RideLust

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You may know Sabine Schmitz as the Wonder Woman of the Nurburgring, or as some folks like to refer to her, The Hottest Woman On The Planet. Sabine is best known for her skills piloting the Ring Taxi around the Nurburgrings many corners, but when not giving people paid tours around the Ring, she’s out test driving the worlds latest and greatest super cars. For example here we see Sabine taking CAR magazine’s Juliet McGuire for a little run in a BMW M3 Frozen Edition. Ms. Juliet is right on the edge of her seat for the entire ride and truth be told, Sabine looks as though she is totally enjoying making her passenger freak out. All I know is that Juliet McGuire is loving being in the passenger seat of that BMW, and I have a feeling that after that ride she’ll be satisfied in more ways than one.

Source: Carmag.co.za

When I was learning to race cars, my instructor was adamant about one thing: in a race, no matter what happens, you keep going unless you’re on fire or don’t have any oil pressure. I came close to rolling a car once, and wanted to keep driving even after the corner worker ordered me to pit; thus, I understand the perspective of Croatian rally driver Dražen ?uri? and his co-driver, Albert Horn of Hungary. The pair was running a rally stage last April, in a heavily modified Mitsubishi Pajero, when the combination of a jump and rut caused the truck to roll on its left side. It looked like it was game over, but somehow ?uri? managed to right the truck with the steering wheel.

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This past Saturday at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California, gymkhana Drift King Ken Block got his ass handed to him at his own event. You see the Gymkhana Grid Series was launched by Block as a way to help bring the sport of gymkhana further into the mainstream media. Competitors such as Tanner Foust and Vaughn Gittin Jr. were on hand not only to support Block, but to compete as well. A problem arose however when drift champion Tanner Foust, not only beat Block at the sport that he made famous, but beat him at his own inaugural event. Now I don’t know about you, but if I were Block I’d be feeling a bit sheepish right now. The video is a bit long but totally worth the watch, it should also be noted that Mr. Foust is a total class act. Click play and you’ll see why…

Source: Youtube.com

Automobiles are safer now than in any other time in history. Built in roll cages, crash boxes and crumple zones as well as airbags and all manner of safety restraint systems are in place to keep occupants safe from harm. In the early days speed ruled the roost and driver safety was more of an afterthought than anything else. Racers would run flat-out at speeds upwards of 100 mph in some of the most archaic machines ever made, all in the quest for victory. There were no seat belts, fire retardant suits or helmets for drivers to wear and because of this being a race car driver was one of the most lethal sporting events one could partake in. The above video shows us just how the pioneers of motor sports won, lost and sometimes even died. Be warned, some of the images are graphic, but once you see them I think you’ll be amazed at how far we’ve come in terms of the technological advancements that have been made to the automobile over the last 100 years.

Source: Youtube.com

If you’ve ever been in any type of speed based event, then you’ll understand when I say that every second counts. Winners and losers are defined in some cases by mere milliseconds, a time frame that most think of as inconsequential. As a racer you must learn when to be aggressive, when to lay back and when to ring out every last ounce of power and skill that you possess. Racing, regardless of the type, takes vision, drive and determination and is something that not all of us excel at. Before a race you have to ask yourself one simple question – Are you willing to put everything on the line to win? If you’re answer is yes then you are a racer, but if you hesitate, even for a second, you have no business being in competition. The above video is wonderful example of the drive that it takes to be considered as a competitor.

Source: Youtube.com

The debate over which is faster, motorcycles or cars has been going on forever. In a straight line there is usually no contest as the power to weight ratio of a motorcycle is simply to tough for an automobile to match. Handling however is another issue entirely, as this is where a great sports cars can usually come back to hold their own. You see a motorcycle has two contact patches that are generally about 3-inches wide, where a car has 4 extremely wide ones. Sure the bike is lighter and more nimble, but they’re generally tougher to run at speed and take much more concentration and skill to do so safely. The car on the other hand is more of a point and shoot machine, I mean sure there is a lot of skill involved but the odds of you falling off a car at 150 mph are generally pretty slim. The above video pits the 562 hp Ferrari 458 Italia against the 170 hp two-wheeled hammer that is the Ducati 1198S. Two Italian icons, one race track and only one winner. Click play to find out the results.

Source: Youtube.com

The 2010 Audi quattro Concept may not look a lot like the 1984 Audi Sport quattro (and that’s a good thing), but it has a lot in common with its great-grandfather. Both were two seat coupes, both weighed less than 2,900 pounds, both were capable of sub-four second runs to 60 miles per hour and both had cutting edge variants of Audi’s quattro AWD system. The 1984 Sport quattro was built in very limited numbers at a staggering price of 204,000 German marks, or roughly $102,000 in 1984. To put things in perspective, that made the Sport quattro more expensive than a Ferrari 288 GTO.

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The Race of Champions is an event that brings together some of the best race car drivers from around the globe and pits them against each other in a one-of-a-kind, head to head event. Being invited to compete in the ROC is a pretty big honor, so it’s no surprise to see competitors running at full tilt during the event. Sometimes though accidents happen, as was the case with Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen and his race prepped Audi R8. Kovalainen was running against reigning WRC Champion Sebastian Loeb when his Audi suffered a suspension failure coming out of a tight left hand corner, thus forcing him into the barriers. When Kovalainen made contact with the barriers they exploded in a pretty spectacular fashion that no doubt pissed off organizers but delighted fans everywhere. The poor R8 was pretty much wiped out during the crash as was any ego that Heikki Kovalainen may have had before the race.

Source: Youtube.com

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For those of you that have never been drag racing before, let me give you a little insight as to how it works. First you go out and either buy or build a car. Then you test it, test it and test it again to make sure everything works as it should. Then, when you’re finally ready, you take it to the strip, wait for the light to turn green and nail it. Sure that may be the uber simple version, but at least you get the idea. Today’s drag cars can make upwards of 8000 hp (not a misprint) and have the power to take a human being down the 1320 in under 5-seconds at speeds of over 300 mph. When you’re moving this quickly your margin for error decreases immensely and because of this when things go wrong they usually go wrong big. Take this run by Dennis Bailey back in October of this year for example. About half-way down the track we can all see the front end go light as the car begins to generate lift. The car is then put down, but then once again gains further lift to the point where it rotates up and over in one of the worst accidents we’ve ever seen. Thankfully Dennis Bailey survives, but man oh man, what a ride that must have been.

Via Bang Shift

The Nurburgring is probably the most famous 14 miles of tarmac in all of motor sports. Manufacturers test there, races are run there and with enough money, even the general public is allowed to have a shot at it. Sometimes however foul weather kicks in as a result of Mother Nature having a bad day. For some it means a ruined afternoon that is met with frowns and tears, for others, it simply means thinking outside the box. Imagine if you will, tackling the Nurburgring on a four-wheeled vehicle that you actually sit on and not in – sounds good right? The above video shows some enterprising young folk telling Mother Nature to go scratch, as they’ve decided they can have some fun despite what she says. All it takes are a few quads, some gonzo balls of steel and a few bucks for fuel. I’ll be honest here, I’d almost be as psyched to try the Nurburgring on a quad as I would be to try it in a car.

Source: Youtube.com