ALMS: Baltimore Grand Prix preview

We'll have full coverage of the Baltimore Grand Prix - but I do want to apologize for the total lack of updates lately. I'm in the process of moving, and well, it's kind of been taking up all my time. After the BGP we'll also have fresh H2O pics and feedback, plus work will commence on the IMSA GTI.

_WRS

Roadtrip: At the world's largest truck stop

Pic Post: Mini in Virginia

It's not everyday that you see a beautiful Mini in America. It's even less likely to find one having just rolled out from a heavy-duty truck repair shop, owned by the shop's painter, but that's the beauty of the automobile. The most unlikely of individuals can become a dyed in the wool fanatic. This is one of several Minis which the painter owns, and he's as hardcore as anybody I've met when it comes to his cars. 

More pics after the jump...

Fat tires

Do it better.

Pic Post: (vintage) NATCC T.C. Kline BMWs at Cleveland

Stance what? Stance who? It ain't nothing new kids. And as awesome as these BMWs look, for better or for worse, it's cars like this that fed the somewhat questionable huge wheels / tacky spoiler trend of the mid to late 90s. But these insanely low, over-wheeled sedans were proper race cars, and they handled and went like nothing else in a sedan body, to say nothing of the stopping. Several cars ran twin front calipers and discs as big as anything seen in their time. It wasn't exactly a spec series, as there were all sorts of makes, models and drive trains allowed, but there were strict rules to adhere to, and the rear wheel drive BMWs and all wheel drive Audis suffered heavy weight penalties. By the point these pictures were taken (1997) they were pretty handicapped and not all that competitive with their front wheel drive competitors. 



The Super Touring formula which the NATCC adhered to was as follows:

• No more than 2.0 liters displacement - Most brands were said to make 290-320hp, and were seen in 4, 5 and 6-cylinder variations. Most were 4-cylinder.
• 8500rpm maximum
• 19x8" wheels
• Four-door sedans only
• Rear wing and front splitter were the only aerodynamic add-ons allowed
• Engine was to be 'stock block' and had to be sourced from the model line, but didn't have to come in the car being raced. As the Audi A4 BTCC thread over on Club GTI shows - these were some awfully trick 'stock block' engines. 

And so in America, we only saw these cars for two years, 1996 and 1997. As I understand it the cars were not especially cheap to run, with their 6-speed sequential gearboxes and highly-strung engines, but they were a blast to watch. Dodge was the only American company to step up to the plate, and their in-house built Stratuses (Strati?) were some of the strongest in the series.

Somewhere our intrepid slacker Josh has at least another 5-6 rolls of film from this trip we took to Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland for the CART  race, for which the NATCC was a support series. Getting him to develop it or print it will be something else altogether, but maybe if I'm lucky he'll see this post and be guilted into it...right after the 2001 and 2002 Daytona 24 Hour races.

_WRS

Spotted in NYC: Bone-stock Corrado SLC

It's not everyday you see any kind of Corrado on the street these days, so when I spotted this completely stock, red VR6 Corrado in Greenpoint, Brooklyn the other day I figured it warranted a quick picture snap. It was a 5-speed too.

Up until now I thought the only stock Corrados left on the road were automatic, and in Forest Green. Guess not!

_WRS