Video: The Lancia Delta S4 Goes 0-62 in 2.3 Seconds….on Dirt.

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lancia-delta-s4

The Lancia Delta S4 has been invading my brain for a few days now, and I just can’t seem to shake it off. If you aren’t familiar with it, I’m not that surprised because it was part of Group B Rally Racing back in 1985 and 1986. Then it sort of fell off the planet. Between 1982 and 1986, Group B rally racing was “open minded” when it came to the race cars, so some of them were horrifyingly, stupid, silly fast.  In fact, they were so dangerous that Group B was ended by the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) at the end of 1986.  Many people blame the rally spectators for this FIA decision because sometimes they stood in front of oncoming race cars, and got hit…..duh…  I’m not here to place blame though, I just want to share the greatness that is the S4.

The Lancia Delta S4 was loosely based on the Lancia Delta.   In reality, they shared almost nothing, except for the general shape of the body. The Delta S4’s body was built from carbon fiber, it had long arm race suspension, all wheel drive, and of course a twin charged mid mounted engine.  Officially it made 480 horsepower, but off the record, it was rumored to be closer to 600.  That is ludicrous power from a little 1759cc engine (That translates to about a 1.8 Liter or 107 cubic inch), not too shabby. Read More

1A Blog Asks: Top Gear USA – Are You a Fan Yet?

Jeremy Nutt 4 Comments

 Top Gear

By now, we have all had some time to fully digest the first season of Top Gear USA, did we like it?  Whoa, whoa! Before getting too far into it, let’s do a quick refresher of what we saw:

Episode 1: We met Tanner, Rutledge, and Adam as a team for the first time.  Then we watched the Viper SRT-10 annihilate the rear tires attempting to escape the apparent wrath of a military helicopter.  Oh, there was also a 3-wide Lamborghini race, and we got to see Buzz Aldrin, who has gone 25,000 mph, but drives cars very slowly.

Episode 2: Tanner raced down a mountain in the new Mitsubishi Lancer EVO, Rutledge gave us a review on the Aston Martin V8 Vantage and V12 Vantage, and I guess we saw the 370Z.  I guess that portion was forgettable for me though because I don’t remember any Nissan in the episode. Dominic Monaghan also made an appearance as a guest.  I would have preferred that they interview the guy that made the awesome coffee table and chairs.  I guarantee he (or she?) is more exciting.  Moving on…

Episode 3: The Boss mustang had a wonderful exhaust note, but who really cared, because we saw a Coupe Deville fly through the air.  The three amigos spit alcohol on a fire and gained boat loads of carisma together.  The ‘shine runner 300ZX, Thunderbird Turbo, and Coupe Deville was a win.  You cannot deny it. Ty Burrell who?

Episode 4: Kid Rock was a big improvement over the last guests, the SVT Raptor roared through the desert with more air time than a rental car.  The El Camino and Del Sol paint ball event was “meh”, and the Gullwing SLS AMG Mercedes looked great, even though Adam’s criticism tried to ugly it.

Episode 5: Episode 5 was the one with the Fiero, Cutlass, and Roadmaster wagon.  Nuff Said. Tony Hawk stopped by to say hello as well.

Episode 6: The Morgan Aero Supersport looked great as always (just don’t look directly at it). Then the three raced from Miami to Key West in the seaplane, boat, and Lotus.  Michelle Rodriguez was the guest, and she could definitely beat me up. Read More

Ormond Beach Florida “The Birthplace of Speed”

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Many people recognize the salt flats in Utah as the place where land speed records are held, but what a lot of people don’t know is that this all started in 1902 on Ormond Beach in Fl.

In 1902 many daredevils figured out that Ormond Beach was the perfect place to go fast and to break land speed records. It was long and flat and in the beginning there was plenty of room to go 127 miles an hour. They started over in Ormond Beach and as the times got faster they used Daytona Beach as the shut down area.

When a driver was scheduled to make an attempt at the record the Daytona Beach fire station (which still stands) located on the corner of Beach Street and Orange Ave. would blow it’s siren to alert spectators,  police, National Guard and the Halifax Medical Center that the race was about to take place. People would be let out of work and children were also let out of school to witness the event (can you imagine?).

All of this went on until Britain’s famed driver Sir Malcolm Campbell showed up at Daytona Beach. He was known for breaking many land speed records on the beaches of England. He set three consecutive land speed records on Daytona Beach. In 1932 he went 253.968 mph, 1933 272.465 mph, and on his last attempt in 1935 he broke 276.465 mph.

On the last attempt he realized in order to make a run at 300 mph he needed a larger area because he went under the Daytona pier at 276! If you have ever driven the family car under that pier at 10 MPH there’s not much room.

On September 3, 1935, Sir Malcolm Campbell set a new record of 301.129 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah.

Pictures Borrowed from:

http://www.birthplaceofspeed2006.com/

http://www.floridamemory.com

Books: Unsafe At Any Speed?

Jeremy Nutt 5 Comments

Unsafe at any speed

 

All politics aside, has anybody actually read this “Unsafe At Any Speed” book by Ralph Nader?  I saw it recently and it had me intrigued as to what was inside.  Typically if a book has cars inside, I’d want to read it.  I think I recall hearing that it was about how dangerous Corvair’s and Pinto’s were or something?  Is it worth the read as long as I don’t drink the juice?  For those that have read it, whats the split of politics vs automotive stuff? Are we talking a 50/50 split?  80/20? 

Image borrowed from eBay item # 330515030196

(Wait: Since when is it ok to sell library books on eBay?  Something ain’t right here.)