March 9, 2013

What To Watch… | March 9, 2013

Filed under: Videos — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Giancarlo Pawelec @ 11:00 AM

It’s a Saturday morning (or afternoon for some) and you’re just getting into the groove of things. Unfortunately, morning cartoons just don’t do it for you so here’s some of our favorite videos from YouTube that should keep you entertained as you recover from your hangover, late night with friends, or while frying up some bacon!

During a race in Europe (most likely the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo series) a Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 driven by Giorgio Bartocci spins on the back straight at a high rate of speed and crashes into the track wall. Upon impact the Gallardo explodes and sends the wrecked race car into the middle of the track. In the mean time other racers try and avoid Bartocci’s wrecked car while track marshals and fire fighters try to rescue the driver. The flames reach upwards of 30-feet and thanks to one brave man the door is opened freeing Bartocci. Thankfully Bartocci survived this crash leaving only with some broken bones and second-degree burns, but still alive and ready to race another day.

Everybody loves a Bugatti, but few give credit to the EB110 Super Sport. Before the Veyron, this beast made its mark and there is no better way to celebrate a car’s performance achievement than by launching it and making some nice 11′s.

If you’re a Ferrari fan, the F50 is a trophy car with its 4.7-liter, 60-valves, V12 engine that pumps out 515 horsepower and can catapult from 0 – 60 mph in just 3.7-seconds! Sure it might not be comparable to the Enzo or new LaFerrari, but it holds its own. Check out this beautiful Italian V12 beast do a burn out, donuts, and drive like as if it were stolen!

With the announcement of Lamborghini’s Veneno limited edition hypercar to rival that of the Ferrari LaFerrari, this V12 aerodynamic bull is the very best of German-Italian engineering. Only three specimens will be built (one red, white, and green – the tricolore of Italy) and performance figures are that of 0 – 60 mph in 2.8-seconds! Check out the video taken at the Geneva Motor Show of the Veneno and hear it in all its glory!

Words: Giancarlo Pawelec

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February 25, 2013

NASCAR Crash at Daytona caught on spectator video!

Filed under: Videos — Tags: , , , , , , — AutoMotoFoto @ 1:00 PM

Tragedy in motorsports sadly does occur although not often and even more rarely involving spectators. Unfortunately this past Saturday a terrible crash occurred at the Daytona International Speedway during the last lap of the Nationwide Series race that lead to an estimated 32 people injured – other than the drivers themselves. The multi-car accident shot debris all over the race track including breaking through the metal chain-link fence protecting spectators. This video taken by Tyler Andersen was uploaded to YouTube later that day and upon the request from NASCAR, it was taken down citing a typical public relations situation of respecting those injured. Truth be told, NASCAR seems to have wanted to cover up the incident in way of showing that safety measures for spectators need to be addressed especially considering that a wheel / tire can be scene in the footage landing on a seat – that is no small time debris. It is no doubt that cars in motorsports (let alone road-worthy) are getting faster as the years go on. Despite the recent technology developments in safety systems, it seems that spectators were left out in the thought process – hopefully this tragedy sparks not only controversy, but changes in the right direction.

Should NASCAR, other racing series and fellow race tracks re-evaluate their spectator safety measures? What are your thoughts on this incident?

Words: Giancarlo Pawelec
Video: Tyler Andersen

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February 23, 2013

2013 Honda Accord Coupe earns midsize class highest safety ratings

Filed under: News — Tags: , , , , , , — AutoMotoFoto @ 9:00 AM

The completely redesigned 2013 Honda Accord Coupe has earned the highest available safety rating – a 5-Star1 Overall Vehicle Score from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The 2013 Accord Coupe is the only vehicle in its class to earn a NHTSA 5-star Overall Vehicle Score and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) TOP SAFETY PICK+ rating with GOOD ratings in all test modes. For model year 2013, all tested Honda models have earned a TOP SAFETY PICK or TOP SAFETY PICK+ rating from the IIHS (only the Civic Coupe, FCX Clarity and Fit EV have not been tested).

“The Honda comprehensive approach to vehicle safety is validated by these top-level safety ratings,” said Art St. Cyr, vice president of product planning and logistics at American Honda. “The 2013 Honda Accord truly excels in all areas, delivering the best overall safety ratings, while also providing exhilarating performance, outstanding comfort and top-class fuel economy.”

The Accord Coupe earned the 5-star Overall Vehicle Score by garnering a 5-star rating in each seating position in the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) frontal, side-barrier, and side-pole crash test categories, as well as a 5-star rollover rating. The 2013 Coupe joins the Honda Accord Sedan in earning an Overall 5-Star Safety Rating under NHTSA’s testing.

In addition to its NCAP 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score designation, the 2013 Honda Accord Sedan is the only car in its class to earn a GOOD rating in all IIHS test modes, including the Institute’s aggressive, new small overlap frontal crash test. Under the IIHS’ testing program, the new small overlap frontal crash test—sometimes called a “narrow offset” test—is designed to replicate what happens when the front corner of a vehicle collides with another vehicle or an object such as a tree or utility pole at high speed.

Beginning with the 2013 Honda Accord, Honda is applying the second generation of the Honda Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™ II) body structure to its models. This reinforced frontal structure further enhances frontal crash energy management through a wider range of offset and oblique collision modes.

New standard and available safety and visibility technologies in Accord models such as Back-Up Camera, Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Lane Departure Warning (LDW) and Lane Watch help increase driver awareness in the front, sides, and rear of the vehicle.

In addition to the Honda next-generation Advanced Compatibility (ACE II) body structure, passive-safety features offered as standard equipment on the 2013 Accord include dual-stage, multiple-threshold front airbags, and new SmartVent™ front side airbags, and side curtain airbags. The new SmartVent side airbag construction helps mitigate the risk of injury to occupants that may be positioned in the deployment path of the side airbag. SmartVent also allows heating of the passenger seatback on EX-L and Touring models.

Honda Safety Leadership

Honda has a long history of leadership in the development and application of advanced technologies and designs to enhance the safety of all road users, including automobile occupants, motorcycle riders, and pedestrians. The company operates two of the world’s most sophisticated crash test facilities and is responsible for numerous pioneering efforts in the areas of crashworthiness, airbag technology, collision compatibility and pedestrian safety. This commitment to safety is rooted in the longstanding Honda goal to be a company that society wants to exist, and it complements the company’s leadership in reducing vehicle emissions, improving fuel efficiency and advancing alternatives to gasoline.

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February 13, 2013

The first 2014 Corvette Stingray Coupe crashes in Arizona

Filed under: Blog — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Giancarlo Pawelec @ 11:00 AM

It has happened again! Another new car model has met its fate this time on the side of a grassy and rocky bank in Arizona. As stated, this isn’t the first time a beautiful machine unleashed on the open road has been hurt as it seems too often now since the release of sports cars such as the Nissan GT-R and Scion FR-S. First reported yesterday late evening, sites around the globe have been going viral with the news first spotted by the Digital Corvettes forum. According to the post, a forum member in Arizona emailed the photo last week of the damaged blue Corvette planted on the side of a road with visible signs of damage enough to make any automotive enthusiast cringe. The comment made by the forum member states that the “Car is in worse shape than looks. Hit guardrail on left and bounced back to rocks.” Although not much is known as to the details of the incident the forum does report seeing General Motors test driver Jim Mero get out of a similar Stingray in a video (see below) during a three car test around Arizona a few weeks back.

The question plaguing everyone is a simply how did it happen? Test drivers are proficient behind the wheel, especially those backed by a manufacturer so was it case of careless driving or simple mistake? Hopefully some answers will come to light in the coming days as Chevrolet now has a full case of PR on their hands.

Read more about the 2014 Corvette ‘Stingray’

Words: Giancarlo Pawelec
Photo: Digital Corvettes

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January 14, 2013

Death of a BMW E30

Filed under: Videos — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — Giancarlo Pawelec @ 1:00 PM

There have been endless #FAIL videos involving cars where the fault is more often than not found with the driver than the car itself. From tight corners in racing to idiots showing off and anything else humanly possible in way of stupidity with motorized vehicles. In the case of this video, an amateur drifter decides to show off his skills (or lack there of) by getting his E30-generation BMW sideways in what looks to be an open parking lot. The unfortunate thing is that the driver or his friends who were filming didn’t take into account the light posts scattered about resulting in a front-end wham-bam of the the poor little BMW. In the words of the videographer, “…there is no way that he just did that” – yes, yes he did.

So, what’s the lesson to be had from this video? Simple; take it to the track! You’re no different than the average Joe when it comes to driving skills and unless you plan on replacing your beloved daily driver anytime soon, keep the shenanigans to a confined space a la racing circuit! Sure many will comment that drifting began on the streets decades ago, but keep in mind that was also during a time when two global powers (USA and Russia) thought the other was going to nuke the world. Nowadays there are plenty of sanctioned events such as the Canadian Sport Compact Series and TOPP Drift Day that offer novice drivers a chance to get sideways in a safe environment while also able to get some tutorials from known local pro drifters. There’s no excuse for stupidity in public, although cases like these make for hilarious videos.

Words: Giancarlo Pawelec

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November 12, 2012

NASCAR Turns to a Combat Sport!

Filed under: Videos — Tags: , , , , , — Giancarlo Pawelec @ 1:00 PM

NASCAR has always been about good old fashioned racing fun, despite it being repetitive in every way possible. One thing however, which is not common in motorsports let alone the redneck-loving one of stock car racing is fighting. During this weekend’s big race there was the usual ups and downs found on race day including a major crash between Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer which put them both out of the race. It seems that once again Bowyer rammed his car into Gordon which then pushed both cars into a lead race car making for a yellow flag frenzy. Upon arriving back at the pits, Gordon jumped out of his car and rushed towards Bowyer spouting an all out brawl between not only the drivers, but racing crew as well. As Gordon put it, “Things just got escalated over the year, and I’d just had it,” he said. “Clint has run into me numerous times, wrecked me, and he got into me on the back straightaway and pretty much ruined our day. I’ve had it, fed up with it and I got him back.” Whether or not Gordon overreacted to the situation is unknown, but the amount of negative publicity for the NASCAR sport is overbearing especially when big title corporate sponsors are concerned about keeping a clean image.

Why is it that some bad apples always seem to ruin a good thing? If you were the governing body for NASCAR, how would you reprimand both Gordon and Bowyer for their actions?

Words: Giancarlo Pawelec

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October 19, 2012

When Overtaking in a GT-R Goes Wrong

Filed under: Videos — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Giancarlo Pawelec @ 1:00 PM

Car cruises are always fun especially when it’s with a GT-R car club. Unfortunately for one lucky R35 GT-R owner the car cruises ended short of the final destination due to some stupidity behind the wheel and a heavy right foot. The video is an in-car cam of what appears to be a gunmetal GT-R taking the lead during the cruise and following a pick-up truck. Around the mid-point of the video, the lead GT-R overtakes the truck safely and easily by opening up the throttle. Moments after a second GT-R appears to overtake the lead car and blows past at a high rate of speed. The issue is that when you go fast and mix in some bumpy roads, cars get airborne and in this case the 2-ton Japanese supercar ends up looking like a rally car pushing over a blind crest with all four wheels off the ground. Upon landing, the front wheels weren’t straight which leads the car onto the side of the road and immediately the drivers tries to correct the snap over-steer and plants on the brakes. Unfortunately, due to the high rate of speed and the upset balance of the GT-R, it sends the car flying past a roundabout and over curbs until it finally stops on a grassy field.

The lesson to be learned here: Even when your car has all the latest gadgets of engineering, it doesn’t mean you can drive like a rockstar! I’m sure that the owner felt the impact of a totaled $120k supercar and the potential of his driver’s license lost along with this humiliating video floating around the net… enjoy!

Words: Giancarlo Pawelec

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October 18, 2012

Nissan DeltaWing Assaulted in Road Atlanta Testing

Filed under: News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — AutoMotoFoto @ 9:00 AM

The Nissan DeltaWing’s assault on the 15th annual Petit Le Mans event suffered a set-back in testing today when Gunnar Jeannette was struck by a GTC Porsche and forced into a violent roll.

The Nissan DeltaWing was only 4/10ths of a second slower than the fastest P2 car in sixth place on the timesheet in this afternoon’s session. Unfortunately during the session Jeannette was passing a GTC class Porsche when he was struck violently in the left rear wheel.

The massive impact was measured at 7Gs on the team’s telementary system. Video footage from the Nissan-powered Conquest Racing P2 car of Martin Plowman showed the Porsche bouncing off the exit kerb at turn 10b and smashing into the Nissan DeltaWing as Jeannette was going by. (click on link below to view video)

The car scraped down the road on its roll hoops before suffering a heavy impact with the wall and landing back on its wheels.

Jeannette was transferred to the track medical centre but was soon released with no injuries suffered.

The crew immediately began work on repairing the damage with a target on having the car return to the track tomorrow.

Prior to the impact, the Nissan DeltaWing had set a fastest time of 1 minute, 13.686 seconds for the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta circuit.

Practice continues tomorrow at 10:15am with an additional session at 3:20pm and a night session from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

GUNNAR JEANNETTE

“Not the best of practice sessions, unfortunately.”

“Everything was going well… I followed a GTC car through [turns] 10a and 10b and I had a run on him exiting the corner before the bridge and pulled almost completely past.”

“He cut over to take the apex and made heavy contact with the left-rear of our car that sent me for a bit of a ride.”

“Luckily, the guys built a very strong car.”

“While the damage looks to be bad in photographs, the car took the impact quite well. We have all the spare parts to fix it and we have an excellent crew that got to work straight away and had the car stripped down remarkably quickly.”

LUCAS ORDOÑEZ

“Unfortunately a GT crossed over on Gunnar near the bridge and it is a very risky and dangerous place for this to happen.”

“Gunnar had a big roll and finished in the grass. Fortunately he is OK and that is the most important thing.”

“The car has big damage but the team is working really hard and the guys are really professional so I am sure the car will be OK for the next session.”

“Before the crash I had a run and bedded in new stuff like brakes and the new engine. The car was quite strong and I was feeling quite good in the car.”

“The car was really good and efficient in high speed corners. We were sixth fastest and I felt really confident in the traffic. We are certainly going forward and learning a lot and we just have our fingers crossed for tomorrow.”

DARREN COX – NISSAN

“The most important thing is that Gunnar is OK after a very nasty accident.”

“The guys are working very hard and will do everything they can to get back on track tomorrow.”

“What I am most pleased about is that while the car obviously passed all the virtual and actual FIA crash tests prior to running at Le Mans, we’ve unfortunately tested the car in real world incidents twice now and in both cases the car has done its job in protecting the driver.”

“We’d rather not do it again but we’ve certainly shown the concept works and it is very safe.”

DON PANOZ – DELTAWING RACING CARS

“This was certainly not the start to the week we were looking for, but the positive aspects are that the car has shown very impressive speed and that Gunnar was able to walk away from the incident.”

“There is quite a bit of damage but we are also fortunate for the team to be able to call on the guys from Elan Motorsport Technologies for additional backup to tend to any issues – particularly related to composites.”

“The car certainly did its job in protecting the driver – hopefully that’s the last time we need to worry about testing that aspect of the car.”

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October 15, 2012

BMW M3 Roll-Over at Nürburgring

Filed under: Videos — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Giancarlo Pawelec @ 1:00 PM

The dangers of racing are impossible to ignore be it from amateur weekend warriors hitting the track to professional endurance series drivers. During a VLN Endurance Championship event (#2 of 2012) held at the infamous Nürburgring race track in Germany, one lucky spectator thankfully had his handy camera on hand. According to the video notes a light rain began to fall upon the track. Unfortunately for one BMW E46 M3 driver, upon entering the Wehrseifen corner he lost control and ended up rolling over the vehicle and catapulting it into another passing race car. The worst part is that this incident happened during the second lap of the four hour endurance race, “Did Not Finish” (DNF) is something that certainly applies in this case and the three magic words any race team or driver never wants to hear. Luckily no one was injured during the incident, but it serves as a reminder that regardless of how talented you are anything can happen – especially at the Nürburgring!

Words: Giancarlo Pawelec

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October 9, 2012

TOPPS Drift Day (Season Finale)

Filed under: Events — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Ben Fry @ 9:00 AM

TOPP Drift Day (Season Finale)
Shannonville Motorsports Park
Shannonville, Ontario, Canada
October 6th, 2012

Held once again at what has be come to known as “Ontario’s House of Drift” at Shannonville Motorsports Park, TOPPs held their season finale track day bringing both grip style and drifters alike out to play. As soon as the gates opened, cars began pulling in along with many trailers housing some of the pro-level drift machines. Even though the weather was less than desirable on this chilly October day, the atmosphere was fired up – it’s race day after all.

As per usual it was a big turn out with a large showing of spectators as well. There are always tons of familiar cars and faces like Riley Sexsmith, Patrick Cyr, Brad Carlton, Marin Guilbault and most of the well known CSCS drifters.

Known all-out drifter Brad Carlton was flying into corner one early on in the morning even though track conditions were still very damp. Whether it was wet or not Brad was making this corner all day long with an aggressive wide entry.

Two guys you’ll recognize from CSCS, Marin Guilbault and Dugan Magee having a casual day at the track! Sadly out of shot, Brent Stratton is chasing both of them down and is transitioning into the corner.

This was probably the cleanest shot I got all event of this Zenki S14, a driver I don’t think I’ve seen many times before at previous events – either that or he didn’t stand out, but he was noticed this time around!

Teammates Francisco Becerra and Pat Cyr getting door to door on the final corner! Any closer and you’d have to fold in the mirrors, but let’s not forget about Brad either – as he’s sitting right out of frame from this shot but coming in hard onto the front straight.

Just because this Cefiro is so clean doesn’t mean it won’t get dirty on the track, Liam Kirby knows how to throw down.

There were so many great tandem runs out there like this friendly battle between Guilbault and Sexsmith, getting closer and closer the more times they ran.

The season finale simply kicked ass and was a perfect wrap up to this year’s drifting fun despite the cold temperature. There has never been a bad moment at any of these events as it’s a shame the season is closing. Everyone said 2012 was going to be an even better year than 2011 and they were right, so I’m hoping 2013 will follow suit! Everyone here at AMF is looking forward to another great season with TOPPs – we can’t wait to see what they bring for us in the new year!

Notable mentions to Blake Trickey and the staff of Shannonville Motorsports for the track time given to AMF to test out the 2012 Mazda MX-5 and see what it can do. Be sure to stay tuned on an upcoming Thursday for the Test Drive feature!

Check out our past coverage:

TOPP Drift Day Teaser Video
TOPP Drift Day 1
TOPP Drift Day 2
TOPP Drift Day 3

For more information, please visit TOPP Drift Day

Words & Photos: Ben Fry

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October 8, 2012

A Motorcycle Burn Out Gone Bad

Filed under: Videos — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Giancarlo Pawelec @ 1:00 PM

The year might be 2012, but idiots still exist nowadays and this motorcycle rider takes the top prize. Some Croatian rider tries to show off to a crowd of what seems to be just family and friends by attempting to light up the rear tire on his Honda CBR-600RR motorcycle because there truly isn’t anything cooler than a burn out to show off – right? Wrong. The less than brilliant man makes several attempts to lock up the front brakes so that he can essentially do a “brake stance” and get the rear tire to start smoking, unfortunately he neither posses the strength to plant his bike firm or the skill to do a burn out. With time passing by and his frustrations growing the rider finally gives up after some women (possibly his mother) telling him to just cut it out, but the fun doesn’t stop there. Upon riding away it seems that his twitchy hand touches the brakes and causes him to level the bike with him on top. It is for sure that this idiot shouldn’t be riding a motorcycle or even conduct any motorized vehicle whatsoever, but then again karma has a way of fixing things – it did in this case as least – rider 0, motorcycle 1.

Click to see the event unfold and enjoy watching the rider’s frustration increase with every failed attempt at a burn out!

Words: Giancarlo Pawelec

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October 5, 2012

Close Call in a Ferrari 360

Filed under: Videos — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Giancarlo Pawelec @ 1:00 PM

One lucky owner of Ferrari 360 experienced a track day unlike any other. On what appears to be a slightly damp Zandvoort race circuit in the Netherlands, the drive piloting the Italian sports car began getting a little twitchy behind the wheel in way of some minor steering corrections. Unfortunately, due to his corrections the weight balance of his V8 powered machine caused the vehicle to enter into a pendulum swing that resulted in almost smashing it into the guard rail track side.

Check the video out below and be sure to strap yourself in for one scary ride!

Words: Giancarlo Pawelec

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