Have you ever wondered how the IIHS captures crash test video? No? Me either. However once I saw it I was interested. It turns out there’s a lot more to it then just smashing a nice new car into something really solid.
There is some specialty light super slow mo cameras and all sorts of cool gadgetry that goes into making one of these videos. We just happen to have a video on how they make that sort of video.
May 02
How the IIHS captures crash test video
May 02
GM building a performance and race center in Pontiac
To have all of your race engineers in one place only makes sense. That is GM’s thinking when it comes to building it’s new performance and racing center. It will accompany the power train engineering center in Pontiac. The facility will house the works for the Nascar, IndyCar, and USA Sports Car Championship series. How cool would this place be to hang around?
The move by GM is great news for Pontiac because it will bring 400 jobs to the campus and it is a 200 million dollar investment. Full release after the jump.
May 01
20 Years, Where’d they go?
Ayrton Senna earned his place in history long before his death, but as often is the case when someone dies young, especially in their prime that legend grows and runs deeper with each passing year. It has been 20 years since the great Ayrton Senna was killed in an accident. On that fateful May Day in 1994 Senna was leading the Grand Prix of San Marino at Imola when something went wrong with steering of the car. Senna was killed the final casualty of an already deadly weekend. Earlier that weekend Roland Ratzenburger would also lose his life in qualifying and a horrific crash would injuring Rubens Barrichello.
Like a lot of young Formula One fans Senna was my favorite driver. He dominated on the track. His passion and desire to win like all great champions saw him push the line of clean racing. His competitors hated him, his fans loved him. From Brazil Senna was a champion of the poor and often worked to fight against poverty. As a testament to Senna as a person over 3 million people lined the streets of Sao Paulo for his funerals motorcade.
Senna’s death would change F1. All future tracks were designed differently. Crash barriers were improved and run off areas increased. Also equipment and car designs were improved for safety. Ayrton Senna was the last death on an F1 track.
It’s been 20 years since Sennas pasting and judging by my Facebook feed I was not the only fan of Senna growing up.
Apr 30
The best birthday ever!
If you are a man of a certain age. Say in your 30’s I’d bet you have a poster of a Lamborghini Countach on your wall as a child. I know I did. I still think it is the coolest car of the 80’s. If you are a car kid today I’d be willing to bet a Lamborghini Aventador graces your bedroom wall. You can imagine how great your birthday would be if say a Lamborghini Aventador showed up at your birthday. Especially if several showed up.
Imagine the excitement. Well we’ve got video of that excitement. This is the magic of cars. The can turn all of us into this excited 7 year old boy seeing a Lamborghini in person for the first. When was the last time you were this excited about a car? Sure you probably didn’t jump up and down yelling “LAMBORGHINI” but I’ll bet inside you wanted to. I know I did the other day when I saw the SRT Race Team going down the highway. Ok truth be told I did jump up and down in my seat. Btw my birthday is February 16 if any Aventador owners would like to drop by and surprise me. I can almost guarantee a priceless reaction that is sure to get you a bunch of youtube hits. This isn’t about me though. After the jump is a pretty cool little minute long video of a kid having his dream come true. You can bet a new car guy was born on that day. It’s only a minute out of your day and I guarantee it will make you smile.
Apr 28
Monday thoughts and things
My Sunday was jam packed and I just did not get a chance to post a Sunday Commentary. I guess that means we won’t have one of those this week but never fear I’m here to ramble on about what ever the heck I want. Car show season is so close you can almost smell the C16 gas. I was out and about all weekend traveling the Midwest for non car related reasons but I did manage to see a good number of classics out to play. Oh yeah and I spotted this.
That is the Tudor series team SRT Viper hauler. I was probably a bit more excited than a grown man should be to see a tractor trailer but come on! That thing is full of Viper race cars. How cool is that? That was certainly the highlight of my car weekend.