By Laura Heng
The 24 Hours of Daytona usually kicks off the racing season but for Mazda the racing season officially begins at the Mazdaspeed Motorsports Media Day where the company lays out its motorsports strategy for the coming year. It was also a great history lesson in Mazda’s rich motorsports history that continues today. Mazda is not only involved in a ton of different pro level motorsports such as ALMS and GrandAm but Mazda also heavily supports and subsidizes grassroots racing efforts for the rest of us. A little known fact is that Mazda shells out several million dollars per season in driver scholarship money and prize money through their various racing programs. With all of this support that Mazda gives back to racers it's no wonder why Mazda is the most road raced brand in America.
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Super Lap Battles Finals 2011 - FXMD NSX & Tyler McQuarrie Break Overall Time Attack Record
For many of the top time attack teams the wait for November's Super Lap Battle is a lot like waiting for Christmas to arrive. Early in the year the teams set their sights on a target lap time to beat and have all year long to develop and fine tune their race cars to hit those targets. Super Lap Battle (SLB) is an invite only event and by tradition the event is held the first Wed after SEMA in November. November also happens to feature weather that is just about perfect for record breaking. This year was no exception and we saw more than a few high profile time attack records fall.
Motion Sport Compact Auto Show and Expo 2011
by Laura Heng
You’ve got to give credit where credit is due. Car show builds are privateer efforts for the most part and people doing it just for the love of the hobby. This group of car fanatics meticulously build these magnificent showcases of technogadgetry on wheels and put them on display for the rest of us to admire. The craftsmanship and obsessive attention to detail on many of the cars at the Motion Autoshow ooze pride of ownership and a passion for the tuning industry that any gearhead can appreciate no matter what discipline you come from.
Redline Track Events: Round 4 Race Report - Willow Springs International Raceway July 2 - 3, 2011
Every championship winning race team has had bad weekends. Blown motors, wrecked cars, or maybe just a $2 bolt that snapped can put an early end to your weekend during the heat of competition. The only thing that separates the champions from the rest of the pack is that some guys get back to work and rebuild to fight another day, others just pack it up and take up bowling instead (not that there is anything wrong with bowling). July 4th weekend at Willow Springs was Round 4 of the Redline Track Events series and was a particularly brutal weekend of racing for many.
Autoclub Speedway is one of my favorite tracks to go to. It’s close enough that your friends and family will come out and see you and the facility is by far the nicest one in Southern California. And best of all the track is one of the fastest tracks on the west coast! Redline Time Attack invaded the track on Memorial day weekend to host the Redline Pro Time Attack, Redline Pro Track Challenge, and MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship.
Inaugural Global Time Attack Breaks Off Records at WSIR
By Laura Heng, Photos by David Karey
Global Time Attack just sat down at the table to play their part in the game of time attack. GTA's first event went down this weekend at Willow Springs International Raceway. GTA is headed by John “Nads” Naderi, one of the most colorful industry veterans you’ll ever find. Nads cut his teeth in the industry as the grand poobah at Super Street Magazine back in the day and has been an industry mainstay for just about forever. Inside his head we always get a different twist on things and he is bringing his own styling touches to the sport of time attack. Who else but Nads would award a set of steak knives as the 3rd place prize. And instead of spraying champagne at the podium some drivers were spraying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
By Laura Heng, Photos by Anthony Massie and Brian Nguyen, European Auto Source
Before we even step into the show lets get something straight. In slang terminology, a BMW with four wheels is called a Bimmer and it is pronounced the same way you say “dimmer” like the adjustable light switch in your house. Beamer/Beemer which refers to a BMW with two wheels is pronounced the way you would say “creamer” like the dairy product you would put in coffee or tea. Now that we have that out of the way we can continue. LH
The city of Los Angeles hasn't been able to attract an NFL team but was able to bring the largest BMW car show down from Santa Barbara for the second year in a row. The mecca of all BMW gatherings, Bimmerfest now takes place on the grassy fields of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California and now attracts almost 2000 cars.
MFEST is a journey all BMW ///M owners should take at least once in their life. People travel from all over the country to participate in this spectacular event that goes down every year in Sin City. MFEST is not only an event to showcase your M, it is a trifecta of events that encompasses several acts of car related hedonism. The weekend starts in SoCal with a single file caravan all the way to Las Vegas for some Friday night drag racing. Saturday is the car show and track day held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The track day also gives shops and manufacturers the opportunity to compete in a Time Attack style MFest Tuner Shootout. MFEST concludes with the ultimate lifestyle party at TAO Beach at the Venetian Hotel. This was our first trip behind the MFEST curtain and organizer Chris Naguit has proven once again that he is the man with the masterplan!
Redline Track Events & MPTCC Round 2 - Firebird Raceway
by Laura Heng Redline Track Events made its way down to Firebird International Raceway for Round 2 of the Circuit Battles, Pro Time Attack, MotoIQ MPTCC, and Lotus Cup Races.
Redline Track events kicks off their racing season with a cornucopia of racing events in a single weekend at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, CA. Spectators were able to feast on a buffet of different disciplines of motorsports with the four different racing events running simultaneously. The Redline Pro Track Challenge is where the high dollar machines came out to do battle for a chance to win a part of the massive $250,000 prize purse being offered and the Redline Pro Time Attack is the traditional time attack we are all familiar with. The MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship (MPTCC) which is a half hour wheel to wheel race with a vast array of cars competing on the same racing surface. And lastly we had the Lotus Cup series which is a manufacturer supported series that featured their own time attack and wheel to wheel race.
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