When Bullz-eye reviewed the Harley Davidson Blackline late last year, I found it high on curb appeal, low on cornering prowess. Of course, you can’t expect a boulevard crusier that weighs around 800 lbs. to be athlete on the street either. Roland Sands Designs didn’t agree with this statement and decided to make the Blackline perform as well as it looks.
When a customer came in with a Blackline to customize, Roland and his crew decided to bring the bike back to Harley’s racing roots. Yes, you read that right, Harley Davidson once had significant success racing successes. Specifically, the inspiration from the build would be a vintage Harley WR Flathead racer. To accomplish this feat, the Blackline was stripped of unnecessary components, approprate tires and handlebars were added, and a dozen or so bespoke parts were added in to make truly dirt track capable.
To prove that this bike had style and substance, RSD took the bike out for some shenanigans and pictures before delivering it to the soon-to-be very happy owner.
Full details of the build, and more glorious hi-res shots can be seen on RSD’s website, here.
A little over a week ago, Icon debuted their second installment in their drift battle series. As the credits rolled, their was brief glimpse of a drift gone terribly wrong. Apparently, this crash happened while the driver was taking one last pass up the mountain, but in his personal 240SX, not the Cobra featured in the video. Icon has noticed the attention that this crash has gotten and has released a video showing the full footage of that crash for the lulz. Let the good times roll…
Get ready on Sunday to torrent legally view the newest season of Top Gear. The Top Gear team has put up a few trailers to show just what we can expect from this new show. As always, there will be burnouts, big engines, and dry British wit a plenty, but there also seems to be a few surprises. One segment that looks particularly interesting is the brief clip of the hobbit in the NASCAR racer.
Once again, it’s time for the return of the greatest car show….in the world.
The lore of NASCAR is filled with stories of backyard mechanics taking cars right off the showroom floor and winning races, fame, and glory with nearly stock cars. This is why NASCAR is called “stock car” racing after all. However, since the late 1980s, the cars have become less and less related to the showroom cousins. For 2013, Ford is trying to mend that gap, at least aesthetically, with their new 2013 Fusion racer.
Taking its cues from the production Fusion that debuted at the North American International Auto Show, the new Fusion race car adapts the cars dramatic headlight and grill treatment. To make the car look even more “stock,” the overall proportions of the stock car were mirrored. Even the character line that runs down the stock car’s side was replicated on the racer.
After 2 years away from Formula One, Kimi Raikkonen is back. Making his return with Lotus-Renault, Kimi took his first spin in the new car last weekend in Valencia, Spain. Initial tests appear to have gone well, but we will have to wait until the season opener in March to see if he is back up to competition form.
Little was known about the sub-Boxster model Porsche was planning to produce. Some, like myself, saw it as a successor to Porsche’s 550 Spyder and 356. Others pointed to the parts sharing between Porsche, VW, and Audi, and saw the car as a successor to the dreadful 914. We may never know how good it may or may not have been however, since reports out of Germany say that Porsche is stalling its development.
Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller sat down with German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche to discuss the automaker’s future. When pressed about the 550 successor he stated, “Possibly we need to wait until the next generation of customers before the idea of a small roadster will work for Porsche,” and that it would “dilute the brand image.” This reason is complete nonsense. He might have well said, “These are not the droids you are looking for.”
The fastest accelerating full hybrid on the planet has arrived! In a teaser released last week, the 2012 Infiniti M Hybrid races against the 2012 Porsche Panamera S Hybrid to prove which can proudly claim the title, “World’s Fastest Full Hybrid.”
The results of ‘The Duel’ are now in, which you can see for yourself:
Inspiration for the video originated when the Infiniti M Hybrid made it into the Guinness World Records® as the world’s fastest accelerating full-hybrid car last fall, when the 360-horsepower gas/electric luxury performance sedan covered the standing quarter mile in 13.9031 seconds!
Today in Chicago it’s freezing cold and old man winter is about to punish us with snow. Naturally, driving is not the most fun right now. However, give me a Fiesta WRC to drive in these conditions and I would happily change my tune. Tearing up the streets with flames shooting out the back while SUVs are stuck in the snow is my picture of heaven.
If you’re also being pimp-slapped by the cold, take a look at the footage of Ford putting their new Fiesta WRC contender through its paces in Spain and imagine for yourself how awesome that car would be when the snow comes.
And Ford, Monte Carlo? Seriously? It’s too warm there. I know the WRC race there is coming up, but maybe hand over the keys to me for a bit. I’ll put the car through a real test here in the Windy City. No take backs though, sorry.
Let’s say you have $100,000 to spend on a car, any car. The obvious choices are simple: Porsche 911, GTR, maybe some second-hand Ferrari (to ratchet up the douche status), but those choices are obvious and boring. The world can go without another Porsche 911 owner stereotype. What if, instead, you bought a Focus. Not just any Focus of course, but the race-ready Focus ST-R. Not only will you not be another financial banker clown, but you would be one step closer to becoming a racing superstar. Not really, but one can pretend right?
So, if you’re still not convinced on how to spend your imaginary stack, check out the video of Tanner Foust putting the new ST-R through its paces.
In a leak on Twitter by Toyota’s PR rep Scott Brownlee, Dashboard has our first look at Toyota’s re-entry into LeMans competition. Yes, re-entry. Toyota has raced the 24hr long race before in the early 1990′s with modest success, but the program only lasted a few years. Last October, Toyota announced that they are planning to race at LeMans once again, but until now details have been slim.
For their second try at the race, Toyota is bringing a hybrid-equipped race car to fight against Audi’s incredibly successful, diesel powered R18. We can’t tell much from the leak other than that the car looks competition ready, but hard facts on power weight, and engine specs (the stuff that wins races) is yet to be released. The green flag has a whole new meaning now that two environmentally friendly challengers are in the race.
