Rally Racing, part 1: Building the Car

This is the first of three articles on Rally Racing. I intend to cover car set-ups, driver training, different classes, and whatever else I may come upon. This part will show a built of an Open Class rally car, which is essentially a race car based on a production car, but with the least restrictions placed on it. For instance, the engine has to use the original block, but otherwise is only limited by a 34mmx3mm restrictor plate.

Helping me write these series of articles is Bacon Motorsport. Bacon Motorsport is a privateer family race team from Chemsford MA. Team drivers are William Bacon Jr and Peter Watt. Bill has more than ten years of racing experience and  Peter was the Canadian rally champion in 2004. The team has recently finished in third place at the Sno*Drift Rally in Michigan. … Continue Reading

Project ET-001: BMW M62 4.4L V8 Engine

I still remember the day I saw the first one. It was a nice early spring day in 1997 and I was in walking around near Battery Park in downtown Manhattan. There in the corner of my eye I saw it; jet black, on its three-piece wheels which came only on the models with six-speed manual transmission and mandatory sport package, was the new E39 chassis BWM 540i Sport. The front seats were occupied by two happy looking Wall Street-types that were wearing matching fancy sport sunglasses contrasting their starched-up shirts and ties. That car was just beautiful, an instant modern classic in my mind. Perhaps you recall the cover of Motor Trend from that period where C. Van Tune, the editor at the time, had the speedometer of this very car pegged at around 155mph on the German autobahn. The car, with its 282-horsepower engine and six-speed transmission was definitely awe-aspiring, especially to young college student such as myself. … Continue Reading

Driving Jaguar’s new XFR, on the Road and on the Track

I have recently had the opportunity to drive the new Jaguar XFR on the road and on a race track. With the XFR competing directly against the BMW M5, which I have also had the opportunity to drive on the track and on the street, it only made sense to evaluate the XFR while using the M5 as a measuring stick. Due to the large amount of BMW content on this site, some may call me a BMW fanatic, but the truth is that so much of the automotive industry does in fact look to and follow the BMW concept. Below is a look at what makes the M5 unique and what Jaguar is trying to capture with the XFR, does it work? … Continue Reading

Experiencing The New Diesel-Powered BMWs.

While you may have already read a thing or two about BMW’s new compression ignition offerings, you may not have heard all the details, and you may have some questions. I sure did, and I did my best to answer them here. Get coffee, go read, see huge gallery. … Continue Reading

Cars of Paris

French cars; some say they’re ugly, some say they’re beautiful, all agree that they’re unreliable. However, there is something about them that makes you want to look. These pictures were taken in March of 2007, my wife’s and mine last trip before the birth of our daughter. Selected for your viewing pleasure are not only pictures of cars in Paris, but also the environment in which they’re in. … Continue Reading

Cars (and other vehicles) of Cuba

Do you think your ‘02 Chevy Tahoe with 170k miles is at the end of its life? Try driving a ‘55 Suburban that you inherited from you father. This is a gallery of car pictures from Cuba, where the only way to have a car is to keep the one you have running. Here are 70 images of what you could be driving if you were born in Cuba. … Continue Reading

BMW M Driving Experience (Driving School)

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When you spend around six figures on a car these days, manufacturers tend to do something nice for you, for instance: flowers, shirts, watches, chocolate, new transmission, ipods, umbrellas, key chains, etc. It varies by the price of the car, how much of a pain you were to deal with, and how much you’ve actually over-paid for the car itself. However, when you buy or lease a new BMW M5 or M6, you get something very different… … Continue Reading