Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. As I was cruising the net I discovered that there were several very cool things going on in the auto world that didn’t necessarily get the attention I thought they deserved. So in the spirit of weirdly underrated auto news, I bring you the Slipping Under the Radar Series part 1! Hit the jump to check out my first radical find!
Endless USA, the purveyor of fine, high-end braking and suspension systems, has announced the release of the new forged monoblock 6-piston caliper dubbed “The Mono-6.” According to their press release, the new caliper system is light weight (7.4 pounds) and high in rigidity. And that is precisely what a monoblock caliper design delivers. The additional benefit is in reducing unsprung weight at the corners, which will ALWAYS help vehicle performance, especially at the track.
Available in “Race Alumite” finish only, the Mono-6 comes with the option of titanium piston caps which further increase strength and durability while decreasing weight. The Mono-6 will be paired with 370mm rotors for most vehicles and 387mm rotors for the R35 GTR. Due to the R35 GTRs high performance, it will utilize the Mono-6 for both front and rear setups. Other applications include Mitsubishi Lancer EVO (CT9A, CZ4A), Subaru Impreza (GDB, GRB), Toyota Supra (JZA80), Infiniti G35, Nissan 350Z, Nissan Skyline (R33, R34) and Porsche 911.
I’m sorry to hear about these brake calipers come out NOW, as Project Evo is fitted with the 2-piece 6-piston Endless calipers. If I had known, I would have waited for these monoblock calipers instead. Thanks, Dom =(
Sourcebox
Endless USA
18421 Gothard Street, Unit 200
Huntington Beach, CA 92648-1236
(714) 847-0694
www.endlessusa.com
Our friends at Pioneer recently launched their new AVIC-F series of multi-functional navigation systems at their Road Show 2008 event in Southern California. Yours truly was one of the invitees to check out what may be the hottest mobile audio product of the year.
Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. I came across a story, a complicated and interesting story, that absolutely revved my engine the wrong way. Now there are often times that many of us who drive frequently are pulled over for violations that we feel were unjustified or just plain stupid. While the topics of “ticket quotas” and “raising money for the state” are gray subjects at best, some grumbling drivers have often felt that “safety” was not one of the considerations taken into effect when a law was written. Nonetheless, this story will challenge many of your basic assumptions about driving in California… Read the rest of this entry »
Ah joy, another Shoot Out under our belts and, yes, that’s a pun on our title fight theme, “Bout of the Middleweights.” We have and will always be huge Audi fans. A while back we took an RS4 out to a dry lake bed and had a BMW driver put it through its paces. The guy pushed the car so hard that he broke the clutch doing dust bunnies at close to 200 mph! I got to ride-along with him before the “malfunction” and nearly soiled my pants multiple times between overwhelming bouts of laughter and screaming. At the time, the RS4 was the true high-water mark for performance sedans. The new M3 sedan had not made it to our shores and the Lexus IS-F was still in-the-womb. A 4-door performance sedan from a luxury brand, whose commercials feature silver balls rolling around the perfect gaps of body panels, hard to imagine, right?
Well like most performance freaks, I was skeptical that Lexus had the huevos to build a performance sedan that would challenge my beloved RS4. So when the car arrived at WebRidesTV HQ, I was stoked to take it out for a quick spin and size it up. That was if I could get past the crowd that had gathered in the parking lot. All the guys were fighting over who got the honors of the first drive. I had to admit, the IS-F looked real good: nice aggressive stance and meaty low-profile rubber wrapped around sweet rims. Even the four fake exhaust pipes were forgivable. After a quick lap around the local office circuit, I thought, holy shit, those sly bastards had done it! The IS-F was a real contender and that exhaust note, at full throttle. It sounds like a panther climbed into the cockpit and ripped my ear off!
There was only one thing left to do… We had to pit the Lexus IS-F against the Audi RS4 in a no-holds-barred Shoot Out. Would the RS4 clean its clock or would the unproven IS-F give the Audi the shocker. Well my friends, it was a clear upset. Lexus does have the “silver balls” after all! We hope you enjoy the video and we want to share all the detailed stats from our data loggers because you car freaks love charts and graphs as much as much as hookers love cash.
Long title hu? The original title I had in mind was “Carroll the “mustang man” Shelby has begun the process of deciding to take delivery of the uber fast superformance-built shelby daytona cobra coupe with a lot of power” but it didn’t have as nice of a ring to it. Now we all know and love Caroll Shelby that guy that took a horribly small and outdated British chassis and a big Ford engine and crashed the two together with tires wider then a linbacker somehow making it all work. These days he may seem like that wilie old coot that has been messing with fords longer then Mr. Ford himself, but after all that he still enjoys them. The folks over at Shelby Automobiles of Las Vegas headed up by Amy Boylan decided to give Carroll this awesome car as a gift. Hit the jump for full details and the official press release.
Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. There has been a lot of focus on the new cell phone law of late, and there have been opinions on both sides of the issue. However I wanted to talk about some that might have slipped by under the radar. Here are a pair of Bills that are being debated in the CA legislature this week: Read the rest of this entry »
Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. Today’s Auto Adventure is something of a preview. If you’re anything like me, then you know that Car Show Season is now in full swing. Spring is that time of year when the classic cars get rolled out of their winter hibernation across the country and get buffed for the show circuit. So in the spirit of spring, I’m gonna talk about my two favorite classic car shows of the season. Hit the jump to find out about these sweet events!
As if Formula 1 couldn’t get more commercialized, it’s become a night time spectacle in selected countries in 2008. Bernie Ecclestone, the commercial rights holder to F1, decided it would be a great idea to turn on the lights and let the drivers duke it out in artificial lighting. Is this a good idea? In my opinion, no.
Racing, aside from endurance racing such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona and the like, belong in daylight. Formula 1 is the most empirical form of motorsports possible - machines and drivers focused on one thing: performance. Exorbitant budgets, expensive materials and sky-high drivers’ salaries are the norm. But it all translates into pure performance. So why would anyone want to put these machines and drivers into an artificially lit race course, with dangerous dark spots and glare from the gazillion-watt lights?
Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. I know that most of you have probably had it up to your ears with all the eco-tree hugger green sentimentality round here, but this one really ground my gears the wrong way. Whenever there’s a revolution, there’s someone getting screwed. The green revolution is no different, and good intentions don’t always mean good solutions. Hit the jump to hear the latest on… Read the rest of this entry »
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