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

Totally Realistic Options List on Tony Stark’s Acura NSX

by Zack K

Since the Acura NSX made so many people swoon at the NAIAS, I thought it was a good time to bust out this funny spec sheet of Tony Stark’s NSX from The Avengers. Of course it’s all fictional, but I love the amount of cool, “techy” words they mix together. It’s almost like a mad-lib; This hyper _____ wheel prevents neutron_____ and ____ attacks while modulating modulators. My favorite is the wheels made from, “particle matter technology.” Isn’t everything made with particle matter technology? Make the jump for the build sheet. Oh, price is about $10M. But the taxes are surprisingly cheap.

Continue Reading..

27.01.2012 News, Photos No Comments

No BMW M Diesel Soup for America!

by Zack K

Last night I was hanging out with our friend and TST podcast member, Chris Hayes, and the news of BMW‘s new diesel M cars came up. We were both excited. They combine huge torque (545 ft-lbs!) with 376HP while getting 36 MPG. Perfect, right? And since the 335d had 51/49 F/R weight distribution, the concern of a heavy nose is gone. Fucking awesome. Except they’re not bring them to the USA. Once again Europe has great fruit we can’t reach. I think the diesel movement is slowly growing here but at a slow rate. Shame. Luxury car buyers would love diesel if they gave it a chance. They feel the torque in a V-8, refer to it as “powerful” and that makes them feel good. But since they rarely wind their cars past 4k, they’re just wasting a good V-8 and a bunch of gas. One day, we’ll get a shot at these. For now, I wrote a little thing I imagine is how a conversation might go with BMW, from the perspective of someone begging them to bring these awesome cars to the USA. Jump for that and the pretty moving picture of the M550d, BMW X5 M50d and BMW X6 M50d. Continue Reading..

27.01.2012 News, Video 4 Comments

“Love for Life” Captures Why We Drive (video)

by Zack K

This is a YouTube video called, “Motorsport-Love for Life.” It’s a short film, by Antti Kalhola. It uses a compilation of racing footage – drivers, cars, rally, F1 teams, wins, losses, crashes, etc – but not simply strung together as eye candy. Paired with slow music and a voice over it starts with the question, “Why do we love?” to explain viewer why people race cars. Through images of broken cars, daunting elements, injured drivers or just the pain of defeat written on faces, this short film is about why we voluntarily put ourselves into a situation where we could lose-even die-yet we go back again the next day.

 

I think this video encapsulates the bigger passion of cars. It’s this kind of strange love that gets us up at 5AM for a show, or up all night wrenching, or working two jobs to buy parts and staying up late reading about suspension engineering or the latest crossover comparison. It’s why driving to us isn’t a chore or a simple means. We don’t know why we love, but we do. And to love is to live, and fo people like us, that means having cars in our life. This 4 minute film explains that, and all through the gorgeous imagery of incredibly fast cars doing what they do. Make the jump to watch.

Continue Reading..

26.01.2012 Video 1 Comment

The Most Expensive Chrysler 300 Ever

 

$1,000,000 for Obama’s used 300C. I think this salesman is just delusional. Or drunk. Or playing a really good joke. Or he owes money to someone in Chicago and this is his bright idea to keep all his fingers. Or maybe it’s Blagojevich raising legal funds. Either way, this guy is really trying to cash in on the leftover Barret Jackson buyers looking for the next investment “collectible.”

 

In the description he justifies the asking price by listing the big prices paid for cars owned by the Pope and former President of Iran, both around a million dollars. And this car, one day, might be worth that much. 20 years from now a museum might want it, or maybe Karl Rove’s friend will buy it for him for his birthday to be used as a pinata. But $1M up front is a big gamble. It might be worth that much eventually, but to buy it for that price now seems like a big risk. I’m curious to see what happens, and we’ll be watching the auction. Personal politics aside, do you think it’s a good investment? Let us know.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120849425946

26.01.2012 News, Uncategorized 2 Comments

King of Hybrids: Toyota’s TS030 (Videos)

by Zack K

There’s no fun hybrid out there. The CR-Z has potential, but other than that, until the Porsche 918 Spyder shows up hybrid cars are a night spent at home with a blanket and some decaf tea. Whoopee. I understand their primary goal is MPG and the fun cars will take time but I like some personality in my car. Toyota has been the brand of vanilla ice cream, communion wafers and tepid water. They made really good wafers, but until the FR-S showed up, that’s all they made.

 

But today they showed up with a pepper-crusted steak, stuffed with jalapenos and a tumbler of whiskey on the side. This is their new race car, the TS030, and it’s a hybrid. It’s fast as shit, screaming around the Paul Ricard course. And unlike every hybrid we can buy, it actually screams. There’s overrun coming out of the pits, even pops and back fires. What?! Jump for 3 videos, with one awesome in-car angle with driver, Alex Wurz. Continue Reading..

25.01.2012 News, Video No Comments

Can Manual Transmissions Fix Distracted Driving?

by Zack K

I pride myself on being a very aware driver. I know what cars are around me at all times, I watch traffic far ahead and have systems on high-alert most of the time. For a long time I chalked it up to good training by my dad, but a news story (below) has me thinking that perhaps it’s thanks of that endangered species, the manual transmission. Continue Reading..

25.01.2012 News 12 Comments

Video: Bullrun – Cops, Cars, and Superstars Premieres January 26th!

Back in July, Matt participated in the Bullrun Rally for the fifth time, and the first as a co-driver. He ran with Rob Ferretti of Super Speeders in a 2000 Mustang Cobra R, and made a series of videos which can be found here.

But the Bullrun was also filmed for a TV show, which premieres on MTV2 This Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 11:30 PM PST. We personally can’t wait to see more of Matt’s exploits on TV, especially since the promo video uses the word “race” several times (we thought we weren’t supposed to do that?). Hit the jump for the trailer, and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Continue Reading..

24.01.2012 News, Video 1 Comment

Tests Say the Juke-R is Awesome. Duh. But Would You BUY One?

by Zack K

The Juke R was released into the wild recently, starring as the pace vehicle for the Dunlop 24 Hour race. Everyone and their mom saw the awesome video of it sliding around a small course, being chased by a Gallardo, SLS AMG and some other pretty cars. At that event, every magazine and blog (except this one!) were invited to stop by and drive this midget power-lifter around the course. And what a surprise, it’s really fun and really fast. Shocking. The results of putting a Nissan GTR drive-train into a shorter, lighter car are as risky and predictable as replacing the cheap Hershey’s syrup on your Sunday with a fancy chocolate flown in from Sweden. Gee, I wonder if that will taste good? Continue Reading..

24.01.2012 News, Video 5 Comments

Special Stage Snow Rally: Freeway (video)

by Zack K

(UPDATE: A fan tipped us to his local news’ website, which covered this story. Police say the woman was having a “diabetic medical emergency”, which caused her to drive this way. The Fire Chief speculated, “The lights are on, but nobody’s home.” Story here)

So this person is hopefully on heavy hallucinogens. I hope she’s ripping along thinking, “Wow, this Candy Land video game is amazing. It’s like I’m really outside!!! Ok, time to focus. The only way to save the Gumdrop Princess is to reach the end of this giant penguin’s slide in time.”  I love to drive in the snow. I know I’ve looked longingly at a snow-covered center divider plenty of times and maybe if I was driving a Robby Gordon Hummer I would dip a tire into it. But this person is insane. They’re doing about 65MPH in a Hyundai Accent, hurtling into the unknown. Watch her hit the jumps. Think that slows her down? Wrong. That’s what you have to do to get the gold coins. Jump to watch.

Continue Reading..

24.01.2012 Video 1 Comment

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

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.

Continue Reading..

23.01.2012 News, Video No Comments

Previous Entries
Newer Entries