Fast Lap with Billy Johnson - Circuit Of The Americas

By Billy Johnson

Circuit Of The Americas (COTA for short) is America's first purpose-built Formula 1 track which stands at 3.427 miles long.  The track is characterized by a lot of elevation change and with 20 diverse and technical turns, it's a formula for great racing and a really difficult but fun track to drive. 

Located in Austin, TX the track was designed with the assistance of Hermann Tilke, who is responsible for designing most of the modern F1 circuits.  Proposed in the middle of 2010, COTA was completed in time for the November 18, 2012 Formula 1 race which I was fortunate enough to attend.  The track will host everything from MotoGP to Australian V8 Supercars and the world's top Road Racing series.   It's exciting to finally have a modern European-style circuit here in the States with a similar track specification, layout, curbing, and run-offs.  Rather than the tight, narrow, and bumpy tracks that characterize North American racing circuits.

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The Project Evo X MR is back!

By Cheston Chiu

Just when you thought all was lost, the MotoIQ Project Evo X MR is back on track.
As previously stated back in the November 2011 article Project Evo X GSR - Testing the K&N Cold Air Intake.  "The owner", aka. ME, was fairly reluctant to venture beyond simple engine bolt-ons mainly due to concerns with the twin-clutch SST transmission and its ability to hold power.  The other excuse, which I think would supersede anything else, was the fact that the project stalled because my wife and I were trying raise our one-year old daughter at the time.  All we did was go to work and then come home to take care of her (and the dog)—which didn't allow a whole lot of time for hobbies.  Now, let's fast forward to today, I have a little bit more free time since Mike wrote that article, my daughter is getting easier to manage, and during the hiatus I've stockpiled a bunch of awesome parts that I'd like to chronicle for MotoIQ.

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Driver Blog: Randy Pobst - The Agony of Defeat

By Randy Pobst

You punk kids won't remember that line, from the intro of the old hit TV show ABC's Wide World of Sports (see youtube). “The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat”, and then some poor schmuck falls on the ski-jump ramp and launches butt-first. Yikes, looked like it hurt. Hate to admit this publicly, but that's pretty much how it felt for the K-PAX Volvo team at Long Beach last weekend. Agony.

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2013: The LoveFab Enviate, Presented by: Turbo by Garrett

By Cody Loveland

The 2012 Pikes Peak International Hillclimb was our first major racing event as constructors, drivers, sponsor hunters, and podium celebrators.  The enormity of what was accomplished with our time and budget still hasn't hit home.  Join us as we detail the construction of the 2013 LoveFab Enviate.

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Project Car Update:  The V8 Edition

By Colin Holte

A quick glance at the project car column should tell you that MotoIQ has a large (and ever expanding) roster of project vehicles.  With all these vehicles it can sometimes be tough to keep the updates flowing for each.  In some cases vehicles may have even been sold but we still keep them on the project roll for posterity.  These articles are intended to share a little bit of the details with you of where some of the project vehicles that haven't seen the spotlight in a while are at in their evolution.  In this installment we check in with the V8s:  Project Mustang V8 5.0, Project Tundra, Project V8 RX-7, and Project Lexus IS F.

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Was the SR Swap a Mistake?
Or is the GA a hidden gem that was simply overlooked?

By Frank Ewald

Overheating is an ongoing issue with an SR20DET stuffed into an NX1600, but the NX GTiR is getting there. A significant addition to combat this challenge is a G-Spec oil cooler. This is a monster and that's what I needed to keep things cool. However, the capacity and size posed its own issues regarding where to locate it.  Read on to see how we resolved this issue and others that have cropped up along our Motorsports journey.

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Event Coverage: Formula SAE Lincoln

By David Zipf

Photos by David Zipf & Luisa Sawyer 

Last year we showed you what goes into a basic Formula SAE car (courtesy of the University of Delaware). At the time, a number of readers asked why there was no coverage of the actual competitions. Well I had planned to do so, but unfortunately I had my head so buried under that car that I never actually got around to seeing most of the events. This year I made a point of going to as much as I could to try and cover some of what goes on.

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Tested: Trackmaster by Trackaroo

By Vince Illi 

Data acquisition is a great way to become a better and faster driver. It lets you know what and where you need to improve and can help you determine exactly what the benefits and drawbacks of tuning are. That’s why professional race teams spend thousands of dollars on high-end data acquisition equipment. Amateurs have access to less-expensive data acquisition equipment, but a budget racer might have to choose between a set of track tires or a data logging box.

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Modern Classic:  Impulse's Street-Tuned AE86

by Tatsunori Tsuchida

They’re usually very anal about their cars here. One can probably attribute this to the lack of necessity for private transportation. As much as cars in our society are a status symbol, it takes on a different plateau in a country where busses and trains are accepted as being normal modes of transportation. Couple that with a real estate market where homes always depreciate in value; and you get people living in shoddy homes with trick rides in the driveway.

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Event Coverage: Carnage at X Games 18 RallyCross

by June Masermsin

If you attended X Games 18 last weekend you know the venue at LA Live was crazy.  Creating the racetrack required the closing of three main streets in downtown Los Angeles smack in the middle of the busiest week of the summer.  But it's all worth it, as nothing beats the fascinating sights created by rally cars flying through the air with the Staples Center as the backdrop.

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