Rams Eye The Track Guy

Last time I took my car to the track, a 2012 Mustang Boss 302, I had a steering issue occur more than once, where it seemed like power steering cut off temporarily for less than a second at a time (full post: 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 - Back at the track! ). I took the car to the dealership, Steele Ford , and they asked me a few questions about the issue when I went to drop it off. As is the case with any sports cars owners, I was reluctant to say that the problem occurred on the track. There's a long track record (see what I did there?) of dealerships refusing warranty work on a car simply because the tires of it touched the asphalt of a road course, regardless of whether the cause of the problem is abusing the car on a track. Nevertheless, I decided to be honest to better help them diagnose the problem and to put trust in them in the hope of them putting trust back in me. Well, I was not disappointed. They said they'll look at it and see if they find any codes and ...

If you've been looking for a car but haven't been able to find the perfect opportunity, look no further! Here's an excellent 1987 Dodge Aries that also happens to have racing pedigree. Yes, this is a Kijiji K-Car race champion! Max Karpinccho piloted this car to victory against Bolt Lundgren and got his pride back. The best part is that you could be the new lucky owner because it is up for sale and for a good cause. This performance machine isn't a one trick pony, though. Despite the excellent performance and race-tuned suspension, it has a full interior and a premium Alpine sound system so it could be a family car all week and a track warrior on the weekend. Forget the Mercedes Benz 190E Cosworth and the BMW M3 - this is genesis of the sports sedan. The car will be on sale until July, 8th, 2013 and Kijiji will match the selected buyer's offer (up to $10,000) and donate the total sum to Habitat for Humanity . If you're interested in this gem, ...

Chevrolet released official performance numbers for the 2014 Corvette Stingray and they're nothing short of impressive. When equipped with the Z51 Performance Package, Chevrolet estimates that it will be able to get from 0 - 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and cover the 1/4 mile in 12.0 seconds at 119 mph. With braking performance of 60-0 mph in 107 ft and the ability to sustain 1.03 g in cornering, handling is just as impressive. In the hands of Jim Mero, Corvette vehicle dynamics engineer, the Stingray is capable of lapping Virginia International Raceway's (VIR) 4.2 mile Grand Course in 2:51.78. The lap was done in a Stingray equipped with the Z51 Performance Package and Magnetic Ride Control. The only modifications made to the car were the addition safety features, such as a racing seat and harness along with a fire extinguisher system. Luckily, VIR is the track that Car and Driver uses for their annual Lightning Lap event so a large database of lap times is available ...

GM finally announced pricing for the new, 2014 Cadillac CTS and it was given a proper price tag to match the move upwards Cadillac made with the 2014 model year (full post: 2014 Cadillac CTS ). The current and previous CTS models have been stuck between the compact and midsize luxury segments and their sizes and prices reflected that. Now that Cadillac has a proper entry into the compact segment, the ATS, the CTS can comfortably move into the midsize luxury segment. The third generation CTS sedan grows in size and interior space. It is now five inches longer than the outgoing model and interior space reflects the increased size. Despite the increase in size, the new car is 244 lb. lighter than the previous model and sits lower which should give it handling dynamics to match the excellent ATS. The CTS is expected to be the lightest car in its segment. The 2013 CTS standard model will start at $46,025, including $925 destination fee, which is an increase of $6,005 over the ...

Chevrolet revealed details about the flagship sedan, the Chevy SS, earlier this year ( Details about the new 2014 Chevy SS ) but pricing has only been announced a couple of weeks ago. When it goes on sale in the fourth quarter of 2013, it will carry an MSRP of $44,470 in the US, including a $995 destination fee. Unfortunately, the SS will not be sold in Canada. The car will come standard with a long list of features such as: High intensity discharge (HID) headlamps with light emitting diode (LED) daytime running lamps (DRL) Automatic Parking Assist Chevrolet MyLink with a color touch screen and GPS-based navigation system Bose premium audio system - including SiriusXM radio (with 12-month trial) Color head-up display and color driver information centre Dual-zone automatic climate control Alloy pedal covers Heating and ventilated front seats with memory Side Blind Zone Alert and Lane Departure Warning Rear-vision camera with rear park assist Keyless access and pu...

A few weeks ago, I took my car - a 2012 Mustang Boss 302 - to the track for the first time this summer. Head to  2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 - Doing what it does best!  to find out what modifications I made and how I liked it last summer, stock, and how I like it so far this summer after modifications! This time, I'm back at the track with the local BMW club - BMW Club Atlantic - for a high performance driving school (HPDS) that I attend annually. The school is arranged twice a year and each time, it runs for an entire weekend. Each day, there are 2 sessions of slaloms and accident avoidance exercises and 2 lapping sessions for a total of 8 sessions on the track. Classroom sessions that go for 15 to 30 minutes run between each track session where vehicle dynamics and track etiquette are discussed. It is a very comprehensive school and between the 1-on-1 instructor time and classroom sessions, there's a lot to be learned for those who are trying to improve. If you're...

It was 6:30 a.m. and I was already up and getting ready to leave. It wasn't for work - I'm usually not awake until 7:30 a.m. on workdays. I also didn't need to grab or prepare lunch. I did grab a couple of items, though, my helmet and my second car key - the track key (TracKey), for the first day at the track this summer. The local track - Atlantic Motorsport Park  (AMP) - is about an hour away. I filled up the car and a 10 litre gas tank and headed to the track. I arrived shortly after 8:00. The last time I was at the track before then was the last weekend of August, 2012, and I have been counting down the weekends since then. Once I arrived at the track, saw the line up of cars and heard a few idling engines, it seemed like it was only last weekend that I had been there last. Now let's get to the important stuff - the car. I've had the car on the track before. Initial impressions were excellent. I bought my car "used" with 230 miles on the cloc...

One of the most puzzling cars at last year's SEMA show was a boosted Toyota Avalon. Yes, boosted as in relying on more than mother nature to stuff an engine cylinder full of air. The car was sporting a TRD supercharger with an Eaton Gen 6 TVS rotor assembly along with a slew of suspension and appearance modifications. Toyota apparently decided to leave it with the guys at Motor Trend to put through the tests. A couple of days ago, Motor Trend posted their tests and the numbers were.. interesting. Handling improvements are nothing short of impressive. 6-piston front brake callipers and 4-piston rear ones along with larger, cross drilled rotors help bring the car to a stop from 60 mph in 106 ft, which is sports car territory. Motor Trend was able to record an average lateral acceleration of 0.92 g. To put that into perspective, that puts it right in between two trims of an excellent RWD sedan, the Cadillac ATS. When tested by Motor Trend, the 2.0 litre turbo model was a...

The C6 Corvette has a great chassis and suspension setup along with a stout drivetrain to boot. However, the interior has been holding back the Corvette name from being world class on every level and it was viewed as the bargain competitor. With the upgraded interior and luxury, upscale materials and features, the Corvette is no longer a compromise of luxury in favour of performance and sales are bound to reflect that. The Corvette already sells well, outselling luxury sports cars like the Porsche 911, Cayman and Boxter, Audi TT, BMW Z4 and Mercedes Benz SLK as well as mainstream sports cars like the Nissan 370Z, Mazda MX-5 (Miata), and Subaru BRZ (although the Scion FR-S outsells the Corvette). However, GM would like to see the Corvette do more than that. According to an Autoweek report, GM plans to extend its marketing efforts to attract customers of high end sports cars, like Porsche and other European luxury brands. GM is not planning on alienating the current and...

When GM revealed the 2014 Corvette Stingray, 450 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque were the estimates for engine output (full post: The Stingray is back! Details about the new 2014 C7 Corvette ). It is GM tradition, though, to reveal hp numbers that are slightly lower than actual ratings and the C7 Corvette is no different. When equipped with the optional performance exhaust, it makes 460 hp (343 kW) at 6,000 rpm and 465 lb-ft (630 Nm) of torque at 4,600 rpm, as shown above on the SAE engine dyno graph. With the standard exhaust, the numbers drop by 5 hp and 5 lb-ft of torque to 455 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. The closest competitor to the Corvette in terms of performance is the Porsche 911 Carrera and these numbers put it well ahead of the pack. The Porsche 911 Carrera makes 350 hp and 287 lb-ft of torque and the Carrera S makes 400 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque, 110 hp and 60 hp lower the Corvette's numbers and even much lower torque. It doesn't just make higher gross numbers,...