Rams Eye The Track Guy

"It pounces on corners, tracks flat through the apexes, and devours the straights with a burly snarl from the V-8. It laps up freeway kilometers at triple-digit speeds, the suspension digesting ripples and dips so thoroughly that the body remains almost inert. All the driver has to do is aim the 645 and it goes there. Fast." Sounds great, right? Absolutely, except for the fact that it isn't about this 640i. Keen BMW fans would probably be fast to note that this 640i doesn't even come with a V8. The above is fro m a review of a 645Ci that was published back in January 2004, 12 years ago. This new review , though, was.. let's be kind and say less flattering. As seems to be a pattern now for all BMW's, except the 2-series and M models, there's lots of disappointment. "Our car, equipped with BMW’s M Sport package, offered what seemed to be a slathering of faux sportiness." It only managed 0.86 g on Car and Driver's 300-ft...

If you're one of those people who complain about not enough action and passing in racing (I don't blame you), the video below may just restore your faith. Sabine Schmitz, famous Nurburgring taxi driver, race car driver, and now one of the new presenters of Top Gear UK (we forgive her for that), is piloting a GT3 R in the video below at the Nurburgring, in the wet. And it's awesome.

Ever wonder how a 911 GT3 might stack up against a GT-R Track Edition.. in the wet?  The GT-R comes with Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT 600 DSST CTT tires and the GT3 comes with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2. The Dunlops are classified as Extreme Performance Summer tires on Tire Rack while the Michelins are Streetable Track & Competition so the GT-R should have the tire advantage in the wet. The GT-R obviously has the traction advantage due to being AWD but remember, no 2WD car has more traction than a 911, assuming comparable tires, due to the engine placement so don't place your bets just yet. Watch and find out who wins, but don't forget to comment below!

A photo posted by Chip Ganassi Racing Teams (@chipganassiracing) on Jan 28, 2016 at 6:17am PST I, unfortunately, haven't been writing in a while.. Okay, a very long while. I had been waiting until I can catch up with all the reviews and tests that I missed. The new ATS-V and CTS-V. The new Camaro SS. The new C63 AMG. The long awaited Shelby GT350.. and many more. I started watching Rolex 24 hours at Daytona today, though, and I thought what better weekend to go back to writing than the weekend Ford brought back the GT to go racing. A photo posted by Chip Ganassi Racing Teams (@chipganassiracing) on Jan 31, 2016 at 3:37am PST I haven't seen all of it yet, I've only watched the two hours so far but it was a great showing. *SPOILER ALERT* So far, the GT seems to be running great and very, very competitive. And man, does the new GT ever look fantastic, especially in racing livery. They've only had one issue where one of the cars was stuck...

This surprises a lot of people, considering that I have a Mustang and a Boss 302 at that, but I'm a Camaro fan. For one, I've always been a Chevy small block fan. They're compact and light (for the displacement), powerful, efficient and reliable. Secondly, without Camaro rivalry, I don't think the Mustang would be as good. Finally, I'm a domestic kind of guy so I like seeing good products from all domestics. As a result, I was looking forward to the highly anticipated 6th generation Camaro and I must say, it doesn't look like it will disappoint. The first and most important piece of information is that the Camaro is all new. It shares nothing with the previous generation. People will no longer be able to say this is an old bloated chassis or it's just a rebadged Holden. This one is based on the Alpha chassis Cadillac developed for the Cadillac ATS. It's lightweight, compact and strong where as the previous Zeta chassis was intended for a full size...

I've had a catch can for about a couple of years. If you've been following my blog, you may know that I've had a seldom problem with power steering randomly cutting off. I thought I had it fixed several times but it kept returning. Finally, towards the end of last summer, the problem was found by a tech at one of the local dealers. After a lot of time behind the wheel on and off the track, I can confidently say the problem is gone. I hate to admit but it was my fault. The catch can that I bought was a bigger unit that came with a mounting bracket. Without checking the wiring, I mounted it where the electric power steering rack ground was. Sometimes, while turning, the can would shift so slightly but enough to move the ground cable, cut power and therefore power steering. It was terrifying, especially on the track, and really hurt with being confident behind the wheel. After the tech found it, he put a second nut on that bolt to hold it better and it worked so much bett...

Just remember, you heard it (or read it) here first. Ford said that this will be the most powerful Focus ever with "well in excess of 315 hp". Back in February when I posted about it ( 2016 Focus RS ), I brought up the extremely limited edition RS500 which made 345 hp so I expected this one to make close to 350 hp. Sure enough, Ford officially revealed that the Focus RS will make 345 hp and 324 lb-ft of torque from its 2.3 litre EcoBoost engine. This time, though, it won't be a very limited edition to get all that power. All RS's will make that power, at least until Ford makes a performance package or special edition with even more. As Ford said when it debuted the RS, the engine has been significantly upgraded to handle the added power compared to the 310 hp unit found in the Mustang EcoBoost. The 2.3 litre engine shares the block with the Mustang but significant upgrades support the increased power. The radiator and intercooler are both much bigger unit...

It's old news by now but I can't see my blog not having a post about this.. I'm a big Mustang fun. It's the highest revving, most powerful and most power dense production engine in Ford's history. Need more superlatives? It's also Ford's first flat-plane crankshaft and the world's largest flat-plane crankshaft V8. It also has another achievement to add to its portfolio. At 526 hp, it makes over 100 hp/litre. It will make its peak power, 526 hp, at 7,500 rpm and a peak torque value of 429 lb-ft at 4,750 rpm which gives it a healthy hp and torque peaks spread of 2,750 rpms. Moreover, 90% of peak torque is available from approximately 3,450 rpm and 7,000 rpm. Optimizations have been made everywhere to ensure the engine is always happy to go around a track. As everyone now knows, the engine will feature a plat-plane crankshaft to improve engine breathing. It does so by separating cylinder banks exhaust pulses (i.e. you can't have two cylind...

If you've just bought the most hardcore version of any car that's currently on sale, it will very soon be rendered pedestrian. That's because the Viper ACR is back and it's even more capable. In fact, it's a lot more capable. Upgraded suspension? Check. The brakes are carbon-ceramic Brembo units with six piston callipers in the front clamping on 15.4 inches rotors and four piston callipers in the back clamping on 14.2 in rotors. Adjustable Bilstein coil-overs replace the stock units and the springs now are stiffer at 600 lb/in in the front and an eye water 1,300 lb/in in the back. Unlike many aftermarket adjustable dampers, those shocks feature 10 settings to adjust both rebound and compression. The coil-overs also allow for ride height adjustment of up to 3 inches! The tires? Oh, they're big. 295/25/19 in the front and 355/30/19 in the rear. If all of this adjustability isn't enough, consider the adjustable aero bits. An opti...

Once I learned that the ATS-V will come with a twin-turbo V6, I was a little disappointed but thought that that it actually needs a TT V6 to compete with the M3. If it didn't have one, the ATS-V would have been looked down upon by German brand loyalists as being "old tech" and "inefficient". Cadillac still has to build brand credibility in that market so it's smart to offer the same type of technology so that the brand is the only thing they have to work hard to sell, not what's under the hood. Still, I (and many other fans) wanted a V8 but I never thought I'd see the day. A few weeks ago, though, a rumour has been going around that a higher version of the ATS-V will come and be called ATS-V+. It won't get the new LT1 V8, though, found in the Stingray and upcoming Camaro. No, it will come with the monster LS7 7.0 litre V8 that was in the C6 Corvette Z06 and the current Camaro Z/28. AWESOME. I read that this was just that, a rumour. The...