All posts from CarDomain Blog

It has been said that Americans and Brits are people separated by a common language. After hearing that the Ford Focus RS–a 300hp, front wheel drive, “hot hatch”–was voted as muscle car of the year by the BBC’s Top Gear, we agree. Look, we know it is a neat little car, but muscle car of the freaking year?
We guess they don’t sell Camaros, Mustangs, and Challengers over in “jolly ‘ol.” Oh wait, they do. While it is nearly 100 percent certain that the Focus RS would slap one of the Yank tanks around at the autocross, on the open road, American muscle would shove the little Focus into the brambles.
Since it was Top Gear making the call, we really shouldn’t be suprised. After all, these were the guys who took a crap on the Corvette a couple years ago after it laid down some very quick times on their road course because it used “buggy springs.”
Guys like to debate what a muscle car is. A Focus is not. Read more here.

As winter grips us ever tighter in its chilly grasp, now’s a good time to rummage through photos from the previous year and pluck out anything we might have overlooked. For example, back in September, I went over to Ballston Spa, New York, to see the ATHS truck show at the fairgrounds, and came across this beast, a 1963 Walter CFGA owned by Bob Pfluger of Southold, New York, way out on the tip of Long Island. I can only venture wild guesses at how he got it from there to Ballston Spa, especially with the Walter’s payload— a 3,400hp Curtiss-Wright 18-cylinder radial aircraft engine once used, apparently, in a Lockheed Constellation. Continue reading over at Hemmings.

Or would you call this winter tires vs. summer tires? Via VWVortex

Sometimes I’m easily amused. I found this early rendering of the Wald “Black Bison Edition” Prius aero kit and I just had to comment on it. I know the Prius tuning is big business in Japan and judging from the looks of this design, I think Wald took it pretty seriously. The only problem is that I think they took it a little too seriously. It looks like they kept on adding more and more until there was simply one too many things going on with it. Continue reading at the Real JDM…

A R33 Skyline worthy of legendary status that cranks out 1100 horsepower just ran a 9.86 second quarter mile time! Special thanks to all-wheel drive and deep wallet tuning, this Skyline is a crowd favorite at every event. If it’s got a parachute on the bumper, you know it’s fast! Read more about the 1100 horsepower R33 Skyline at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

This is the vanity plate on Morgan Stanley Vice-Chairman Rob Kindler’s Porsche Cayenne Turbo. Morgan Stanley, if you recall, was one of the firms that received billions of dollars in bailout money from the federal government. Way to rub our noses in it, asshole. via True/Slant

2009 has been quite a year for me – one that’s included a move overseas, a few new cars, and then a move from California’s Central Valley to the car culture epicenter that is Los Angeles. After spending the first couple months of the year in Japan, I packed up my things and returned stateside just in time for the start of the ‘09 season. There are times when I miss Japan greatly, but I’ve had an absolute blast Speedhunting here in the good old US of A. For the first my part of my photos of the year, here are some shots I’ve taken on both sides of the Pacific this year…. Continue reading over at Speedhunters.
—By Mike Garret

Congrats to Cliff, the the latest winner of our “Castrol GTX How Do You Keep Your Car So Clean?” contest! Here’s what he had to say about his ride:
This is a 1991 Trans Am GTA, with a 5.L Tuned Port Injection system on it. The car has 299, 400 miles on the car has went a best of 13.95 at 97 mph, on regular BFG street tire with 32 lbs in them.Also the car has been through a lot of tires, 6 rear ends, 3 transmissions, 4 windshields, 4 bumper covers, but all of this with one motor; the original one in there now. After it turns over 300k, I will race it next spring to go deeper in the 13’s Oh and yes on street tires. The engine had a larger cam and springs installed at 200, 000 miles on the engine, and it will have another cam swap next spring, but that is all, the heads are the original, and the oil pan has never been off. At 75 mph, the oil press is between 32 and 35 psi. I owe everything to Castrol Syntec for making this motor last as long as it has… Thanks Castrol!!! You ROCK!!!
Well said, Cliff! If you haven’t already entered this contest, do it now! It’s easy and free and you could win up to $1,000!

Billy Corgan had a Mustang? Yes, Billy Corgan appears to have had a Mustang. And Volo currently has it for sale on Hemmings.com for $38,998. Hey, it’s not like you can get a lock of hair from the guy now… Continue reading  at over Hemmings.

Street racing is a strong crime for a police officer, but in Canada, any traffic violation involving 50 kph (31 mph) over the speed limit brings the charge of street racing. That law went into place in 2007, and more than 15,000 people have been charged with street racing since then. In this case, an Ontario Provincial Police office was reportedly going 157 kph (97 mph) in an 80 kph (55 mph) zone when he ran a stop sign and crashed. He was on duty, but not on a call. Surprisingly, the officer remains on duty but can’t drive for 7 days. Read the full story at The Windsor Star.

Our friend Rob sent us some pictures of him doing the unexpected… taking his custom imported widebody kitted Range Rover Sport off-road! As Rob said to me, this is a complete rarity to see a widebodied Range Rover off-roading… and you know what, the car did excellent out there, all while I’m sure pissing off a few purists (which is probably more fun than the off-roading part)!
I think the same can be said for this situation as for those that look at a pretty sports cars and instantly accuse them of being trailer queens. Assumption is a bitch. You just never know when you might see a clean, heavily modified car getting dirty… Continue reading at the Real JDM.

This was my first year at the LA Auto Show, and to be perfectly honest, the crappy economy cast a chilly shadow over the whole scene. Most years, the media peeps are scrambling from press conference to press conference trying to keep up with all the new concepts and debuts, but most of the stuff on the floor in La La Land had dropped in Frankfurt, or even before, so manufacturers simply didn’t have a lot of fresh meat to toss to out. That said, there was still some killer stuff on display. While Audi had dropped its electric e-tron concept back in Frankfurt, the example on the floor here was painted a gorgeous, visible-from-space orange, which had everyone scrambling to get pics, and I absolutely loved, loved, loved Honda’s P-Nut concept (below). And don’t even get me started on the AMG SLS. Mercedes’ new baby is an absolute stunner, and I can’t even imagine how those lines will look when it’s out in the wild, stalking driving appliances. I was also pumped to see the 2011 Fiesta—Ford has a mega hit on its hands here—the CTS Coupe’s production sheet metal, and Porsche’s new Boxster Spyder. Head over to the events section and check out Part One and Part Two of our pics from LA.