BR Racing is building a 2010 Camaro drift machine (above) for Conrad Grunewald to race. As many of you know, the SS comes to the dance packing 426 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. But for Formula D, that's not nearly enough. BR Racing is therefor stuffing in a tuned LSA mill (same as a Cadillac CTS-V) but turning the pressure (meaning boost) up. How up? More than 600 horsepower at the wheels, which probably means right around 700 crank hp. Sounds like an adequate amount that should have no trouble turning the Hankook Ventus R-S3 tires into molten clouds of stinky smoke.

Source: Motormavens

Manhart Racing has unveiled their latest creation called the BMW M3 E92 5.0 V10 SMG – otherwise known as “Porsche Chaser.” Manhart swapped the 420-hp V8 from the M3 and tossed in BMW’s V10 from the M5 and M6.

However, Manhart did not stop there. After a bunch of modifications by Manhart’s engineering team, the tuner pumped out a total of 550-hp from the 5.0L V10, which is now mated to a 7-speed SMG gearbox. With all the modifications complete, the Manhart BMW M3 E92 5.0 V10 SMG goes from 0 to 62 mph in a whopping 3.9 seconds with an eye-popping top speed of 208 mph.

The best part? Manhart didn’t go wild with visual modifications. The most noticeable change are the 20-inch BBS challenge-R-wheels. More photos and press release at the source!

Source: eGMCarTech

At least, with the FOTA's announcement it will create a rival championship, it appears that F1 as we have known it is all but broken. Max Mosley and the FIA have gone back and forth with the FOTA for months, with neither side able to agree on a compromise and both sides claiming the other party is being intransigent.

After meeting at Renault's Enstone, England headquarters the eight "rebel" teams (Ferrari, McLaren, Toyota, Renault, BMW, Brawn, Red Bull, Toro Rosso) decided there was no way to proceed with the FIA, so it would proceed without the FIA. The crucial bits of their follow-up press release state:



The release goes on to address issues the FOTA has with the "commercial rights holder," by which they mean Bernie Ecclestone. If they mean what they've written, a more stable and less expensive F1 would be a victory for teams and fans. Track owners would probably also profit, since they pay Ecclestone more than ten million pounds simply for the right to hold an F1 race -- and that's part of the money the teams want a bigger share of.

Many observers have said the teams won't set up another championship because they're too focused on selling cars. But the FOTA has already spoken to Carmelo Ezpeleta, whose Dorna Sports company is in charge of Moto GP, and who has experience in taking control of the series from the FIM. If he can provide a turn-key solution, the teams can stick to doing what they do best.

We suspect the FOTA is correct and that brands, sponsors and promoters will follow the breakaway series rather than hang back with Williams, Force India and eight other teams in the F1 reset series. The question is: if those eight teams follow through, and assuming they take their contracted drivers, which series will get your attention next year?


Source: Autoblog

Yea I know - this isn't "new". Back maybe a month ago GM put out a release for a "CSC" 2009 Corvette. It amounted to some stripes, stickers, and a few grabs from the parts bin. Maybe not a bad idea, unfortunately the RPO will only go on base model (1LT/1LZ) vettes and your color choices are restricted. Just recently GM released a photochop of the package. It doesn't look too bad and I do like how they integrated the jake skull in with the car. The dark colored headlights add a nice touch too - just like Mario Andretti's silver ZR1 (#500) was done with black headlights.

I can see why they did this. Give the affordable vette a competitive spin. The whole 'bad boy vette' campaign was geared towards injecting younger energy into Corvette Racing. Demographically the younger crowd can't swing the big dollar cars like the ZR1.

Hit the jump for GM's description of the package.


2009 Competition Sport Corvette (RPO CSC)
Chevrolet introduces a new Corvette package available for a limited time!
The Competition Sport package is for the Corvette purist and driving enthusiast- Perfect Corvette for the enthusiast who attends driving schools and track events
- Focus on lightweight and performance driving
- Serious track influenced design features- Excellent value pricing - Limited build scheduled for Spring '09 only
Included in the package:
- Competition Gray Exterior Stripes, Wheels, and Headlamps
- Corvette Racing ‗Jake‘ and CSR logos on b-pillar, headrest, and center armrest
- Ebony Interior with titanium embroidery
- Corvette Racing Pedals from GCA
- Special engine cover
- Racing style numbers with number based on build sequence to be installed by customer
Available in either Coupe 1LT with 436 hp or Z06 1LZ with 505 hp versions
- Z06 version available in 17U Blade Silver or 41U Black
- Coupe version available in 17U Blade Silver or 10U Arctic White
- Coupe version also includes in package:
- Z51 Performance Package, NPP Performance Exhaust, Differential Cooler
- Head Up Display
- Red Painted Brake Calipers
- Z06 tall spoiler

The fiery car crash that killed Kandice Hutchison from "A Double Shot at Love" allegedly was caused by street racing -- and Kandice was one of two cars involved in the deadly race.

According to an official accident report, Kandice's Nissan 350Z sport coupe and a Mazda 6 were racing down the Airport Freeway in Euless, Texas when they sped past a Mustang.

The two cars passed the Mustang on either side -- Kandice on the right and the Mazda on the left -- but once they passed it, Kandice lost control, veered into the Mazda and then crashed into a concrete median. Kandice, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from her car and pronounced dead at the scene. The DA is now considering filing street racing charges, according to the Star-Telegram.

Source: TMZ

Not what you were expecting? Me neither, but it's damn funny!

A pair of brand new pre-delivery GT-Rs were spotted doing some rips down the track at the Great Lakes Dragway in Union Grove, WI, USA on the weekend. These cars were still completely covered in interior plastics and are said to have arrived to the drag strip wearing dealer tags. Someone might be in trouble!

Be careful if you’re buying one of these in Southeastern WI or Northern Illinois/Chicago areas. You will want to verify the delivery mileage as well as general tire condition and so forth. It is being reported that they are from the Milwaukee area. Oh, and a source reported that those guys were at import wars this past weekend. One was running 12.3's and the other guy 12.6's.

Source: GTR Blog

Not much to report, but instead here is a small gallery shot by a member on LS1GTO of a few cars that gather near Seoul to street race. These aren't your budget ricers, although I'm sure there are some not pictured. And just for fun, I chose the one I'd like to drive least. Enjoy!

Source: LS1GTO Forums

Street racing has never been done right. Failed attempt after failed attempt, no one seems to quite get the underground scene where stakes are high and adrenaline is pumping. How does Hollywood portray it? Well look at at any Fast and the Furious movie and you'll see how short they fall in replicating it in film. Videogames have been the same way. All of them end up being arcade racers good for a few laps and no storyline to hold your interest.

"Racing Equity" (working title?), a "next-gen" racing game that's *groan* "focused around a rebellious counter culture scene". Details beyond that are a little vague, but the game seems to be built upon the notion that "spontaenously and without warning, people turn up en masse and transform city centers into impromptu tracks. Roads get blocked off and the race takes place". How hard will this fail? Who knows, my guess is pretty hard but I'm a big pessimistic about things like this.

Source: Kotaku

The United States isn't the only country who likes to go balls-to-the-wall fast down the 1320. Middle-eastern countries like Kuwait do, too. A FOX news reporter and a local fixer, Mishaal al-Sala, talk about the drag racing craze that also exists over in Kuwait. Hit the jump for a long read about the cars they fly over there and race. I'll tell you this much - they are just as serious as us when it comes to getting down the quarter mile as fast as possible. And that even includes doing it in Mustangs, Trans Ams, and Impalas.

Operation Desert Drag Strip
By Gary Gastelu

Five years ago today, I was doing the sort of thing a car guy likes to do, spending an evening at a racetrack with one of my pals. Only things were a little different than usual. The buddy I was with was named Mishaal al-Salal, and the track was in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert.

At the time, I was working for the television side of FOX News, overseeing the temporary bureau we had set up in Kuwait City to coordinate our coverage of the U.S.-led assault against Saddam Hussein's regime. By May 1, things had started to quiet down, and I'd sent most of our operation home or north to Baghdad, leaving me to turn out the lights.

Mishaal was one of the local fixers working for FOX who helped us navigate the ins and outs of Kuwaiti society. He'd already taken a few of us to one of the camel races the locals enjoy so much, but he knew I liked cars, so he found out where the Kuwaiti racers hung out and suggested that we check it out.

"Kuwaitis like speed," yelled a smiling Abdul al-Shaty as he stuffed his well-fed frame into a 1991 Mustang fitted with a 347 short-block for a quick 6-second run down the 1/8th mile Sheik Salim al-Sabah drag strip, where Kuwaiti Kenny Bernsteins go to race everything from street-legal '60s Chevys to trailered-in Datsun rods.

It was Thursday night — the beginning of the weekend in much of the Islamic world — and a couple of hundred people filled the stands on that balmy May evening to watch about three dozen drivers wring out their cars after a long winter in the garage.

"The season usually runs from October to March, but with the situation at the border, we had to cancel it this year," he said as he took a final look at a '76 Celica GT with a Mopar 440 under the hood that he claimed would run 5.5 on a good day. "We'll just be testing for the next four weeks to get ready for the fall, after that there's too much sand and heat. Gotta put them away until October."

Perry was one of the best drivers of the bunch, and the other guys looked on in envy as he hopped into a heavily modified '98 Trans Am the sheik had just imported from Bahrain — the mecca of drag racing in the Gulf region. It had a 565 Chevy V-8 with nitrous under the hood, and Perry expected it to run a 4.7, no problem.

On the passenger-side window next to his name Perry's blood type was listed — O+ — just like soldiers heading into combat write on their boots. In a country where you're just as likely to get worked on by a military-trained medic if something goes wrong, it's a smart regulation all of the drivers followed.

One spin around Kuwait City and it's no surprise to find such an American institution thriving halfway around the world. Open space and boatloads of oil wealth led to the construction of a series of big, wide, interstate-style highways that stretch far into the desert.

Sport utility vehicles and full-size American sedans are the cars of choice, and if you ever wondered where all of those '94 to '96 Impala SSs ended up, just look in your rearview mirror, there's probably one about to blow by you. Add to that all of the exotic European metal cruising down the glitzy Arabian Gulf Street, and you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in Southern California or Miami.

Unfortunately, Kuwaitis are also known for being some of the worst drivers in the world — in country where alcohol is banned, no less — and the roadsides are strewn with almost as much wreckage as was left here after the 1991 Gulf War. It's the policy of Kuwaiti police to leave what's left of accidents on the medians for a few days, a "scared-straight" program that doesn't seem to be working. Better to take it to the track.

While Perry was the man to beat, Abdullah al-Mullah was clearly the fan favorite and on this night was surrounded by a crowd of onlookers while about a dozen of his friends helped prep his 1970s vintage Camaro for a run. With a supercharged 538 under the hood, it was the only blown engine in town and ran in the Super Pro class with Perry, laying down runs in high the 4s.

Cars are categorized into five classes based on engine size and elapsed times (ETs), the fastest doing the 1/8th mile run in 4.5.

"She's running good," Abdullah told me afterwards. "A little loose out of the blocks, but we'll fix that."

No way to know exactly how good, though, as the Christmas tree and timing equipment were turned off for this tuning day, just so the guys didn't get the wrong idea. They'd have to wait until the fall to go head-to-head.

"The racing started east of here, at a facility closer to the sea back in the 70s," remembered a driver named Sa'ad, as he gave his '67 Nova 421 a post-run once-over. Just like in the States, development closed that track, moving the cars here, to the outskirts of town.

And it's set to happen again, with plans for a new track further out in the desert. If it ever happens, the drivers look to come out on top, with a state-of-the-art 1/4 mile track under consideration, like the in Bahrain.

I asked Sa'ad if he saw a Gulf Nationals event in the future. "Anshallah," he answers. Arabic for "God willing."

Until then, they race for the Martyr's Cup, the track's championship trophy. With local sponsorship from the likes of McDonald's and Burger King — yep, they love junk food there, too — and a couple of bucks the sheik threw into the pot, class prizes were paying up to $6,000 in 2003. But that's pocket change for most people in the country; the real challenge is getting their hands on parts for all of the American iron on display.

Al-Mullah, who worked as a oil-industry wholesaler, told me the sheik would help all the drivers out, making sure they had a fresh supply of tires and Sunoco racing fuel from the U.S. If there were any customs issues with parts, he'd smooth it out. He really liked to watch them race.

Clearly, so do the locals. From a distance, the place could be any local strip in the U.S. It's only when you get into the stands, where half the fans are decked out in the traditional white dishdasha many Kuwaitis wear, that you realize you're in a different world.

But not so different, I thought, as the crowd came to its feet in appreciation of a particularly smoky burnout courtesy of al-Shaty's silver Mustang. They'd be back in the thousands when racing resumed in the fall.

I like to think that some of the American servicemen and women stationed just a few miles north had the chance to join them, to get a little taste of home. They may have been too busy.

Source: FOX News

After a horrible crash lead to the demise of their previous Mustang build, Finish Line Performance decided its time to go newer, bigger, and better. Feast your eyes on their latest project. It hopes to click off some 6 second passes this weekend. Read more about the build in the upcoming issue of Force Fed Magazine!

Hey, you, Dom Toretto. Stay clear of racing your sick whips in Malaysia. Or meet the cane.

Get busted the first time and get a 5,000 ringgit (US$1,597) fine and up to five years in jail. Add a three-year suspension to that as well. A second time gets fierce. Like ten years minimum in jail, three strokes of a cane, and a 10,000 ringgit (US$3,178) fine.

Kind of makes California's punishment of crushing your car more forgiving.

Almost a year after it was originally revealed, Nissan has finally put a price tag on the 2008 Fairlady Z 380RS-Competition. But let's not trifle with the cost of ownership yet. As its name implies, the 380RS is a tried-and-true racecar, with a stroked version of the VQ35HR V6. The 3.8-liter mill is producing 350 hp and 321 lb.-ft. of torque, which it sends to a Nismo Super Coppermix clutch and on through to a close-ratio, six-speed gearbox and mechanical LSD. The body meets Super Taikyu regulations, in which it was designed to compete, and comes equipped with new aerodynamic enhancements, a roll cage, six-pot Brembos and the required catalytic converter. Inside, it's all business, with carbon fiber door panels, a Recaro throne, six-point harness and a fire extinguisher. With that out of the way, the price is a cool 28,350,000 yen, or just over $285k USD. Well-funded, privateer teams need only apply.

Source: AutoBlog

Updated:
Back in January we brought you word of Aston Martin’s entry into the GT2 field in the form of a Vantage race car, but at the time Aston had not yet released anything but a drawing. Now we have real, live in-the-flesh photos of the bio-fueled racer for you to enjoy.


Original:
Although all we have so far is a drawing, the new Vantage GT2 racer looks every inch an Aston Martin. And it will be a first for Aston Martin in several technical respects, especially when it comes to the fuel it burns. The new race car is being targeted at the American LeMans series among others, thanks in part to that series use of bio-ethanol.

The new GT2 completes Aston Martin’s collection of race cars, giving the maker an entrant in every GT racing category: in GT1, the DBR9; in GT2, the Vantage GT2; in GT3, the DBRS9; and in GT4, the Vantage N24. But by also adding the ability to run on normal race fuel or bio-ethanol, the Vantage GT2 also adds a new, greener aspect to Aston’s racing portfolio.

The bio-ethanol fueled GT2 owes its capability in part to Aston’s experience with the DBRS9, two examples of which Aston successfully converted to run on E85 during the 2007 season. The GT2, however, will be the first racing car designed from th ground up by Aston Martin to be in essence a flex-fuel racer.

Source: MotorAuthority