Totally Gnarly Superbike Crash

Here’s some more proof that racing motorbikes isn’t for the timid. After one rider loses it just before a turn, Italian racer Vittorio Iannuzzo winds up running straight into him and goes over the handlebars head first. It’s unclear who came out worse, but it’s safe to say both of these guys were pretty sore when they woke up the next morning. Ouch.

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What Did You Do This Weekend?

This is a garden-variety automotive thermostat. It is supposed to open and close at 190F. It actually opens and closes at 170F, which is why it is no longer in my car. I had no heat last winter, and my fuel economy has been pretty horrible. My temp gauge was all over the place, and replacing the temp sensor did nothing. So I finally trusted my gut and pulled the tstat. Not only was it one of the least dramatic repairs I’ve had to make on the wagon, it was also one of the most effective.

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Today’s Eye Candy

Here’s some eye candy that I happen to really love at the moment. Horacio Pagani can do no wrong. He is an automotive god. See the high res version at The Real JDM

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27 mpg and 350-plus HP in a V-6 Chevette

Phil Hatzos recently made mention of his 30 MPG, 300 HP Chevette, which sounded interesting, so I asked him for photos. See, the 60-degree GM V-6 is good for something! Continue reading at Hemmings

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Gary and Pam Beineke’s Awesome 1971 One of None Superbird

A car feature on a 1971 Plymouth Super Bird? You got it. So what if Mopar never built such an animal, Gary and Pam Beineke did, and this one’s loaded with a 472ci Hemi wth a Six Pack. Yeah, Chrysler never made a Six Pack Hemi, either.

The vaunted “aero wars” in NASCAR came to a crashing halt in 1970 with the announcement by Bill France that all of the “special cars,” or those that had factory aerodynamic enhancements would be limited to a mere 305ci. Fielding a miniscule small-block in a field of big-inch stompers was not going to be productive, so the manufacturers killed their aerodynamic projects and went back to big cars with big frontal areas and big motors to punch through the air.

What gets lost in the mix is the simple fact that everyone, Ford, Chrysler, and GM, had skunkworks programs well in progress for the 1971 season and beyond. Although they were stopped after the announcement, testing had been done and documents created about the wind-tunnel prowess of the cars.

This is where Gary and Pam Beineke come in. Continue reading and see the full photo gallery at BangShift.com

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Vanity Plate

Welcome to the Federal Department of Redundancies. Uninspired vanity tags make me wonder what the world is coming to: are people really that uninspired? We can all read the badges on the car, dude. We know you are driving a G8 GXP. You don’t have to tell us again. Have you seen a redundant plate? Was it unfunny, too?

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America the Beautiful: “Climb Dance”

One of the coolest things I’ve ever done was cover the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb, and since it’s the view from the summit which inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write “America the Beautiful,” I figured this classic footage deserves some sunlight.  “Climb Dance” won a laundry list of awards, and it does a hell of a job capturing the magnificent beauty and harrowing racing of Pike’s Peak. Happy birthday America, I love you! Have a great 4th everyone!

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LeMons Gear: Gloves and Collar

After striking out at Summit on gloves, I was kind of at a loss. I hate the whole “order it and if it doesn’t fit, send it back” thing. So I turned my attention to collars, the foam pieces that support your helmet on your shoulders so you neck doesn’t take a serious beating. RJS Racing kept popping up as the cheap solution, and a quick search revealed that their plant is about ten minutes from my job. How cool is that? I ran over there at lunch and come home with the collar and a pair of Made in the USA gloves that fit. I spent $77, bringing me to a grand total of $275, $25 under my self-imposed limit of $300. That includes the $10 I spent on Nomex thread to “fix” my suit.

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