Automotive Blogger

After winning the Baja 1000 Robby Gordon had high hopes for his third run at the infamous Dakar Rally. This year Gordon is driving a fully customized H3 Hummer desert race truck with all the bells and whistles. While a little on the big side for some of the tighter sections the hope was that the big hummer would dominate in the open desert and dunes with its powerful engine and massive amounts of suspension travel.

Starting out in Lisbon, Gordon hung tight for the first stage staying close to the front of the pack through the tight sandy course. While not stellar, his performance was strong enough to put him with in striking distance of the leaders during the higher speed stages, however the next day the team suffered a speeding penalty and an off course excursion which set them back into 46th place for the day and 18th in the overall standings. The next day Team Dakar USA and the Monster Energy Toyo Tire Hummer (sound like NASCAR?) made up some ground on the faster 3rd stage only to have their fortunes turn with a fuel problem in stage four.

It turned out this fuel problem had nothing to do with the vehicle itself but was simply tainted gas. However, after limping the Hummer through much of the stage due to low horsepower from the bad gas, and lot of diagnosing time, the team fell way off the pace. The poor performance in stage 4 meant that Gordon had to start from the 77th position. Unfazed by his bad luck Gordon had a brilliant drive and brought the Hummer in with a 15th place finish good enough to bump the team up to 36th in the overall classification.

Gordon during the 5th stage

As is often the case in the Dakar rally things come in waves, both good and bad, and Gordon’s good fortune continued for stage 6. After a night of wind and rain, the dust subsided the next day and conditions proved to be perfect for the H3 Hummer. Robby Gordon went on to capture the stage win becoming the first American Team to do so in this year’s event. The victory gave the team a large boost in morale and bumped them up to 19th in the overall standings. Over the next few stages the team had a mixed luck, but most of it was good. With some great driving and good strategy for the longer marathon stage, the team broke into the top 10 of the standings. After 9 grueling stages Team Dakar USA is now in 8th position overall. Gordon himself remains very upbeat as there is still a great deal of racing left. When speaking of the 10th stage Gordon said “Tomorrow we are going to try to win the special. I think the special is especially well suited to the Hummer so the 10th stage might be Hummer time.â€?

U S A! U S A! U S A!

I should also mention that US driver Mark Miller, who is driving a diesel Volkswagen Toureg, is currently 6th in the overall standings. This means there are two very legitimate contenders to become the first American ever to capture a victory in the Dakar Rally, and one of them is an entirely American team, car and driver. I’m actually not a big Robby Gordon fan and I really don’t like Hummers, but I would love to see one of these teams snag a victory for the US, so go get ‘em boys.

For more coverage of the event go to www.dakar.com or watch the Versus Network.

-Bill Mertz

Dakar, Robby Gordon, desert racing, Hummer, H3, USA, Rally

I was reading one of my favorite auto blogs today, Jalopnik, when I came across a headline that really peaked my interest. It said “Verdict Reached Re: Mickey Thompson Murders, Appeal Imminent”. I assumed this was in reference to off-road racing and general automotive legend Mickey Thompson, and I was shocked because I had no idea that he was murdered. After reading the rest of the post and the newspaper article that it was linked to I found that the Mickey Thompson murder was a true and that it was a very twisted case.

The dual murder of Thompson and his wife happened on the morning of March 16, 1988. Two men rode bicycles into Thompson’s home and shot Thompson and his wife, then fled into a thickly wooded area making it difficult for any potential pursuers to follow. According to reports one neighbor who had heard screams and shots fired back at the gunmen but they were too far out of range. The two men were never seen again and the case closed without being solved.

Thompson poses by his buggy after winning the Baja 1000
With some political pressure the case was later reopened, and a former associate of Thompson’s named Michael Goodwin became the number one suspect. Goodwin and Thompson had been involved in a failed business together. After the endeavor Michael Goodwin lost a $700,000 law suit to Thompson; this stands as the motive for the murder.

Michael Goodwin has now been convicted by jury for ordering the hit on Mickey Thompson and his wife. An appeal on this decision is expected but it is unknown at this time whether one will be granted.

You can read the associated press article here: http://www.contracostatimes.com

-Bill Mertz

Mickey Thompson, off road racing, race car driver, murder Michael Goodwin

Pastrana behind the wheel of the Citroen WRC car

This year Paris was home to the 19th annual running of the Race Of Champions (ROC). This is a unique event in motor sports that brings some of the top drivers in auto racing together to compete for fun in front of a massive crowd. Drivers come from all walks of life including NASCAR, F1, IRL, Champ Car and World Rally. The course is a short road course set up inside a soccer stadium and is run in different configurations. Throughout this years event five different types of vehicles were raced in; Aston Martin V8 Rally GTs, Porsche 911s, Citroen Xsara WRC cars, Renault Megane trophy cars, and low powered 4 cylinder buggies.

In years past the ROC has welcomed talents such as Michael Schumacher and Jeff Gordon. While neither of the two showed this year the event wasn’t short on big names. But the star of the show was a young American motocross rider turned rally driver named Travis Pastrana. I first heard of Travis Pastrana when watching the new rally section of the X games in LA, he was facing off against rally legend Colin McRae and won the new event after McRae rolled his car. At the ROC he really put on a show and proved that he will be a driver to watch in the future. In the individual competition Pastrana made it all the way to the semi-finals taking out some tough competition before Sebastien Loeb proved to be too much for the budding star. In the Nations Cup team competition Travis was completely by himself (his other team mates were unable to make). Despite being a one man team Pastrana was able to drive masterfully and brought his team, which was just him, all the way into the second spot.


Pastrana sits next to one of his biggest fans, Colin McRae

Pastrana’s driving talents are tremendous, but what makes him even more special is that he is an accomplished motocross rider and does tricks on his bike with the best of him. Congratulations go out to Travis for making our country look good on the international motor sports stage.

-Bill Mertz

race of champions, ROC, Travis Pastrana, Colin McRae, Sebastien Loeb, F1, WRC, World Rally, racing, motor sports

Squires Turbo Systems (STS) is up and coming after market company that specializes in remote mounted turbo systems. Conventional turbo chargers mount under the hood and can prove to be very difficult to package especially in modern cars where engine compartments can be extremely cramped. STS came up with the idea of moving the turbo charger further back in the exhaust system giving more space and lower temperatures in the engine compartment and better cooling for the turbo.

The art of drifting

Eager to show off their wears, STS has sponsored a C5 Corvette for the Formula Drift series. What better motor sport to show the abilities of your turbo charger than one that is all about getting sideways, way sideways, and staying out there as long as you can; in a nut shell that is what Formula Drift and drifting in general is all about. Sporting a Z06 motor with an STS remote mounted turbo, this Vette can certainly spin the rears. The car was just up at Sears Point doing a photo shoot for Corvette Magazine when this video was shot. Enjoy:

-Bill Mertz

STS, Turbo, C5, Corvette, Z06, Formula Drift, drift

Too much time and money often leads to wonderful creations like this street legal Indy car up for sale on Ebay. As a California resident I immediately realized that you would have a better chance convincing people that Michael Richards wasn’t a racist than you would of getting a real Indy car (read full open wheel race car) registered in the state of CA. So it wasn’t a big surprise to find out that this race car/street currently lives in the State of Florida. For those who don’t know car regulations are to Florida what marijuana is to Amsterdam, pretty much everything is legal and even the stuff that isn’t is enforced pretty leniently.

Apparently all you need to make an Indy car road legal in Florida is indicators, headlights and brake lights. I’m also fairly certain the original race motor is no more, and the small block Chevy currently residing in the vehicle comes from a more street oriented pedigree. Needless to say this featherweight performance vehicle is still capable of race car feats including a 2.5 second 0-60 time.

Here is the official eBay vehicle description:
“1999 Dallara Ex-Eddie Cheever Indy Race car. This was Eddie Cheevers back up car for the 2000 Indy 500. It still has the Spec stickers on the car. It is now Street legal here in Florida! It has indicators, Headlights and brake lights. This car stops traffic! Literately! It’s powered by a Chevy Smallblock and its Fast! Weighing just over a thousand pounds it has more than enough power. This car has a title and I had no problem getting it insured. Please don’t bid unless you are willing to buy the car. This car was also titled in Indiana, but I am not sure what the rules are in other states. So I am not promising that its street legal in any other state. Sorry no Trades. And I will not reveal the reserve! The transmission is a 5 speed Emco “H” Pattern. The car has an on board starter.0-60 in 2.5 sec See Video Below!”

Here is a link to the Ebay listing:
www.ebay.com

And of course the video; got to love the cheesy rock sound track:

The bidding is up to $32,000 and the reserve has not been met. What would you pay for a street legal Indy Car?

-Bill Mertz

ebay, Indy car, race car, street legal, for sale

Robby Gordon leaving Ensenada.
Early Friday morning in Baja Mexico Robby Gordon’s team crossed the finish line in first place making it his 3rd Baja 1000 victory. Gordon drove the first 725 miles of the race in the Red Bull/Toyo Tires sponsored Chevy CK1500 pickup truck before handing the reigns over to co-driver Andy McMillan who brought the truck across the finish line. The team finished the grueling event in 19 hours 15 minutes and 27 seconds. Gordon was forced to leave Mexico a little early in order to get in some practice that same day for NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Championship final in Florida on Sunday.

Gordon takes flight in his H3 during testing for Dakar.
The outspoken and multi-tasking Robby Gordon is also scheduled to run the Paris to Dakar race with his Baja 1000 navigator Andy Grider in January. Gordon did not enjoy much success in the monstrously difficult Dakar event last year, but is hoping to put together a good showing with his Toyo Tire shod H3 Hummer in the upcoming race; possibly becoming the first ever American effort to capture the overall title in the Dakar Rally.

-Bill Mertz

Baja 1000, Dakar, NASCAR, Robby Gordon, off road, racing

A good friend of mine tipped me off to a movie that has all the makings of an amazing documentary. The movie is called 32 Hours 7 Minutes. Now what sort of automotive feet could be achieved in that amount of time? How about driving across the Country. This Gravid Films production documents the 1983 running of the US Express race. A continuation of the Cannonball run, the US Express was a nonstop race from New York to Los Angeles on open public roads. In the 1983 running of the event the 32 hour 7 minute record was established as the fastest crossing of the continent by car. In this no rules competition drivers were fighting not only to be the fastest across the Country but also to avoid being caught by the law.

Although the film has not been released as of yet, there are hopes that it will be released in the near future. There is a brief trailer up on the web and it looks like a Burt Reynolds’ movie come to life. With a mix of actual footage and recent interviews of competitors looking back on the event, the film promises to give an insightful look at an event which has been imitated by wealthy fat-cats driving exotic cars, but never replicated. To keep up to date on the films release or just to get more info on this potentially awesome movie check out Gravid Films.

-Bill Mertz

US Express, cannonball run, open race, road race

Lews Hamilton–click to go to his fan site.
Formula One racing is an incredibly diverse sport. In the 2006 season there were races held in 16 different countries with drivers hailing from 13 different countries and spanning five different continents. Despite the fact that in its 56 year history F1 has been a veritable UN, there has yet to be a Black driver to race in the prestigious series. That may all change next season when the McLaren Mercedes team announces its driver lineup for 2007.
(more…)

The Baja 1000 is an epic off-road endurance race that crosses the unforgiving terrain of the Baja peninsula in Mexico. Every year a massive field of cars and trucks ranging from basically stock VW bugs to full-custom tube-frame race trucks gathers at the starting line in Ensenada Mexico to try their luck at becoming an off-road racing hero. On November 15th a new face will join the fray at Baja.

The all new Toyota FJ Cruiser is considered a nostalgia vehicle. Based on the venerable FJ40 Land Cruiser of Toyota’s past, the new cruiser is much more luxury SUV and much less hardcore 4×4 than its ancestor. However, Toyota is out to prove the soft image of the cruiser wrong. A full race truck has been constructed using the FJ Cruiser TRD package as its base. With a full roll cage, fuel cell, upgraded brakes, 4.88 front and rear gears, and a combination of Donahue coil-over’s in the front with Fox Racing shocks in the back, this Cruiser is ready to take on the hard terrain.

Entered in the Mini Stock Class, the FJ Cruiser will be piloted by Pike’s Peak God and off-road racing legend Rod Millen and his son Ryan. With drivers of their status behind the wheel the bar will be set very high for Millen’s team.

The 2006 Baja 1000 runs from November 15th-18th.

-Bill Mertz

Baja 1000, FJ Cruiser, Toyota, Racing, off-road

Although Felipe Massa claimed a glorious win at his home track in Brazil, he had to share the day with many others; first and foremost his Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher.
Making the final race of his F1 career Michael drove true to his ability. Starting in P10 he quickly fell back to 19th position after a tire puncture. He was able to march the car back up through the field and finish in 4th spot and second overall in the drivers championship. This was a great final drive for the greatest F1 driver of our time.

In the Renault pit the entire team had cause for celebration as Fernando Alonso claimed the second spot on the podium which clinched both the driver’s championship for himself and the constructor’s championship for his Renault team. Despite Massa’s first place finish (10 points) and Schumacher’s fourth place finish (5 points) the Renault team was able to hold off Ferrari by a scant 5 points.

Also celebrating its final Formula One performance was French Tire manufacturer Michelin. Bouncing back well from their debacle at Indianapolis in 2005, Michelin was looking strong in F1. With victories in both driver’s and constructor’s championships they had a magnificent final season, and the parody provided by multiple tire manufacturers will be missed. For 2007 Bridgestone will be the only tire supplier for the F1 series.
-Bill Mertz

F1, Formula One, Renault, Ferrari, Michelin

Sao Paulo, Brazil was rocking when Felipe Massa crossed the start finish line with the fastest time of the final qualifying session. This marks the 7th time this season that the young Ferrari driver has started on the front row of the grid. Massa, a 25 year old who grew up in Sao Paulo, has been a bit of a surprise in his debut season with Ferrari. With 70 points in the driver’s championship he currently sits in 3rd place overall, with Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella right behind him with 69 points. If Massa is able to pull off a win here in Brazil he might be able to hand Ferrari the constructor’s championship, which would certainly help secure his future with the team.

While most of the attention was focused on Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, both drivers were somewhat disappointing. Schumacher suffered some mechanical problems in the final qualifying session and was immediately dropped to the 10th spot on the grid, making the already improbable drivers championship look even further out of his grasp. Alonso was able to hold onto fourth spot but would have loved to be on the front of the grid for the start of the Brazilian GP.

Brazilian GP top 10.
1. Felipe Massa - Renault
2. Kimi Räikkönen - McLaren-Mercedes
3. Jarno Trulli - Toyota
4. Fernando Alonso - Renault
5. Rubens Barrichello - Honda
6. Giancarlo Fisichella - Renault
7. Ralf Schumacher - Toyota
8. Nick Heidfeld - Sauber-BMW
9. Robert Kubica - Sauber-BMW
10. Michael Schumacher - Ferrari

Detailed qualifying results.
-Bill Mertz

Formula 1, Felipe Massa, qualifying, Brazil

For all the Formula One fans out there it has been a long season. This weekend will mark the 18th and final race of the F1 calendar. With Renault clinging to the lead in the Constructors championship and their ace driver/reigning world champion, Fernando Alonso, hanging tough in the top spot of the drivers championship many people feel that the season is already over. Even top Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher has been heard saying that the driver’s championship is over for him.

Well it may not be over for Schumacher, but it will certainly take a fantastic drive from the German legend and some terrible luck on the part of Alonso for Michael to take the championship.

With a point differential of 10, Alonso in first with 126 and Schumacher close behind with 116, there is only one way Schumacher can clinch the championship. He must win the race outright to pickup 10 points and Alonso needs to fail to place in the top 8 points paying positions. If this happens Alonso and Schumacher would be tied, but Michael has more wins on the season so the tie-breaker, and championship, would be awarded to him.

This scenario is pretty unlikely. Odds are if Fernando runs a clean race he will finish somewhere in the top 8. However it was only 3 races ago in Italy that Alonso had an engine failure and was not able to finish the race.

Too me Ferrari was always like the NY Yankees. They seemed to have all the money, resources and talent. It seemed like they were always on top. For this reason I loved to hate them. But now with the balance of power swinging in Renault’s direction, and perhaps the greatest driver of all time–Michael Schumacher–retiring after this season I will certainly be pulling for one last Ferrari victory and one last Renault engine failure.

Picture courtesy of www.mschumacher.com

The Brazilian Grand Prix will air on Speed Channel on October 22, at 9:30 am Pacific Standard Time.

For more information on TV scheduling go to:
http://www.speedtv.com

For in depth information on the world of Formula One check out: http://www.formula1.com

-Bill Mertz

On October 6th, the first annual running of the 24 Hours of LeMons was held at a small track in Altamont, California. Brain child of well-known editor and personal friend Jay Lamm, this was a race for cars that were purchased, repaired and track prepared for a total of $500 or less. Qualifying consisted of three thrilling events: the mannequin slalom, the baby carriage braking test, and my personal favorite the brick on the gas pedal test.
With a full 34 car grid, on 1/3 mile circuit, no one knew what to expect. But everyone was pretty sure that there would be good amounts of smoke, fire and carnage.

The pit on race day looked like a scene straight out of the pic n’ pull. Junkers from myriad manufacturers, jalopies of all shapes and sizes were strewn about the pits receiving last minute adjustments. Most of this delicate pre-race tuning involved some combination of sledge hammer and pry bar.

Jay invited me to drive his ‘87 Toyota Corolla in the event. From the front the Corolla looked more like an $800 dollar car. But when you walked around the back and saw the aftermath of a run-in with a tow truck, it was clear that this Toyota was a genuine $250 “crapcan”. While it was ineligible to win the event because it was the organizer’s car the Corolla was an absolute hoot thrash around the track in.

When the green flag dropped the excitement began. The noise was absolutely incredible. Imagine your favorite movie car chase or accident scene, multiply that noise by a factor of 50, then stretch it out for 13 hours, and your starting to get a sense of what it was like. Oil and tire smoke made it hard for even the spectators to see, and the pungent aroma made it impossible to taste food for the next several days.

The track itself was a great layout. Altamont speedway has several configurations. Jay chose one that kept top speeds down to about 70 mph and mixed in some good left and right hand turns. Although this was technically a no-contact event, there was plenty of rubbing, spinning and crunching. But with such a slow track the sense of danger was greatly minimalized.

As drivers became more aggressive the flagmen started waving the black flag. This meant you had to come into the pit for a penalty. In normal racing this would just be a stop and go time penalty. But in the Lemons race this meant you had to spin The Wheel of Misfortune. Probably the most brutal penalty was the “Grill of Damocles”. This was a big plate with large metal spikes sticking out of it. The plate would be welded to your radiator supports with the spikes facing in so that if you decide to bump anyone your day would be over quickly. Other punishments included welding barnyard animals to car roofs, welding training wheels to car doors, and having a tape deck installed in your car out of the drivers reach with selections such as Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas album blaring at full volume.

Because the track had to close down at 10 PM for noise reasons, the race time was really more like 13 hours or roughly 1100 laps of the speedway. It was split up into two days. After the first day of racing all the teams voted for “the people’s curse” award. This was to be given to the car that was driven by the biggest jerks or didn’t look like a true $500 entry. The recipient of this award was to have their car smashed by a group of girls wielding pickaxes and sledge hammers. The winner (or loser as the case may be) was an Oldsmobile Aurora that looked just a little too nice. The girls were turned loose and did their worst. Afterwards the car was flipped on its roof by the rest of the onlookers. Remarkably it still started right up and ended up finishing the race in the noblest fashion.

The victors were a team from Road and Track driving a 1982 Toyota Corolla. The rear axle of the car blew up with about 2 laps to go, and in a fitting show of comradery they were pushed the final 2 laps by the people’s curse winners.

The prize for winning the race……$1500 in nickels.

For more information on the event, pictures and a track map go to http://www.24hoursoflemons.com

Photo by Craig Howell
-Bill Mertz

race, lemons, 24 hours