Video: Watch SRT's Viper GTS-R return to professional racing at Mid-Ohio

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Videos, Racing

Spectators at this past weekend's ALMS race at Mid-Ohio made sure to pay special attention to the two Viper GTS-R racers with their video cameras, and Chrysler's cameras were out in full force as well. It was the first race for SRT Motorsport's Team Viper after a lenthy hiatus. Both V10 racers had to run their 8.0-liter engines with an air restrictor because the rest of the class runs with 5.5 liters. The 455-horsepower snakes finished the race in 10th and 12th place overall while gathering valuable data.

Oh, about that "thundering in your ears" that Autoblog Editor-in-chief John Neff mentioned in his race coverage? They've still got it. Big time. Have a watch and a listen of the videos below.

Team Viper and their thundering coupes head to Road America in two weeks.

Continue reading Watch SRT's Viper GTS-R return to professional racing at Mid-Ohio

Watch SRT's Viper GTS-R return to professional racing at Mid-Ohio originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Watch a craftsman build a Ural sidecar by hand

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Videos, Motorcycle, Russia

We're in love with the Ural line. The bare-bones bikes have a rugged, no-fuss appeal, but they're also pricey. There's good reason for that: most of Ural's products are hand-built by master craftsmen. Take the video below as proof. Visitors to the Irbit, Russia facility responsible for constructing the bikes recently got to see just what goes into stitching a sidecar together. There are no robots swinging panels around or making precision welds. Just one guy, some metalworking equipment, and a little patience.

The gentleman in the video manages to assemble the sidecar in just under four minutes. That's a lifetime in manufacturing, but well worth it in our judgement. How many items in your care were assembled by skilled hands? How many will be around in 10 years? How about 30? If our experiences with Ural are any gauge, this robust sidecar is in for the long haul.

Continue reading Watch a craftsman build a Ural sidecar by hand

Watch a craftsman build a Ural sidecar by hand originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 14 Jul 2012 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Watch this 19-year-old F2 racer dramatically save his own bacon in the wet

Filed under: Motorsports, Performance, Etc., Europe, Safety, Videos

Dino Zamparelli has mad skills behind the wheel of his FIA Formula 2 machine, and he managed to show just how good - or how crazy he is - on Belgium's legendary Spa circuit.

As the track filled with rain mist from cars in front him, Zamparelli, 19, sped toward a group of cars clustered together at 150 mph. The racer narrowly misses a slowing car that appears at the last second from out of the mist, deftly swerves out of the way on to the grass, passes two more and then cleanly brings his car under control back on the slick track.

Amazing.

Of course, not all of the Youtube specators were as impressed, pointing out that Zamparelli may have also missed a yellow flag, telling everyone to slow down. Zamparelli defends himself in the comment thread on YouTube:

"Actually just to clarify - we had already passed the incident that caused the? yellow flags and for the? safety car boards to come out. If you look at the car ahead, he was actually pulling away from me up eau rouge, because we were trying to catch up to the safety car. Someone then slowed down on the straight line after eau rouge and that caused everyone to bunch up...so my reactions were not to a yellow flag situation, but to another incident which had just occurred"

However, the one comment seemed to sum up the whole breathtaking experience:

"Almost died, gained 3 or? 4 places in the race. Standard."

Scroll down to check out the near crash from Zamparelli's point of view.

Continue reading Watch this 19-year-old F2 racer dramatically save his own bacon in the wet

Watch this 19-year-old F2 racer dramatically save his own bacon in the wet originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Watch Toyota racer Anthony Davidson's terrifying airborne crash at Le Mans

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Safety, Videos, Toyota, Racing

The LMP1 racer standing on its nose is the No. 8 Toyota TS030 driven by Anthony Davidson, having just recently begun his driving stint and only five hours into the 24 Hours of Le Mans, while the red car next to it is the No. 81 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia driven by Piergiuseppe Perrazini. Davidson took the inside line down the Mulsanne Straight, and based on the vantage point in the video, it looks like Davidson had got a decent chunk of the Toyota ahead of the Ferrari when Perrazini turned into him.

The result were hard runs into the tire wall and the end of the race for both drivers. Davidson got out on his own but was sent to the hospital for observation until Monday morning, but thankfully Toyota has released a statement saying Davidson shows "no signs of any injuries." However, reports indicate Davidson has fractured two vertebra, and he soon tweeted from the hospital "Well that was a big one! Lying in a French hospital with a broken back wasn't what I had in mind at this stage in the race..."

The safety car came out while the accident was cleared, but the Toyota team's woes were compounded when the No. 7 TS030 driven by Kazuki Nakajima drove into the Nissan DeltaWing of Satoshi Motoyama on the restart. The contact sent the DeltaWing into the wall (and despite efforts to revive it, out of the race) and the No. 7 Toyota headed back to the pits for repairs and a steep drop down the order. As of this writing, Audi's brace of R18 E-Tron Quattro racers appear to have the inside track on a victory.

Scroll down to watch videos of both Davidson's crash and the DeltaWing accident (along with aftermath footage).

Continue reading Watch Toyota racer Anthony Davidson's terrifying airborne crash at Le Mans

Watch Toyota racer Anthony Davidson's terrifying airborne crash at Le Mans originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 16 Jun 2012 22:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Watch a night lap at Le Mans in an Audi R18 e-tron

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Videos, Audi, Chevrolet, GM, Racing

If you have a hard time fathoming what it must be like to drive in a 24-hour endurance race, you're going to want to watch the video after the break. You'll see an Audi R18 e-tron quattro - the fastest cars on the race track at Le Mans, by a smidge, over the similarly hybrid-powered Toyota TS 030 machines - lap the famed French track after the sun has gone down.

Keep in mind that this video is merely three minutes long, and yet the unflinching dedication shown by driver Tom Kristensen is clearly on display. As an added bonus, we've also included a night lap of the circuit in a Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1. Pay close attention about 20 seconds into the second video and you'll see just how scary exciting this kind of competition can be.

Check out both videos by scrolling down below. Are you as excited for Le Mans this weekend as we are?

Continue reading Watch a night lap at Le Mans in an Audi R18 e-tron

Watch a night lap at Le Mans in an Audi R18 e-tron originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Watch Toyota celebrate UAE launch of GT 86

Filed under: Car Buying, Coupe, Performance, Etc., Videos, Toyota, Middle East

Toyota has officially launched the company's GT 86 sportscar in the United Arab Emirates. The Japanese automaker rolled out the rear-drive hero with a fancy new video shot in the hills around Fujairah. With plenty of drifting, tire smoke and slow motion, the clip serves as a proper introduction to the lightweight coupe. Judging by the quick video, there are a few market-specific changes to the UAE Toyota GT 86, including the availability of one very massive rear wing. The piece has more than a passing resemblance to the exaggerated aero work found on the lusty Subaru WRX STI sedan.

Will the Toyota GT 86 find favor in the UAE? We certainly think it's got a shot. If there's a more car-obsessed culture on this planet than the one found in the U.S., it lies in the well-funded Middle East. You can check out the launch video for yourself by scrolling below, or head over to the Toyota UAE Facebook page for a little more information.

Continue reading Watch Toyota celebrate UAE launch of GT 86

Watch Toyota celebrate UAE launch of GT 86 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 May 2012 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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