SEMA 2009 – Ford Focus RS

Racing Bull – Lamborghini Super Trofeo

If the idea of banging fenders on the race track in a $285,000 Italian exotic makes you feel a bit queasy, imagine 30 of them trading paint and swapping blows. In an effort to get some racing street-cred, and also keep pace with Porsche and Ferrari, Lamborghini has been running the Super Trofeo series at some of the finest racing tracks in Europe. A one-make series showcasing a factory built racing version of the Gallardo LP560-4.

The cars are all identical; utilizing sealed drive trains from the factory and allowing nothing more than suspension adjustments to set-up the cars. The warmed over naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V10 is producing 570hp, up just 10hp from the streetcar. The largest difference is the 2970lb curb-weight, which is roughly 400lbs lighter than the street version. The Super Trofeo is stripped out of superfluous amenities like; airbags, roll down windows, carpeting, noise insulation, even the passenger seat. Lamborghini has however chosen to carry-over the all-wheel drive system from the streetcar making it the only one make series car powering all four wheels.

The 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo: pass the tissues

This may be difficult to write, because of drool on the keyboard, but here goes… the 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo has been revealed.

It features a new 3.8-liter flat six engine with direct fuel injection and variable turbine geometry (VTG) for its twin blowers, the combination being a Porsche first. Oh, and it has the same intake manifold as the GT2 which uses air expansion to cool hot intake charge. We all remember Boyle’s Law right?

So, when kitted out with the Sport Chrono Package and PDK, the numbers run like this: 500 hp (20 more than the previous model) and 516 lb-ft of torque (up from 501). Zero to 60 mph is dispatched in a mere 3.2 seconds and top speed is 194 mph.

Edizione Della Firma – Lamborghini 550-2 Valentino Balboni

After 40 years of service with a single company, most employees look forward to receiving a cheap watch in an expensive box as a reward. Lamborghini isn’t your typical company and Valentino Balboni isn’t your typical employee.

In 1967 Balboni was hired by Ferrucio Lamborghini himself who immediately recognized his talents for testing and developing cars. To celebrate Balboni’s contributions to every Lamborghini since his start with the company, a special edition Gallardo, the LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni will be offered for sale in a limited number of 250 units. Far from just a product of badge engineering, this will be the only current Lamborghini offered in rear-wheel drive. The car comes standard with a 45% locking limited slip differential to help get all 550hp from the 5.2 liter V10 to the ground.

Bella Italia, The New Ferrari 458

No sooner has Maranello’s girlie car, the California, made it into an Entourage scene (a series that puts the Ari into Ferrari), when the mid-engined 430 replacement breaks cover. This is the Ferrari 458 Italia, sporting a 562-hp 4.5-liter. After doing a little math, that works out to something close to 125 hp per liter, an impressive specific output for a naturally aspirated engine if ever there was one.

The design house is once again Pininfarina, obviously keeping those California sketches nearby. One cool wrinkle, though: the nose has small aeroelastic (Ferrari’s word) winglets which deform under speed, creating more downforce and reducing drag. And those triple exhaust pipes are neat.

Fastivus 2009 – Annual VW R32 Gathering by SOCALR32

It’s hard to believe that an event held to celebrate a car that only has two model years would actually continue to grow into its fifth year of existence. Fastivus, as it is now called, is a gathering for owners and enthusiasts of Volkswagen R32s that were sold in 2004 and 2008. The limited edition 3.2-liter V6 powered all wheel drive Golfs are the top of the VW performance food chain and have a near religious following. This year 159 cars showed up, handily beating last year’s record of 140.

The event was again organized by SocalR32 with title sponsors Volkswagen of America, HPA Motorsports out of Canada, and Southern California’s own VF-Engineering. The two day event consists of a gathering with Show & Shine judging, go-karting and vendor exhibits. The highlight of the first day is the now world famous R32 raffle which saw $33,000 worth of prizes given away to happy R32 owners.

Kyosho Dnano Micro Radio Controlled Race Cars – Perfect For A Tabletop GP

When I was a kid, if you wanted automotive entertainment you were stuck with either sliding Hot Wheels around on plastic tracks or if you were super lucky, you had a slot car track. Slot car tracks were great, cars stuck running a single line that you could make go slower or faster. Yeah, no steering, no strategy, just faster or slower, it was the equivalent of an automotive true or false test.

Kids today have it better, as do immature adults. Kyosho, the company you remember from your teenage years for making sweet 1/10th scale RC cars, is now making fully functional 1/43rd scale RC cars. These aren’t those ten-dollar micro RC cars they sell in electronics stores that barely work. These are proportionally controlled hobby quality vehicles. You can turn a little or lot, you can accelerate hard or just cruise or anywhere in between for that matter. Dnano cars will be sold as complete kits with the controller and everything you need to race. Cars will also be sold separately as will the bodies that are collectible by themselves as models.

2009 RCX Show – Coverage of the Radio Controlled Expo in Pomona California

I have no problem being referred to, or even referring to myself as a car geek. It’s a title I wear with pride. I recently discovered just how big a car geek I am by attending the annual RCX show held at the LA County Fairgrounds in Pomona California. Billed as the wildest radio controlled expo in the world I brushed up on my scale knowledge and headed to the show.

This is supposed to be the biggest show on the West Coast, which made us think it was going to be huge. Perhaps we are jaded from shows like SEMA and CES for full-scale cars, but we found this rather disappointing. SEMA takes a week to fully explore; RCX took about two hours, not counting the flying demos and some racing.

Geometry Lesson – Sharkwerk’s new suspension Components for 996 and 997 Porsches

Fremont CA: Sharkwerks Tuning in Conjunction with Road Sport Supply is now offering suspension upgrades for all 996 and 997 based 911s. Sharkwerk‘s products are designed to add adjustability to parts that are fixed length from the factory. Besides the adjustability, they also replace soft factory rubber or neoprene bushings with steel bearings that remove unwanted slop.

While factory bushings will distort under high loads, the spherical bearings will keep your alignment right where you set it. Since they are adjustable, you can set it however you want it. Do you require a crazy camber angle; want to dial in more kinematic toe? These parts will allow you to do that.

Hammerhead – HJC Si-12 Helmet

HJC Si-12 Helmet - Flat Black

Those of us that spend time on the track know that the only thing harder than deciding on what new car you want to buy is what new helmet to buy. Having tried out just about every brand of helmet out there on the market doesn’t seem to help. Having yet to find the perfect helmet, a list of features was assembled to make the decision easier. First, it has to meet all safety standards. What good is a helmet if you are always second-guessing its protection ability? Second is comfort, if you can?t wear it for extended periods of time without getting distracted by “hot spots” or pinching, it’s going to slow you down. Third, lightweight helmets are worth their non-weight in gold. A Pound here or there doesn’t sound like much, but at the end of a day of +1 G cornering and more importantly way more than 1 G braking, all those ounces add up. Fourth, it’s got to have great ventilation, you can’t keep your mental cool, if you aren’t physically cool. Lastly, it absolutely has to look cool. Who wants to drop $700 on a helmet and be embarrassed to be wearing the bucket outside your car?