Video Credit: Emily Price/Speed:Sport:Life
F1 superstar David Coulthard hit the streets of Austin, TX in the Red Bull Racing F1 Showcar earlier today during a promotional shoot in front of the Texas Capitol building. Enjoy this video of DC doing donuts in the soon to be home of the US Grand Prix and turn it up!
Photos by Zerin Dube, Video by Tim Goldmann, Stunt Driving by Mike Frismanis
It should come as no surprise to long time S:S:L readers that the Jeep Wrangler has quickly become one of our favorite vehicles of any type to drive around in. Whether we’re hitting the trails of Texas, or off-roading the middle of the Pacific, there is simple no other vehicle on the road that delivers the feeling of freedom the way the Jeep Wrangler does. With its iconic styling and rugged off-road capabilities, there just isn’t a better feeling cruising with the windows down and top off in a Wrangler.
For 2011, Jeep has taken the Wrangler upscale by making several small but significant changes to make the driving experience even better than before. Of course, here at S:S:L we are skeptical of any changes a manufacturer makes to “improve the driving experience” because many times this translates to the edge being taken off for the sake of comfort and luxury.
To make sure that Jeep didn’t lose their way by adding all these niceties to the Wrangler, we got our hands on a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited and headed out to our favorite off-road proving grounds at Creekside Edge Off-Road Park.
While visiting Hennessey Performance Engineering a few weeks back we asked John if his new Cadillac CTS-V Wagon was going to stay stock or if he had big plans for it. His answer was a simple “I might just do some basic bolt-ons to it.” We forgot that basic bolt-ons with the 550-horsepower LSA engine can yield an extra 100-horsepower. Slap on a set of drag radials to help that extra 100-horsepower make it to the ground and you’ve got the ultimate sleeper that is capable of running with the legendary 911 Turbo. Enjoy the video provided courtesy of Hennessey Performance Engineering.
Photos and video by Zerin Dube.
Special thanks to Tim Goldmann, Adam Barrera of Highmileage.org and Matt Hardigree of Jalopnik.com for assisting with the video and driving duties. Extra special thanks to Jonathon Edwards for being our guide and spotter.
Speed:Sport:Life recently managed to acquire the keys to both a Ford F-150 SVT Raptor and a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon. Our sole mission: to go out and have fun with them. Unfortunately, Houston doesn’t have the awesome rock trails and canyons of the Moab to drive the Wrangler or the deserts of Southern California to run the Raptor in at wide open throttle. Around here the canyons are made of concrete. Our trails are narrow, lined with pine trees, and full of thick mud. We knew the Wrangler would cope, but how would the wide, heavy Raptor run?
What’s the point of launching a new vehicle into a crowded segment if it doesn’t boast clear superlatives out of the gate? Manufacturers on the comfortable side of the perception gap can afford to launch anonyboxes. That doesn’t describe General Motors. GM must deliver premium vehicles at every price point to solidify their image, and the GMC Terrain is outfitted for the task. Ambient lighting in the center stack, high-contrast upholstery accents, a standard rearview camera and an optional height-adjustable power liftgate might’ve been enough to differentiate this crossover from its competition, but the Terrain pushes farther in two especially meaningful ways. As society begins to value the aesthetics of information, the advantages of a well-designed user interface become clear. GM’s corporate navitainment display splits radio and navigation data to give drivers the information they need at a glance, and hardware radio presets mean drivers can rely on haptic defaults instead of paging through screens. On the road, the Terrain’s high-efficiency gasoline direct injection engine and noticeably meticulous transmission calibration work together to deliver enviable highway fuel efficiency that trumps cross-continental rivals. These future-forward technologies enable the Terrain to compete on its true merits, rather than the cachet of its nameplate.
[nggallery id=130]Faithful Ford truckers often fall into a dichotomy. Lightning enthusiasts crave quick rigs to gain cred at the track. Bronco fans miss muddy rockcrawlers meant for trails. Ford’s Special Vehicle Team could’ve easily built a truck for either purpose, but as guardians of automotive culture, it’s not their duty to take a safe route. SVT rethought “speed truck” ethic entirely. Instead of engineering a tire-shredder, SVT focused on sustaining high speed off-road in a way that no stock vehicle has before. The 2010 Ford SVT F-150 Raptor tackles both asphalt and desert sands so masterfully that it is instantly deserving of supercar status. The Raptor’s victories in design, safety, navitainment and ergonomics mean that it isn’t just a great truck — it’s a great vehicle. Children will mount posters of this desert bandit on their walls. In an era of lowest-common-denominator commodity cars, that’s indicative praise indeed.
If you weren’t able to follow my Tweets from the introduction, this video preview of the 5.4-liter V8-equipped model should tide you over until this winter, when Ford will begin shipping faster Raptors equipped with a new 6.2-liter V8. You can expect a full review from Speed:Sport:Life then.
