Watch a 1,000 hp Toyota Celica lose a wheel during drag race

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A fun time at the drag strip went bad for the owner of a 1,000-horsepower Toyota Celica, after a hard launch sheared the lug nuts from a drive wheel.

Continue reading Watch a 1,000 hp Toyota Celica lose a wheel during drag race

Watch a 1,000 hp Toyota Celica lose a wheel during drag race originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 26 Apr 2016 13:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Havana Motor Club documentary revs up Cuban street racing scene

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Havanna Motor Club Trailer

From the 1959 Cuban Revolution until just recently, it was illegal to buy or sell cars in Cuba without government approval. There were also very few new cars brought into the country. At the same time, racing was also banned on the island nation because it was considered an elitist sport. Of course, a government can do its best to prohibit whatever it wants, but that's not always going to stop passionate people from pursuing what they want to do. And that's exactly what has happened with racing in Cuba - it never really disappeared, it just went underground.

A new documentary titled Havana Motor Club aims to tell the story of Cuba's illegal drag racing scene, along with an attempt to organize the first legal race in the country in decades. However, the film isn't quite done yet, and its creators are raising money on Kickstarter to complete it. The fundraiser has already met its goal of $52,250 to finish editing, license music and generally improve the sound mixing. The filmmakers plan to release the documentary in 2014 or early 2015, but backers can get it early.

Based on the trailer, the documentary is beautifully shot and stars the sort of old-school American iron the country has become legendary for. It's amazing that these cars are still on the road, let alone look as good as they do. The filmmakers say the goal of the documentary is to shed light on the evolving Cuban culture through the spectrum of motorsports, and that sounds like a great place to start to us. Scroll down to watch a trailer for the film and to check out an interview with director and producer Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt from Autoline Daily (about 5:43 into the video).

Continue reading Havana Motor Club documentary revs up Cuban street racing scene

Havana Motor Club documentary revs up Cuban street racing scene originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 01 May 2014 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This classic Jaguar XJ has a 720-hp ungentlemanly secret

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drag racing Jaguar XJ Series 1

Forget Tawny Kitaen. If you want to make a Jaguar XJ rock, just do what this guy did: stuff a heavily modified and turbocharged General Motors V8 under the hood, and take it to the track.

The video calls this Series 1 XJ a sleeper, but with its open exhaust and obvious turbo whistle, the once-gentlemanly sedan is anything but. The owner says that the engine is GM LQ9 V8 that has been stroked to 402 cubic inches putting out around 720 horsepower with 12 pounds of boost (in standard form, this 6.0-liter V8 was used in the second-gen Cadillac Escalade). Check out the video below to see what that kind of power does for this classic Jaguar in the eighth-mile.

Continue reading This classic Jaguar XJ has a 720-hp ungentlemanly secret

This classic Jaguar XJ has a 720-hp ungentlemanly secret originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This classic Jaguar XJ has a 720-hp ungentlemanly secret

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drag racing Jaguar XJ Series 1

Forget Tawny Kitaen. If you want to make a Jaguar XJ rock, just do what this guy did: stuff a heavily modified and turbocharged General Motors V8 under the hood, and take it to the track.

The video calls this Series 1 XJ a sleeper, but with its open exhaust and obvious turbo whistle, the once-gentlemanly sedan is anything but. The owner says that the engine is GM LQ9 V8 that has been stroked to 402 cubic inches putting out around 720 horsepower with 12 pounds of boost (in standard form, this 6.0-liter V8 was used in the second-gen Cadillac Escalade). Check out the video below to see what that kind of power does for this classic Jaguar in the eighth-mile.

Continue reading This classic Jaguar XJ has a 720-hp ungentlemanly secret

This classic Jaguar XJ has a 720-hp ungentlemanly secret originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 19 Nov 2013 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hurst Hemi Under Glass drag racers to be auctioned

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The Hurst Hemi Under Glass collection will hit the auction block in October.

Remember those mid-engine Plymouth Barracuda coupes that popped wheelies high enough to warrant under-car advertisements? Well, owner Bill Sefton is now selling them as a four-car collection with Mecum Auctions. The high-riding 'Cudas - officially the Hurst Hemi Under Glass (HUG) cars - were built by Hurst for the Factory Experimental (A/FX) class to advertise the company's aftermarket shifters and wheels. The HUGs were rear-heavy, enough so that they sprinted down the drag strip in a very unconventional manner that proved great for advertising!

The madness started when George Hurst was talking with Hot Rod Magazine Tech Editor Ray Brock, who suggested to Hurst that building a mid-engine Barracuda would make it quicker off the line, courtesy of more weight over the drive wheels. Brock even came up with the name, Hemi Under Glass. After Hurst (the company) built it, what it instead had was an endearing classic that transferred its weight a little too easily and wasn't able to put all the Hemi V8's power to the ground without lifting the front wheels and scraping the rear bumper on the ground.

The first HUG was built for the 1965 season, and also was ran in the 1966 season before being destroyed. The 1966 HUG that's for sale is a replica built in the early 1990s by former Hurst mechanic, fabricator and HUG driver Bob Riggle. The only original HUG cars for sale in the collection are the 1967 and 1968 cars, the latter of which is supercharged and was the first HUG to have a solid-mounted driveline. The 1969 HUG was built in 2010 by Riggle, and also uses a supercharger to force more power from the 468 cubic-inch Hemi.

Remember, if you want one of these cars, you'll have too buy all four - they don't come separately. The HUG collection will hit the auction block on October 12 at the Mecum Chicago Auction.

Hurst Hemi Under Glass drag racers to be auctioned originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 28 Sep 2013 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dodge Li’l Red Express drag truck packs 100 PSI, 1,000 horsepower

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Cummins Li'l Red Express

The Dodge Li'l Red Express is one awesome quandary of the late '70s. Back then, Dodge had taken to building all sorts of oddball trucks and vans with strange equipment packages, but the Li'l Red Express was something entirely different.

Engineers crammed a honkin' 360 V8 yanked from the company's police interceptor line and plopped the four-barrel-fed block between the fenders, inadvertently creating the world's first sport truck in the process. Bolted as it was to a 727 Torqueflight automatic transmission and a 3.55:1 rear axle, the truck was the quickest vehicle Car and Driver tested in the 0-100 sprint in 1978.

Dodge said the engine put out 225 horsepower. It lied.

Max Kirtley took one look at the Li'l Red Express, yanked that magical V8 from behind the grille and plopped one wild Cummins 6BT turbo diesel inline-six in its place. Sucking down 100-pounds-per-square-inch worth of boost, the 12-valve rocks a Hamilton cylinder head and cam as well as a water injection system and two nitrous injection systems. Kirtley says the truck now puts down closer to 1,000 horsepower and 1,500-1,700 pound-feet of torque.

We don't think he's lying. Check out a video of this Cummins Li'l Red Express hopping down the quarter mile during a few test runs below.

Continue reading Dodge Li'l Red Express drag truck packs 100 PSI, 1,000 horsepower

Dodge Li'l Red Express drag truck packs 100 PSI, 1,000 horsepower originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watch this trailer for Snake & Mongoose

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Snake & Mongoose drag racing movie trailer

If you think drag racing is boring, we encourage you to take a closer look at the sport's early days. When Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen were first lining up to shoot down the quarter mile against each other in the '60s, the National Hot Rod Association was still less than 15 years old. Back then, the cars were more dangerous and a driver was lucky to have a local parts store for a sponsor. But Prudhomme and McEwen changed all that with their public rivalry and lightning-quick marketing sense. It was these two who first talked Mattel into sponsoring their cars with the Hot Wheels toy line, unleashing a torrent of marketing dollars on the entire motorsports world.

Decades later, a new independent film is out to tell that story. Snake & Mongoose follows Prudhomme and McEwen throughout their arc of their relationship, and the first trailer for the flick has officially landed online. You can check it out below and be sure to head over to the movie site for more information. Word has it we can expect to see the film hit theaters early next year.

Continue reading Watch this trailer for Snake & Mongoose

Watch this trailer for Snake & Mongoose originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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