Around The World With Ken Block: Video

Love him or hate him, Ken Block is a marketing genius who, like King Midas, turns everything he touches into gold. Take the sport of Gymkhana for example: shredding tires in a parking lot used to be good for a ticket or two, but now it’s a multi-media extravaganza, complete with crowds, explosions, jumping motocross riders and scantily-clad umbrella girls. When it comes to event promotion, even Bernie Ecclestone could learn a thing or two from Ken Block. Read more…

Rhys Millen’s Genesis Coupe Gets Our SEMA Best In Show Award

We couldn’t make it to this year’s SEMA show, since no one picked us up hitchhiking on I-95. Instead, we’re at the mercy of the manufacturers, many of which flood our mailboxes with press releases on the latest SEMA decal kit or paint job. Some build cars that we’d really like to drive, and topping that list is the Hyundai Genesis Coupe built by Rhys Millen Racing (RMR). In fact, we’d go so far as to say it’s a car that Hyundai itself should be building. Read more…

Photographed: NARRA Viper Days at Daytona International Speedway

This past weekend our photographer, Brandon Connelly, was at Daytona International Speedway for NARRA Viper Days. With it being Viper days there was quite the abundance of ACRs, ACR-Xs as well as a small number of Competition Coupes on hand. Each day at about 4pm there was a Viper Cup race as well for the actual race series, some of you may have seen it on Speed in the past.

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BMW M1, With Ties To Jacksonville, Hits The Block

BMW’s M1 was the company’s first attempt at building a supercar. Produced between 1978 and 1981, BMW built just 456 examples of the mid-engine coupe, powered by a 3.5-liter straight six engine producing 273 horsepower in street trim. Mild by today’s standards, the car’s power and shape were cutting-edge at the end of the 1970s, and the M1 remains a highly desirable collector’s item today. Read more…

‘Senna’ Biopic Website Lists Dates And Cities

Ayrton Senna da Silva died on May 1, 1994, when his Williams Renault left the track and hit a concrete barrier at the Tamburello corner during the San Marino Grand Prix. Officially, the accident happened when Senna’s car, on cold tires and a full fuel load, bottomed out and momentarily lost traction. Although the car left the track at almost 190 miles per hour, Senna had slowed the car down to 135 just before the moment of impact, and his Williams hit at what appeared to be a glancing blow. Read more…

Vaughn Gittin, Jr. Drifts Saudi Arabia

Do you record videos of your vacations? Do you have to ply friends and relatives with free burgers and beer to sit through your home movies? I’m guessing that Vaughn Gitten, Jr. doesn’t have that problem. As a professional drifter, he gets to visit places across the globe that most of us don’t, like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Watch below to see how Vaughn spent his summer vacation, touring the Al Reem circuit (while mostly sideways). Read more…

Ford Launches The ‘Octane Academy’

Want to be the next Ken Block or Tanner Foust? Want to learn how to drift like Vaughn Gitten, Jr.? Want to see if you can out-drive Brian Deegan on a rallycross track? Ford is giving you the chance to prove yourself in an upcoming promotion called the “Octane Academy”. Entrants need to submit a video of themselves in action, describing (or better yet, demonstrating) why they should make the cut. Read more…

If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Daytona: One Lap of America

As far as I know, I wasn’t dropped on my head as a child. I can’t recall eating leaded paint, and I don’t think my mom let me play with a plastic bag over my head. Somehow, however, my developmental years took a wrong turn and I consider epic road trips to be fun. When a buddy called me up and offered me an expense-paid seat as a transit driver on this year’s One Lap of America, it didn’t take me long to say “sure”, even though it meant 10 days on the road, living on coffee, beef jerky and energy drinks. As a transit driver, I wouldn’t even get to compete in the bulk of the events, but it didn’t matter: I was still running away to join the circus. Read more…