When day dreaming about a warm tropical vacation, we decided it would be much more fun to head to balmy Detroit. You guessed it, we’ll be at the 2012 North American International Auto Show and hope you’ll join us in our coverage. The show promises to be impressive having in excess of 500 vehicles on display, 52 vehicle debuts with 32 of those being worldwide introductions. Who knows what adventures this trip might bring? Fortunately the organizers were not aware of our reputation for disasters coincidently following us and let us into the press day events. If you hear of any major incidents occurring at the show, we weren’t the cause! Hopefully. This coverage is just one piece of our newly added Real World Road Tests section that you won’t want to miss.

We realize there are numerous other options for car articles, but hope you’ll give us a chance as we continue to expand upon this section. We’re a group of normal (give us the benefit of the doubt) car guys writing about the things we love and are passionate about. Our objective with these articles is to bring you reviews of vehicles as they would be used most often, on regular streets in daily life applications. A further explanation of what it’s all about and the first round of our articles can be seen here.

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) has announced that Hoosier Racing Tire will become the exclusive tire supplier for the SCCA Club Racing Spec Miata (SM) class for National competition beginning January 1, 2012. The tires that SM cars will use are the Hoosier SM6 tire in the P205/50ZR15 size, with the P205/50R15 Hoosier H2O designated for wet conditions. I personally have driven on the SM6 tire and can say that when I learned of this news, was very excited to hear it!

From the SCCA press release:

“We conducted a survey of licensed Spec Miata competitors this past winter, and we believe that the move to the Hoosier products best addresses the feedback we received, within the parameters of our selection process,” SCCA President and CEO Jeff Dahnert said. “The survey results showed a strong preference for a molded dry tire that did not require shaving to a race depth. We shared the survey results with the Club Racing Board which, in turn, consulted with the Spec Miata Advisory Committee. All of these sources Continue reading →

It’s been a year now since the GoAheadTakeTheWheel.com website was launched as a free online resource. In addition to publishing the entire contents of the original book Go Ahead – Take the Wheel (182 pages yours FREE), we’re also actively adding additional content. With the amount of content added on a daily basis, we knew we needed a better way for you to find it. We are extremely excited to announce enhancements to the way it is organized. Take a look around the site and see our changes on pages such as the Autocross, HPDEs / Time Trials, Club Racing, and The Racecar pages.

We’ve also added BRAND NEW Sections! Continue reading →

We have decided to increase the spectrum of racing we cover to include an even more grassroots form. Surprisingly over the past several months, we have received numerous inquires about how to get started in tractor racing. Yes, you’ve read this right! At first we quickly dismissed it but then began to do a bit of research. To say that we were in shock with what was discovered is an understatement. These tractors which can be built for under $900 and travel up to speeds of 40 mph…in a tractor!

From what we’re learning, the rules appear to be fairly consistent among the sactioning bodies and incorporate many aspects which are seen in Club Racing. I expected a basic “remove the cutting blades” and limit engine modifications but it goes way beyond this. For example, they require that all drivers wear an “approved for racing” neck support. We haven’t been able to figure out what exactly this means yet.

In order to provide you a quality resource on how to begin tractor racing, I twisted Kai’s arm to build a mower and attend a few events. Once we get a bit further into this venture we’ll be able to compile a new section on this site.

Should be fun!

UPDATED: We hope you enjoyed your April Fool’s Day, not that we wouldn’t give this a try.  :) 

The Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen, Germany

If you are a motorsport enthusiast, you probably know about historic sports cars, racers and races; if not, you are interested in learning about some the above; if you are technically inclined, you love the beauty of sports cars, perfection and ingenuity of their engineering, their development from the very beginning to the present day.

Whatever part of motorsports and cars fascinates you, the Porsche Museum is for you. Astrophysathingy and Ivy took the opportunity during this holiday season’s visit to Germany.

Continue reading →

Wouldn’t it be great if we all had a racing safety equipment store with a large inventory and reasonable pricing right near us? Unfortunately the majority of us are not so lucky. Then if there is a store nearby, chances are they do not have many different brands or sizes to choose from. This leads us to making purchases though online suppliers, which for some raises a concern of not being able to try on items. I sat down with Steve from OG Racing to get an industry expert’s advice on making these online purchases. I admit to being biased towards OG Racing having been a loyal customer of theirs for several years even before they became a sponsor to this free resource. Continue reading →