Motorsports


SEMA 2009: What we didn't get to cover

Every year at SEMA, we fill the week with posts featuring special vehicles and products that we felt were important enough to share. Generally, they are the most newsworthy projects and new model introductions, but sometimes they are just things that caught our eye. When all is said and done, we think we've given all of you a good taste of what's on offer here in the desert. Of course, there are always things we see and shoot that don't make it into the regular posts from the days we are here. We end up with a few hundred photos of random ... Read more →

SEMA 2009: 1951 Henry J gasser is a 7-second blast from the past Frank Filipponio

Here's another black beauty that caught our attention in the halls of SEMA 2009. It's a 1951 Kaiser Henry J owned and raced by Chris Beanes of California. Running in A/Gas, this gloss-free ...

VIDEO: With F1 program scrapped, where will Toyota Motorsports land next? Noah Joseph

As Toyota president Akio Toyoda announced the withdrawal of his company from the Formula One World Championship, he reiterated Toyota's commitment to motorsport competition. But while this may have ...

Introduction to Karting - Part 6 Tim Stevens

RACE DAY It's taken a long time to get here, many months accelerated through the magic of the internet, but now it's finally time to hit the track in anger, to fight for position, to make ...

SEMA 2009: World's only known four-rotor Mazda RX-8 Frank Filipponio

We came across this RX-8 at SEMA and it immediately rang a bell. Time Attack, four-rotor, Mazda RX-8? It's the BMI Racing car we saw on Streetfire a while back. It's said to be the only ...

SEMA 2009: Grunewald Racing Camaro sets its sights on 2010 Formula Drift season 19 hours ago on Autoblog

Conrad Grusewald has been an occasional participant in the Formula Drift series for the past several years with a supercharged C5 Corvette as his vehicle of choice for piloting around clipping points and narrowly missing concrete barriers while in opposite lock. For the 2010 season, however, he ...

SEMA 2009: Mavizen introduces 130-mph TTX02 electric racebike 19 hours ago on Autoblog

Right on schedule, Mavizen has released its TTX02 electric motorcycle at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Well, if you listen to Azhar Hussain, TTXGP founder and the entrepreneur behind this racebike, the TTX02 is a "laptop on wheels." How so? For starters, each machine is fitted with an ...

SEMA 2009: The geekiest thing we've found so far 20 hours ago on Autoblog

Tire pressure monitoring systems. Not the sexiest thing here at SEMA, but bear with us for a few minutes to geek out on one of the coolest things we've seen at the show that doesn't involve a whole vehicle. Autometer – which recently bought Stack and its line of competition gauges – ...

Bruno Senna to race in F1 next season with Campos Meta 1 21 hours ago on Autoblog

The past few years in Formula One have seen an unprecedented return of legendary family names to the sport: names like Villeneuve, Piquet and Rosberg. But the most hyped scion of racing fame has been Bruno Senna. The nephew of the late, great Ayrton Senna was rated highly by his world-champion ...

SCCA approves Honda Fit-based engine for Formula F 1 day ago on Autoblog

For 2010, Formula F is getting some fresh blood. The Sports Car Club of America's board of directors has given the thumbs up to Honda's proposal for a new engine in the class. Next year, competitors will be able to swap out their ancient Ford Kent engines for a new 1.5-liter four based on the ...

REPORT: Nissan GT-R, Maserati MC12 heading to Le Mans 1 day ago on Autoblog

If you think you've seen schisms in motorsports by following the on-again, off-again rifts in F1, Indy racing and rallying, those are nothing compared to the fisticuffs endured in sportscar racing over the past few decades. In addition to the Rolex Daytona series and the IMSA, to name just two, ...

SEMA 2009: Hummer quartet is a pretty sweet swansong 1 day ago on Autoblog

We almost skipped the Hummer section of the General Motors booth this year at SEMA, concentrating instead on the plethora of Chevrolet Camaro concepts all around them. When we went back for a second look at the day's new design for the Graphics Camaro, we saw the truck above and figured we ...

ESPN: Danica Patrick close to two-year NASCAR Nationwide deal 1 day ago on Autoblog

Rumors of IndyCar's Danica Patrick dipping a toe into the stock car racing pool have been swirling for months, but a new report suggests that an end to the rumors is near. ESPN says that Patrick is on the verge of signing a NASCAR Nationwide Series contract with JR Motorsports, the operation ...

Prodrive reportedly working on phantom Mini crossover rally car 1 day ago on Autoblog

Rumors have been circulating for months that Mini is preparing an upcoming assault on the World Rally Championship. But since they surfaced, little else has been said. The apparent reason for that delay, as emerging reports indicate, is due to the postponement of the car on which it is to be ...

Williams F1 signs Barrichello and Hulkenberg for 2010 1 day ago on Autoblog

The latest piece of the intricate puzzle that is the shake-up in drivers for the 2010 Formula One World Championship has come into play as Williams has confirmed its line-up for next season: Replacing Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima will be Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg. Barrichello ...

SPOILER ALERT: Champion's Champions Crowned at 2009 Race of Champions 2 days ago on Autoblog

Every year, around the world, drivers compete wheel to wheel in all manner of racing series, from rally to F1, touring cars to Le Mans and everything in between. It gives racing fans plenty of varied action to follow, but it leaves one question ultimately unanswered: who is the world's best ...

REPORT: Renault board considering following Toyota out of F1 2 days ago on Autoblog

Things have never been this bad for the Renault F1 team. Their performance is light-years behind where it used to be, their star driver is bolting once again, their top management has been thrown out of the sport in disgrace, and its biggest sponsors are leaving en masse. And now, following ...

SEMA 2009: 427-powered Fiat 500 is the stuff dreams are made of 2 days ago on Autoblog

Okay, this is so awesome it hurts. The guys at Legacy Innovations took a perfectly lovely but woefully underpowered 1959 Fiat 500 and turned it into a Fiat 7,000. The Fiat 500 is an iconic car, one with tremendous nostalgic charm, but it was never really much good as a car until they redid it a ...

Officially Official: Toyota confirms departure from Formula One 2 days ago on Autoblog

The buck's got to stop somewhere. Toyota has been pouring in hundreds of millions of dollars into its Formula One racing program for seven years now and has little to show for it. Now after both Honda and BMW have mothballed their F1 teams, Toyota has confirmed longstanding speculation by doing ...

SEMA 2009: The mid-engine RM460 Hyundai Genesis Coupe has landed 3 days ago on Autoblog

It's arrived. Finally. The wickedly awesome Rhys Millen Racing mid-engine V8 version the Hyundai Genesis Coupe is here, and it took every fiber of our being not to hop in and drive it off the SEMA show floor. The RM460 is why we're in Sin City -- it's the embodiment of the originality and ...

Rumormill: Toyota may announce exit from Formula 1 3 days ago on Autoblog

According to the Japanese Mainichi newspaper, Toyota is poised to withdraw from Formula One competition and will not take part in the 2010 season. Though no source is given for the news, so far Toyota is neither confirming nor denying the report. Toyota has never had the kind of success in F1 ...

SEMA 2009: Honda uses vintage iron to announce return to grassroots racing 3 days ago on Autoblog

Honda is using SEMA to show off their 2010 vehicles and the accessories available for each. It's also using the show to signal its return to grassroots racing, displaying several vintage racers and production cars alongside their descendants. Although we're covering the entire Mugen-accessorized ...

SEMA 2009: 0-60 takes the Scion xD rallying 3 days ago on Autoblog

Screw convention! Why do you have to build a rally car out of something sporty? Or powerful? Or off-road-worthy? According to 0-60 magazine at least, you don't have to. You can build a rally car out of just about anything. Take this Scion xD for instance. It's probably among the last cars you'd ...

Kia Forte Koup going racing in 2010 Grand-Am Koni Challenge series 3 days ago on Autoblog

For the first time in its history in the U.S. market, Kia is going racing in 2010. Kia announced today at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas that it has partnered with the Kinetic Group to build and compete with a pair of new Forte Koups in the 2010 Grand-Am Koni Challenge series. The Koups will be ...

Bridgestone to withdraw as official tire supplier of Formula One 3 days ago on Autoblog

Bridgestone has participated in Formula One since 1997 and has acted as the sole official tire supplier to the entire series for the past two seasons. But at the end of next year, its contract with the FIA and Formula One Management will expire, and the Japanese rubber company has announced that ...

SEMA 2009: Ford unveils 2010 Mustang Cobra Jet, now with optional aluminum block 4 days ago on Autoblog

When Ford built a 50-unit run of the 2008 Mustang Cobra Jet last year, the program was a huge success with all the cars selling out well before production started. With the factory-built drag racing cars easily proving their worth at the nation's 1/4 mile tracks this year, doing a follow-up was ...

SEMA 2009: 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor XT, $100K off-road race truck 4 days ago on Autoblog

Does the idea of a $100,000 pickup truck give you heart palpitations? If so, you might want to skip over the rest of this text. For the past year Ford has been using off-road races like the Baja 500 and 1000 as real world test tracks to prove out the performance and durability of the new F-150 ...

VIDEO: Ken Block's Subaru-based TRAX STI is an alpine badass 4 days ago on Autoblog

Yes, that's probably the first ever Subaru tank. We can't say for certain, but I think in this case we can go ahead and assume. Driven by none other then Ken "Gymkhana" Block. Why does it exist? To be the "ultimate backcountry shred car," of course. We think what that actually means is that ...

VIDEO: Latest '10 Unleashed winner gets his rally on 4 days ago on Autoblog

We don't think of the Ford Mustang as a rally car. In fact, a Mustang doing anything but drag racing doesn't represent its customer base very well, but that doesn't mean we don't like to see it compete in all kinds of motorsports. So who would turn a brand new 2010 Ford Mustang into a rally ...

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi gears up for grand opening in 2010 4 days ago on Autoblog

Television coverage of Formula One grands prix typically end with an aerial shot of the podium and the fans beneath it, a panorama usually dominated by the tifosi passing a giant Scuderia Ferrari flag over the crowd. That view may have been largely absent with the void of Ferrari victories this ...

All four new Nationwide Series cars tested at Talladega 4 days ago on Autoblog

We've already shown you the new Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger cars that will soon be running in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, but Chevy also introduced a new Impala car and Toyota a new Camry. All four new cars were out at Talladega Superspeedway today for some test runs, which gives us our ...

Contradiction in Terms: Green in NASCAR equals 5 mpg 4 days ago on Autoblog

NASCAR has already gone solar and wants to help you (not themselves) use less fuel, but the cold hard reality is that those ovals are being made in cars that get around five miles per gallon. Not exactly hybrid SUV territory there. So, to reduce the amount of fossil fuels used in each race, race ...

Event Alert: November Calendar of Automotive Events 5 days ago on Autoblog

For many of us November means football, parades, turkey hangovers, and family dysfunctionality in the form of Thanksgiving, but we car people tend to be more thankful for SEMA, the Chase and the crowning of a new champion in Formula 1 (Well, the conclusion of another season at least, since Jenson ...

SPOILER ALERT: 2009 Formula 1 season wraps up with a bang at inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 5 days ago on Autoblog

Les jeux sont faits. The line signifies the last call for bets at a casino, and is all too familiar to racing fans visiting Monte Carlo for the annual Monaco Grand Prix. But these days the Mediterranean principality isn't the only place that features state-of-the-art Formula One race cars ...

Lotus hires former Ferrari/Fiat racing chief Claudio Berro as new motorsport director 6 days ago on Autoblog

Do you remember back in 1996 when Michael Schumacher left Benetton for Ferrari? They didn't just get Schumi; along with him came master strategist Ross Brawn and designer extraordinaire Rory Byrne. Together, the wonder team built the Scuderia back into a championship-winning powerhouse. Well, we ...

Dodge Challenger NASCAR Nationwide Series racer unveiled 6 days ago on Autoblog

NASCAR's rollout of its new Nationwide Series race car design has garnered buzz already with the introduction of the first-ever Mustang-branded stocker, and it got another shot in the arm yesterday at Talladega when Chrysler pulled the wraps off its brand-new Dodge Challenger Nationwide racer. ...

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Autoblog Podcast #151: With Car & Driver's Eddie Alterman

Eddie Alterman wades in with Sam, Chris, Dan, and Jonny to talk about SEMA and other recent events.

 
 

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