Welcome to The Smoking Tire. Kick ass automotive videos and more.

Video: Matt Races Bucky Lasek in Rally Cars on TUNED!

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

If you haven’t been following our new series Tuned on the /DRIVE Network, you’ve been missing out. We started by romping on BBi Autosport’s Porsche Turbo S, then moved on to crusing Grant’s Pass, Oregon in the amazing Decoliner RV by Blastolene. This week, we made it to the Dirtfish Rally School in Snoqualmie, WA, where we learned about rally car building and preparation, while Matt got to race six-time X-Games Gold Medalist Bucky Lasek.

Bucky, much more well known for skateboarding than for cars, isn’t exactly an easy takedown. He spends his weekends at the track club racing his modified Porsche 996 Turbo. He has raced Porsche cup cars at Sebring, Daytona, and all over southern California. And his skateboarding background means he’s used to pushing the limit. But when it comes to rally cars, he has the same 2 days of experience that Matt does. The race is closer than you’d think, but who will win? Hit the jump to find out.

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23.01.2012 News, Video No Comments

A Gumballer Goes Down

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

by Zack K

By now you’ve heard about the big arrest of the Megaupload founder, Kim Schmitz, in New Zealand. No? You don’t read any websites other than this one and Mama’s Knitting Blog? Jesus. The short version is Kim Schmitz was a Gumball driver and hacker.  He lived life with the character and humility Scarfaces’ secret 16 year old millionaire son would have. He started Megaupload-a file sharing site-and made a shitload of money selling ads and memberships to people seeking pirated content. And now the money, cars, house and *cough* “party girls” are going away. He’s like a nerdy James Bond villain. Make the jump for the details and videos of his high-speed Gumball rallies, and the recent arrest.

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23.01.2012 News, Uncategorized, Video 4 Comments

F1 Drivers Imitating Their Engines (Video)

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

by Zack K

We all make engine noises with our mouths. Admit it. You’ve either been describing a car, a race, trying to explain to your friends what your new exhaust sounds like (because surely MY skilled mouth can perfectly mimic the pitch differences between an Invidia exhaust and a Crawford one.) or you’re playing with your die-cast models. Either way, we do it, it’s fun and we don’t care how infantile it is or how many girls it confuses and horrifies.

 

F1 drivers are no different. Someone put them in front of a video camera and asked them to imitate their own cars. It’s pretty funny. And if you’re wondering “Do I sound that silly?” the answer is yes, yes you do.

22.01.2012 News, Video 3 Comments

I’m Moving to Chechnya!!

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

by Zack K

 I love this guy. This video is of traffic in Chechnya. The impatient white car is impatiently weaving, looking for a safe place to pass. There’s nowhere to go, really, but he doesn’t care, a silly sentiment I share with him, daily. The camera car honks at him; the automotive equivalent of an old woman’s finger shake. The driver responds with the ultimate “Frankly, ma’am, I don’t give a fuck.” by holding an AK-47 out the window and firing it into the air. Nice move. Amazingly, everyone keeps trundling along, for a moment at least. You’ll have to watch the rest. It’s quite entertaining from the safe location of the internet. Make the jump to watch. (more…)

21.01.2012 Uncategorized, Video 10 Comments

Video: The Smoking Tire Judges the 24 Hours of Lemons…And Brings a C63 AMG Coupe

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

The 24 Hours of Lemons is the fastest growing racing series in America, and for good reason: It’s cheap, at least by normal racing standards. Cars must not be worth more than $500, and poor driving is punished with hilarious penalties, dished out by Matt and the Lemons Supreme Court, comprised of Motor Trend’s Jonny Lieberman and The Truth About Cars’s Phil Greden (aka Murilee Martin). As a bonus, Matt is invited to pilot the safety car before the race, so we built our own replica of Formula One’s Safety Cars out of a brand-new C63 AMG coupe. Hit the jump for the video.

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18.01.2012 News, Reviews, Video 1 Comment

Bloodmasters NJ: Hooning at It’s Finest (video)

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

by Zack K

These guys’ lack of shit-giving would decapitate that stupid honey badger. The picture above should give you an idea of how serious and awesome this video is. Not very and a very damn much. Formula D champ Chris Forsberg and a bunch of his crazy buddies got together and took over a racetrack with their mildly ratty but completely fun-as-shit drift cars. There’s no artsy shots, no game faces, no quick detail spray. What there is is 8 cars drifting around the entire compound (buildings, stands, the ticket booth) inches from each other. Animals were probably harmed in the making of this film. I love drifting, but I haven’t seen a video this fun and reckless in a while. This is what we would do if we had full access to a track (and real drifting talent) and just said “fuck it.”

 

It’s only the first part of the movie and they’ll probably space them out like an IV drip, keeping us happy through the winter. BloodMasters, if you’re listening, the TST crew approves and would love to have you at our next BBQ. We share your passion for automotive anarchism. Now enjoy the video below. Someone get me a denim vest.

 

Source: BloodMastersNJ

17.01.2012 Video 2 Comments

New Episode of TUNED: The Blastolene Story

Monday, January 16th, 2012

Last week, on the season premiere of Tuned, Matt visited BBi Autosport in Huntington Beach to drive a very impressive Porsche. This week, we turn it up a notch. Matt and the crew heads 800 miles north to Grant’s Pass, Oregon to visit the world’s greatest living hot rodder, Randy Grubb and his one-man company, Blastolene (greatest name ever ,BTW). Randy’s story is so good, and his passion for his craft so strong, that we simply had to share it with you. While he is best known for his first-ever creation, Jay Leno’s “Tank Car,” each of Randy’s projects seem to be better than the last. We awarded his semi truck, “Piss’d Off Pete” our highly coveted Best of SEMA award in 2009, and now we’re visiting him to drive the vehicle he’s been building since then. Introducing, the DecoLiner. Look at the picture above and consider this: Randy designed and built this functional flybridge motorhome from scratch, by himself, in his garage, in just over 5,000 hours. If you’re anything like us, your first thought is “Please let me drive that.” Fortunately, when you’re Matt, the answer is almost always “Sure.”

Hit the jump for the video review of this amazing custom vehicle.

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16.01.2012 News, Reviews, Video 3 Comments

Online Ferrari 458 Configurator Changes a Man

Monday, January 16th, 2012

by Zack K

The Ferrari 458 Spider configurator has confused me. I clicked the link, and immediately changed it from the dark Rosso mugello to the traditional Rossa Corsa, because if I’m going to buy a Ferrari I want it to be “Ferrari red.” But since this is the internet where you can find a picture that caters to your fantasy about having a threesome with a Halo truck and a furry I decided to click through the other colors, just to see how they looked. I started with the usual blue, black and white but then kept going: Grigio ingrid (like sand), Blue Abu Dhabi, even one resembling British Racing Green-which felt somewhat sacrilegious- looked good enough to drive daily. I questioned my taste, “What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t want a teal car!” (more…)

16.01.2012 News, Video 1 Comment

20 Years Later, A Rally Winner Comes Clean

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

 

by Zack K

If you cheat accidentally, is it cheating? That’s the question that came to mind when I read Matt Bubbers’ story on retired rally driver, Rauno Aaltonen. They call Rauno the “Original Flying Finn” and after you read his story, you’ll know why. Make the jump to read about the harrowing, snow-covered mountain shortcut Mr. Aaltonen “found” at 85MPH.

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14.01.2012 Editorials, Video 1 Comment

I’m Calling Motorcycle vs. Car Drift Battle the Best Vid of 2012

Friday, January 13th, 2012

by Zack K

I’m nominating this video for best video ad of 2012. I know, it’s early. Hollywood does this when they roll out a piece of shit on January 2nd (“The best romantic comedy of the year!”) but when they do it, it’s because that movie will sink to last place in a matter of days and remain there for the rest of time. But this video, sponsored by ICON, GoPro and a littany of other performance companies, just fucking kills it. It’s the sequel to the original, spank-bank-worthy “Motorcycle vs Car Drift Battle” video that came out exactly one year ago. It featured Nick “APEX” Brocha sliding a stretched ZX10 around while an LS-powered RX-7 slid after him. I had never seen someone corner a bike like that, and it’s view count of over 4 million means neither had any of you.

 

This new video takes it up many notches. Nick is back, with his buddy Ernie Vigil. They take some Triumphs off the racetrack, into the hills of Washington. They’re riding is ridiculous, balancing a slippery rear wheel from turn to turn. But this time, there’s an addition, a “Smokey” played by drifter Dan Brockett. He chases down the 2-wheeled ruffians in the baddest cop car to date (Sorry, Gallardo), a Ford Mustang SVT Cobra. The combination of location, aerial shots, editing, driving, riding and execution is something fellow video nerds and non-blind people will unanimously love. It’s just sick. This is the best commercial since the Gymkhana series. Suck it, GEICO newt.  Ok, I can’t think anymore, I have to go watch it again. Make the jump, raise the resolution and grab a doughnut. Enjoy.

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13.01.2012 News, Video 5 Comments

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