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

The Only 8c I Hate

Monday, January 30th, 2012

 by Zack K

Sacrilege! What the hell was this person thinking?! This is like forcibly giving Katy Perry the Mike Tyson face tattoo. If this is some rich guy’s $250,000 joke, I’m going to kick him in his faberge eggs. Despite its physical handicaps on the road, the Alfa 8c is in my top 5 favorite cars of all time. I love it. I think it’s the best-looking car built in decades;better looking than any woman I will ever marry. It also sounds perfect, has an amazing interior and it’s fast enough in a straight line to keep me entertained. To quote the great poet Seth McFarlane, “I hope you fornicate yourself with an iron stick.” More shouting after the jump.  (more…)

30.01.2012 Editorials 6 Comments

TST Podcast Ep. 2 Available for Download (iTunes and MP3)

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

 

Hey everyone, here’s episode 2 of the podcast. I apologize for the delay. We had 6 microphones this time, and some had volume issues. So Chris had to go through the entire thing adjusting each moment Thad talked. It took a while but next week we’ll have new gear so this shouldn’t happen again.

 

Last we checked, over 5,000 people had downloaded the first episode and the response online was pretty damn good. This week, we had a guest stop in; our friend and touring comic, Micah “Bam Bam” White. He’s hilarious,  fresh off a tour in Hawaii and he’ll be at the Hollywood Improv tonight. We want to thank you guys for tuning in, we all have a great time doing it and plan to continue each week. If you like it and want to help us out, just spread the word. Share our podcast, and videos or articles you like. Help spread the gospel of TST.

 

Download it on iTunes: Here
Download the raw MP3: Here
Subsrcibe to the RSS feed: Here

28.01.2012 News 2 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

Totally Realistic Options List on Tony Stark’s Acura NSX

Friday, January 27th, 2012

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.

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27.01.2012 News, Photos 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

The Most Expensive Chrysler 300 Ever

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

 

$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)

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

Can Manual Transmissions Fix Distracted Driving?

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

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. (more…)

25.01.2012 News 12 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

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