The Continuing Onslaught of Diesels in Motorsport

Yes, my loyal followers of all things Tuned, your eyes do not deceive you. that is an F-250 Super Duty with a drag chute.  It is also the newest record holder at Bonneville, topping out at 182mph, fastest diesel truck ever. This is another victory for diesels in racing, and they keep coming hard and fast. The last, what? six, seven, 24 Hours of Le Mans have all been won by diesels. The 12 Hours of Sebring has seen the "shakers" roll into victory lane more than a handful of times. Go to your local track on a Friday night and your bound to see at least a dozen of 'em running stupid fast.

It makes sense, diesels are fast, they can make ludicrous amounts of power. Figures of 1200bhp and 2000+ft/lbs of torque are easy to achieve with a big enough wallet. And better still, diesels get fabulous mileage, so they cheaper in the long run. Problem is, until the last ten years or so, almost no R & D had gone into them (from a performance standpoint anyway). I once read someone saying that if 1/100th of the money put into a conventional motor had been put into developing the Wankel engine, everyone would have Wankels. Now that's just stupid, as Wankels are total crap. But if you replace Wankels with Diesels in that sentence, you may have a point. Just look at Europe, you can get a diesel in a Ford Focus and get 42mpg. Fucking brillant. Hell, the most efficent car in the world is a diesel, the VW Polo Bluemotion gets between 75-80mpg! Compare that with the weaksauce Prius which is rated at 56mpg, but rarely gets better than 45 or so.

So obviously, I have no problems with there being "truck motors" in racing. And I really like that Ford has the new record at Bonneville. Now our more avid readers will sense the, large, sweaty, "but" coming up. What bothers me is Ford set the new record for a production truck. As in one you or I can buy. And Ford says the truck was 100% stock........except for the drag chute of course, and a rollcage and racing harnesses (rules ya know) oh and they changed the turbos, injectors, ECU, fuel lines, and fuel pump. But that's it, well and a new bumper......and wheels, but seriously thats it guys! So they set the production world record in a truck with a totally jacked motor! WTF? I'm going to put Steve's Hyundai Accent body on a NASCAR and go set the production Accent world record. Fucking idiots.

Now onto random consumer advice. I just bought a Nintendo 3DS and picked up Ridge Racer 3D for it. My review of it is this. It is both a terrible game, and a must have at the same time. It is terrible in that it is horribly unrealistic, not a true driving simulator at all, psycho drifts, 200mph speeds, and "Triple Nitrous" charges are all par for the course. But its addictive, has awesome music and the unlicensed car designs are very cool. The controls need work, as the upshift/downshift buttons in manual transmission mode are hard to reach for quick changes, but once you lock the car in 5th (no 6-speeds yet, oddly enough) you're good to go. The 3D effect is actually quite good (this from a 3D hater) as your taillight trails, tyre smoke, and winners confetti all come through the screen. Dodging a TV Camera helicopter at a buck eighty in 3D is fun as hell too. All in all, go buy now!

Finally, you may have noticed our new look. You like? You hate? You can't read it cause the shitty new font is terrible? Let me know.

Quote of the Week

I decided to add a "Quote of the Week" to our blog. Now normally this won't get its own post but will be at the top of an unrelated one. However, being the first in a series, it gets its own post. This week's quote was uttered by Rebel, to me in my old man's pickup a few days ago.....


"Walls, I love how you drive this thing like it has Enzo brakes" - Rebel

Refired and (Hopefully) Running Again

Ok everyone. I know once again Tuned dropped off the face of the earth. And for that I apologize. I got a promotion at the historical society, quit my second job, and had my girlfriend move in with me. I know, excuses are like assholes, everybody has'em, and none smell too good. Anyway, I should be able to post once or twice a week anyway. So lots of news to catch up with..... But first auto porn.....

And now the bad news......

The US government will not allow Pagani to sell the Huyuara (above) in America. The reason being they don't have "Stage 2" airbags in them, and children may be injured. The US government is passing up on taxing a  $1,100,000 supercar, due to airbags? Huh? Do you realize how big te luxury tax is on $1,100,000? Or the gas guzzler tax? Or the import tax? Nope, Obama would rather tax workers than rich car owners. I know this isn't a political blog, but damn! Because of kids? Really? Pagani owners don't live long enough to have kids! And if they had one, who would take youngsters in one? Ok I mean I would, and my old man would, and maybe Rebel, but that's it. Nobody else. Pure stupidity.

There's a "new" Porsche 911 out and guess what? Its nearly identical to the old one! Again! Don't believe me? Have a look below. There's never really been a new 911, and there probably never will be. And there's a very good reason for that. Porsche has soe of the most rabib and most snooty fans anywhere. They believe Porsche should only make the 911 and nothing else, and that it's looks should never change. This is why everything Porsche builds, from the four-door Panamera to the SUV Cayenne, all look like 911s. Mangled 911s, but 911s nonetheless. This is also why every 911 has looked the same from day 1 unil now. People won't allow it to change. I feel bad for Porsche, really I do. They're stuck. They have to redesign cars every few years, but they have to make them alays be the same, and new, at the same time. How's that work? And despite the unalterable laws of physhics, they have to keep the engine in the back, no matter how much that ruins the handling. Poor bastards. However, the new Porsche will feature the world's first (and only, so far) seven speed fully manual gearbox. Seventh will be a highway only gear for economy and comfort, with the first six there for speed. That's awesome actually, but sadly no pics are out yet.

More C7 Corvette news. It seems a 5.5 litre turbo V8 reving to 8500rpms will be the new entry level unit afterall. Interesting. I want to see how long it is before tuners have these little bastards screaming at 125000rpms and running 25 pounds of boost. My guess, not long. Here's hoping GM releases it as a crate motor like they did the LS9.  The rumors of the new corvette being mid-engined persist, but thats no surprise, as they been persisting since 1953. There will be a mid-engined 'vette.......when I start doing porn films. Sorry that was a nasty thought, noone wants to imagine that. Anyway I still think the body is horribly ugly, and am sceptical the production version will look like that, but I've been wrong before.....

More and more details about the new Viper keep emerging, and frankly they keep getting worse and worse. Dodge has decided to make a softer, more forgiving Viper, for whatever reason. So Stability Control and Cruise Control will now be added, and rumors of Traction Control persist. But worst of all, supposedly, a cheaper enrty level Viper with the new 6.4litre Hemi. Why? Why destroy the cars trademark? You say Viper, you think V10, duh! Nope a V8, traction control aided Viper is very close to being built. The world I grew up in is dead.

Finally, I'm looking for a new car, one that hopefully will be documented on this blog throughout its life. Any suggestions? Let me know. Also we're working on another video and Hollywood has a post on car/watch crossovers coming up, that is actually much more interesting than it sounds. Stick around, Tuned is back!