Tires are a difficult item to shop for. You can test drive a car, and you can read a dyno sheet and hear a YouTube clip if you want to know which exhaust to buy, but when you buy a set of (probably very expensive) Ultra-high Performance tires for your sports car, you can’t return them after a full day of track testing and say they didn’t work. Tires can mean the difference between setting a record-breaking lap time and dying a very painful death inside a ball of metal that used to resemble a car. And when you buy a set, you’re stuck with them, even if they suck. That’s why I’m a big fan of tire tests. They are always at a race track, so you can push the tires to their limits, and they offer an opportunity to feel how a tire responds to your hands and feet, instead of reading a data sheet, marketing jargon, and user reviews on Tire Rack from people you don’t know or necessarily trust. So, when BF Goodrich invited me out to California Speedway to test their new g-Force Sport COMP2, I simply had to say yes. Hit the jump to find out how they (and I) did.
Video: Bullrun – Cops, Cars, and Superstars Premieres January 26th!
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
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.
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.
TST’s Cars of the Year: And the Winners are….
Sunday, January 1st, 2012
Last week we sat down and looked at all the cars we had driven in 2011. It was a great year at The Smoking Tire. Though we hadn’t driven hundreds of cars with a team of only 1.5 journalists (Matt and Zack) we did pretty well, driving at least 60 cars. Some were used in episodes, some for written reviews and some were from Matt’s work on “The Car Show.” We decided to break them into 3 categories: Sedan of the Year, Truck/SUV of the Year, and Sports Car of the Year.
After coming to an agreement on the Sedan and Truck/SUV of the Year Matt chose the Sports Car of the Year. He drove everything, so he would be the best judge. LIES! We locked in our votes and then posted a contest for all of you: Whoever picked the same 3 cars we did before midnight on New Year’s Eve would win a t-shirt. It’s now January 1, 2012 which means it’s time to reveal our choices for Cars of the Year, as well as the contest winners.
Ford Ranger is Done. We Want Mini Raptor.
Friday, December 9th, 2011
At the end of December, Ford will stop making the Ranger. It’s been around for decades, and was one of my favorite trucks, regardless of size. It did its job and wasn’t gigantic. And in pre-runner gear…mmmm. But it’s going away, the last one being sold to Orkin. I know, who cares.
But that means there’s an opening, maybe. Ford is already developing the next generation, and whether they call it the F-100 or Ranger, I don’t really care. What I like-sort of-is the next one might have a 1.6-liter turbo-charged engine. That motor is fairly boring, because it makes less than 200HP. But what if…they make a mini Raptor… We’ve been dreaming about this for a while. We want this. Talk about a fucking hooligan. The Raptor is fun, but it weighs 6,200lbs. It’s fun, but it’s big fun. You can’t really flick it around and you have to make sure the road or trail you’re on is wider than your average highway.
But imagine a Ranger-sized truck with Raptor shocks, lighter diffs of the same quality and the same awesome interior, chuck the 1.6-liter and put in either the EcoBoost twin-turbo V-6 from the F-150. It makes 365HP and 420 torques! More than enough to make this a fast, nimble and (probably) fairly efficient truck. It’d be awesome! Pre-runner in a can. Offer the 2.0L EcoTec – maybe with more aggressive tuning- for the diet option.. But the true Velociraptor was small-ish, nimble and fast. If you offer a Raptor-like truck that fits in traffic and gets 20+ MPG, and price it belowwww the big Raptor by a big amount, that would be the shit. It would be the super motard of trucks. Stuck in traffic? Cut across that park, or drive on the beach at 100MPH. It’s light. It would leave a mark like a baby deer.*
*Your results may vary. TST not responsible for arrests or damage done to baby Raptor by slow-moving children or organic apples thrown by fans of Earth.
-Zack
Camaro ZL1 ‘Ring Time Induces National Orgasm
Friday, October 7th, 2011
…except for me. Here I sit, like a young Clay Aiken watching Porky’s…nothin’.
The way this car is being touted you’d think the internet was about to seizure. First it was “Will they make one?!” then “GM says no ZL1″ and now “We’re fast in Europe bitches!” Now the story (from NA President Mark Reuss) is that this is the fastest production car under $75,000 around the ‘Ring, AKA, “Ford…Ford! Lookit! Lookit my time! Dad’s going to put it on the fridge!”
Make the jump to watch the lap, and why I remain flaccid.
How Matt Almost Won the Ford Octane Academy Invitational, But Didn’t.
Monday, September 26th, 2011
Vaughn Gittin Jr., Tanner Foust, Matt, Ken Block, and Brian Deegan
The Ford marketing department’s pimp game has been especially tight in the last couple of years. And I should know, as I, despite my journalism street cred, have been a part of it more than once. Back at our old show, Garage419, we were offered one of the “Fiesta Movement” cars for 6 months, which we turned down, because we didn’t feel like filming the same car over and over for half a year. Nevertheless, the Fiesta Movement was a huge success, leading to millions of minutes of online video coverage promoting their new small car. A year ago, I took part in the Ford Focus Rally, essentially a version of “The Amazing Race” by the same producers, except instead of public transportation we drove 7,000 miles in Ford Focus Titanium’s. (For the record, yes I got paid to participate, which is why I will not review the new Focus). It was a reality show on the surface, but more likely a not-so-subtle month-long commercial for the Focus, as many of the car’s features were integrated into challenges. This brings us to Ford’s newest plan: The Octane Academy. It’s a chance for young, aspiring action sports athletes to compete against each other, on television, while under the patient guidance of four of today’s hottest motorsports stars.
For some reason, (I’m guessing it’s because I had to drive 7,000 miles with the cruise control set to 60 on the Focus Rally) Ford decided I should be included in their Media Invitational, and even be allowed to drive fast on their test track while competing against 19 other journalists for the Octane Academy Invitational Gold Medal (no shit, they had medals.) And I almost won, but, as usual, screwed myself. It’s a long story, but don’t worry, I made it extra awesome for you. Hit the jump to read on.
Driven: Kirkham Shelby Cobra
Friday, September 9th, 2011
We all know where this is going. It’s a 427 freakin’ Cobra. It is insane, awesome, noisy, squirrely, and every man’s fantasy. You get it and I get it. What you might not know, however, is what makes the car you’re currently ogling different. I’ll give you a hint: it’s the kind of difference that makes Carol Shelby himself take notice. Continue reading to find out what the difference is.
“Mostly Stock” Ford F-250 Runs 182 MPH at Bonneville
Friday, August 19th, 2011
Diesel trucks are awesome, and for much of the United States, they are a way of life. The diesel-powered Super Duty pickup can haul your wares to market, tow your camper or race trailer, and haul your family around in total comfort. Heavily-optioned trucks, such as the Ford F450 King Ranch, carry sticker prices well into the $70k range when fully equipped and are more luxurious than many European sedans, while certainly offering more utility. But are they faster than those European sedans?
Bullrun 2011 – There is Video After All! (UPDATED)
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
Hey everyone! We know it’s been a little quiet here around The Smoking Tire for the last ten days, and there is a good reason for it. While Zack has been working behind the scenes at The Car Show (Wednesdays at 10ET/7PT), Matt was off on the Bullrun Rally with Rob from SuperSpeeders, and Tom was part of the MTV film crew that was filming the whole event. Now, for those of you who follow Matt on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know that we weren’t filming the rally this year like other years, because Matt wanted to just be on vacation, and to be honest, Black Magic wasn’t exactly jumping to throw money at us after our 12 tickets last year.
But that doesn’t mean Rob wasn’t filming this year. And although the coverage isn’t as complete as when we filmed in 2010, and it doesn’t have all those awesome Black Magic commercials not-so-stealthily integrated into the video, we’re pretty sure that you will get the idea of how this year’s rally went. Hit the jump to ride along with Team Super Speeders, Matt and Rob, in the 2000 Mustang Cobra R!
** Matt wasn’t in the “Day 1″ video because he was finishing up taping The Car Show and shows up at the beginning of day 2. But watch day 1 anyway to learn a fun fact about Rob!
UPDATED: Now with Day 7 video.
