have high hopes for tomorrow but today set a very high standard.

I doubt I will post much (other than 365 submissions) over the next 4 days but you can bet I'll have lots to show next week. Check back later for more.

2010 Pontiac Trans-Am

If you were checking my blog and twitter accounts the first few days of November then you remember me posting these pictures below from SEMA. I made it pretty clear that I was a big fan of this car, and even though Pontiac is "no longer" you can still get a 2010 "Pontiac Trans-Am." Thanks to a Top Gear Facebook update, I found Gearhead Performance Group. Eat your heart out Bandit!

 

Just like the "good old days" when the Trans-Am and the Camaro were made from the same foundations, the 2010 Trans-Am follows suit. Gearhead Performance Group in Crawfordsville, IN has a beautiful interpretation of the classic Trans-Am stylings on a modern 2010 Chevrolet Camaro platform. With an optional 900 h.p. Twin Turbo 6.2L LS9 and custom 22" Snowflake wheels, this car would be my dream to own. One day, maybe...

STP Ferrari 430 Scuderia GT3

I found this photo yesterday on a Top Gear Facebook update and forgot to post it until now. While it may seem a little sacrilegious to put an American racing legendary livery on a foreign car, I must admit this looks good. It looks so good in fact that I would actually consider painting my Ferrari like this, that is if I owned a Ferrari of course. Click HERE for more information about the car and the team that'll be driving it.

Travis Pastrana World Record Car Jump

For my New Year's Eve 2009, I sat on the couch with the wife and watched Travis Pastrana set a new world record for jumping a car from ramp to ramp. If you remember, I posted a couple of stories over the last couple of weeks about last night's event which you can find HERE and HERE.

Ken Block had set the record at 171 ft but Travis decided he wanted to shatter that record by hitting the landing at the 269 foot mark. The entire program on ESPN lasted more than an hour and the actual jump took less than one minute.For the abreviated version of the jump check out the video below.

Top Gear Tuner cars of 2009

So Top Gear posted a list of the best/worst (you decide) tuner cars of 2009 and since I pretty much like all of them, I had to repost a few of my favorites here with a link to the rest so you can decide for yourselves.

MTM Audi RS6 Avant Quattro Wagon is my FAVORITE!!!

The link for the Lumma Design Panamera is dead but I still think this would be a fun car to drive to work everyday

The ABT Audi R8

A Hennessey Performance Vette

Tramontana R - Ugly or Awesome?

Thanks to a Top Gear Facebook update, I found out about the "open-wheel hypercar fresh out of Spain" you see below called the Tramontana R. The Tramontana R is powered by a Mercedes-sourced 5.5L V-12 with 550hp or a bi-turbo version putting out 760hp. The designers say it will do 0 to 62 in 3.6 seconds & 0 to 120 in 10 seconds flat. Considering this car weighs only 2,777 lbs those numbers actually seem a little conservative for most supercar enthusiasts.

As you can see from the picture below it is actually a two-seater, albeit the passenger has to ride in the "backseat" almost like a co-pilot. The car (if you can even call it a mere car) is made with lots of carbon fiber including the wheels which are a carbon fiber/magnesium combination. The only major drawback to this car (besides the fact that the ground clearance is a little more than 5 centimeters) is that it cost about $495,000 USD. Yikes that's a whole lot of money for a car you can't really drive anywhere but the track.

Enjoy this video that I found via Carzi featuring the Tramontana R.

Oh yeah, click some of the links above for tons of more pictures, and click on an ad or two while you're here too.

Travis Pastrana Red Bull World Record Rally Car Jump

In case you missed my post a week ago, Travis Pastrana is going to be participating in this year's Red Bull New Year No Limits event on New Year's Eve. He is going to attempt a world record ramp to ramp rally car jump. He plans to jump over 200 feet from a pier onto a barge floating in the ocean. Don't believe me. Check out Red Bull's YouTube Channel to see the video they just posted moments ago about his last practice jump. That guy is crazy.

Travis Pastrana is certifiable

Yesterday I found out that Red Bull is going to be hosting a New Year No Limits on ESPN like they have for the last two years and this time, Travis Pastrana is going to be the daredevil ringing in 2010. As you may remember, Robbie Madison jumped his dirtbike over 100 feet which isn't that amazing until you consider the fact that he did it straight up onto the top of a Las Vegas hotel structure.

Well in true Red Bull fashion, Travis Pastrana is going to push the limits by breaking the current world record for longest rally car jump of 171 feet. He plans on shattering that record by jumping his rally car 200 feet, breaking Ken Block's current record by nearly 30 feet. If that wasn't crazy enough, he's going to attempt to land the car on a ramp that is floating on a barge out in the Pacific ocean. Yes, you read that correctly. Travis is going to attempt to set the world record rally car jump at 200 feet, onto a boat. I defer back to the title of this post.

For more information, check out ESPN's Red Bull New Year No Limits homepage and don't forget to tune in on New Year's Eve to see how it all goes down. You can bet I'll be watching.