Driving into work this morning a trio of 2011 Scion iQs pulled up at the light next to me on Laurel Canyon in Hollywood. All three had manufacturer plates and are most likely doing EPA mileage testing. Laurel Canyon and is a hotbed of activity for prototypes believe it or not. The iQ looks really good in the flesh even on the black steelies these guys were sporting. Definitely a great alternative to the smart in our opinion. Only had time for a crappy iPhone pic before the light changed but figured this would be of interest.
After dominating the 2009 X Games Rally Racing, Ford Fiesta announces a four car, all-star lineup for the 2010 event that will now be held in the historic LA Coliseum. 2009’s team of Kenny Brack, Tanner Foust and Brian Deegan will be joined by Gymkhana Video star and WRC competitor, Ken Block. Foust and Deegan will fly Rockstar Energy Drink colors, Brack will represent Swedish race shop, Olsbergs MSE, and Block competes for his Monster World Rally Team. Rally cars will now compete in two events at X Games–the original head to head format of Rally Car Racing is now joined by SuperRally which is X Games’ version of European style Rally Cross with four cars on track at the same time. Set your Tivos for the afternoon and evening of Saturday July 31st when the races will be broadcast live if you can’t make it out there.
Greg Tracy in 2010 practice run for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on the 2010 Ducati Multistrada. Remember there’s about 4000 feet of air on the outside of the road there….
The driving simulator we have been waiting for forever finally gets an official release date: November 2nd, 2010–just in time for the holiday rush. NASCAR, 3D, crash damage and a whole lot more are what’s new. Check the video. We’re very excited!
Sure the World Cup is kicking off in South Africa this weekend but our TV will tuned to live coverage of the greatest racing spectacle on earth – the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I had the honor of attending in 2008 courtesy of our friends at Audi and it was the trip of a lifetime. Definitely something for the bucket list. You can check out my live blogging from that year here. To get you in the mood for this year’s race Audi put together a quick teaser and it certainly has the petrol in my blood running. And if you want to watch the race over the interwebs from Audi’s perspective tune into Audi.tv this weekend.
Actually no tricks here. This Lexus LFA ad remixes early Lexus ads featuring a Champagne flute on the hood of an LS400 to demo its smooth running. No CGI here apparently. Have to say the exhaust note on the LFA is the best thing this side of an F1 car.
It may not look like it, but the 2011 Ford Fiesta is a big car for Ford. The Fiesta will lead the charge to America for Ford’s plan to finally bring its cool Euro cars across the pond with minimal market specific fiddling. Not a novel idea—it seems to have worked well for Volkswagen, BMW, Audi et al for a few years, but in the past the changes made to various Ford models for the US market have generally screwed up some perfectly good cars. Not so for this Fiesta, which is a good thing, as it is already Europe’s number one selling compact car and with good reason.
