AMS Alpha Omega GT-R: King of the Streets, and King of the 1/4 Mile

If you're like us, you love horsepower and speed.  While we normally focus more of our attention on cars that turn quick lap times around a road course, we do like to see the extreme speeds a car is capable of in a straight line.  One such car is the 2000 horsepower Nissan GT-R built by AMS Performance.  The team hails from Chicago, Illinois, and they are also known for their incredibly fast Mitsubishi Evolution X.

Coronado SpeedFestival 2014 : Part 2

In case you missed the first part of our coverage of the 2014 Coronado SpeedFestival, you can view it here: Coronado SpeedFestival 2014 Part 1

Now onto part 2 of our coverage of the event.

A classic GT40 done in the Gulf Oil racing colors.

Coronado SpeedFestival 2014: Celebrating 50 years of Mustangs; Vintage Car Racing; Car Show Part 1

It's been over 50 years since the original Ford Mustang was debuted in New York.  The iconic muscle car ushered in a war of horsepower as other car manufacturers created their own interpretation of Ford's creation.  The Mustang may have been outgunned in horsepower as the 60s came to a close where the Hemi and other big block motors reigned supreme, and the 70s brought about the oil crisis which ended the muscle car period, but in the end it was the pony car which had the last laugh.  The 2+2 sports car is the only one which has stood the test of time, with it's arch rival the Camaro taking a brief hiatus after 2003. 

The Coronado SpeedFestival is open to everyone. 

This year, the Coronado SpeedFestival paid tribute to the Mustang and its various iterations, and there was a parade lap with nothing but Mustangs during the afternoon lunch break. Aside from the focus on the Ford Mustang, the main stars were the race cars dating from the early 1900s all the way up to late model ex-NASCAR race cars.

Nissan DeltaWing Places 5th at Petit Le Mans Finale

Congratulations to the Nissan DeltaWing team as they finished 5th overall in last weekend's Petit Le Mans race held at Road Atlanta.  Powered by a 1.6 liter 4 cylinder turbo and with roughly half the fuel of the larger prototype cars, it was impressive to see the DeltaWing start from the back of the grid and finish in the top 5!

You can read about the team's success here:  Nissan DeltaWing Petit Le Mans

Coronado Speed Festival Part 3, Show and Shine

For our last installment of the Coronado Speed Fest of 2012, we will take a look at the vehicles which arrived for the second day of the car show.

Coronado Speed Festival Part 2: Race Cars in the Paddocks

The Camaro and Ford Fairlane are just a few of the cars which participated in the historic Trans-Am series race.

In part 1 of our coverage of the Coronado Speed Festival, we showed you some of the many different cars which showed up for the car show on Saturday. 

You can view part 1 here:  Coronado Speed Festival Part 1

For part 2 of our coverage, we will show you the various race cars we saw as we browsed the paddocks.

Coronado Speed Festival, a Gathering of Vintage Cars from All Makes Part 1

The Coronado Speed Festival allows attendees a chance to view many vintage vehicles from pony cars to exotic speedsters.

Squeak, squeak.... Vroooom!  Braap, braap braap, braap.  The priming of carburetors followed by the lumpy idle of a high lift camshaft actuating valves breaks the early morning silence.  It is a soundtrack you will become familiar with as you walk the aisles past the various types of vintage cars lining the paddocks at Naval Base Coronado.  As part of its Fleet Week program in appreciation to the troops serving our country, the military holds an annual "Race at the Base" aka Coronado Speed Festival which takes place over an entire weekend.  The race course is setup at the airfield on the base, and this year marked the 15th time the event has been held. 

Nostalgia Cars: 11 Japanese Cars from the 1980s

Aaah, youth.  Where the only thing to worry about was whether or not Mom remembered to buy your favorite cereal, and bothering Dad to get out of bed so he could watch the early Saturday morning cartoons with you.

Here's a list of 11 Japanese cars which were usually modified and raced on the street by the local enthusiasts at the time.  Everybody will have a different list compared to another person, but why 11 cars and not 10?  Well, because we're just that awesome.  =)  Also, before you start sending us an email asking why there are cars that weren't available in the U.S. on the list, keep in mind that's where the author spent his youth.  The cars are listed in no particular order.

Eric Hsu's R32 GT-R Enters World Time Attack for 2012

Some readers may know who Eric Hsu is, but for those who don't, he was one of the masterminds at XS Engineering.  His tuning expertise led XS to be recognized as one of the best tuning shops in America, and the car most people probably associate with him is the blue R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R time attack car.  For being a circuit based vehicle, the Skyline also had blistering straight line speed with it posting a best 1/4 mile run in the mid 10 second range. 

Hsu was part of the successful time attack team Sierra-Sierra, with the Mitsubishi Evolution placing 2nd last year.  Since the team did not have any plans to participate in this year's time attack series, Hsu has assembled his own team by partnering with ARK Designs.  The list of team members is like a Who's Who A-list of people in the tuning industry.  You can follow the build of the iconic R32 GT-R at MotoIQ's website.  We are definitely excited to see this vehicle take on the world's best, and will be watching this build closely.  The most surprising thing to us was the choice of the engine which will power this beast.  We thought it was going to get an engine starting with the letters LS.  Check it out though and you can bet this car will have a great season due to the awesome team building it up.  Good luck to Eric and his team! 

R32 Skyline Time Attack Build

Chevy vs. Ford: Mustang GT500 will go head-to-head with the Camaro ZL1.

580 hp ZL1. Photo courtesy of Chevrolet.

650 hp GT500. Photo courtesy of Ford.

Chevrolet Camaro versus Ford Mustang.  The battle between the two cars has gone on ever since the first '67 Camaro rolled off the dealership lots.  Countless grudge races at the dragstrip, race track and on the streets has never ended the debate of which is better, and both the Mustang and Camaro have their die-hard fans. 

BTCC: British Touring Car Championship Neal vs. Plato for 2012

Photo courtesy automobilsport.com

The most heated rivalry in the British Touring Car Championship series is between drivers Matt Neal and Jason Plato.  The two have had on and off track exchanges, with the most notable being at Rockingham. 

24 hours of Dubai - Going for History

The Racing Divas will participate in this year's race.  Photo courtesy racingdivas.nl

Beautiful Dubai.  Photo courtesy creventic.com

The 24 hours of Dubai endurance race is set to take place in about 34 hours from now.  The race features a variety of classes of cars who will be vying for the win.  Racing for 24 hours is tough enough, but to combine darkness with speeds well in excess of 120 mph, and you can start to imagine how rough the conditions are on the drivers.