Puma becomes RallyCross team sponsor, releases obligatory Gymkhana vid

With a couple of high-level U.S. defectors from the RallyCross series into other motorsport disciplines there was a domestic vacuum at the top, and we know what nature thinks about that. Enter German shoe/sportswear Puma, which is throwing its sponsor dollars behind the factory-backed Subaru PUMA Rallycross Team.

Dave Mirra heads up the trio of drivers, joined by Bucky Lasek and Sverre Isachsen, and they'll run all six RallyCross rounds this year in 2012 WRX STi's. Of course, you can't properly launch a team without some smoke and sliding action, so you'll find that in the video after the jump. And make sure to peep the "Zombie Cat" Puma skeletons on the cars while you're at it...


VIDEO: Subaru PUMA Rallycross Team Launch

News Source: Puma via YouTube

Japanese TV show pits MX-5 against BRZ and FR-S at Twin Ring Motegi

A Japanese motoring show, complete with titles in comic fonts, put three racing pilots behind the wheels of the Mazda MX-5 Miata, Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S (Toyota 86, in this case) for three laps of the 2.1-mile East Road Course at Twin Ring Motegi. Of course the segment producers know that putting the 167-horsepower roadster against the 200-hp coupes isn't exactly fair, so they gave the Mazda a small head start of about three grid positions.

Ex-sports car racer Takayuki Kinoshita handles the Mazda, former open-wheel pilot Naoki Hattori drives the BRZ, and former Le Mans-class winner Keiichi Tsuchiya gets fast and loose in the FR-S. The drivers offer copious on-track commentary, but it's in Japanese. That said, watching the MX-5 try to stay in front and watching Tsuchiya start drifting are universal gearhead languages. You'll find the action after the jump.


News Source: YouTube


VIDEO: BRZvs86vsRoadster BATTLE

1984 Audi Sport Quattro S1

 

There are lots of fine race driver names in the history of motorsports. Sterling Moss, Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Angel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton (a.k.a. Marquis de Portago), and the ever popular Dick Trickle come to mind. We'd need to put in a strong vote, however, for Swede rally sensation Stig Blomqvist, winner of the 1984 World Rally Championship drivers' title. He drove for the Audi Sport factory team between 1982 and 1985, his Group B championship-winning season starting in a long-wheelbase Audi Quattro A2 and finishing in a short-wheelbase Sport Quattro S1.

Lucky for us, we recently had the chance to belt in beside The Stig as he powered over a west central Swedish parcours buried in deep snow. Better still, we were able to ride shotgun with the legendary shoe piloting what was essentially the same Sport Quattro S1 he drove for the last part of the '84 WRC season. 
In civilian trim, the Sport Quattro S1 was powered by a turbocharged 2.1-liter aluminum block inline five-cylinder good for 302 horsepower. (We had the chance to drive a red example for a few laps of a separate snowy circuit and could only come away wildly impressed at how capable it still is).

In the race trim as driven by Blomqvist, the Sport Quattro S1 was stuffed with anywhere from 444 hp to north of 500 hp. As The Stig testified to us over the course of the drive, torque was "around 500 Newton meters," or about 369 pound-feet, which is pretty heady stuff in a car that typically weighed 2,400 pounds dry and had a noticeably brief wheelbase of just 86.8 inches. See what we mean by watching the in-car video below (Blomqvist doesn't really get cooking until about two minutes in). 
Exploding, lunging and smoothly landing after leaps as though on the moon in this rally-spec S1 is remarkable stuff. With its ultra short wheelbase, the sensation is that of spinning on a fulcrum point directly under one's tush. The tires for our demonstration drive were not of the invincible spiked variety, but milder Monte Carlo Rally-regulation studded treads – Michelin 16/61-15X M+S. Maybe it was this fact that seemed to keep The Ur-Stig from really busting loose like we've seen him do before in the car. After all, these racing S1s can get to 60 mph from a stop in three seconds flat – they're explosively quick.

We couldn't resist asking him which car he enjoyed more, the Quattro A2 with its 12.6-inch longer wheelbase or the truncated Sport Quattro S1. With almost no hesitation, Blomqvist affirmed that he much preferred the A2's driving characteristics to those of this stubby S1.

Could have fooled us from the way he was driving it. 


mage Credit: Copyright 2012 Daniel Wollstein / AOL 


 

Top Gear puts Peugeot 207 rally car up against downhill skier in Italy

Leave it up to the Top Gear crew to put this one together. No, not the famous British crew of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May; the staff behind this video of a Peugeot 207 rally car going up against a downhill skier hails from Italy and represents Top Gear Magazine.

Of course, before any downhill festivities can properly commence, the car needs to make its way up the mountain course... and that's when the magic starts to happen, making use of the most serious set of spiked tires we've ever seen.

What goes up, must come down, right? And so down it goes, chasing the Pug's co-pilot, Anna Andreussi, right back down from whence it came. It's all in good fun, with plenty of aerial acrobatics to go along with the expected snow drifting shenanigans. See it all go down yourself in the video below. 

VIDEO:

2012 Detroit Auto Show: Revealed! 2013 Dodge Dart Ahead of Detroit

2012 Detroit Auto Show: As the doors of the COBO Center are about to open, the excitement emanating from Detroit can be felt throughout the industry. This city is the birthplace of countless American automotive greats, so it's only befitting that the rejuvenated (and financially healthy) Chrysler Group is taking full advantage of the event.Coming off the success of last year's "Imported from Detroit" Superbowl theme, the automaker will officially unveil their latest assault on the extremely important C-segment: the 2013 Dodge Dart.

 

And without much surprise, photos and a video have just been leaked only a couple of days before its official unveiling. Revealed here in R/T trim, the new Dart's chassis comes courtesy of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, although the former has a longer and wider architecture with a large percentage being constructed of high-strength steel.

Power will come from a range of engines, including the new Tigershark lineup of small displacement engines, such as a 2.0-liter four-banger, a 1.4-liter MultiAir turbo, and a 2.4-liter MultiAir.Judging by these photos, it's clear that Dodge invested huge amounts of time and money into the Dart and it looks really solid, both inside and out. We'll have complete details in the coming days from Detroit.

  

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