SEMA 2009 – Interview with Tire Rack’s VP, Matt Edmonds

SEMA 2009 – Seibon’s Carbon Fiber Lotus Elise

SEMA 2009 – Ford Focus RS

Good Clean Fun – Redbull Soap Box Derby LA

Red Bull Soapbox has been taken on by many brave souls; this ain’t no boy scout race. An event of this magnitude is only meant for real men and women that have the courage to try and conquer the intricate course at the latest pit stop in LA. The first Red Bull Soapbox Race took place in Belgium in 2000 and has since visited over 30 countries including Austria, England and Jamaica just to name a few.

With an estimated 111,000 people, the L.A traffic, and the rising temperatures, Angelinos still came out in droves to watch the 40 home made soapboxes from all across the US race through the streets of Downtown LA. The downhill course was mayhem, navigating the jumps, a banked 90-degree turn, and tight chicanes; only a few teams that managed to complete the course with their Soapboxes intact. Even more surprising was a record –setting speed of over 45mph.

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.

Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08 – The Hottest Rubber On The Street?

Every once in a while we will get a tuner car sent to us for testing that the builder thought needed a bit of an edge. They want to impress us with the cars handling, its ability to put down power and its face altering brakes. For some reason they think we won’t notice the car is on race tires. We always look at tires, some people may think of them as just round and black things that protect the bling, but not us. If seeing the lack of tread and square shoulders wasn’t enough, we would certainly notice the primeval roar reverberating throughout the interior of the car that race tires invariably make, and if nothing else, we would wad up their precious car the first time we tried driving in the wet.

Heel and Toe Heroes-Oakley Mid Cut Race Boots

Oakley Driving Boot Mid

If you wear your driving shoes to walk around the mall, you aren’t a real enthusiast. First, the soles of real driving shoes won’t stand up to many laps walking around your local shopping center. Second, they are so uncomfortable you wouldn’t want to try anyway. Third, what are you doing walking around the mall when you could be out turning your very expensive tires into black marks on some canyon road? I won’t even get into fourth and fifth, but sixth; stop giving real drivers a bad name and just get yourself some of those pointy loafers that all the other guys in their girlfriend’s jeans wear.

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?