TESTED:  2013 Scion FR-S

By Jeff Naeyaert and Steve Rockwood

Nearly every mass-produced car we come across today is governed, designed, regulated, or otherwise manipulated by a committee.  As a result, nearly all of them stink.  When Toyota and Subaru set out to design the FR-S in 2007, the first thing they did was throw out the committees.  Finally, after hearing about this car for seemingly a decade, MotoIQ gets a chance behind the wheel on the track and on the road.

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Sneak Peak: COBB Tuning's 2012 Ford Focus - Part 1

By Steve Rockwood

The new Focus has finally brought Ford the sport compact they had been looking for since the introduction of the Focus over a decade ago.  Eager to get a head start on the platform, COBB Tuning partnered with Ford to build up a Focus SE to turn some hot laps as a Modified class time attack car.  Take a look with us inside the COBB Tuning Focus.

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Project Hypermiler: Handling Upgrades

By Steve Rockwood

The door handles and mirrors on Project Hypermiler came painted, and swapping out the sad excuse for shocks and springs on this car was absolutely necessary to keep them that way.  On top of that, the stock wheels and tires left the car looking like a grizzly bear riding a skateboard, making it an unfathomable proposition to retain these pizza-cutters after going through the trouble of upgrading the suspension.  Luckily, Suspension Techniques, Whiteline, Enkei, and Nitto had off the shelf solutions to help Project Hypermiler actually turn a corner at ludicrous speed while keeping its mirrors and door handles painted.

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Project Infiniti G20 Racecar: Even More Power

By Steve Rockwood

In kid's soccer, everyone gets a trophy, regardless of finishing order.  No winners, no losers.  Motorsports, on the other hand, is completely defined by whether you're winning or losing.  Unfortunately, our normally aspirated SR20 was not so mighty when compared to the other MPTCC cars, so we forced some air down its throat in the hopes of finally getting some hardware. 

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Project G20 Racecar: AEM AQ-1 Data Logger Install

By Steve Rockwood

My memory is horrible.  Outside of which landmarks to aim for, my recollection of what I just did to nail that last corner just right is downright absent, and I couldn't really even tell you if it actually was nailed just right.  Peak coolant temp on that last session?  Hell if I know, seemed fine when I bothered to look at it.  A/F ratios?  The guy behind me said I shot flames on decel, so rich would be my guess.  Intake temps?  No clue.  The fact is, there's a lot going on inside a racecar, and it requires a whole hell of a lot more of my attention than I can give.  Enter the AEM AQ-1 Data Logger.

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TESTED:  Goodyear Eagle RS Competition Tire

By Steve Rockwood

The most important part of a race car, and likely the largest expense you’ll have in any given racing weekend, is tires.  As a result, I want to make those expensive gumballs last as long as possible without going slow.  In the never ending game of rubberized trade-offs, we installed a set of Goodyear Eagle RS DOT R-compound tires on Project G20 Racecar.

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Project Infiniti G20 Racecar: More Power!

By Steve Rockwood

Road racing is a thrill that has few equals in the wide world of wheels.  Drag racing, unless you're talking nitro cars, is a thrill that quickly loses its lustre.  Losing a drag race while road racing, however, is an exercise in abject frustration.  Nothing will make you hate your car more than nailing that apex and throttle point perfectly to extract every ounce of momentum coming out of the corner, only to watch your opponent sail right past you on a long straightaway and park it in front of you in the next corner.  Project G20 Racecar's tired engine, with over 130,000 miles on it, was destined to only let us down.  We needed to fix it.

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Tested: Palmer Performance Engineering's DashCommand

By Steve Rockwood

Technology is amazing.  Back in the heyday of the import scene, people who had serious setups – or wanted to look like they had serious setups – had rows on rows of gauges.  The closer the resemblance to the cockpit of a Boeing 747 your Civic's dash looked, the more street cred you had.  These days, however, products like Palmer Performance Engineering's DashCommand takes those rows of gauges, and puts them into a device that fits in the palm of your hand.

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Project MKVI Golf TDI: Introduction and Suspension Upgrades By Steve Rockwood Diesels aren’t for everyone. It takes a special breed to sacrifice comfort and performance for efficiency. They’re noisier than their gas counterparts, they make less power, you can’t find fuel for them everywhere, and they’re dirtier. Anyone who has been behind a diesel Chevy Celebrity wagon, breathing in clouds of diesel stink while crawling up the onramp at 23mph will attest to these sentiments. Fortunately, VW didn’t give up on improving the quirkiness of Rudolph Diesel’s sparkless engine. The TDI Clean Diesel engine found in our Project MKVI Golf TDI has none of these vices. It is the everyman diesel.

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Project Infiniti G20 Racecar: Keeping it Running By Steve Rockwood Engine problems are not a good time, and there is usually a period of denial where you keep flooring your already toast motor, thinking it'll somehow "clear up" and fix itself. Eventually, you hear the bang, and you're greeted by the sound of once meticulously formed pieces of metal, now turned slag, bouncing around under the car. Then the smoke. Lots of smoke. Sweet Mary, this car's on fire smoke. It's amazing how fast you can exit a vehicle that's on fire.

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