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

Co-driver Can’t Keep Up

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

"Crest.." "Uh, we're already in the air. Can you talk faster?"

by Zack K

This video from The Daily Hoon is pretty funny. It’s a WRC special stage rally with an unknown driver. The driver is hauling ass through this twisty tarmac stage, and the co-driver just can’t keep up. The guy urges her to speed up several times. He’s practically driving the course without notes, and that makes his crazy speed even more impressive. 4km in, their coms stop working, so she has to shout the notes and she sounds exactly like Rachel Dratch doing that weird, Eastern European accent. You could turn this into a drinking game: how many times does she call out the corner and he’s already in it? Grab a bottle and hit the jump. (more…)

31.01.2012 Video 6 Comments

Turner Motorsport – 24 Hours of Daytona Episode 1 – Testing

Friday, January 27th, 2012

 

The Smoking Tire heads to Daytona Beach, FL to follow Turner Motosports as they enter the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. It’s the 50th year of the legendary race and they’ve brought 2 nasty E92 BMW M3 GTs to compete. (Turn your volume up for the in-car footage; they sound incredible.)  In part 1 we meet the team and watch the drivers take the cars out for final  testing, addressing issues like tire wear, over-steer and night-time fatigue. Watch for newcomer, Michael Marsal, ripping past an Audi R8 GT on the outside of the oval. Video after the click.

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27.01.2012 News, Video No Comments

No BMW M Diesel Soup for America!

Friday, January 27th, 2012

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. (more…)

27.01.2012 News, Video 4 Comments

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

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

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.

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26.01.2012 Video 1 Comment

King of Hybrids: Toyota’s TS030 (Videos)

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

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. (more…)

25.01.2012 News, Video No Comments

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

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

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? (more…)

24.01.2012 News, Video 5 Comments

Special Stage Snow Rally: Freeway (video)

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

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.

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24.01.2012 Video 1 Comment

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

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