Heat Treatments Limited Racing – the New Zealand team behind the world’s quickest Skyline GT-R – have rewritten the record books once again. At Willowbank Raceway in Queensland, Australia on Saturday, driver Reece McGregor pointed the HTL Racing BNR32 to a 7.455 at 193.27mph (311km/h) pass before going 7.412 at the same trap speed. It’s been exactly a year since the legendary GT-R set its last PB – that run was a 7.531 at 185.26mph (298.14km/h) at the very same Willowbank Sportsman pre-FUCHS Winternationals meet – so cracking into the 7.40s (and very nearly the 7.30s!) is a great accomplishment. We can’t wait to see what the team can do at the 2013 Winternats in a few weeks time! In the meantime, check out some video of the 7.45 and 7.41 passes from the guys at DragImportMedia.
Back in the late 1980s before the term “viral video” even existed, Peugeot released an amazing short film called Climb Dance. The professionally produced film featured the company’s legendary 405 T16 GR during its victorious charges up Pikes Peak. As part of Peugeot’s return to Pikes Peak this year, Climb Dance has been remastered and re-released. Nearly 25 years later, the film absolutely stands the test of time. It’s simple and to the point, and perfectly conveys the madness that was Pikes Peak in the ’80s.
Although #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER is more associated with photography submissions, we also deal with video, writing and any other medium which can portray Speedhunting. Take this video made by Speedhunter’s reader Justin Lapriore as a perfect case in point. Filmed at the 18th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, which paid homage to 50 years of Lamborghini, the Ford GT40, the Porsche 911 and the Corvette Stingray.
No it’s not a remote control car, this is the 208 T16 Pikes Peak shooting up Mt. Ventoux in France with Sébastien Loeb at the wheel. As we have recently seen Peugeot are pretty serious about making a proper comeback at the legendary hillclimb and this week the team was out testing their insane little machine prior to sending it off to the US. Hit play and enjoy six full minutes of backfiring, aero-assisted awesomeness.
They say that drifting is a battle between two drivers, but this weekend at the second round of Formula Drift at Road Atlanta, Speedhunters drivers Fredric Aasbø and Vaughn Gittin Jr took that concept to another level. When they came up against each other, things didn’t go quite according to plan for either driver… [...]
I’m a big fan of going down ski slopes at unreasonable speeds, but not such a big fan of the slog to get back to the top again. So any way of reaching the summit in double quick time sounds good to me – especially if it involves the unfeasible idea of throwing a four-wheel drive, 600hp R35 GT-R up a freshly-bashed run.
Up? Yes. Uphill, like semi-vertically. Team IceRiders and Redhouse Media decided to find out if it would work, and added in some snowmobiles for an almost James-Bond-in-reverse thrash up the side of a mountain at Kåbdalis in northern Sweden. Ski lifts will seem so last year from now on…
Am I alone in thinking that seat swaps are some of the funnest motorsport-related videos to watch? In this clip, BMW Motorsport got together 2012 DTM champ Bruno Spengler and 1989 DTM champ Roberto Ravagila with their pair of M3s for a little fun at Hockenheim.
The whole thing is pretty interesting, but the sound of the E30 alone makes this video worth a watch!
When Mad Mike Whiddett gets behind the wheel of one his drift cars there are a few you things you can be guaranteed of. Big noise, big smoke and big angle are part and parcel of the Kiwi drifter’s repertoire; and recently he brought them all to a special video project named Red Bull Conquer The Crown. Filmed on the iconic Crown Range Road in Queenstown near the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island, the project presented a once in a lifetime chance for Mike to go maximum attack on the closed 10.47-kilometre (6.5-mile) stretch of tarmac in his 515hp quad-rotor MADBUL RX-7 – and he didn’t let the opportunity go to waste. Turn up your speakers and press play to witness one of Speedhunters’ own hit the vertical switchback section; find the limiter in sixth gear on the high-speed plateau; and slide through some classic touge-style corners on the final run to the 1.08-kilometre high summit. Epic stuff!
If you were to ask people in Japan what think of when they hear the word “Supercar”, they will probably recall a 1970s comic series called Circuit no Okami (Circuit Wolf). The story featured all of the world’s great Supercars of the time, and in this old Best Motoring video clip some of Japan’s best racing drivers got together at Sugo to recreate the action with a group of vintage cars featured in the comic. The grid of cars is quite impressive – Ferrari 308, Lamborghini Countach, Lamborghini Miura, Pantera and more.
While I doubt Keiichi Tsuchiya and company are pushing these vintage exotics quite as hard as they would a normal car, the battle is still something to behold.
As an American it’s hard not to feel a strong sense of pride about the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Not only do we finally have a world class Formula 1 circuit, but the track is also attracting other big racing series – including the Australian V8 Supercars. As part of the lead up to next month’s race, Supercar driver James Courtney got together in Austin with NASCAR’s Kurt Busch for a little car swap fun. Not only does this get me excited to see the Aussie V8s at COTA, but it also got me thinking about how cool it would be to see the Sprint Cup series add the track to its schedule as the third road course. It makes perfect sense, right?
Last month we got a little preview of Monster Tajima’s new “Super 86″ hillclimb machine. Since then, the car has been making its way around Japan appearing at various events including the recent All Japan Dirt Trial meet in Kyushu. Car@Nifty was there and captured this video clip of Monster ripping around the course.
Not only is the Super 86 impressive to see, I’m also thinking that we gotta get Dino out to one of these dirt trial events sometime. Looks like a ton of fun!
Over the years we’ve seen some rather amazing automotive creations built from LEGO, but this is one of the coolest yet. A LEGO maniac who goes by the name of Solde recently completed this highly detailed replica of a Toyota 4A-GE engine. And as this clip shows, not only does the Solde’s project look like a 4A-GE, it works like one too. Watch the video and be amazed.
While Porsche’s official return to Le Mans is still more than a year away, the company isn’t letting anyone forget what they are working on for 2014. This clip, featuring some great vintage footage from the 1971 race, also reminds everyone that they’ve got quite a legacy to live up to.
I’m still basking in a gloriously dusty coating of rallycross love following the opening of the Rallycross RX season at Lydden Hill in the UK, something which has been promoted yet further by Steve White’s excellent contribution to the #IAmTheSpeedhunter programme from the preceding British round.
Looking to keep my rallycross fix up, I can’t help but watch on repeat this footage released by Petter Solberg’s older brother Henning, as he tested his Saab 9-3 Supercar ahead of the race. Getting a good result in rallycross begins with getting off the line at maximum velocity, and good god do RX Supercars launch at a frightening speed. Check out this clip for 40 seconds of neck-snapping, double-speed acceleration heaven.
