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

Watch R8 Hit and Run

Thursday, May 10th, 2012

by Zack Klapman

 

The severity of this crash completely took me off guard. In Moscow, near the university, there’s a huge road with 4 lanes in each direction, separated by a wide median. Wide enough there’s a parking lot in the median. When you enter this lot/turn around, there are no ramps, driveways, speed bumps or spikes to cross over. It’s just big and smooth. Perfect place to drift a stolen car, after the apocalypse. But some jag tried to make a big, slippery, smokey U-turn in his Audi R8, during normal traffic hours. What a shock he had bad timing? The Audi’s durability proved itself, his car running fine as he roared away from the scene. He also ran a red light, but after blind-siding someone that hard, you forget about smaller infractions. Douche.

 

 

I kinda see why he did it; All that space, a wide turning area, smooth tarmac…it’s practically a skid-pad. I Some of us have the brains of children, seeing the world as a giant vehicular playground but, I only if it was empty, after the world had ended. At that point, who cares as long as you’re not eating people. But don’t do this into traffic, during school hours, in a place that’s not exactly known for it’s humor or leniency (bribery cases excluded). Like a kid, I might think about touching the light socket, but I still have enough sense not to do it.

Jump to watch the video.

 

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(video) Best Compilation of Crashes of 2010

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

by Zack Klapman

 

This is the best compilation of crash videos I’ve seen in a while. Top ten of all time. Simple reasons: length and diversity. I’ll leave that bountiful source of dirty jokes alone, and just say this video has every kind of motorsport, with crashes you likely missed. I’ve never seen this many pro drifting crashes. Then there’s the super cross bike landing on the guy’s head. Then the Minis on fire. Then the Porsche pin-ball situation. 2011, you were so good to us. And the video isn’t a premature 3 minutes long, it’s 24 minutes long. Tantric. Sting probably made it. So if you find yourself saying, “Dude, that Vaughn Gittin Jr. wreck was sick!”, there will be another one in 5 seconds. It’s like Discovery Channel depth, with Wide World of Sports content. Who doesn’t want to watch that. Or at least, a lot of it. Enjoy the smashing.

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Video: Re-building a Totaled GS Class BMW M3 in 16 Days

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

Crashed race cars are  never a pretty sight. On March 31st, Turner Motorsports driver Michael Marsal, who we followed as he prepared for the 24 Hours of Daytona, and then as the Turner Motorsports Team Chased victory during the race, suffered a crash during the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race at Barber Motorsports Park. He was uninjured, but the car didn’t fare so well: the #97 BMW M3 was totaled. Turner Motorsports had just 16 days to completely rebuild the car. Fortunately for us, they set up a time lapse camera and got to work, and the car is now ready for its next race at Miami Homestead Speedway on April 28th. Hit the jump to see how quickly a race car can be rebuilt from the ground up.

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A Horrifying Lesson in Paying Attention(video)

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

by Zack K

 

Let me say up front, this is probably a video of a tragedy. If you don’t want to see a car smashed to pieces, move along. I posted this video because it drives home what can happen if you are not 100% focused on driving, ESPECIALLY when there is ice or snow on the road. I also posted this because recently someone has been spamming our FB page with videos of them doing what we describe as “really dangerous and stupid driving.” Passing on shoulders, crossing double yellow, “Playing Chicken with a Mac Truck”, etc.  They posted so many times (even after requests to stop) we had to ban them, because we don’t condone flagrantly dangerous and stupid driving. Some might argue BullRun is filled with insanity, but 1. A lot of those drivers use more caution than the poster. 2. The serious drivers (Rawlings, Roy) know how to speed safely, and 3. They don’t do it everyday, like this person was.

 

So this video is to send a reality check to everyone, but especially the keyboard bad-asses and wannabe race car drivers. You should always be focused on driving, but when there’s a variety of surfaces and slippery conditions, you need to be a ninja on Aderrall trying to count cards in Vegas. Jump to watch. (Warning, there is a terrible accident. No people are visible, but it’s clear some was very hurt or killed)

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Video: Aston Hits a Barrier, Hard, Backwards (Update!)

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Photo: Joel Strickland

by Zack K

How hard was this hit? Hard enough to take the left door off. Off off, as in, no longer having problems reaching the drive-thru, or seeing if you’re between the parking lines. This was shot in Australia at the opening stage of the East Coast Bullbars Rally in Calder. The car gets loose on the outside grass, and goes into a high-speed slide. The co-drive went to the hospital where he found out he had a dislocated pelvis, an ailment that has plagued Shaq and Tommy Lee’s girlfriends for years. Luckily both drivers will be ok. Jump to watch the video.

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(video) How to React in a Gnarly Crash

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

 

by Zack K

 

This video is from a 2011 race at YAS Marina. It’s of Yusif Bassel driving his Renault Clio. Only seconds into the race it all goes about as wrong as possible. At first look I thought this was just a really really gnarly crash, followed by a terrifying burst of flames. Well, it is both of those things (jump to watch) but there’s also something to learn from it.  But Crank & Piston  pointed out some things we can all learn from. Make the jump to watch. (more…)

Video Highlights from WRC 2011

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

 

World Rally Championship is one of the most exciting and difficult motorsports in the known universe, it’s been that way since it began. Despite Subaru pulling out and leaving a dead spot in my heart, there was plenty of clinical insanity to be watched. Ken Block flipping his car a dozen times, high-speed drifts through snow, Loeb, Raikkonen, Solberg and all the rest. ESPN put together a highlights reel for us, and it’s definitely worth the 8 minute attention span. I’m sure next year will be more of the same. The same being the best damn racing ever. Jump to watch it.

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Ferrari 599 Fire. What Year is it Again?

Monday, December 12th, 2011

 

Last week a Ferrari 599 GTB spontaneously caught on fire. It didn’t quite melt itself (video after jump) like a dead vampire in From Dusk Til Dawn but it did catch on fucking fire. I’m sorry but WTF?  What year is it again? 2011? And cars are still catching on fire? And not just any cars, these are some of the best  and most expensive cars on the planet. A $7,000 Versa doesn’t catch on fire. The “smart” car doesn’t.  Even my  shitty ’95 Miata managed to drive 300 miles spitting oil out its CAS seal without turning me into Kosher rotisserie. So why are Ferraris and Lamborghinis bursting into flames? Make the jump for a buffet videos featuring exotics on fire. Maybe we can find a commonality? (more…)

Highway Deaths Lowest since 1949. Good. Can We Go Faster Now?

Friday, December 9th, 2011

 

"Where I'm from, my people run free." RS5 to CHP officer.

 

The topic of speed limits comes up in our merry band of arsonists (thanks to Dan Neil for that name) oh; every single time we drive a car. We usually give extra thought and a more “passionate” discussion after receiving speeding tickets. Most of the cars we drive-especially that we make episodes of-are either high-performance cars or expensive cars. Not exactly cars that drive poorly. Yes, they’re fast but they also have good brakes, traction system, air bags, warning lights (which we hate) and good tires. Germany has the Autobahn, proving travel at extremely high speed is safe. We know that won’t happen here, but what about a bump in limits?

 

Let’s be honest, everyone who drives a car knows in a good car it’s safe to travel above the posted speed limit. Everyone -on highways at least- speeds at least a little bit. I remember learning to drive and asking my dad how fast to go on the highway. He said “65″, to which I replied, “Oh please you never drive that speed. What’s the real number?” I wasn’t asking if it’s ok to max out our Laredo but I paid enough attention when my parents drove to know we weren’t the only families doing 5 over. More (more…)

M&M’s and Kyle Busch: Vaginal Advertising Edition (video)

Monday, November 14th, 2011

 

Let’s get two things out right now. 1. I hate NASCAR. I’m sure many of you feel the same way. It’s boring, it’s given WAY WAY WAY too much attention on SPEED, and it’s races are attended by people that probably disagree with me on everything from favorite book (“It’s pronounced gun brochure, pretty boy.”) to politics (Must bring birth certificate to receive NASCAR ticket at will-call).

2. I am an angry driver. I’ve never been in an accident but if you are going 64MPH in a 65 zone, I will sit 5 feet off your bumper until you move. Because I feel it’s my job to teach the world how to be more efficient on the road, or die trying. Drive perfectly or I will throw a barrage of hateful yet creative words at your back window with the fury of a WWE wrestler, just without the roids. My anger is 100% organic. (To see the crash clip that caused this rant, and the conclusion, make the jump.)

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