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Posted
Jan 27 2012, 05:00 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 54 comment(s)
Before I started my job as a full time Speedhunter, I was a regular reader of the site. Looking back, I was pretty ignorant towards many of the varying aspects of car culture. I would often just skip past things without any consideration, searching only for those stories that appealed to me and my tastes. Since coming on-board though, I've had every one of my opinions and viewpoints challenged on a daily basis. I've attended shows and events I never would have even considered previously and...
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Posted
Jan 13 2012, 12:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 23 comment(s)
This weekend The International Racing Car show at the sprawling NEC complex in Birmingham becomes the focus of the racing and performance car world. It's where the manufacturers often choose to launch their new models: this year Nissan and JRM officially launched the GT-R NISMO GT3 at the show. The GT3 variant lacks none of the aggression of its now-redundant GT1 big brother – and the official launch was backed up by a JRM GT-R GT3 taking third position on the grid for today's Dubai...
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Posted
Dec 08 2011, 03:00 AM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 32 comment(s)
While walking through the Essen Auto Show the other week, Rod and I started talking about the recent Art of the Badge articles from fellow Speedhunter, Jonathan Moore. The genius of these posts is how they refresh normal event coverage as they look at details that are sometimes overlooked. This then allows you to compare car features, side by side. Mike Garrett's wheel and paint posts from the California Hot Rod Reunion and Rod's Engines of SEMA post follow on from this new story template...
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Posted
Dec 05 2011, 11:30 AM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 12 comment(s)
I'll admit that I'm not a big collector of die cast models. But I do appreciate them and like to check them out in great detail. So when I found out that Minichamps had a museum in Aachen, Germany I hopped in the car and made the two and a half hour drive to visit the museum. The museum is attached to the actual factory that builds the model cars. You enter through a small door and are greeted by a security officer. In the 600 square metre museum you can find more than 3000 models at any...
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Posted
Dec 01 2011, 08:10 AM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 29 comment(s)
For my next Essen Motor Show feature, I'm going to concentrate on showcasing race and drift cars, starting with this Ferrari 458. We quite like the simplicity of the livery as it allows you to appreciate the lines of the car. Perhaps more race cars should go this route. Here's more proof, showing that race cars often look better without liveries. My heart skipped a beat when I came across this DTM BMW E30 M3. It was parked up next to the 2012 DTM M3 that Rod featured earlier, linking BMW's...
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Posted
Nov 29 2011, 09:00 AM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 29 comment(s)
A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Rod, telling me that he was planning to join me during the Essen Motor Show . The last few years I have always been traveling alone to the Essen Motor Show, so this was a welcome change. The show gives a fairly accurate picture of the different styles and scenes in Germany and was a good opportunity for Rod to see it in person for the first time. So after a small detour to pick Rod up at the Düsseldorf airport, we arrived at the giant convention center...
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Posted
Nov 29 2011, 04:30 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 49 comment(s)
Unless you're living in New Zealand and are enjoying the height of the D1NZ drift season, this time of year is slim pickings for us race fans. The sound of unhinged racing engines has fallen silent at motorsport venues across the world. Champions have been crowned, celebrations finished, and post mortems completed. For people like me, this isn't necessarily a good thing. I absolutely love car racing in all its various forms, so any month without the smell of race fuel is not something to...
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Posted
Nov 20 2011, 02:00 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 5 comment(s)
In part one we introduced some of the principle terms involved in setting up a race car, and then in part two Edward Sandstrom, Team Need For Speed driver in the FIA European GT3 Championship, explained how he goes about finding the optimum set-up and copes with the ever-changing nature of a race car out on track. I'll wrap with Edward talking about the team approach to a race weekend: how the team supports the two drivers and the procedures they follow to keep the car in optimum condition. Edward...
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Posted
Nov 17 2011, 01:30 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 18 comment(s)
In part one of this story , I talked with Team Need For Speed FIA GT3 driver Edward Sandstrom about the complexity of setting up a racing car, including issues like wing angles, suspension, tyres and data analysis. Over the next two parts we'll move on to how Edward and Team Need For Speed then practically apply these principles over a typical race weekend, starting with Edward talking us through the evolution of a set-up over a race weekend, using the last round of the 2011 FIA GT3 Championship...
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Posted
Nov 11 2011, 03:00 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 21 comment(s)
Hours are spent between engineers and drivers describing how a racing car feels in pursuit of that perfect set-up, often accompanied by the universal driver language of hand gestures. The most effective wing in the world isn't going to help you if it's at the wrong angle, or if your camber is out by a fraction and the car is eating its tyres. Winning or losing can be predefined by mere millimetres of difference in the configuration of each aspect of a racing car; every part must work in harmony...
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Posted
Nov 07 2011, 05:00 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 73 comment(s)
Here's a SEMA find that's is sure to generate some heat in the comments section. As I worked my way through the Central Hall last week, I came across Kevin Byrd's 1990 E30 M3 sitting in the Heatshield Products booth....
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Posted
Nov 05 2011, 05:11 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 29 comment(s)
With the SEMA show being so diverse, it can be hard to spot real trends among the vehicles on the show floor. This year though, we seemed to notice a lot of modified European cars. Whether this was just a coincidence or a sign of a new direction in the US aftermarket, we're not sure. Whatever the case, here are some of the tuned Euro machines we spotted this year. The Rays booth is always a good place to see some high quality machinery. This year the centerpiece was this Vorsteiner-equipped E92...
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Posted
Oct 28 2011, 11:30 AM
by
Charles Kha
with 41 comment(s)
Speedhunters reader Daniel Hovdahl sent through this photo he took of a tidy BMW M3. Starting life as an original M3 in Norway, the owner has done some serious work to transform it into this Warsteiner-inspired street car. This E30 is now BMW M5 powered, thanks to the 3.6-litre straight six that has been shoehorned into the engine bay. Along with the M5 transmission, the owner has also fitted a BMW Z35 rear and KW coilovers. The M3 is now 40mm wider on each side thanks to the DTM EVO body-kit, which...
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Posted
Oct 19 2011, 10:00 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 53 comment(s)
Building an aggressive street car nearly always involves making some sort of compromise along the way. As much as we would all like to think we could live with a stripped and caged daily driver, we all know that the reality would quickly wear thin. Especially in our modern motoring world where it would seem that every government is doing their utmost to remove the joy of driving from us. When Phil Morrison bought this E46 M3 as a daily driver he wanted to keep things simple and civilized. But when...
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Posted
Oct 17 2011, 05:25 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 5 comment(s)
The #50 AF Corse crew of Francesco Castellacci and Federico Leo held onto their Drivers' Championship lead at the end of the final FIA European GT3 race of the 2011 season, taking fourth position as the flag dropped at the end of 35 laps of the Zandvoort track – enough to clinch the championship for the Italian driver pairing. It hadn't been easy though: they started only sixth, soon dropped to seventh and were under pressure to make up places for the whole race. Frederick put in a...
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Posted
Oct 17 2011, 03:00 PM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 19 comment(s)
When you are around the GT3 cars for a while you start to notice a lot of different approaches that teams have taken to build their car. I have seen our own BMW Z4 taken apart and rebuilt again several times. But the other cars on the grid are still some sort of a mystery to me. So I went to check them out in greater detail while they were waiting to go on track. One of the cars that I was most interested in was the SLS AMG. It is such an impressive car to see on and off track. Maybe even more impressive...
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Posted
Oct 16 2011, 12:05 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 3 comment(s)
There's just one more race left in this year's FIA GT3 championship, and today's first race through the the sand dunes of Zandvoort hasn't made title outcome that much clearer. The amazing Dutch track is a great venue for the GT cars: it's fast and flowing, but the narrow twists, cambered corners and swooping elevation changes made it look far from easy to race on. But who wants to see cars cornering like their on rails? Opposite lock, smoking tyres under braking and desperate...
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Posted
Oct 13 2011, 09:00 AM
by
Casey Dhnaram
with 57 comment(s)
Compared to, say, the European drift scene, BMWs aren't a popular car to find sideways on Australian circuits and that's exactly why I chose to spotlight this particular car. This BMW 318 was built by Daniel Buchna as a thrasher for the Queensland Drift Matsuri. ...
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Posted
Oct 13 2011, 04:01 PM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 7 comment(s)
The shadows are lengthening for the FIA European GT3 Championship, as the series draws to a close for 2011 with a pair of races at the legendary Zandvoort track in the Netherlands. Last month at the Slovakiaring Mercedes-Benz became the latest marque to win (with victories in both races in fact) and joined Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche as race winners this year. It shows just how close the racing has been – as usual – in GT3. So the focus now changes to the matter of the...
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Posted
Oct 12 2011, 09:30 PM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 18 comment(s)
Sometimes the greatest treasures are just around the corner. This was definitively the case when I visited ‘The Gallery' in my home town of Brummen. It is a classic car dealer that started in 1977 with only a few cars but has since grown into a large scale operation. The company is run by Nico Aaldering and his son Nick. The two live and breathe classic cars and have become famous in the world of classic car sales. From humble beginnings Nico has built himself an empire and was able to...
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