Automotive Blogger

I apologize if I’m on a video kick this week, but it just so happens that a lot of cool clips have popped up on my radar screen. Today it was a clip from the show “World’s Scariest Police Chases” hosted by the ever so bronze sheriff John Bunnell. Back in my college days at UC Santa Cruz, Worlds Scariest Police Chases was one of my favorite shows on TV. It was the perfect combination of high speed driving, stupid antics, amazing crashes, and John Bunnell’s awful commentary: “This guy thinks he’ll get away by taking the off ramp, but he’s really taking the off ramp to jail!”


“This crazed madman used a cell phone while trying to escape the LAPD, but the only phone he’ll be using from now on is the one at the state pen.” -John Bunnell

There were a few episodes that stuck out in my head where people either escaped successfully from the cops, or made them look a bit foolish. One episode involved an old Toyota truck that simply used the delayed exit of the freeway technique, and got away Scot free. Another episode had a bunch of kids driving in a Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe and it was handily outrunning the normal police cruisers so they had to call in the 5.0 Mustang Police car to catch them. But perhaps my all time favorite episode involves a 15 year old boy who stole an E30 M3 and leads the cops on a wild chase. He actually proves to be a pretty good driver despite his age avoiding spike strips and weaving through traffic without losing control of the car. There is an LT1 Camaro in hot pursuit of the little BMW and it eventually pulls along side him and then, well I’ll let you watch it:

I don’t condone speeding or running from the cops, as it endangers the life of everyone else on the road, but I have to admit that I love the shoulder fake that he gave the cop, and the fact that it worked really makes chuckle. I know I know, this could have been serious, but with John Bunnell’s voice in the background how can you not laugh.

-Bill Mertz

World’s Scariest Police Chases, cops, CHP, sheriff, John Bunnell, state trooper, highway patrol, crashes, chases, street racing

I love rally videos. I could watch them for hours on end. I think this is partially because the cars look more like street cars than vehicles from other racing series and partially because they are racing on public roads. But the biggest allure for me is the incredible car control that professional rally driver’s are able to display. I can vividly remember the first time I saw Colin McRae negotiate an uphill hairpin turn in his Subaru Impreza, quite an amazing feat.

This weekend a friend of mine sent me a great rally video featuring one of the coolest sport sedans in recent history, the E30 M3. Even if you don’t like BMW’s you have to admit the E30 is an awesome ride. The rear drive sedan has powerful naturally aspirated (in stock spec) four cylinder engine, aggressive but not overdone fender flares, and unlike the modern M3 is still small enough to be easily tossed about on a rally course. I really enjoyed this clip of Patrick Snijers hammering away in the BMW and hope you guys like it as well.

Stay tuned for some group B rally action later this week.

-Bill Mertz

WRC, rally World Rally, Colin McRae, Patrick Snijers, M3, E30, BMW, pro rally, ralley, racing, motorsport

One of the coolest things about Formula One is that the race cars are about the most advanced road going machines around. The amount of money that gets poured into the development and engineering of these stunning vehicles is phenomenal, and hardly a week passes without some sort of tweak or change being implemented to the cars. It is almost as if they were alive, growing and adapting to their ever competitive peers. However it is rare that you get a chance to see old F1 cars side by side with the modern stuff.

I recently stumbled across another Blog that featured a great gallery of F1 race cars that gives a real evolutionary perspective on the sport. Seeing how the cars changed shapes and how the aerodynamics shifted from year to year is not unlike looking at the time line that starts with an ape walking on all fours and ends with a sophisticated human.

The gallery isn’t totally up to date but covers a large span of F1 history, running from 1950-2003, and showing all the different teams and their distinctive liveries. This is worth a look if you’re an F1 fan.
Gallery:

-Bill Mertz

F1, Formula One, picture, gallery, motorsports, history, racing, grand prix, Lotus, Elf, Tyrell, Ferrari

Yesterday, I wrote about the new Superleague Formula racing series that is on the table, combining the sports of soccer and open wheel racing. I stuck in a teaser photo with a group of compact cars playing a game of car soccer. After doing some internet research (Google) I found that this photo was from a Top Gear episode. Of course, I should have guessed.

As I mentioned in the previous post I think the idea of actual cars playing football is a brilliant idea. A scaled up soccer ball and group of scaled down cars makes for a great picture. But what is really cool is that the match was actually exciting and there was a good amount of scoring (something that real soccer often lacks). Also unlike soccer no one went down to the ground grabbing there leg in seemingly incredible pain only to be seen sprinting around the field at full strength seconds later.

The first clip is all Toyota Aygo’s, the second is Aygo vs. VW Fox. Both are entertaining.

Pretty great videos. I think they should start a crappy car soccer league here in the states. There are plenty of Geo Metros and Ford Aspires just waiting to take the field.

-Bill Mertz

Top Gear, Toyota Aygo, Volkswagen, Fox, car soccer, car football, football, soccer, compact car, sub-compact

When I first read the press release headline about Superleague Formula, I was under the impression that someone was trying to create a hybrid sport that combined soccer (football for everyone outside the states) and open-wheel auto racing. Here’s the headline, “Two Great Sports, One Thrilling Championship, Today heralds the launch of a major new initiative that brings together two of the world’s most popular sports: football and motor racing.”
Even though that sounds like a pretty ridiculous idea, and by ridiculous I mean awesome, the headline was misleading. The proposed Superleague Formula will in fact be another open-wheel racing league where the teams cars are done up in paint schemes of famous football clubs from around the world, and presumably they will have a direct affiliation with that club.

While this isn’t as exciting as open-wheel polo, it is still an interesting idea. I’m all for new racing leagues and venues, and this new series actually sounds pretty decent. This is partially due to the V12 engines which will be powering the series. There’s not much that can compare to the howl of a race prepped V12, and with Formula One dropping to V10s then V8s, CART relying on turbocharged V8s and IRL using a naturally aspirated V8 as well, the sound of open wheel racing just hasn’t been the same.

The single-seater formula series has already got the nod from many of the leading football teams including AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, FC Porto and Olympiacos, and are in negotiations with Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Valencia (Spain); Inter Milan (Italy), Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille (France); Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04 (Germany); Basel (Switzerland); Galatasaray (Turkey); Anderlecht (Belgium), Goteborg (Sweden) Moscow Lokomotiv (Russia); Boca Juniors (Argentina); Flamengo (Brazil); Club America (Mexico); Shanghai Shenua (China) and Samsung Bluewings (Korea) to fill the grid. The goal is to have a field of 20 cars for the first race which is tentatively scheduled for August 2008.

Proposed AC Milan car

Alex Andreu, the Spaniard who is heading up this campaign has high hopes for the series, “Extensive research shows that our concept will be embraced by fans of both football and motorsport. We conducted focus group research sessions with season ticket holders at 10 of the top clubs throughout Europe”.

“We have developed a strong investment package which has attracted investors from throughout the world. Our revenues will be shared equally between the football clubs, the teams and a strong ROI for our investors.”

The cars themselves are single-seater open-wheel chassis’s constructed by Elan Motorsport Technologies in the US. As mentioned above they sport acoustically magnificent 750bhp 4.2-litre V12 engines designed from Menard Competition Technologies and the cars will be heavily regulated to provide an equal playing field with emphasis on driver skill and pit strategy. The prize for each round will be over a million euros making it a worthwhile effort if you reach the top of the podium.

A1 Grand Prix, Czech Team Car

I hope that this series gets going and has a successful season, but I’m a bit skeptical about the whole idea. A few years back a very similar open-wheel series was born called the A1 Grand Prix. Billed as the World Cup of motor racing, this series sported cool looking spec open-wheeled cars with country-specific teams and drivers. It was a great idea to pit countries directly against one another in a motorsports setting, and the addition of many former driving greats running in this series added to its promise. I even watched a couple races and the action was great. But after two full seasons the future of the A1 GP is up in the air. It seems likely that the same might happen for Superleague Formula. Of course if they get the right TV deal, the right sponsors and fun to watch competitive racing it could be a huge success.

-Bill Mertz

F1, Formula One, A1 Grand Prix, Superleague Formula, Soccer, Football, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Spain, open wheel, racing, grand prix, CART, IRL, Indy, V12, V10, V8

The new four-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited has just wheeled its way into the Guinness Book of World Records by conquering the tallest Volcano in the world, Ojos del Salado in Chile. After reaching the top of the volcano the two Wrangler Unlimiteds became the first four-wheeled vehicles to reach 21,804 feet above sea level, the altitude at the top of Ojos del Salado. The immense volcano is not only tall but it is also littered with difficult obstacles such as glacial ice fields and volcanic sand, combined with the thin air at the top it makes for less than ideal conditions for a motorized vehicle, however the two Jeep team was up for the challenge.

The expedition was lead by a German based team from Extreme Events. Taking roughly five exhausting days to complete the trip, Mattias Jeschk (team leader) and the rest of his crew guided the Wranglers from base camp up to the top of the second highest peak in the Western Hemisphere. Along the way they faced hurricane-strength winds, sub-zero temperatures (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit), thin air, malicious glaciers, fissured rock cliffs and volcanic sand. The most difficult part of the journey was the last stretch of the climb where both Wranglers had to cross a glacier, slick enough to require cramp-ons for foot travel. At the end was a fissured ice area strewn with razor sharp snow penitents. Both Wranglers were almost completely stock Rubicon models except for the addition of Goodyear MT/R tires, a pair of winches, and special altitude measuring instruments, making the trip all the more impressive.


Goodyear tires at work

Senior Vice President of Global Marketing for Chrysler, George Murphy had nothing but praise for the trip, “This was exactly the challenge to separate the new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited from all other 4×4 vehicles. A climb like this in not just off-road, but extreme conditions, is a testament to the performance of the vehicle’s power train, suspension and overall quality. We are very proud that Wrangler Unlimited was the first vehicle to be able to complete such a rigorous challenge, and believe that it really does set the vehicle apart from its competition”.

As a Jeep owner I’m proud to see another Jeep make this great achievement, especially one that shares some lineage with my old CJ7. But I have to admit, the hiker/backpacker in me is a little sad to see motorized vehicles climbing mountains instead of people on foot, and the idea that Jeep has now dubs this great volcano “the highest parking lot in the world” says a lot about the direction our society is going in. But I guess those are the conflicts that someone who likes Jeeps and likes to hike has to deal with. By the way; the old record was held by a VW Touareg at 19,950 feet.

Jeeps reach the previous record altitude

Good job Jeep! I think.

-Bill Mertz

Jeep, Wrangler, Unlimited, 4×4, off road, volcano, Chile, Ojos del Salado, Guinness World Record, CJ7, winch, Goodyear, hike, backpack, German, Extreme Events

Look for his other books on the rack

I have a growing addiction to adventure motorcycle riding, the sport/pass time of taking your motorcycle on a long journey where the roads turn rough and the large populations of urban area give way to the more desolate and scenic back drops of remote parts of the world. My fascination began when I watched the series The Long Way Round, in which Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor ride their BMW GS bikes around the world. After doing some research I found that one of the inspirations for this journey was a book called Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon (who also makes a cameo in the documentary).

So after I finished with the series I quickly picked up Simon’s book and read it cover to cover. The differences between the two trips were so immense that they are almost incomparable. Simon traveled around the world for nearly four years and covered all the major Continents. What is even more impressive is that he did it in the mid-1970s amidst much political upheaval all over the world riding a less than reliable (by modern standards)Triumph Tiger named Jupiter. The 500cc bike does prove to be pretty durable given the excruciating tasks it’s put through, but as Simon quickly finds out his four year adventure over deserts, mountains and oceans takes its toll on the machine. Several times he has to rebuild the motor on the side of the road or have parts sent in to completely overhaul the bike. Electrical gremlins rear their head and he seems to be constantly battling the problem of how to store his gear properly. With a heavily loaded motorbike Simon also finds out that control, particularly on rough roads isn’t easy, and after several spills he also figures out that he has to completely unpack his bike in order to upright it. Add to that the fact that he has constant trouble with border crossings, theft, weather and the local police and it makes for a pretty entertaining story.


Nearly 30 years later Simon is still riding motorcycles all over the world.

Simon, a British journalist, was able to capture his adventure quite compellingly. Although arrogant and out of touch at times he was able to justify his emotions and actions nicely and give the impression that indeed this was a real adventure not some made up piece of fiction. Seeing him deal with culture shock, and give in to the temptation to stay in nice hotels instead of rough it, where things that upset me at first. But as I thought back on the time I spent traveling I realized that if I had enough money I would have opted for luxury as well. While the tales of the bike braking down, and the countries he passes through are interesting, I felt the best part of the book was how he delved into his own psyche looking for the reasons and struggling to deal with his emotions. He does an excellent job of explaining that while the 4 year trip was difficult, it was even more difficult to end the trip and try to reacclimatize to normal life.


Simon’s Triumph was not unlike this one, just a lot more worn and dirty.

I recommend this book to any future travelers or people who need some extra motivation to go see the world. It is an excellent read.

-Bill Mertz

Ted Simon, Ewan McGregor, Jupiter’s Travels, motorcycle, adventure, Triumph, British, 1970s, bike