Rams Eye The Track Guy

If you don't have TV or TV subscription to the right channels, you can tune in online on IMSA TV for live coverage of the 2019 Rolex 24 Daytona (Daytona 24 Hours) right here at 2:25 pm US ET (Eastern Time). Of course, not all of us can watch 24 hours of racing live. Fortunately, IMSA also posts full races and highlights on YouTube two or three days after the race. Make sure to check there next week to see what you've missed. Coverage of qualifying is already up. Follow Ram's Eye The Track Guy on Facebook and Instagram! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mike R (@ramseyethetrackguy) on Oct 18, 2018 at 5:03pm PDT

The original Ford GT40 needs no introduction. It achieved instant race car celebrity status in 1966 when it did what was thought to be impossible; give a humble American car manufacturer like Ford the opportunity to beat the elite Ferrari at Le Mans. Most people know the highlight of the back story too. To spare you all the details, Ford was moving forward towards a deal to buy out Ferrari. Ferrari was interested, but Enzo Ferrari wanted to run their open wheel division themselves with full liberty. Ford didn't agree and Enzo pulled out of the deal. Angered by that, Henry Ford (junior) wanted to show Ferrari that Ford could beat them at their own game so they went out to build a race car to win at Le Mans. What isn't very well known, however, is the fact that Ford struggled at first. Ford (naturally) went to established European manufacturers that had experience racing, likely expecting that the American racing builders would know nothing about winning at Le Mans. Unfortun

My love for fast wagons is no secret. They combine various attributes you really want; interior space rivaling some big SUVs, performance rivaling some serious sports cars, and looks rivaling some long sleek missiles on wheels. This one is no different and, being a fast Audi wagon, it's also AWD for year-round fun. This is a bit bittersweet, of course, because of such vehicles as the B7 S4 and RS4 Avants which had magnificent 6-speed manuals and 4.2 litre naturally aspirated V8's. But let's focus on the bright side. There's a 530 hp version of the current RS4 Avant/wagon. It's based on the Audi RS4 Avant (wagon) which we unfortunately don't get here in North America. As an Audi-backed DTM racing team, ABT Sportsline is no stranger to fast Audi's, and is actually intimately familiar with the RS4 Avant in particular, having already offered the RS4-R last year. ABT says that the demand for the RS4-R far exceeded the limited 50-car run they offered (no surp

2015 Mustang Shelby GT350R Interior with 6-speed manual I posted about the new Shelby GT500 on here, DriveTribe, my Facebook, and my Instagram (you can read about all the tech and capabilities that Ford stuffed into the GT500 in my GT500 reveal post here ). Perhaps the biggest surprise (and only disappointment) was that the car wouldn't be offered with a manual. Instead, it would come with a 7-speed dual-clutch auto made by Tremec. If there is one common theme across all platforms where I posted, though, it's that people want a manual and it looks like Ford is going to be listening very closely. Prior to the reveal, I predicted that  this was going to be the first GT500 to offer an automatic, but I figured it would be the 10-speed automatic available on the Mustang GT and I never expected Ford to drop the manual as an option. According to a report by Road & Track , the reason why Ford went for this transmission instead of the torque-converter automatic w

A Subaru WRX STI is a very familiar car by now. Partially because it's very successful and capable, but partially because its engine and hp has been more or less unchanged for about 15 years in North America. It came out in 2004 with a 4 cylinder 2.5 litre turbocharged boxer engine making 300 hp. Today, the standard issue WRX STI is still powered by a version of that same engine making all of 305 hp, a measly 5 hp increase in two redesigns over 15 years. People have been complaining and, it turns out, Subaru has been listening. Enter the S209. It is based on the Japanese market only S208 developed with Subaru Tecnica International (STI). It still uses the same North American EJ25 2.5 litre engine, but it's all grown up now with forged rods and pistons, and a bigger turbo (bigger turbos make everything better). In this case, it seems like the housing is the same, but HKS increases the compressor wheel by 5 mm to 65 mm and turbine by 3 mm to 56 mm. That has allowed S

Ford had already revealed that the car is "projected" to make 700 hp, and now it's promised to make over 700 hp (and around the same power as the Ford NASCAR race car, Ford said). That may be all what A LOT of people need to know about it. But, as magnificent as it is, making that much horsepower alone isn't the best thing about this car. Less than two weeks ago, I wrote what I thought is going to be the best thing about this car in This GT500 should stay truer to the original 1967 GT500 formula put together by Carroll Shelby and Ford and be more track capable. Carbon Fibre All Things There's a Track Pack. It's called Carbon-Fibre Track pack. I fully expected this car to be more track capable, and I figured there would be a performance pack of some sort like Ford did with the last generation (i.e. the SVT pack). But I didn't expect something of this caliber. Ford seems to have a clear target in its sights; the Camaro ZL1 1LE. The same Ford Per