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

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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Matt Reviews the C63 Coupe, Lexus CT200H, and BMW R1200R in the January Issue of Road Lanes

Friday, January 13th, 2012

We know it’s been a little quiet around here the past few days, and that’s because Matt and the crew are on a 3,000 mile road trip to film 4 episodes for our new show Tuned on the DRIVE Network. We’ll be back to regular posting on Monday, but for now, check out the January issue of the free online magazine Road Lanes, where Matt reviews the new Mercedes C63 Coupe, Lexus’s new “sporty” hybrid, the CT200H, and the BMW R1200R motorcycle!

Check it out at www.roadlanes.com

Season Premiere of TUNED, Our New Show on the DRIVE Network!

Monday, January 9th, 2012

Some of you may not have heard of Tuned, our new show on the DRIVE Network. Whereas here on The Smoking Tire we tend to focus on factory stock car reviews, Tuned is all about the best custom projects around, from street cars to trucks, offroad to land yachts. In our season premiere, we hit up our old friends at BBi Autosport, who said we absolutely must try their 650 horsepower Porsche 997 Turbo S PDK. The car isn’t just about horsepower, either; it’s got the chassis, suspension, and brake upgrades to match. And as you can imagine, I take it out, drive it hard, and put it away wet. Hit the jump for the video and see what Tuned is all about.

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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.

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Video: Corvette ZR1 Review at the Mojave Mile

Friday, December 16th, 2011

On this episode of The Smoking Tire, we take the 2011 Corvette ZR1, the fastest Corvette ever produced, to the Mojave Mile for a little high-speed testing. Back in May, Matt came to the Mile with a Porsche 911 GT3RS, an amazing, barely street legal track car, and while it ran a very respectable 166.8 mph, that just wasn’t enough. We had a goal of crossing the 1-mile traps going at least 175, and the ZR1 could be the perfect weapon. Hit the jump for the video.

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Review: The BMW X5 Diesel. Over Hills and Through Snowy Ass Woods.

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

“Did you tell anyone we were coming here today?”

“I was just going to ask you that! And…..no, I didn’t. Did you?”

“No.”

We shared a long silence, both mentally flashing forward to a broken car, freezing temperatures and no food. We were 7,000 feet above sea level on the Wheeler Pass trail in Nevada. It was snowing, so the pointy rocks- which ranged in size from grenade to tool box- were becoming hidden from view. We were wearing jeans and hoodies. The closest thing to “supplies” were a tire repair kit, 2 half-full Monster Rehabs and stomachs full of Pahrump’s finest Subway. Popping a tire on this 2011 BMW X5 diesel would surely result in cannibalism, and Thad is bigger than me.

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Read Matt’s BMW X6M and Mercedes CLS63 AMG Review in the December Issue of Road Lanes!

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

There is rarely enough time in one of our 7-minute films to say everything that needs to be said about a car. You get in the moment, you forget things here and there, and you go home at the end of the day wishing you had said this or that. Well, in between filming and writing for The Smoking Tire, I review cars for other publications as well, which gives me an opportunity to write a completely different take on the same cars we film with. Introducing Road Lanes Magazine, a new online automotive magazine that you can download for free and view offline as well as online. In last month’s issue, I reviewed the Dodge Durango and Corvette ZR1. This month, check out the new issue of Road Lanes for my reviews of the Mercedes CLS63 AMG and BMW X6M.

So as not to disappoint our loyal fans here at The Smoking Tire, we have also made films with the Corvette ZR1 and BMW X6M, which you will see on the site and our various video outlets soon. Until then, click here to see the latest issue of Road Lanes!

 

 

5th Gear Wuvvvs the Ferrari Spider (Video Review)

Friday, November 11th, 2011

One thing that often lacks in video reviews or driving videos is driver emotion. Cruise youtube and you’ll see a lot of people talking about cars the way your professor taught you about economics: Factual, direct, maybe some trite joke about cost of beer versus volume to keep everyone awake. Or it’s regular people driving really fast, with the same Terminator face we all wear when we’re trying to not die at the hands of several hundred horsepower.

 

But something is missing. It’s the feeling cars give us. Simply sitting down in my ERA Cobra makes me smile, laugh and make engine sounds. (But if you watch this, you’ll understand I’m not normal).  To be fair, not every car gives your brain a blowjob. I’m not going to laugh like a maniac while driving a new Passat (probably more tears of shame). But I will in a Caterham. That kind of childish emotional display is part of what makes Top Gear UK so great. It’s the difference between watching Steven Hawking and Chris Tucker commenting on Sophia Vergara’s tits.

 

That’s why I love this video of Fifth Gear’s Vicky Henderson reviewing the new 2012 Ferrari 458 Spider. I’ve never seen her have so much fun in a car, and that visible emotion tells me this car must be unbelievable.

 

-Zack K

 

Review: Honda CR-Z EX

Friday, October 14th, 2011


At times I am a walking contradiction. I support the EPA and Sierra Club but if you hand me a gun and 4 sets of tires I’ll Yosemite Sam Hubinette that shit all day long. And as much as I love burning as much gas as possible, it’s expensive, and I am poor. So when the CR-Z concept came out, I thought it was that bowl of porridge made of half hybrid MPG and half sports car. A few weeks ago I got one to try out. How did it do? Make the jump to find out.

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Video: Art Morrison 3G 1960 Corvette – From Reality to Video Game and Back

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Matt hates video games for several reasons, but mostly it’s because they aren’t nearly as much fun as the real thing, which he proves in this video. In 2006, Art Morrison won the “Gran Turismo Award” at the SEMA show, which means that they put your show car into the video game Gran Turismo. After testing the video game version, Matt can’t help but dream of driving the real thing. Hit the jump to see what happens when your wish is granted.

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