Doing 185 MPH ? on Public Roads

Sometimes people do stupid things. Riding this fast on a public road is most definitely one of them. The video claims 299 kmh, which converts to roughly 185 mph, but some math wizards out there on the internet are claiming more like 135 mph. Regardless of the actual number, I think we can all agree that the rider was clearly not following the rules of the road. Let’s review the facts:

1) The symbol on the upper triple tree is found on a Yamaha R1.

2) R1’s are rumored to be able to reach close to 185 miles per hour. Real life, tire size,  and sprocket sizes will throw these numbers off.

3) The rider likely has some serious seat time considering he/she didn’t get swallowed by the back of a Subaru.

4) The rider is probably more young than old. Helmet cam + zero fear + motorcycle + posting on internet.

So who is this man of mystery? A professional racer? A fearless teenager? Or maybe it just a random guy on a fast bike that was extraordinarily lucky that he didn’t slide himself into a truck at 185 mph that day. Will we ever find out? So many unanswered questions within this video.

Tires at Texas: Samsun Mobile 500 Review

If you watched Saturday night’s Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the race last week was anything but exciting.

They all can’t be exciting, but this is a track where things  tend to happen to make it exciting, kind of like Jeff Burton taking out Jeff Gordon and getting into a fist fight over the incident on the backstretch, oh and wait let’s also put them into the ambulance together too…HA!, I wish I was the medical escort for that one.

It seems as though the most exiting thing that had happened was a caution for a baseball cap that managed to find its way onto the track. I was almost hoping that it would happen again just to shorten the long monotonous green flag runs.

Let’s face it, it happens. I don’t think Texas needs to shorten the race at all, however they may want to get together with Good Year and test a softer compound tire, so that they wear out faster, causing the cars to have to make pit stops more often.

The tires that they ran on Saturday seemed to be to hard, enabling the drivers to make long green flag runs. It seemed as though that the only way to pass a guy during Saturdays race was to pass them in the pits, because once you got out on that track most of the cars seemed to be stuck in the positions that they were in.

 

What’s The Coolest Car That You Have Found Hidden?

 

Being a car-guy, my casual conversations always head in the direction of cars, whether I know the person that I’m talking to or not. One of the wonderful things about this, is that when people know you’re a car-guy, they tell you about interesting cars that they know about. It happens way more often than you would think, and I’m not one to turn down a possible barn find.  Because of this, I frequently find myself on fascinating adventures that that lead me to vehicles that haven’t seen humans in many, many years.  I’ve had many highs and many lows, but even the lows are better than no chase at all.  I’ve had people tell me about and/or show me a split window Corvette, an insanely rare 64 fuel injected convertible Corvette, a Ferrari 308, a Mercedes 190SL, a 64 Impala convertible SS 4-speed, a Porsche in the back of a box truck, and even an entire building full of cars from the 1920’s to the 1970’s that hasn’t seen light in decades. I really have seen some pretty incredible stuff, and it’s all because people wanted to tell their own automotive story to a fellow car-guy.

Today we’re asking you: “What is the coolest car that you have found hiding from the world around it?”

The 4G63 E30 Now Runs 9.7’s at 140mph

Last season, I had the pleasure of showing off my friend Matt’s ridiculously fast BMW E30 that is powered by a Mitsubishi 4G63 turbo engine. Back then, it was running 10.53 and 132 MPH, but he had mentioned that he had a lot more horsepower on tap for when he wanted it. So, rather than cranking the power up and watching parts scatter down the length of the track, this past winter Matt and the Infamous Performance crew put in work. They back-half’ed the car, swapped in a new SERIOUS transmission, and took it for a shake down pass this past weekend. On the first day out, without ever hitting 9’s before, Matt ripped off a 9.7 second quarter mile time at 140 miles per hour.  As always, I have the video evidence for your entertainment.

Will Matt scrape into the 8’s this season? Sign up for the 1A Blog email and you’ll be the first to know WHEN it happens! Oh. It. Will. Happen.

Behind The Smoke Season 2: Episode 1

There is a video series rolling out right now that you absolutely must watch. It’s the first one of this season and it just hit the internet today. At full volume, it will get you so amp’ed up, you’ll think you drank 16 gallons of Redbull. Between last season and this season, Daijiro Yoshihara’s Formula D race car got a brand new engine and some safety updates. In this video, it shows Dai testing the car on the track for the first time this year, and finding out it wasn’t exactly what he was expecting. It’s tough to understand what there is not to like about an S13 with a GM LSx engine swap, but I suppose if you are a professional racer, and not a guy with huge dreams and slow cars…ehem.., it’s probably clear as day.  Enjoy the video, and be sure to come back on April 23rd for the next episode!

R5 Turbo 2. The Renault That You Actually Want.

Today we have spotted a vehicle on eBay that will knock your sweaty socks right off. It’s a Renault R5 Turbo 2. Let’s be honest, if you are going to buy a Renault, this is surely the one to buy. It has a lot of horsepower for its size, super low production, ridiculous low mileage (5,875 to be exact), and a shiny black paint job.  What is there not to love?  This thing would be killer to take around a curvaceous track at Senna speeds. It’s even got the roll cage just in case things get weird around you.  SFSportscars currently has the reserve set higher than $45,000.  Got some cash you need to let go of?

eBay item Number 150794495881

Images borrowed from eBay listing.

1994 Acura Integra Supercharged Big Block Swap

You saw the video of this big block swapped Acura Integra right here on the 1A Auto Blog way back in May, and now we spotted it for sale on eBay. The listing has just ended, but it didn’t seem to have much action while it was still alive. This heavily modified Integra had a Buy It Now price of $22,500, and a starting bid of $19,000. Sadly, the starting bid never even happened. Now normally I would say that $19K it is a lot for a 1994 Acura Integra. However, this one does have a big block 396 squished inside it, and a menacing looking blower strapped on the top. It has obviously also been converted to rear wheel drive, and also has a “few” other mods major that you may notice. Maybe it isn’t the most sensible car out there for in that price range, but sensible cars aren’t nearly as fun to drive either. What are your thoughts?

eBay Item 180854228015