We may have gone home from Road America empty handed, but we looked good doing it! @worldracingleague RA wrapup pod with @tommykendall11 and @mateosiderman next week! And thanks for the banger photoset from TST listener @miller.sivak
Come Drive With Us! @roadandtrack presents our biggest driving adventure yet, with a pair of trackdays at the Nurburgring and Spa in an eight-day driving adventure through three countries! This one is gonna be epic, link in bio for more info!
Welp, some days you eat the bar, and some days....the car is a BMW after all. Our car completed a grand total of .... zero laps in race 2. Frustrating, to say the very least, and a long day of waiting and not racing. (the trunk lid called it). Try again another day, I guess.
ULTIMATE SLEEPER ALERT! @westsidecollectorcarstorage is proud to present on @bringatrailer this low mile, fantastic condition 1992 Lotus Carlton! What is a Lotus Carlton, you ask? Well in the early 1990's, this, not the BMW M5 or any Mercedes was the fastest sedan in the world. 380 twin-turbo horsepower, a 6-speed manual gearbox, and a luxrious interior! I have personally driven this car, and I can attest to the fact that it is obscenely, shockingly fast. 380 is probably a wheel horsepower number, TBH. Only one day left so get at it!
P4 in class for today's race! Not bad at all for the number 62 BMW, particularly since a mechanical issue sidelined us for 4 laps - exactly our distance from a podium. @mateosiderman started from P6 and handed it to me in P2, which I held for 2 hours. @therealzackklapman killed it in his first WRL race and held P3 (we lost a spot in the driver change) until the car went into limp mode and needed some love. Although @tommykendall11 was in true form going out of the pits in P4 and turning in awesome times in a tired car on shot tires, not enough race left to work back the deficit to P3. An amazing time on America's best race track, and we go again tomorrow! @openthrottletrackdays @worldracingleague
Race weekend at Road America! Looking to repeat our win at COTA, @mateosiderman @tommykendall11 @therealzackklapman and myself are running the @openthrottletrackdays BMW M235i-R (in a livery I most certainly did not choose). Best track in the country, we have a great crack at it! Brought a Durango Hellcat for HPDE practice - 91 at the track is cheaper than in LA!
The BMW M2 CS, in theory, should be the best BMW on sale right now, correct? It's the sharpest, nastiest version of their smallest rear-drive sports coupe. It has the engine from the M3 competition, light weight bits, and ceramic brakes, plus the front end looks better now. I even love the color. But then when we get to the track, maybe not so much? These are some thoughts, and you know where to find a lot more.
IG Review: @uslegendcars Spec Racer!
THE GREAT: Ok, so much. For under $25k BRAND NEW you can have a Legends spec racer in either coupe or wagon body. With a 900CC Yamaha motorcycle engine revving to 12k, and 6-speed sequential gearbox, pushing around only 1,200 lbs, a 2/3 scale single seater, the Legends splits the difference between a shifter kart and a proper formula car, but with the mental comfort of being inside a cage and full body structure. These things are ridiculously quick, responsive, and as fizzy as any seven-figure hypercar on the market. There’s a ridiculously competitive spec series to race them on both ovals and road courses, and you can enter them in hillclimbs and street sprints. Yes, they can also be set up to drift.
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THE GOOD: Compact and light enough to literally be driven *into* the bed of a pickup truck for transport. Light weight, over-engineered components, and the dependability of a sealed Yamaha crate powertrain mean low running costs. And the setup is easy enough to do at home, for a variety of different types of racing. Theoretically, one could swap in a Hyabusa or other psycho-bike motor for even absurder performance in hillclimbs.
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THE NOT-SO-GOOD: Because it weighs 3x what a Yamaha motorcycle does while using the same clutch, I stalled about 300 times before just dumping it from 5,000 RPM - unnerving. It’s just a *little* too small inside for my 32” inseam legs. And don’t forget ear protection; I did, and regretted it for 2 days. I’d prefer a slightly slower steering ratio - a bit twitchy.
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THE BOTTOM LINE: Just about the best value for money in track toys that I’ve ever experienced, and at a price/space/headache level far below building your own production-based race car. Drives like a fast go-kart, but on tracks meant for cars, so the @tententhsmotorclub 20-corner circuit felt like the Nordschleife. If I wanted to own any race car, this would be it. ------------- @tententhsmotorclub and @uslegendcars provided the venue and the cars for this review!
now that @cms_motorsports has completed the handmade metal E500 fenders, time to ship the old girl down to @kwiekclassics in TN for a complete powertrain swap!
"I'm not supposed to be here"
From TST podcast #1105 with @vaughngittinjr
You ain't ready for @vaughngittinjr 's high school car story.
Want more stories, wisdom, driving tips, and inspiration? Get his new book, "Ready to Rock".
hell of a turnout for the @roadandtrack Desert 600! Should have beautiful skies the whole way! Pacific Northwest next if you want to come drive with me!
