h NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Eternal Combustion A dozen voices on our thriving car culture—and not one of them is over 30.

+

Is 17-year-old Max Verstappen Red Bull’s next F1 phenom?

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Inside this issue NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Ready & Waiting

䡲

Sure, Max Verstappen is only 17 years old. And as he prepares for his first season among the best of racing’s best in Formula One, you’d think he’s just a bundle of energy-drink-aided nerves. But the kid was born to race and— just ask his dad, a former F1 driver— he’s more ready for this than most could imagine.

ONLY AT AUTOWEEK.COM Huge airbag recall Automakers recall more than 8 million cars for faulty airbags: bit.ly/aw-airbags

Stick to strong suit “Good Morning America” shows why it shouldn’t report on NASCAR: bit.ly/aw-gma

Schumacher camera GoPro stock tanks amid reports tying former F1 star’s accident to camera: bit.ly/aw-f1gopro

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Inside this issue NOVEMBER 10, 2014

START /DRIVER’S SEAT JF Musial helms the online video network /DRIVE. At 28, he’s helping define modern car media and filming a hypercar doc BY GRAHAM KOZAK

SWAP-O-RAMA What happens when you meld an ’89 BMW M3 with a ’72 BMW 2002? Greatness ensues BY TRAVIS OKULSKI

FEATURE MIATA MADNESS The Miata as the answer to every automotive question

News flash

CARLIFE

BY BLAKE Z. RONG

944s FOR FUN Fueled by a penchant for beater Porsches, she finds peace on the track and under the hood

LIFE OFF-ROAD Drastic changes led to a 25-year-old’s new life filled with adventure BY SARAH BLESSINGTON

BY STEF SCHRADER

COMPETITION DRIVES DRIFT AWAY It’s party time in a Nissan 240SX, East Coast Bashstyle. Then it’s time to rally BY RAPHAEL ORLOVE

RALLY OUTREACH How Red Bull Global Rallycross is focusing on younger race fans BY BRAD WILEY AND MAC MORRISON

SERIES’ PLANS Racing chases new fans in unexpected ways BY CLAY MANDEL

IT’S A TAKEOVER! Driver’s visit to Autoweek includes driving our cars and spending the day on the phone with his friends BY CONOR DALY

GETTING DIRTY You should get to your local track. Here’s why BY WILL PIERCE

Q&A: Tavo Hellmund 70 SHAKE IT UP Felix Sabates’ ideas for making NASCAR better BY AL PEARCE

DEPTS/COLUMNS GRAHAM KOZAK Assembling this issue BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE ...

WEEKEND WARRIORS The Jersey Shore serves as the backdrop to the Race of Gentlemen, a unique hot-rod event hosted by the Oilers Car Club BY GRAHAM KOZAK

Autoweek (ISSN 0192-9674), Volume 64 Issue 22, is published every other Monday, except for the second issue in March and the second issue in September, at Crain Communications Inc., 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit MI 48207-2997. Periodicals postage paid at Detroit, Mich., and at additional mailing offices. Subscription and Customer Service, (888) 288-6954. Subscription price is $34.95 per year. Postmaster: Send address changes to Autoweek, 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2912. Canadian Post International Publications Mail Product (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40012850, GST No. 136760444. Canadian return address: 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, Ontario N9A-6J3. Printed in the USA. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Autoweek welcomes unsolicited manuscripts and photographs but cannot be held responsible for their return. © All contents copyright 2014 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. Autoweek allows its columnists the fullest latitude in expressing opinions on controversial subjects so its readers will be better informed. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the publication.

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POSITIVE GROUND > By Graham Kozak

WELCOME TO AUTOWEEK’S ETERNAL COMBUSTION ISSUE



FORGET WHAT’VE YOU’VE heard: Car culture is not on its deathbed. If you know where to look—and sometimes, that means poking around the car-centric corners of the Internet—you’ll discover young men and women who mix a deep appreciation for our automotive heritage with the risk-taking and experimentation that’s a natural part of being young and adventurous. In other words, things are as good as they’ve ever been from an enthusiast perspective—if not better. But you don’t have to take our word for it. The proof is in the following pages, which are filled with words and photos from contributors no older than 30. Still, to reduce this to a simple “youth issue” sells everyone featured on these pages short. No one is shoehorned in purely because they’re 30 or younger—though feel free to consider that the hook, the gimmick, the unifying theme. Instead, we’ve selected these writers, photographers, owners and adventurers because we believe they are doing genuinely interesting things with, in and around cars. Since we strive to make every edition of Autoweek engaging, why bother with this issue at all? Would anyone have noticed the theme if we hadn’t mentioned it? Not when it comes to quality, we’ll wager. Maybe we’re out to prove to ourselves that automotive enthusiasm’s

future isn’t quite as bleak as every half-baked trend piece suggests it is. Or perhaps this is our excuse to feature fresh talent on our pages— a way to share with you the perspectives of the contributors we enjoy reading when we should be working. Either way, we think you’ll appreciate the energy and insight you encounter as you read on. Age and experience might be excellent teachers, but there are certain things we pesky kids seem to grasp implicitly. You don’t need decades of writing under your belt to relate what makes a classic BMW fundamentally great, for example, or to convey the excitement of getting sideways in a drift car. You don’t have to be wealthy and retired to hit the racetrack in an old Porsche or build out a hot rod. It’s still possible to buy and modify a cheap sports car, even as a college student. And to those willing to step outside the boundaries of the expected, exploring the outdoors in a custom-built overland truck is a fine way to dispel millennial angst. All you need is automotive passion; and while that passion is something these young contributors have in abundance, it’s not necessarily something that fades with age. At least, we hope it isn’t—it’s not easy staying under 31 forever.

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TRUTH & BEAUTY

SMALL FORMAT



The ever-present smartphone isn’t just a source of distraction—to this issue’s contributors, it’s a tool for capturing and sharing scenes from the car culture that’s central to their lives. Photographer and Instagram handle, from top row, left to right:

JF Musial/jfmusial; Blake Z. Rong/bzrong; Sarah Blessington/sarahblessington; Raphael Orlove/khamsindreams; Travis Okulski/tokulski; Stef Schrader/stefthepef; Conor Daly/conordaly22; Graham Kozak/grahamkozak; Will Pierce/willpierce; Steven Ewing/stevenewing

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START

JF Musial, co-founder of /DRIVE, oversees multiple auto-centric projects, including a documentary about hypercars.

\\ MOVERS & SHAKERS

SHIFTING INTO /DRIVE JF MUSIAL TALKS HYPERCARS, THE FUTURE OF ONLINE VIDEO AND MORE BY GRAHAM KOZAK



JF MUSIAL—NO ONE but his mother calls him John Francis—has a deep understanding of how we consume automotive media today, and he may help shape how we’ll do so in the future. He’s easygoing and confident. He clearly enjoys what he does. You tend to forget that he’s just 28. Technically a New Yorker, Musial is usually out on the road two or three weeks per month. The globetrotting does not leave him much time to unwind at the track (he has an E46 BMW M3), but he estimates believably that he’s

“done more laps of more circuits in camera cars than probably anyone else in the world.” A Formula One fan and selfdescribled “semi-good” amateur motorsports photographer, he’d long admired automotive media like BBC’s “Top Gear” and the 1976 Claude Lelouch film “Rendezvous,” considering it “storytelling through the form of the tangible object that is the automobile.” Yet, he had no idea what a producer was when he joined “Fast Lane Daily,” a show streamed on YouTube, in early 2007. Lack of formal experience didn’t seem to slow him: In 2010, he co-founded the /DRIVE online video network

with a crew that included Mike Spinelli and Chris Harris—“all the top guys I ever wanted to work with,” he says. Musial sees á la carte video programming in the vein of /DRIVE as the future while acknowledging it will take time, effort and experimentation to make the shift happen. There have been some big changes at /DRIVE of late; the network launched a subscription-based /DRIVE+ service for premium content. Fan-favorite Harris will no longer be appearing regularly on camera for /DRIVE, though Musial is quick to note Harris is still a part-owner of the operation. There are big things in the works, he says, but he can’t talk about them publicly yet. Musial has more irons in the fire than just /DRIVE. His company, TangentVector, produces video for automakers. He doesn’t advertise—he’s fortunate enough to have had carmakers come to him. And then there’s the up-

coming feature-length documentary “APEX: The Story of the Hypercar,” slated for release in the second quarter of 2015. He’s particularly passionate about this project: “When I get done with all my work at 11 o’clock at night, I still want to work three hours on the movie,” he says. It’s not just because Musial had behind-the-scenes access to manufactures like Koenigsegg—he also sees work invested in that automaker’s One:1, plus its peers, as crucial to the car industry as a whole. The technology seen on the latest crop of hypercars, he argues, will make its way down to more attainable vehicles over time. They’re proof that the industry is adaptable—which is great news for enthusiasts. Not long ago, pessimists proclaimed the death of the sports car, he recalls. Things looked bleak. “And then what do we see three years later? More hypercars than we could ever imagine.” c

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FLASH PORSCHE 911 CARRERA GTS

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 This year marks Ferrari’s 60th doing

business in America, and because Ferrari loves celebrating things, we’re staring at this: the Ferrari F60 America. Built upon the F12 Berlinetta, the F60 America is a car created exclusively for the United States so we can all come together as Americans to celebrate the fine Italian brand we know and love.

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Speciale A, where A stands for aperta (Italian for “open”). Look with wonder on a color scheme that pledges allegiance to … Sweden. This new variant of the insanely fast 458 Speciale gets open thanks to a retractable aluminum hardtop borrowed from the “standard” 458 Spider. The lightweight construction means that there’s only 110 pounds of extra weight on the car compared to the hardtop. Predictably, it utilizes the same 4.5-liter V8 found in that other 458 Speciale, producing the same 596 hp at a glorious 9,000 rpm and 398 lb-ft of torque at 6,000 rpm.

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CARLIFE OWNERSHIP \\ 1983 & 1984 PORSCHE 944s

RACE, WRECK, RACE, REPEAT LEARNING TO RACE IN A PAIR OF PORSCHES BY STEF SCHRADER



I DID WHAT ANY sane person would do right after they got their first full-time job out of college: I bought a Porsche race car. Then it crashed, and I bought another one. I did a 24 Hours of LeMons race shortly after graduating from Baylor University, and I fell in love with the spirit and the atmosphere of beater endurance races. I knew I needed to get my own car to enter in those sorts of low-budget grassroots events. My first Porsche 944 was just in the right place at the right time. A few friends from Harris Hill Raceway in San Marcos, Texas, were eager to offload their race car, a little white 1983 944, to dedicate more time and space to a new project. The car had previously won a ChumpCar race and

came with tons of spares. I took a test drive around Harris Hill with the car on a set of hard all-season tires. The little wedgemobile got sideways at almost every turn. You could have heard me giggling all the way from Sweden. I needed it. I painted my new purchase Gulf blue to match one of my Puffalump stuffed rabbits— a personal mascot of sorts— and named it Der Porschelump accordingly. A team of friends and I rushed to get it ready for the next ChumpCar race, where it got totaled during the first driver’s stint. No one was hurt, thank goodness, although the crash was the subject of my first paid Jalopnik article. You don’t really deal with losing a race car so much as you focus on rebuilding: faster, stronger and with a

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CRAIG WASHBURN (4); STEF SCHRADER (1)

much better roll cage. A reader of my tale of enduro woe let me know his 1984 944 race-car project was for sale near Houston. The body was straight and the interior was mostly stripped. The car had been sitting for a while and was without coolant and several accessory belts. I thought it probably just had a leaky hose somewhere, and as I had at least two full sets of spare hoses lying around, it didn’t worry me too much. It was also red. Back when AOL Instant Messenger was the thing and most of my friends had fanciful screen names like XxBabyAngel1985xX or DragonTears98058, I was ShinyRedPorsche. This had to be my car. I kept the red paint on principle, but I placed a giant purple Puffalump bunny

vinyl on the roof to mark my territory. Annoyingly, the new Porschelump needed more than just a little work to run again. Fortunately, its engine was in better condition than the one that came out of the original Porschelump, and most of its other working parts were intact. However, the mystery coolant leak was from the water pump itself, which was behind two very finicky belts: the balance belt that kept the engine running smoothly and an interference timing belt that could singlehandedly grenade the engine if installed incorrectly. Gradually, what started as a series of lunatic Porsche impulse buys forced me to become a somewhat responsible and organized person. I

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Clockwise from opposite, bottom left: The author’s first 944 met an unfortunate end; as of this writing, this 944 remains more or less intact and more or less hilarious; that’s pretty much your standard-issue LeMons car interior; if nothing else, it looks fast on the track.

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CARLIFE

CRAIG WASHBURN (2); MARK RHOADS (1)

Clockwise from top left: The author’s personal affinity for the Puffalump toys of the 1980s is no secret; a healthy example of a highly underrated mill; the author’s first 944 in happier times.

made a preparation list that I kept on an iPad along with the full 944 factory service manual in PDF format. I reorganized all my spares so that everything was labeled and easy to find. I worked on the car almost every evening and weekend, getting assistance from friends whenever I got stuck on something. Sometimes I couldn’t do much, but that was fine as long as I could keep inching toward completion. This car I had kludged together as My First Race Car Project miraculously

to fix, but for the finished in the top PRICE TODAY: most part, it runs third at its first $3,400-$19,100 and drives. I’ve race: the March PRICE NEW: also decided to take 2014 LeMons at 1983 MSRP: more track time Eagles Canyon $18,980; 1984 MSRP: $21,440 between races to Raceway in just learn and enjoy Value Presented by Decatur, Texas. the car. Some of If we hadn’t lost an hagerty.com/valuationtools my teammates hour on Sunday to were significantly a fuel leak, we faster than I was in my own would have probably finished race car; that just won’t do. even higher than that. Still, flogging a car around Porschelump must race a track is the only place I’ve again, and again and again found where I can just relax and again, in any competition and concentrate on the task into which I can toss it. at hand. Within a few laps, I Shockingly, my car—a Class forget whatever else is botherB entry led by a Class Q meing me and think about how chanic—still works. There are badly I’m messing up turn 11 a few nuisances I would like

instead. Finally getting a set of turns right is that tranquil image I think of whenever I have to do one of those hard balancing poses in yoga. I’ve managed to find peace in an old Porsche with a floppy, worn-out suspension and a fiddly water-cooling system that defies common sense. Well, at least until I have to work on it again. c Editor’s Note: Stef Schrader, 28, lives in Austin, Texas, in an apartment full of spare Porsche parts. She writes for Jalopnik’s Black Flag motorsports sub-blog (blackflag.jalopnik.com).

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CARLIFE EVENT \\ RACE OF GENTLEMEN

SAND, SALT AND CARS WELCOME TO THE RACE OF GENTLEMEN, THE COOLEST OLD-SCHOOL HOT-ROD EVENT ON THE CONTINENT BY GRAHAM KOZAK | PHOTOS BY JENNIFER SKIDMORE



EVERY OCTOBER FOR the last three years, the Oilers Car Club has put on a little weekend-long hot-rod race on the Jersey Shore. There’s surf rock and drinking on Friday night. You wake up Saturday morning to the thacka-thacka-thacka-braaaap of flathead V8s, fourbangers and old V-twins echoing down deserted roads on their way to the beach. This begins at around 6:45 a.m., just as the sun’s starting to come up, but no one minds— practically the only people in the ghost town that is post-season Wildwood, N.J., are the racers and spectators. At approximately 9 a.m., somebody butchers the national an-

them and then the races start, rain or shine, tide permitting. There’s a board of brackets suggesting at least some notion of structure behind the competition, but it’s not really enough to be apparent to the casual bystander. From

the stands, it’s an incredible freefor-all—pairs of hot rods and vintage Harleys and Indians running side by side down a 1/8-mile strip of beach, wheels kicking up fountains of sand, straight pipes drowning out the roar of the ocean. It goes on until 6 p.m. or until the tide rolls back in, whichever comes first. Everybody comes back Sunday morning, maybe a little bleary-eyed and fuzzy-headed, to do it all again. This, basically, is the Oiler’s Car Club Race of Gentlemen. Its instant and growing success lies in the beautiful simplicity of the concept, reinforced by attention to detail and utter lack of pretension. It helps that the event’s theme—

Inset: Mel Stultz III takes to the beach, barefoot, on his 1938 Harley-Davidson. Below: Ford flathead V8s roar as the flag drops. Opposite, from top: Zach Suhr’s dirt-track racer re-creation; we never saw Petey Dobosz with a shirt on; sand and salt got everywhere.

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prewar hot rods built with mid1950s speed equipment and tankshifted American motorcycles— tends to weed out posers. Simply put, there are far cheaper ways to pretend to be cool than to build out a flathead V8. You’d be hard-pressed to find another group of guys so eager to run their cars through sand and salt water again and again and again, often until something breaks. Since the race is only 3 years old, it’s surprising how many build rides specifically for the event. Matt Picaro’s flathead-powered 1931 Model A roadster, No. 667 (“One up on the devil”) came together in the four weeks before race day from “stuff [he had] lying around.” He’s entered before with a different car. “Every time, I try to cheat. Sometimes, I get caught,” he laughs. “I build for fun, but you end up wanting to win. … I end up getting kind of competitive.” To him, the Race of Gentlemen is about bringing back the simple thrills of postwar grassroots motorsport. He mentions the speed record runs in Daytona and the jalopy races that were once held in every town. “Nobody had any money; everybody built stuff with junk lying around. This is trying to re-create that—of course, the parts are more expensive now.”

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It’s a little more personal to Zach Suhr, a young guy from Grantville, Pa. His four-banger 1929 Model A re-creates an ancestral dirt-track racer built in 1948. It’s not fancy; the primitive roll bar is a metal hoop behind the passenger compartment. “The car we copied was a piece of crap, so we built it with crap,” Suhr says. The result was true to its inspiration, if the blackand-white photo he had pinned to the dash was anything to go by. Many, but by no means all, of the Race of Gentlemen participants seem to own speed shops or garages. They’re already part of hot-rod clubs. They go to other meet-ups. Some, like Suhr, do dirt racing on oval tracks. Yet everybody implicitly knows that the Race of Gentlemen is something special. Everyone seems to understand that organizer and chief troublemaker Mel Stultz III—a slightly nutso, bearded, barefoot ’38 Harley rider—and his crew have created something casually, unforcedly ingenious. From the painted-wood start and finish-line pylons to the canvas tents to the respectful sponsorship (Harley-Davidson, a major backer, only had classic bikes on display), the race looks and feels right without anyone having to resort to the pageantry that marks other classic-

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car events. The soundtrack was light on The Trashmen and heavy on Motown, rockabilly and blues. We counted just one poodle skirt. Certainly, it doesn’t hurt that classic American brands and vintage-style workwear are currently undergoing something of a renaissance. Many of the fashions on display wouldn’t look out of place in the trendier enclaves of major cities. Take that as you will, but it did help set the scene. Then there’s the sand. Racing on sand is, in the words of white-bearded ’47 Harley Knucklehead-riding Mark Stevens, “scary as hell. Fun, though.” It also levels the playing field. Why spend a fortune on horsepower if you’re just going to spin those skinny vintage tires? The

shore setting also adds to the spectacle, with the Atlantic serving as perhaps the most dramatic conceivable background for the races. The crowd was healthy, substantially larger than last year’s. It was international: There were Norwegians in attendance, as well as Brits; we talked to a Finn (he owns a ’39 Ford pickup) and attempted, but failed, to strike up a conversation with a Frenchman. A pair conversed in Italian near the finish line. A duo of longhaired Japanese dudes wearing Stetson hats snapped photos. And it was young—with the entrants spanning a youthful range of ages, too. That’s simply not something you can say about most concours events or cruise-ins. Though

the Race of Gentlemen is probably one of few places you can wear brass goggles in public without looking like a total goober (at least if you’re one of the entrants), the spectators are hardly hopeless anachronauts. Listen and you’ll hear young guys wearing vintage speed shop T-shirts excitedly discussing SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by Tesla Motors’ Elon Musk. By Sunday afternoon, all the cars and bikes were covered in sand and salt spray. Out of the 90-vehicle field, we were told that about a third were knocked out by blown head gaskets or electronics fried by saltwater; safe to say, everything we saw is going to need a thorough cleaning, if not a total rebuild, over the winter.

Above: The quiet post-season Jersey Shore was the perfect venue for the event. Below: Races started when the tide went out and ended when the sea returned to submerge the track.

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We’re not sure how many personal grudge matches were settled on the sand, and we doubt the reputation of a club or speed shop was ever at stake. There were laughs and handshakes all around before, during and after the races. Drivers seemed to know their personal limits and the limits of their machines. Cars got sideways now and again, but we didn’t see any contact on the strip or anyone lay down a bike. One racer summed up the event’s rules as “just don’t smoke weed or drink while driving,” so we’ll admit that we were caught off guard—and impressed—by the restraint and general good behavior. We shouldn’t have been surprised; it isn’t billed as

the Race of Hooligans, after all. There’s a fine line between kitschy nostalgia and earnest tribute, between hokey retro-indulgence and a well-considered revival. We’re not claiming to be arbiters of taste or cool, but the Race of Gentlemen is the real deal. With their sincere enthusiasm and infectious energy, its participants aren’t bringing rodding back from the dead so much as they’re proof that it’s been alive and kicking all along—and every car subculture debating its own future should look to these guys to see how to bring in fresh blood while keeping tradition strong. Keep spinning tires and throwing sand, you crazy bastards. c

Clockwise from top right: Queueing up for the races; vintage bikes were quick on the sand; breakdowns were common, but they came with the territory. For a complete photo gallery: bit.ly/aw-trog

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Clockwise to opposite: A drift car doesn’t look natural without a little opposite lock; not exactly racing, but unquestionably entertaining; what more do you need?

\\ 1991 NISSAN 240SX

LOOK MA, NO HANDS DRIVING BILL PETROW’S RALLY/DRIFT CAR STORY/PHOTOS BY RAPHAEL ORLOVE



FOURTH GEAR. THE FRONT tires skipping across the lumps in the pavement. The rear tires vaporizing into smoke behind us. Trees and Jersey barriers blurring by the windows, and Bill Petrow takes both hands off the wheel. I don’t want to know how fast we’re sliding, but the car is so settled, so composed, that Petrow can let go of the steering wheel entirely as we burn away the

very last shreds of his rear tires. The gas tank is almost empty, the tires are almost gone and we don’t know which will give up first. Three turns later, linked at redline, hands off the wheel again, it’s the right rear that gives out with a bang. We let the car cool down and roll back into the pits. It’s not a bad way to end the day. We’re at Englishtown, N.J.’s Raceway Park for the East Coast Bash, probably the best drift meet in the country and one of the tops in the world. Two days of driving

till dark, rounded out at the trackside dive bar. At some point around 1 in the morning, I look up and three dudes are climbing the chandelier onto the rafters, people in the crowd are throwing full beers at them, girls are dancing on tables by the walls and out on the patio a guy is blowing fireballs with Everclear, passing the bottle to anyone who wants to give it a try. This is about a half-hour before the transformer out on the street blows and the whole place loses power. It’s a good party. That’s all Saturday night. On Sunday, things calm down quite a bit. “Everyone’s too hung over to be angry,” Liora Klein, one of the organizers, explains. So I try to see if I could get myself into a car, and I manage to talk my way into the driver’s seat of Petrow’s 1991 Nissan 240SX. What’s interesting about Petrow’s car is that he built it not only for drifting but for stage rally. The hefty roll cage he made at his shop, Broken Motorsports, is built to rally specifications, his suspension is tough enough to survive the tarmac stages

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of the Empire State Performance Rally he entered just a few weekends before, and his wheels are so strong you could drive a full stage on them with no tires. Which is why he didn’t mind blowing that last one, I guess. The specs might not stun you, but what Petrow can do with the car will. Whatever weight he saved by stripping out the car, he gained back with the roll cage, and I’d be surprised if his car had much more horsepower than stock. But quality suspension, excellent finetuning and a hydraulic handbrake get him very far. At least, that’s the thought that’s going through my mind when we’re all but door to door with an LSswapped Pro-Am 240SX on a tandem run earlier in the day, when Petrow wanted to show off what he and the car could do. He makes drifting his rally-prepped Nissan look easy. It’s not. As Petrow explains to me as we head out, every drift car is different and every driver has a different technique. I’ve driven two drift-spec 240SXs before, but

they favored a kind of blunt approach: Turn into the corner on the gas, kick the clutch pedal to send a shock of horsepower to the rear and ride out the immediate and very abrupt slide on the power. Petrow’s car needs much more finesse. He approaches the corner with the clutch depressed, turns in to get the car’s momentum in his favor and pulls the handbrake to slide the car under that momentum. Then he pulls the handbrake some more. Then he continues to modulate the handbrake. Then he modulates it even more, the angle of the car changing as he varies his pull. It has a strange effect on you, this handbrake. It rises up next to the shortshift gear lever, almost up to the steering wheel. Driving a drift car with a regular handbrake makes you feel like an asshole kid in a parking lot. Driving a car with a handbrake like this makes you feel like a superhero. “ENGAGING DRIFT MODE!” you shout to yourself as the lever grabs its own calipers on the rear wheels.

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At left: Nissan’s SR20DET turbo four is well known in the U.S., despite never having been sold here.

Only once he gets the car settled does he catch the steering wheel, hold the car against itself and get back on the power. It should go without saying, this is all happening in fractions of a second. The initial three-part clutch/turn/handbrake should be done in a single, fluid motion. I, uh, I do not exactly excel at this technique. My speed is good, Petrow tells me, but I’m not pulling the handbrake enough. Then I’m not letting the wheel unwind in the first moments of the slide. I bonk my finger on the wheel as it self-align slides into a second-gear left-hander, and I don’t catch it fast enough. I’m giving too much gas too early, a habit from my other driftcar drives. I’m giving too much gas at the mid-corner, the car understeering almost off the course. At one point, I have to bail through the turn, skipping through deep puddles and

ruts and grass. I am glad to have that rallystrength suspension under me. Any other car here would’ve spat out its oil pan under the same treatment, as one of the regulars later laughs back at the pits. It’s only after a good half-hour that I even begin to get a handle on what I’m doing. I don’t get on the gas too soon. I pull the handbrake with some force and something approaching finesse. I wait to get on the gas, and I wait a tick more and then I grab hold of the steering wheel again— it weighing very heavy in my hands—and then I get back on the gas. It’s amazing how everything calms down after that first hurricane of balance. It feels like you can ride the car forever, the weight pushing you to the edge of the track, smoke spilling out behind. The moment sears into your brain and you can remember the sideways view out of the window months later.

The more relaxed you are at the wheel, Petrow agrees, the easier it is to drift. It shows on his face. After the East Coast Bash, he has to get back to his shop to finish building yet another stage rally car, a Fiesta ST for a customer. He’ll be driving out another four or five hours into the Pennsylvania woods to make sure the car’s debut rally goes well. He has a lot to do, a lot on his mind and not a lot of time to sort it all out. But at the wheel he is in control, and laughing, even as the tires burst. I just wish I could build a car half as well as he can. Maybe with a few years practice I could even drive it as well as he does, too. c Editor’s Note: Raphael Orlove, 25, has not crashed every single car he has ever driven; it just feels that way. Find more of his work at jalopnik.com

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DRIVES \\ 1972 BMW 2002 ‘M2’ & 1989 BMW M3

TWO CHASSIS, ONE ENGINE BMW’S MYTHICAL S14 IS ALMOST AS AT HOME IN A 2002 AS IT IS AN M3

BY TRAVIS OKULSKI | PHOTOS BY RAPHAEL ORLOVE

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I’M STOPPED AT A LIGHT on Manhattan’s West Side Highway, and I know exactly what I have to do. I put the 1972 BMW 2002 in first and drop the clutch when the light changes. And unlike any runof-the-mill 2002, this one blasts off the line, courtesy of a small change known as an “engine swap.” In this case, it’s the glorious S14 from the BMW M3. Every part of the BMW 2002 is revered. Well, except maybe the engine. Every part of the E30 M3 is revered, especially that silky smooth, throaty, wonderful M1-derived S14 four-banger that’s under the hood. It’s part of what makes the original M3 the next great car investment. But an S14-swapped 2002? The new German hot rod. From the outside, there’s really no way to know just how special this 2002 is under the hood. Apart from fender flares, an aftermarket carbon BMW badge and wider wheels, there is nothing that tips you off that this is a hot rod. This 2002—

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Clockwise from opposite: Our dueling Bimmers are seen resting on their way upstate; the 1989 BMW M3 is “more streetable track car than trackable street car”; the S14 engine works well in the 1972 BMW 2002 “M2” but is truly at home in the M3; the M2’s steering is heavy and direct.

let’s call it the “M2” for short, since BMW hasn’t built an official one yet— has sleeper written all over it (well, not literally, because then it wouldn’t really be a sleeper). So how does this M2 compare to the first M3? That’s exactly why there’s a 1989 M3 right behind me. The road to upstate New York in these two cars that Classic Car Club Manhattan let us steal for the day makes for an uneventful drive. I constantly look down at the speedo in the 2002 and tell myself that I can’t possibly be going that fast, but the cars I’m passing tell me otherwise. Thanks to a swap to a five-speed gearbox, highway driving isn’t spent high in the rev range, and it’s actually a pleasure. But highways aren’t where you’re supposed to drive a 2002. You’re supposed to

go nuts everywhere but the highway in one of these cars. So we find a glorious flowing back road and open up the M2, not to mention the M3. This is BMW country. Driving the M2 is a mix of old and new school. The steering is heavy and direct, but also offers a ton of feel. I know where I’m placing the car; there are no modes to switch or any electronic fakery. This is how driving really should be. I’m not near the limit, but the first time slogging the M2 is pure nirvana. Turn the wheel, you feel the road, it goes where you want. Grip is immense. And the response from the engine is something that the original 2002 could never match. The M10 normally in the 2002 isn’t as rev happy or aggressive as an S14, and shoving that mill into the 2002 makes the rest of the excellent

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DRIVES engineering come to the fore. It’s not that a 2002 wasn’t fun to drive before, but more power makes the limits easier to reach; this is a mild hot rod that can handle. A lot of engine transplants feel like a hack job. Not this one (CCC bought the 2002 with the S14 from a guy who ran out of time/money and finished the build itself). It’s like BMW knew that the M3’s engine would work just fine in the 2002. But even more than the 2002, the S14 feels really at home in the M3. CCC’s M3 isn’t subtle in any way. The M3 has a classic motorsport livery, a fully redone suspension, a full cage, race seats and a professionally built S14 incorporating components from the European Evo version of the car. It’s more streetable track car than trackable street car. It’s absolutely perfect. If you’ve never driven an E30 M3

before, you probably don’t understand the hype that this car generates. It deserves all of it. It’s a harmonious experience, with a free-revving engine, a gearbox where you’ll never miss a shift and steering that, while lighter than the 2002, won’t let you place the car anywhere it shouldn’t be. The faster you drive the M3, the better and better it gets. When pushing it, you start to understand why E30 fans praise it during every single conversation. Sure, the 2002 has the oldschool cool about it, but the E30 will destroy the 2002 in every quantifiable way on the road. Isn’t that what’s important? The M3 provides what we’re all looking for: the experience of a car that is equally at home on the road and on the track, yet not quite fast enough to get you in big trouble on either one of them. Everything about the M3 feels like home. And that’s the difference. The M3 is

the German version of a feng-shui zen experience. It’s every kind of right. But this 2002 is a hot rod. It feels very right and very wrong at the same time. It’s also the 2002 equivalent of meth: Drive a 2002 with an S14 in it, and you’ll be hooked, ruined for all other 2002s. Yet on the same roads as the M2, the M3 inspires more confidence; it is far faster and more fun. The S14 works with the 2002, but the M3 is married to it. The S14 is an engine that could find a home in almost any engine bay, but combining it with an E30 M3 is what really makes it shine. A 2002 gets better with the mythical engine under the hood, but the M3 would be nothing without it. c Editor’s Note: Travis Okulski, 27, is the deputy editor of jalopnik.com and is always talking or thinking about the Mazda Miata.

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FEATURE \\ MAZDA MIATA

BLANK CANVAS

FOR GENERATIONS OF ENTHUSIASTS, THE VERSATILE MIATA IS THE ANSWER TO EVERY AUTOMOTIVE QUESTION BY BLAKE Z. RONG



JEREMY D’AMBROSIO MOVED to Southern California from Pittsburgh, about to start classes at the prestigious Art Center College of Design. On the way to his new apartment, he drove his rental car right past what would become intertwined with his life—a 1999 Mazda Miata, silver, parked in a driveway. Around 20,000 miles. Pristine. “It was owned by an older gentleman who had all three generations: NA, NB and NC,” he said. “All the same color. And his wife was yelling at him, she didn’t understand why they had three of the same car in their garage! So he got rid of two and kept the NC.” He ditched the rental car, took a taxi to the Miata and bought it on the spot. D’Ambrosio found himself in the automobile-modification world—broke, impatient, willing to risk new things: “I really wanted to mod the car, but I had that new-car ownership problem of just wanting to do it now,” he said. On went cheapo Racelands coilovers—

“So I started tinkering with the car a lot more, and that’s...that’s when the car got ridiculous.”

—JEREMY D’AMBROSIO

“Ricelands,” the kids call ’em, derisively—and XXR wheels, one set after another, “the entire product line,” D’Ambrosio laughed. Slammed to the ground, scraping everywhere, throwing up sparks. “The first forum I found was ClubRoadster, and that’s like the style. I was like, ‘Oh, I guess that’s the cool thing to do.’ So I did it. And then I realized that you couldn’t drive the car anymore.” Eight months of ground-scraping passed. Then, while walking across the street one day, D’Ambrosio was nearly killed in an accident. His friends know he doesn’t like to talk about it—a strange, errant, unforeseen blip in a man’s life. Nevertheless, an accident like that changes your per-

spective. “The shockwave from everything that happened, I was like, ‘OK, I want to enjoy myself a little bit.’ I was still going to school, but I took lighter terms—I just wanted to play around a little bit. So I started tinkering with the car a lot more, and that’s … that’s when the car got ridiculous.”

MAKING IT YOUR OWN D’Ambrosio’s car is now an object of wonder. A Rotrex supercharger supplies around 250 hp, atop a full AST Xida coilover setup. The aluminum hood has been stripped of paint and polished to a gleam. A tow hook juts out of an opening like a North Atlantic iceberg. The rear bumper is near-

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ly nonexistent—most is cut away, exposing the understructure to reveal scant mechanical innards. “Things I try, I don’t mind hacking it up,” said D’Ambrosio. “If I needed to make a drastic change on it—no hearts broken.” But the most important part, the most drastic and celebrated change, is the fiberglass fastback—painted to match, with full Plexiglas windows. It provides a singular roofline extending to the end, narrowing between the Miata’s hips, culminating in an upturned ducktail. The Miata coupe Mazda never built, even in Japan. “I wanted to change the proportion of the car,” he said, “and I didn’t think the OEM hardtop was aggressive enough.” Like every modification, adding the fastback was part deliberation, part gleeful experiment: Would it work? Would the car look good? “To truly understand design and the spirit of design, you have to explore all possibilities,” said D’Ambrosio, spoken like a designer who’s finished six of his eight terms, set to graduate early 2015. “Until you put something down on paper and see it feasibly, you can’t understand exactly how good or how bad of an idea it is. “You can always think. Anybody can think. But it’s the translation into a physical form that makes a designer special.” ‘WAY THINGS SHOULD BE’ For the past 25 years, people have thought about it. The Mazda Miata has resided in the automotive marketplace as a true Car of the People: There is nothing a Miata can’t

Jeremy D’ Ambrosio, above, and his 1999 Mazda Miata. Together, they’re ridiculous. In a good way. See more at bit.ly/aw-miatacustom

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say about its owners and their individual tastes. A sticker here, a suspension there; the Miata becomes a conduit for one’s personality, values, beliefs—style over substance, track days over windy roads. All blank canvases, all found at weekend meetups. A garage in Baldwin Park. A Krispy Kreme parking lot off the Pomona Freeway. The lawn of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum. And atop a dusty hill overlooking

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where about 2,000 cars gathered in the world’s largest Miata parade. Owners convoyed from Portland, Vancouver, San Diego; more fans flew in from Japan, Germany, Brazil, the Philippines. Organizer Rick Weldon quit his job to devote his efforts to the gathering, the fifth he has put together since 2009. He helped orchestrate the 2016 Miata’s unveiling to its most ardent fans, its most zealous critics: 1,841

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FEATURE \\ MAZDA MIATA

“People remember nothing of what you say, but people remember how you make them feel. So, how do we make this car make them feel?”

—NORMAN GARRETT

registered. By the second day, 200 more vehicles showed up. Hot laps around Mazda Raceway filled up in just 36 hours. Two thousand cars, 2,000 owners— every age and credo represented, every car different. You wander the Mazda Raceway paddock on this weekend and see every possible Miata mutation to ever exist, hearing race-prepped, track-day-terror Miatas buzzing down the Corkscrew in the distance. “Everybody out here has put their signature on the Miata in one way or another,” said Weldon in 2012. “Just look at any of the cars out here. It’s just symbolic of all the different interests and different preferences of people—it’s the way things should be.” “It’s amazing to think that if this was 1,800 MGs at a racetrack,” said Norman Garrett, concept engineer for the Miata, “25 years after MG produced them … there’d be a lot of vendors selling spare parts.” We sat in Mazda’s suite overlooking the paddock, across a sea of Miatas. “Now look—there’s a few people selling performance parts—there’s not a lot of spare parts here! The whole

British industry I grew up in, it was all about spare parts.” Long ago, the Miata project’s four main figures in America, the Four Horsemen of the Miata-pocalypse— Garrett, Bob Hall, Tom Matano, Mark Jordan—sat in a room and listed all the sports cars they had owned. “There were 65 sports cars in our history amongst us,” said Garrett. MGs, Triumphs, Porsche 914s. Jordan listed a Lamborghini Countach. Garrett mentioned the Ferrari 308 he autocrossed. Matano added the Fiat 850 Spider he drove while an Art Center student. “Everybody came to the project with their own cigar box full of favorite marbles. And they’d say, ‘Oh, here’s my favorite marble, from my Spitfire. Here’s something I loved about my Ferrari, my Alfa, whatever.’ Everybody had something.” Customization was designed into the Miata from the very beginning: At the 1989 Chicago Auto Show, where the production Miata was unveiled, Jordan showed his pet project: the Club Racer concept. “One of our goals was to bring back

the weekend hobbyist,” Jordan said, “that seemed to be fading, and we wanted to say, ‘Hey, you can bolt on these fenders, put on this suspension, wheels, tires, and you could have a little café racer.’ The Miata was to be about customization. There’s supposed to be a business built around that.” Had the Miata never existed, these guys would’ve found a way to build something similar. If not for the world, then themselves. “Bob sent a fax over to Mazda and said, ‘Can you make money on 40,000 units a year?’” Garrett explained. “And they said, ‘Sure, we can do that.’ We just wanted to make those 40,000 units. “Frankly, we just wanted to build a dozen. We really just wanted it for ourselves. We didn’t care if anyone else got one.” PURE SPORTS CAR For all the Miata’s success, vanquishing its rivals, there is a curse. The Miata’s curse is, it’s a victim of its own popularity, a fixed ethos that can never change— every next Miata has to live up to the

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Studless Ice & Snow

Miatas make their way around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on a gorgeous day for racing. Then again, when is it not a great day for racing? Especially in a Miata.

template Hall, Garrett, Matano and Jordan set those 25 years ago. Period. Anything with such staying power falls victim to the same fate. Derek Jenkins, tasked with leading the Miata into the next generation, is a man to be envied, but also sympathized with: how hard it must be to honor an icon, not just in Mazda’s own product line but within the sports-car pantheon—the last affordable roadster, the last Lightweight Sports. “Every place those Miata rivals have fallen down dead,” said Hall, “is because they start working on the car: ‘We can make it more powerful! We can make it roomier! We can make it heavier! We can make it dumber!’ OK? They didn’t understand that they had to do less, not more. That’s why the Miata’s still here, 25 years later. And the DNA of the car— it’s so bloody simple! What’s the most uncommon thing in the car design world today? Common sense.” The Miata is the pure sports car, sure,

but it is also the hooptie, the prized possession, the LeMons racer, the daily driver, the cool first car, the painfully slow first car, the painless British roadster, the manifestation of life’s potential and an impassioned future owed to us. Any car can do that, but the Miata lends itself especially to emotions. Any twoseat sports car does. A generation of enthusiasts—today’s youth, who are supposed to buy iPhones instead of cars—might move on and buy something new. Yet they’ll fondly look back at the time they spent with their first sports car and lament, “I never should’ve gotten rid of that thing; I had so much fun with it!” “There’s a saying,” said Garrett. “People remember very little of what you do, and people remember nothing of what you say, but people always remember how you make them feel. So, how do we make this car make them feel?” Simple—make them feel like they’ve created something all their own. c

Developed for the drivers of coupes, sedans and minivans, as well as pickups, crossovers and SUVs looking for traction on winter’s clear, cold, slushy, snow-covered and icy roads, the ExtremeWinterContact is designed to deliver serious performance in bitter winter weather. Low-void outboard shoulder blocks tied together by elevated lateral grooves increase dry road steering response and stability. High-void central and inboard shoulder blocks separated by inclined longitudinal grooves provide swift removal of water, slush and snow. High-density zigzag sipes offer multiple gripping edges to promote packed snow and ice traction.

For current pricing, call or visit

1-888-378-8473 ©2014 Tire Rack

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FEATURE \\ EEXP ADVENTUREMOBILE

FOR LOVE OF ADVENTURE OVERLAND LIVING IN A CUSTOM OFF-ROAD RIG BY SARAH BLESSINGTON

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The EEXP Adventuremobile isn’t just a platform for adventure sports—it’s a one-of-a-kind home on wheels. Below: The first Sportsmobile adventure van. Opposite: Tackling rough terrain near Moab.



OVERLANDING IN AN OFFroad-capable vehicle enables adventure travel that just wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Living in such a vehicle makes contributor Sarah Blessington’s life of adventure possible: Cruising desert highways at 75 mph, climbing rocky 4x4 trails and still sneaking through tight trees, all with our house attached, is truly something of a miracle. Thinking back to all the creature comforts of my former life, caged in by a 9-5, it’s hard for me now to think of a time when I doubted if I could actually say “yes” to a life full of unknowns. But, while working as event coordinator at a small Colorado ski resort and bartending in the off-season, I met my boyfriend and travel companion Bryon Dorr, an adventure journalist and photographer living full-time on the road in a badass Sportsmobile adventure van. Following a gallant gesture on his part— a 1,000-mile long drive to my doorstep— it wasn’t long before I had sold all my belongings and moved myself into the van. Bryon’s passion is river kayaking; epic waterfall drops, massive class-five rapids and all the kayak playspots he can get his boats to largely shape our travel plans. But I want to go everywhere and anywhere, and the water is only the beginning. The Ford E350 EB 4X4 Sportsmobile that Bryon and I began our travels together in wasn’t ideal for us, but driving it gave us a solid idea of what the perfect four-wheeled contraption to get us and our gear “out there” would be. Our brand new, custom-designed, custom-built rig—christened the EEXP Adventure-mobile and completed, more

SPECS & DATA EEXP ADVENTUREMOBILE

rear of camper; RotopaX diesel fuel cells mounted to rear of camper; adjustable custom rear bumper; undercamper storage boxes

BASE VEHICLE:

2001 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins diesel extended-cab short-bed MODIFICATIONS:

Buckstop front bumper; warn 16.5ti winch; PIAA LED offroad & fog lights; Bushwacker front fender flares; Hi-Lift Jack mounted to front bumper; Icon 2.5-inch remote reservoir adjustable shocks; ARB front-diff cover; Hellwig rear overload helper springs and sway bar; Maxtrax sand ladders mounted on

UNDER THE HOOD:

Upgraded steering box and shaft; braided Kevlar brake lines; upgraded battery system WHEELS AND TIRES:

17-inch Method wheels (supplied by Xplore Baja), General Grabber AT2 285/70 R-17 tires

exterior fuel cells CAMPER:

Full-sized bed sleeps two; three-sided dinette seats six; 30-gallon fresh water tank; interior sink; exterior shower, 3.8 gallon fridge, two singleburner butane stoves and one small propane grill; cartridge toilet; GoSol Power 255-watt solar system; 1,000watt inverter, diesel hot-water and air-heater system; LED interior lighting; exterior legless awning CUSTOM GRAPHICS

Canby Signs & Graphics

FUEL CAPACITY:

34-gallon main tank, plus 8 gallons in

or less, in mid-2014—is based on a 2001 Dodge 2500 Cummins diesel extendedcab, short-bed truck. It has a prototype expedition camper on the back. Our mechanical modifications and interior features make it comfortable, reliable and capable—the toughest terrain we’ve tackled so far is Lockhart Basin Road, a 68mile Jeep trail outside Moab, Utah. While our aspirations and determina-

tion are the driving forces behind us, the EEXP is what takes our vision and puts it at our feet. m Editor’s Note: Sarah Blessington, 25, fuels her passion for life through diverse people, places and experiences. She does this by traveling full time with her boyfriend, Bryon Dorr, in their overland expedition vehicle, the EEXP.

AW MacNeil 10-14-13_AutoWeek MacNeil 5/19/08 8/2/13 3:57 PM Page 1

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november 21, 2014 ALL THE CARS YOU LOVE, ANYWHERE YOU ARE

1991 Ferrari Testarossa

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1961 Mercedes-Benz 190SL Roadster

Auctions America presents an exciting new way for you to buy – or sell – all the cars you love. With our BidAnywhere Online Collector Car Auction, you can bid online with confidence on collector cars that have been reviewed by our qualified Car Specialists. With two levels of condition reports, you’ll know you are getting the most accurate report possible. Should you have the winning bid, you will pay easily by wire and the vehicle will be delivered by Reliable Carriers, or carrier of your choice, to your house! Selling your vehicle in the BidAnywhere Online Collector Car Auction is just as simple. When you consign, choose the level of condition reporting you want. Once a condition report is completed, your vehicle doesn’t leave your garage until it is sold. While buyers can get a transportation quote through Reliable Carriers, your identity is not revealed, allowing you to remain anonymous in the process. We will let you know when you are safe to release your car, and will send you a check.

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our watch shouldn’t cost more than your car. It should look and feel like a power tool and not a piece of bling. Wearing it shouldn’t make you think twice about swinging a hammer or changing a tire. A real man’s timepiece needs to be ready for anything. But that’s just my opinion. If you agree, maybe you’re ready for the Stauer Centurion Hybrid. Use your Exclusive Insider Promotional Code below and I’ll send it to you today for ONLY $59. This watch doesn’t do dainty. And neither do I. Call me old-fashioned, but I want my boots to be leather, my tires to be deeptread monsters, and my steak thick and rare. Inspiration for a man’s watch should come from things like fast cars, firefighters and power tools. And if you want to talk beauty, then let’s discuss a 428 cubic inch V8. Did I mention the $59 price tag? This is a LOT of machine for not a lot of money. The Stauer Centurion Hybrid sports a heavy-duty alloy body, chromed and detailed with a rotating bezel that allows you to track direction. The luminous hour and minute hands mean you can keep working into the night. And the dual digital displays give this watch a hybrid ability. The LCD windows displays the time, day and date, includes a stopwatch function, and features a bright green electro-luminescent backlight. We previously offered the Centurion for $199, but with the exclusive promotional code it’s yours for ONLY $59!

TAKE 70% OFF INSTANTLY! When you use your Promotional Code

No matter what, this watch can keep up. Thanks to the Stauer 30-day Money Back Guarantee, you’ve got time to prove it. If you’re not totally satisfied, return it for a full refund of the purchase price. You also get a 2-year replacement guarantee on both movements. But I have a feeling the only problem you’ll have is deciding whether to keep the Stauer Centurion on your dresser or tucked inside your toolbox.



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Your Insider Promotional Code: CNW330-03 Please use this code when you order to receive your discount.

Stauer

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14101 Southcross Drive W., Dept. CNW330-03 Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 www.stauer.com

Digital-Analog Hybrid • Dual digital displays • Heavy-duty chromed body • 3 ATM Water Resistant LCD windows for time, date and day • Luminous hands • Contrast Stitch Band fits a 7 1/4"–9 1/4" wrist

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Wrong Turn Leads to $2 Billion in Buried Treasure

Incredibly rare find is now available to the public for ONLY $79!

T

anzania, 1967. A prospector hiking through the sunbaked African hills realizes he is lost. He takes a left instead of a right and finds himself in a Masaai village. Red-robed warriors approach with fists clenched tight. He braces for a fight. But as soon as they open their palms, all is well. Inside are sparkling stones, the likes of which he has never seen. The man smiles and says, “Show me more.” That was how the story of tanzanite began. Today you can continue the remarkable tale with our Karatu Tanzanite Ring. Call today to bring home genuine tanzanite totaling more than 1 carat set in .925 sterling silver (a $399 value*) for ONLY $79!

Found in only one place on the planet. The five ovals in our Karatu Tanzanite Ring are direct relatives of those stunning original gemstones. We know this for a fact because you can’t find tanzanite anywhere else on Earth. It only exists within a 960-acre parcel of the Merelani Hills near Mt. Kilimanjaro (an area slightly larger than New York’s City’s Central Park). This historic exclusivity makes tanzanite at least 1000 times rarer than diamonds! Tanzanite gets rarer by the minute. In the decades since its discovery, tanzanite has become one of the world’s most coveted gemstones. Pieces featured in our own luxury line can sell for $1000 per carat and some retailers charge as much as $2,000 per carat! But while demand is growing, supply is limited. Even though the Tanzanian government strictly controls mining, nobody knows exactly how much

tanzanite remains. Most experts predict that the mines will run dry within our lifetime. That’s why the time to act is now. Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. Not only have we LOWERED the price on this rare gemstone, but today you can wear the Karatu Tanzanite Ring for an extended one month trial period. That’s right, if you’re not captivated by the beauty of tanzanite, send it back within 60 days for a complete refund of your purchase price. Don’t miss this chance to claim your own piece of the $2 billion buried treasure!

TAKE 80% OFF INSTANTLY! When you use your INSIDER OFFER CODE Karatu Tanzanite Ring — $399*

$79

Offer Code Price Only + S&P Save $320! You must use the insider offer code to get our special price.

1-800-945-7267 Your Offer Code: KTR155-01 Please use this code when you order to receive your discount.

Stauer

®

14101 Southcross Drive W., Dept. KTR155-01, Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 www.stauer.com *Discount is only for customers who use the offer code versus the original Stauer.com price.

Rating of A+

1 1/5 carats of geniune tanzanite • Lab-created white DiamondAura accents • .925 sterling silver setting • Whole ring sizes 5–10 Smar t Luxuries—Surprising Prices ™

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Air Force Master Blaster dries cars in 15 minutes or less and is the top choice of ®

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No kidding. Only Stauer can give you 200 carats of genuine amethyst for NOTHING.

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tauer smashes the luxury status quo with the release of our FREE* 200-Carat Lusso Amethyst Necklace. Call now and we’ll send you this impressive helping of genuine amethyst (independently appraised at $295) for FREE. We cut the price 100% and you pay only $19.95, our charge for shipping, processing and insurance. We’re betting that you’ll fall in love with Stauer. If not? Keep your FREE Lusso Amethyst Necklace anyway.

A collection of purple perfection. Your Lusso Amethyst Necklace is a 200-carat symphony of smooth purple genuine gemstones. Each gemstone’s shape and translucence ignites the velvety, violet hues. The polished amethysts are hand-set on double-knotted jeweler’s thread, and the stunning 18" necklace (with 2" extender) secures with a gold-finished lobster clasp. One more surprise... To sweeten the deal, we’ll include a $20 Stauer Gift Coupon with your FREE necklace. An offer this good will not last very long. Call to reserve your FREE Lusso Amethyst Necklace today and treat yourself (or someone you love) to a brilliant new definition of priceless luxury! * This offer is valid in the United States (and Puerto Rico) except in TX, Lusso Amethyst Necklace (200 ctw) $199** FL, CO, OK, RI, NH, WV, OR, SC, VA * and ID. These state residents will be Your Cost With Offer Code— charged one cent ($.01) + shipping & processing for the item. Void where pro*pay only shipping & processing of $19.95. hibited or restricted by law. Offer subject You must use the offer code below to receive this special free necklace. to state and local regulations. Not valid with any other offers and only while supplies last. This offer is limited to one item per shipping address. ** Free is only Rating of A+ Offer Code LAN183-01 for customers who use the offer code versus Please mention this code when you call. the original Stauer.com price. † For more information concerning the 14101 Southcross Drive W., Dept. LAN183-01, appraisal, visit http://www.stauer.com/ ® Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 www.stauer.com appraisedvalues.asp.

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$

WITH ANY PURCHASE

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Item 92655 shown

79

99

900 PEAK/ WATTS ING NN RU 700 2 HP (63 CC) 2 CYCLE GAS RECREATIONAL GENERATOR Item 69381

R ! PE ON SU UP CO

shown

$9999 $12999

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80

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discount Cannot be used with other s last. by calling 800-423-2567. or HarborFreight.com or l purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplie er per day. LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores . Limit one coupon per custom ses after 30 days from origina or coupon or prior purchal coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/10/15 Origina le. Non-transferab

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LOT NO. 67847 61454/61693

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60

LOT NO. 67979 61839/62359

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Item 67979 shown

$

REG. PRICE $219.99

LIMIT 8 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/10/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.

R ! PE ON SU UP CO

$

$

Item 65570 shown

R ! PE ON SU UP CO

"The Perfect Compressor with Powerful, Quiet and Consistent Airflow... Plus we Love the Low Price"

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• 1000 lb. Capacity

RECIPROCATING SAW WITH ROTATING HANDLE

® RAPID PUMP 1.5 TON ALUMINUM RACING JACK 99 $ 99

LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/10/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.

MOVER'S DOLLY

R ! PE ON SU UP CO

R ! PE ON SU UP CO

REG. SAVE $ 89 PRICE 61% $9.99

3

VALUE

LIMIT 1 - Cannot be used with other discount, coupon or prior purchase. Coupon good at our stores, HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Offer good while supplies last. Shipping & Handling charges may apply if not picked up in-store. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/10/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.

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LOT NO. 93888/60497 61899/62399

$ 99

ANY SINGLE ITEM

LIMIT 1 - Save 20% on any one item purchased at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. *Cannot be used with other discount, coupon, gift cards, Inside Track Club membership, extended service plans or on any of the following: compressors, generators, tool storage or carts, welders, floor jacks, Towable Ride-On Trencher, Saw Mill (Item 61712/62366/67138), Predator Gas Power Items, open box items, in-store event or parking lot sale items. Not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase date with original receipt. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/10/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.

369

500 LB. CAPACITY ALUMINUM CARGO CARRIER

ITEM 47770/61313

47770 shown

REG. 99$699PRICE .99

LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/10/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.

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C O MPETITION \\ VERSTAPPEN \\ GRC \\ YOUTH PLANS \\ DALY \\ DIRT RACING \\ HELLMUND \\ NASCAR

NOT JUST F1’S YOUNGEST FACE MAX VERSTAPPEN’S GRADUATION TO FORMULA ONE RAISES QUESTIONS, BUT THERE ARE REASONS TO BELIEVE HE’S READY FOR THE BIG TIME BY EDD STRAW



THE QUESTION is one Max Verstappen became very wellpracticed at answering during Belgian Grand Prix weekend in August. Following the shocking revelation that he will make his Formula One debut next season for Scuderia Toro Rosso at the age of 17, how could a driver so young and in only his first season of car racing possibly be ready? Even if he has excelled in the hugely competitive Formula Three European Championship? “Age is just a number,” he says. “It’s on the track where you have to show what you can do. But I always made big steps—from karting to F3 was a big step, but it was a different environment because my dad was also an F1 driver. I’m ready for it.” Mention of Max’s father, Jos, is a warning that the Verstappens have been here before. Twenty years ago, Jos was a 22year-old with a huge reputation whose stunning F1 test for Footwork landed him on the cover of U.K. racing bible Autosport before he had come close to starting a Grand Prix. But after being drafted to race for Benetton in place of the injured J.J. Lehto at the start of the 1994 season, things never quite came together. After a couple podiums in that stop/start first season, his career—a few extraordinary performances aside (notably hauling the unimpressive Simtek as high as sixth in the 1995 Argentinian Grand Prix before retiring)—reads like that of a journeyman. He should have achieved more, meaning Jos doesn’t just know how difficult it is to translate ability into results, he has lived it. “I had the bad luck that I was next to Michael Schumacher when I started in F1; I should have started in a lower team,” says Jos. “I came into F1 after two years in which I did

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about 50 races. Max will have done around 45, but he has done a lot more in a go-kart. He is better prepared, and the world has changed. “In all kinds of sports, people are younger. In F1, the cars are completely different to the ones in my time, and the tracks are different. When I made a mistake at a chicane, I was in a gravel trap; now when you brake too late, there is asphalt you can use and drive back on the circuit. “I made too many mistakes and I was compared to the best driver in the whole world. But with Max, we have a longer deal, not just a one-year contract. So Max will get the time, and Red Bull will prepare Max a lot better. He can handle it.” The elder Verstappen has been nurturing his son’s talent for a long time, even forsaking his own racing career to focus on it. Max started learning in a kart at the age of just 4. Initially, it was just a fun way for a father and son to pass the time, but it soon became clear to Jos that his son had some serious talent. Given that Max doesn’t just have racing DNA on the paternal side—his mother is Sophie Kumpen, who had a very successful karting career—it is

GETTY IMAGES

COMP \\ MAX VERSTAPPEN

Jos Verstappen, above, has mentored Max from his early karting days. The teenager has already sampled F1 power, top, with Scuderia Toro Rosso.

perhaps no surprise that he had raw ability in abundance. Speaking with Jos at length about his son’s development, though, it becomes clear that nurture has played more of a part than nature. “It’s natural talent, and it’s education,” he says. “The way he overtakes is natural talent, but there are things you have to do to understand that talent. You have to teach them, analyze overtaking, watch F1. He is always watching what to do and how to overtake. “I’ll give you an example.

He was winning a lot when he was young. At the time, we had standing starts, and people would put a bit of oil on the clutch to have a better start. I didn’t do that. I liked him to come out of the first corner in fourth because I wanted him to race. He always overtook easily, and although people were saying his engine was stronger, I think it was due to keeping speed up in the corner. “At times I told him, ‘You’re not allowed to overtake on a straight’ and that you can’t overtake there or there.

I wanted him to overtake in different places to make it hard for him.” Gut reaction says this seems apocryphal, more about mythmaking than the truth. But look at Max’s career to date, and it rings true. In winning the CIK-FIA World KZ Championship kart title last year, Max had to battle his way up from third, while in F3 this season he has made a habit of overtaking in unexpected places. The quality of his education has shone through in every facet of his F3 campaign against vastly more experienced opposition, to the point that many of his rivals regard him as the most intelligent in the field. When Red Bull Junior Team boss Helmut Marko originally raised the idea of a jump straight into F1, Jos claims to have been skeptical. But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Max is a driver who has been pushed and challenged consistently during his career; just winning was never enough. And while Jos at times has been a hard taskmaster, the fact Max has come through it so well to date suggests he is made of the kind of steel that won’t buckle under F1’s pressure. “Working with him for so long, I have seen him do incredible things,” says Jos. “His ability is very high, and I really think he can do it, but it’s difficult to say as a father because every father admires their son. But we have something really special, and I helped him, helped to create him, to push him and to be in the right equipment.” The question is perhaps not whether a 17-year-old can race in F1. The question is whether this 17-year-old can. Verstappen is certainly an exceptional prospect and possibly one of those rare, once-in-a-generation talents. c

20141110-NEWS--0056,0057,0058,0059-NAT-CCI-AW_--

䡲 FRITS VAN AMERSFOORT, WHOSE team has run Max Verstappen in his rookie season of car racing in the Formula Three European Championship, had no doubts that the 17-year-old could cut it in F3. But Formula One? That could be a different story. Van Amersfoort, who ran Max’s father Jos in Formula Opel Lotus in 1992, played a big part in badgering the Verstappens to bypass Formula Renault in favor of a leap straight to F3. So too did Huub Rothengatter, who has an advisory role with Max Verstappen, just as he did with the teen’s father. “We immediately felt that Max is a special guy and that he was capable of the jump to F3,” says van Amersfoort. “When you do 20 or more Formula Renault tests and you’re quick all the time—every time—then why not? Then he tested an F3 car for the first time with Motopark [in a German F3spec machine at Valencia], and it felt like a better-fitting suit than the Renault—it was worth the gamble.” Will F1 be the same? “I’ve read a lot of comments from F1 drivers who are a bit critical,” he continues, “and I understand. But in the end, let’s see what happens. “Everyone knows F1 is a hard life, and either he makes it in one or two years or he is gone. From the point of view of driving, he will make it; he is as one with his machine, and for him it won’t matter if that’s F1, F3 or a kart. But of course, in F1, there’s a lot more around it; you also need other qualities.”

1:44 PM

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Van Amersfoort

AUTOSPORT

THE VIEW FROM F3

10/27/2014

However, van Amersfoort has no doubt about Verstappen’s talent. “One important aspect that all brilliant drivers have is they know instinctively where to gain time. You can talk for hours about data, but when a driver feels it from his instincts, that gives you a big leap.” Many forget that Verstappen’s first time with the current-spec F3 car and engine was a shakedown at Czech track Autodrom Most on April 1, on the way to the official Euro F3 tests. The majority of his rookie rivals had done several days the previous autumn in the latest chassis, if not the latest powerplants. He was fastest on the very first day of official testing, at the Hungaroring. “I made a tweet not so long ago that I have run out of superlatives for Max,” says van Amersfoort. “What more can I say? The guy keeps amazing you. “He’s such a nice kid, and he helps everybody [including his teammates], if they’re interested. He and his father are always the first at the track and the last to leave. It’s amazing how much drive those two have.” —MARCUS SIMMONS

Frits van Amersfoort, above, reckons Verstappen is ready. The youngster, left, demonstrated his ability this year in European F3, winning 10 times during his first season.

VERSTAPPEN’S FIRST TEST 䡲 BRITISH ENGINEER TONY Shaw, who worked with Formula One stars Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton in their Formula Renault days, is pretty proud to have run Max Verstappen during his first test in a car. Shaw and wife Sarah have— along with ex-racer Jeremy Cotterill—run the Dutch-owned Manor MP Motorsport FRenault team since it closed shop on their Manor Competition outfit at the end of 2011. Verstappen had two days in August 2013 with Manor MP at the U.K.’s Pembrey Circuit, and the south Wales track ran through its trademark climatic schizophrenia. “It was away from prying eyes, just how I like testing,” says Shaw. “An exclusive run-out without any pressure, with nobody else there. A lovely, unpressured environment.” So far, normal—until Verstappen got behind the wheel. “We were standing at The Crossing. It was extraordinary— the confidence, speed and car control. On his first pushing lap, Sarah and I just looked at each other and then at Jos, and said to him, ‘Are you sure this is his first time in a car?’ “He followed all his instructions totally without problem and used 20 percent less brain power than anyone else to do it because he has so much natural ability. We knew after five laps that this is as good as we’ve ever seen.” In a parallel universe, maybe Verstappen would have taken the conventional karting-to-Renault step with Manor MP. “We wanted him in the team, but it’s probably right that he did what he’s done,” says Shaw. “In Renault, it doesn’t take long for there to be a few little upsets, and he was ready for F3 without a shadow of doubt. “In fact, he’s ready for F1. He a thousand percent deserves it and I can’t see him f*****g it up!” —MS

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COMP \\ GRC

QUICK CONSUMPTION RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS AIMS AT A NEW GENERATION OF RACE FANS BY BRAD WILEY AND MAC MORRISON



FUEL VAPORS FILL THE AIR swirling around the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas. In the locally honored tradition of keeping Austin weird, a flood of South by Southwest festival types add to the sea of spectators flocking to this past June’s X Games venue. This crowd is noticeably different from your typical motorsports crowd. It’s younger, dressed in flat-billed hats and sunglasses rather than Dale Earnhardt or MOPAR T-shirts. Red Bull Global Rallycross fits right into the mix, and the audience looks the same here as at its annual X Games stop. Red Bull GRC—now owned by Colin Dyne and founded by present CEO Chip Pankow and former partner Brian Gale, who has managed driver Tanner Foust— held its first official championship season in 2011. This followed some demonstration runs a year earlier, not to mention X Games exhibitions dating to 2006. It features 600-hp cars, drivers from diverse backgrounds and factory support from

Ford, Volkswagen, Chevrolet, Hyundai and Subaru. In the past two years, GRC has garnered attention and gained buzz both in the auto industry and in racing circles; this season, its entire schedule airs nationally on NBC, save for the X Games, which are on ESPN. The series’ appeal comes via brutishness and corporate branding. Racing on short courses set up at traditional racetracks or in parking lots, GRC presents its product and partners through an interactive experience—fan-accessible paddocks, up-close vantage points, DJs, social media campaigns and live streaming video are just a few core elements. “Sixteen to 34 is our core demographic,” says Dyne, who developed the William Rast clothing line’s brand identity and its racing program, which won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with the late Dan Wheldon and Bryan Herta Autosport. “The way that we set up our racing format … is very focused on a short-attention-span audience. I think the [heat race and final main event] format itself draws that under-30 audience.” There’s an overload of car and paddock

signage—Red Bull, Monster Energy, Rockstar Energy and others. Indeed, GRC can feel a lot more like a dedicated marketing machine than a traditional sanctioning body—not necessarily a bad thing as motorsports bodies search for ways to engage potential new fans. “Red Bull is extremely active through its website, through its YouTube channel,” Dyne says. “Particularly producing short videos of the series … tons of content to keep the younger audience actively involved. We do some outreach, we have a group of influencers who showed up at our LA race, young adults tied to the youth community through social networking, with millions and millions of followers. [They] try connecting to a new audience through their [followers] to [get others to] watch our shows and tune into our TV broadcasts.” Additionally, GRC’s value to automotive manufacturers is growing. The cars are based on affordable production models, including Volkswagen’s Beetle, Ford’s Fiesta ST, Subaru’s WRX STI, Hyundai’s Veloster and Chevrolet’s Sonic. Every race in this made-for-TV-

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SERIES’ YOUTH PLANS \\ enterprise is over within minutes, so most onlookers remain on their feet. TV ratings show early promise. GRC’s September event in Los Angeles, for example, drew a 0.5 rating, representing about 578,000 households. That’s a long way from the several million who tune into NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series each week, but right in line with—even higher than some—Verizon IndyCar Series, NHRA and sports-car broadcasts, and more than F1 draws in the United States. Ex-IndyCar driver Michael Andretti’s Andretti Autosport team competes in IndyCar and now GRC, the latter with manufacturer partner Volkswagen its latest Beetle and drivers Foust and Scott Speed. He likes what he sees. “One of the problems auto racing has today is the demographics are getting older and older,” he says. “GRC focuses more on the millennials, and those are our future fans. They’re the ones everybody is after. [It also helps that GRC] takes the events downtown for a lot of them, takes the show to the people.” Indeed, if audience retention remains strong—not a guarantee, given the repeated acknowledgments of this fan base’s attention span—the economics of the sport should continue to make GRC an enticing new proposition for teams, manufacturers and sponsors. As Andretti says, “It’s got a ton of potential.” c

Andretti Autosport and Volkswagen team up for Red Bull Global Rallycross in Los Angeles with driver Tanner Foust.

EMBRACING THE FUTURE

PROFESSIONAL RACING RESPONDS TO AN AGING DEMOGRAPHIC BY CLAY MANDEL

䡲 RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS WAS BUILT

from the ground up to attract fresh, young fans, but longestablished racing series aren’t sitting still in their quest to reach the coveted millennial demographic. Here’s a quick look at what some are doing:

NASCAR America’s stock-car institution has placed a high priority on reaching a younger, more diverse audience, with ticket packages and events to engage kids and families. In September, it announced a partnership with Nickelodeon to launch NickSports, a new programming block featuring pro sports content. Changes to the Chase for the Cup playoff were intended to make it easier for new and casual fans to get excited. “ROAR!” is a free digital magazine and app providing race fans information to prep them for the upcoming week’s races. The NASCAR Next initiative spotlights the sport’s rising stars in an attempt to bolster fan recognition of future talent. Meanwhile, NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity identifies and develops drivers with potential to make it to the Cup Series. NHRA This series boasts the third-youngest fan base of major sports in America behind the NBA and the NHL. The NHRA has various programs and strategies; one program allows admission of up to four children 12 and under with the purchase of a generaladmission ticket. Additionally, a strong social-

media presence is a top priority. Away from national events, the NHRA gets kids involved in the sport at an early age through NHRA Jr. Street and Jr. Drag Racing programs. INDYCAR Open-wheel racing execs acknowledge aging baby boomers comprise their core fanbase. That’s why IndyCar plans to increase its advertising budget on a new generation. It also is proactive in pitching its product to media outlets that have not covered it in the past. More importantly, IndyCar has brought in social-media influencers to races such as celebrities, athletes, writers and bloggers. Those influencers will ideally share their experience with a much wider mainstream following. The series also expects to expand its science, technology, engineering and math initiatives in schools to show young people just how relevant those subjects are to IndyCar racing. TUDOR UNITED SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP With U.S. sports-car racing’s new era underway, sanctioning body IMSA says it knows it must make its product more accessible and more targeted rather

COMP

than simply creating a large amount of content. This past season it focused on creating less, but much better quality, video content than in the past. Aware of millennials’ short attention span and need for information quickly, signage at races provides clear information about schedules, drivers, cars and classes, making sports-car racing more accessible. Content interaction is king, and a new official app will provide more seriesand race-related info, social-media components, even onboard camera footage. Fans will be able to receive information related directly to their favorite teams and manufacturers, too. Race broadcasts are available 24 hours after each event concludes at youtube.com/user/ UnitedSportsCar; they are viewable on the new app, as well. And for videogame fans, the Tudor series has a relationship with the Forza Motorsport franchise, along with iRacing. PIRELLI WORLD CHALLENGE This multiclass sports-car series already claims a relatively young fan base it encourages to get off the couch and start driving— no surprise, considering its Sports Car Club of America roots. World Challenge this year produced videos featuring the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving to show fans how to take the first step toward competing. A 50-minute race format also fits fast-paced lifestyles. And live-stream race broadcasts and archives on world-challenge.com mean fans can watch the action no matter where they are, any time. c

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COMP \\ CONOR DALY

RACER CONOR DALY TRIES OUT NEW SEAT— AT AUTOWEEK



CONOR DALY KNOWS WHAT IT’S like to chase a dream. He has raced in the Indianapolis 500 and in Europe, tested a Formula One car and is on a path to what he hopes is a Verizon IndyCar Series ride in 2015. Daly, 21, knows there are no guarantees in the highly competitive racing game, where there are always more candidates for rides than there are rides available. Daly, therefore, is doing everything he can to pad that résumé, and we’re always up for helping car guys here at Autoweek. Recently, Daly showed his versatility, spending two days at Autoweek’s office in Detroit as a guest editor. The road test staff put Daly to work at nearby Michigan International Speedway one day, and the motorsports team had him contributing with driver interviews for this magazine spread the next day. As a reporter, Daly played to his strengths and rounded up fellow under-25-year-old racers,

including IndyCar drivers Sebastián Saavedra and Sage Karam, reigning Indy Lights champion Gabby Chaves, 2014 Pro Mazda Series champion Spencer Pigot, 2013 Pro Mazda champion and Indy Lights Series driver Matthew Brabham, and NASCAR driver Parker Kligerman for a telephone roundtable. At the track, we found—to no one’s surprise— Daly enjoyed pushing an Alfa Romeo 4C to the limit and agreed the Volkswagen Golf GTI was an amazing vehicle. There were a few hiccups. Punching the numbers required to call a few of his racing buddies in Europe using the office phones proved to be a little more difficult than just hitting a name on the touchscreen of a cellphone. As for Daly’s writing future with Autoweek … let’s just say the young man knows how to drive. Following is some of Daly’s office handiwork, along with some of his own takes on today’s racing topics:

Autoweek: How important is it for motorsports series to attract young fans? Conor Daly, 21: It’s exactly what we need. The IndyCar people know they need to attract a younger fan base. What the Indy 500 has done and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has done are bring in guys like Hardwell, [a DJ] who is real popular with young people, for the snake pit. Sage Karam, 19: Getting younger drivers would attract a younger generation of fans. At the Indy 500 this year, they had Hardwell playing. I know Hardwell attracted a lot of college, high school kids to the race—even though they don’t know anything about racing. Once they get to the race, they get to hear the cars, see the cars, smell the gas; they can make a connection, and all of the sudden they’re a fan. Parker Kligerman, 24: It’s absolutely integral to the sport. As a sport goes on and time goes on, if we don’t attract a younger fan base, then sadly the fan base we have will eventually erode and die off. AW: If you were in charge, what would you do to attract younger fans to the sport? Conor Daly: I know my opinion is biased, of course, but anyone you talk to today—whether it’s a team owner or what—they say we need new, young drivers, young Americans versus the rest of the world. I think young Americans is the key. Spencer Pigot, 21: Having more street races would be really cool. Having young people coming out to the street courses, where they can really get up close to the cars and see how quick they go, can really help the sport grow. Sebastian Saavedra, 24: We need to have more show. We need to allow the drivers to be more human beings and not so much robots. We need to allow them to be themselves and express

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WHAT CAR WOULD YOU BUY, RENT AND.... CONOR DALY BUY: Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670SV RENT: Bugatti Veyron SET ON FIRE:

Pontiac Aztek

Conor Daly makes it look easy at One Autoweek Tower ... until he gets a talking-to from publisher Dutch Mandel. It wasn’t all work and no play: Daly spent some time with us at the track, too.

themselves. We need a bigger number of young drivers and new names that people can root for and start learning about. Gabby Chaves, 21: I think you’ve got to work at branding some of the younger drivers and making personalities out of them. Sage Karam: If IndyCar wants to take the next step, it needs to get big names like Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift. We need to get those people performing on race weekends because a lot of kids know them that don’t know IndyCar. Matthew Brabham, 20: Growing up on the Gold Coast, the one thing that really attracted the younger-agegroup people to races was the party atmosphere. It was a little crazy on the Gold Coast, but I think it attracted a lot of people who just wanted to party and have fun. When they got there, they saw the

racing and kind of got interested in the racing. AW: What is your dream car? Conor Daly: Nissan Skyline R34 GTR Spencer Pigot: Ferrari F50 Sebastian Saavedra: Bugatti Gabby Chaves: Lexus LFA Sage Karam: Mercedes-Benz ML65-AMG Matthew Brabham: Lamborghini Aventador Parker Kligerman: 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB AW: How important are connectivity and apps when shopping for a car? Conor Daly: I love technology and everything about anything you connect to your car. Obviously, there’s a limit to distractions, but if you’re a smart enough person, you know what you can handle. Spencer Pigot: I’m not really big into all the fancy gadgets. I just want a car that performs well rather than [one] just

JOSH SCOTT(2)

SPENCER PIGOT BUY: Ferrari F50 RENT: BMW M4

filled with trick technology. Sebastian Saavedra: I like a lot of toys. Satellite radio and Bluetooth are huge. I would not be able to survive a long drive without being able to listen to good music. Gabby Chaves: The more it has, the better, to be honest. I love all the gadgets, even more than car performance. Sage Karam: I think one of the coolest things I’ve seen is the head-up display. Matthew Brabham: You get too many features and you start focusing on that and not actually driving the car. Music and the sound system are by far the biggest things to me. Parker Kligerman: I just love a car where when you turn it off and you’re mid-song on the Bluetooth, you grab your phone, you run out and do whatever it is you have to do, get back in the car, turn it on and the song picks right up there where you left off. m

SET ON FIRE:

Toyota Prius

SEBASTIAN SAAVADRA BUY: Audi R8 RENT: Subaru WRX STI SET ON FIRE:

Lada GABBY CHAVES BUY: Lexus LFA RENT: Chevrolet Camaro SET ON FIRE:

Toyota Prius PARKER KLIGERMAN BUY: Ferrari 355 RENT: Ferrari LaFerrari SET ON FIRE:

Nissan Juke

MATTHEW BRABHAM BUY: Corvette Stingray RENT: Lamborghini Aventador SET ON FIRE:

Nissan Murano SAGE KARAM Pagani Lamborghini Aventador BUY:

RENT:

SET ON FIRE:

Any minivan

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COMP \\ DIRT RACING

IS A 1/4-MILE CLAY OVAL IN WILLIS, TEXAS, WITH RACING EVERY SATURDAY. IT’S USUALLY $10 TO GET IN. AND IT’S AS AWESOME AS IT SOUNDS. BY WILL PIERCE

1. Entrance

10

2. Turn three

15

14

3. Turn two 4. Turn one

9

5. Announcer stand Three stacked semi-trailers. The PA plays Conway Twitty before the action starts.

12

6. An actual school bus To pack down the track surface and give rides to the kids in between races.

3

4 5

7. Where you buy the T-shirts and $2 beers

11

8. Turn-three stands Perfect spot to get showered with clay chunks during qualifying. 9. Track exit

8

2

17

18

10. Hobby stock car 350 cubic inches and 3,400 pounds of old-GMbased joy. Hear-tell you can pick one up for six to eight grand. They race first.

6 7

11. Grandstands 12. Track entry 13. Turn-4 Cafe Turn-4 Cafe, home of the great $7 Track Burger (fries included!); $2 gets you a pint of Blue Bell ice cream. Gator Motorplex does not mess around.

16 14. Ads for machinists and mobile-home parts 15. Limited Modified Car They race before the Sprint Cars. 2,350 pounds and 368 cubic inches of fiberglass and steel. As loud as they are fast.

16. Fan pit entrance Pit passes usually run $30 ($15 for kids) and fund the winners’ payout. It grants access to a big dirt-lot cornucopia of race cars. Advice: Get the pit pass.

13 17. Turn four/finish 18. Lawn-chair seating

1

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What the heck is a Sprint Car? Dirt ovals are great for hours of racing entertainment, and it costs little to attend or race on every Saturday night. In a globalized world, the culture is radically hyper-local: as specialized and accessible as Sprint Cars themselves. Gator Motorplex owner Randy Waller says most competitors live within 30 miles of his track. With 700 dirt ovals in the U.S. and Canada, there’s one near you. This is a rare amalgam of community and spectacle. As Bronco Raceway’s David Ericson said, “Each show is a unique performance, never to be seen again.”

3:26 PM

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d in easure ize is m ge. s g in W foota is p wing square t Car to n ri p S nature t. That sig 5 feet by 5 fee

Wanna get started? New chassis frames can be had for only $2,000-$4,000.

Track Terms Heavy: Wet, loose track during heats Slick: Dry track taking rubber Hookey or Tacky Track: Mama Bear’s porridge of track surfaces. The clay is packed with rubber from all the racing.

25 to 30 gallons of pure methanol Methanol has a lower energy density than gasoline, requiring almost twice the volume to feed a samesized engine. One tank lasts a full event, through both qualifying and the race.

One front brake, on the right (Left-front tire’s not always on the ground in corners.)

Staggered rear tires! The right-rear tire is often 3 or 4 inches wider than the left, usually around 21 inches. Tire pressures run as low as 4 psi on the left tire, 6 psi on the right.

No replacement for ... Displacement on the mostly GMbased V8s varies by series and region. Expect to see some iteration of these:

Editor’s Note: Will Pierce is an illustrator living in Texas. He did our DIY cover back in August. He thinks you should get to your local dirt track more often.

Direct drive—no gears, differential or clutch! Car starts by being pushed by four-wheeler or ATV until oil gets up to pressure.

Inboard rear brake

Mandatory bead locks (so tires don’t rip themselves off)

305ci: 450-600 hp 360ci: 600-700 hp 410ci: 900-plus hp No race car makes engine maintainance easier than Sprint Cars. A good team can change an engine in 15-20 minutes.

305ci motor builds start at $6,000-$10,000. If that sounds pricey, have no fear: 600cc motorcycle-engined, winged Mini Sprints can be bought ready to race for $4K. Weighing only 900 pounds, they average 70 mph around a 1/4-mile oval. They’re a great way to get out on the track.

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COMP \\ TAVO HELLMUND Autoweek: We seem to run into you in Austin rather frequently, but it also seems as though you’re rarely there … Tavo Hellmund: I’ve been spending a lot of time south of the border and a lot of time overseas—and not enough time at home with my kids and my wife!

CALLIE RICHMOND

AW: Much of that travel is related to the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix, something you are a founding partner of; how did it come together and how is everything progressing? TH: You know really, kind of in 2011 [F1 boss] Bernie [Ecclestone] asked me what I thought about the prospects of Mexico, and I told him that my hands were full. But then with the way things started to go with my situation at COTA, I thought there might be an opportunity. [F1 now has] two Mexican drivers, Mexico had a new president coming in, my original partners in COTA being Mexican … it was just all the stars lining up. Where we are right now? We’re on the 2015 F1 calendar, the old pit building has been completely demolished, everything is 100 percent on the time schedule and there will be a Grand Prix on Nov. 1 of next year [the week after the United States Grand Prix].

10 MINUTES WITH TAVO

THE MAN WHO BROUGHT FORMULA ONE BACK TO THE US REVEALS DETAILS ABOUT THE 2015 MEXICAN GRAND PRIX AND WHAT’S NEXT BY MAC MORRISON



TAVO HELLMUND, 48, IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CREATION OF CIRCUIT of the Americas near Austin, Texas, where in 2012 we saw Formula One return to the United States. Despite a falling-out with his COTA investors in which he left the group before the circuit hosted its first race, Hellmund remains a serious player in Grand Prix business. His latest effort: the Mexican Grand Prix’s revival at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. We sat down with him for an update.

AW: How close are you going to cut it in terms of the timeline? TH: It’s an aggressive timeline simply because of kind of similar positions as to where we were with COTA a year out, or 14 months out. The only difference is we had a pit building here, we didn’t have an open field [like in Texas]. We had to knock down the pit building in Mexico; that’s already happened. We will make it but, you know, we might be having to screw in the light bulbs on Thursday before the Grand Prix. AW: You’re using a famous old racetrack. What shape was it in and how much work did/does it need for F1? TH: It’s a pretty significant undertaking. The soil conditions are not good—that must be a theme of mine because that was the case in Austin. Not clay conditions here but a dry lakebed, so the track will be completely resurfaced. Five or six corners, the radii will be changed. [There will be a] brand new pit building, brand new press center, brand new medical center. The entire paddock is going to be new. Grandstands will be added, but the

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COMP \\ TAVO HELLMUND current grandstands will remain, as well. [The track has] zero elevation [change], it’s a long front straightaway, hard-braking zone into turn one and there’s a really interesting section—turns four, five, six, seven—kind of a stadium section, but it’s significantly quicker than than [the] Hockenheim or COTA stadium sections. It’s also got a nice flowing section of corners, the esses, that get progressively quicker. AW: What about … TH: Yeah, we wanted to try to keep the famous Peraltada corner that [Ayrton] Senna flipped on his lid on [in 1991], but we just couldn’t do it. From the businessmodel side, we needed that section— which is through a baseball stadium— for the seats. And quite frankly, we wouldn’t be able to have enough runoff area for the FIA to approve Peraltada [under today’s safety standards] because we can’t make the runoff area bigger, it’s a public street on the other side of the fence. But the circuit will be fairly quick, and it is going to be just a hair under three miles, like 2.8 or 2.9. AW: Who are the investors? Who’s actually paying for this to happen? You’re used to these questions, especially after all the debate surrounding the funding of COTA and its F1 race. TH: It’s really a partnership between CIE (Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento), the third largest entertainment company in the world— they do 1,800 events a year—and the Mexican government. There’s a lot of prominent people who are investors in CIE. (Editor’s note: The Slim family is believed to be among them.) We’ve got a good relationship with the president, Enrique Peña Nieto; he’s a young, dynamic guy that wants to change the perception of the country. AW: What type of investment has this required? TH: One of my partners, I believe he said the investment is, between private and government, somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million. ... The track [cost] will be less than half that. So it’s substantial, but it’s still a number that actually is realistic, and there can be a profit made. AW: What type of event should we be expecting to see?

The Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City is the site for the future Mexican Grand Prix. Tavo Hellmund, founding partner of the event, is touting it as the best on the Formula One calendar. The track and its immediate surroundings are currently undergoing an extensive renovation. Above, the blue represents the old track layout and red the new.

TH: Mexico City’s not Austin. You know that I’m partial to Austin; it’s my hometown, and COTA’s my baby, so you can’t duplicate COTA. It’s one of a kind. But the Mexican Formula One Grand Prix will probably be the best event of the Formula One calendar. I think obviously I’m going to be partial and say Circuit of the Americas is, if not the best racetrack in America, it’s arguably the best racetrack in America. I’ve always felt that a really well-promoted race in Austin would get 150,000 people on race day. For whatever reason, it hasn’t been that, but I’ll be awfully disappointed if we don’t have 130,000 on race day in Mexico and 350,000 for the three days of the weekend. AW: Speaking of COTA, and now Mexico, you’re the only person in the world who, in the span of just a few years, has pulled off two new F1 races. The first shovel went into the ground at

COTA on Dec. 31, 2010, and Mexico will host its first race on Nov. 1, 2015—so just under five years there. Are you now the guru of launching F1 circuits and events? What’s next, the much-talked-about-butnever-happens F1 race in New York? TH: [Laughs] I think like all of us in motor racing, New York is obviously a market anyone would be attracted to. If the NFL could have the Super Bowl in New York every year I think they would do it, right? You know, as I said back in 2010, I think one of the problems with New York is just simply that the market is sort of already served with Montreal, that region. But if Bernie asked me to help him in New York, I certainly would. But what’s in store for me? After the first Mexican Grand Prix, I’m hoping the Late Model that I finish building by then will be ready and I can go have some fun racing myself again. c

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COMP \\ NASCAR Autoweek: People are always talking about the Sprint Cup schedule, which, almost everyone agrees, is grueling. What are your thoughts on squeezing 39 events into 41 weekends? Felix Sabates: I’d eliminate one of the two Dover races and replace it with another road course, maybe in Canada. I’d shorten every 400-mile race to 400 kilometers (249 miles), every 500-mile race to 500 kilometers (311 miles) and the 600-mile race to 600 kilometers (373 miles). I’d have more Saturday night races to give everyone more time with their families. And maybe even run a Thursday night race before the NFL season starts.

HOW TO MAKE NASCAR BETTER TEAM OWNER FELIX SABATES IS NOT A YOUNG MAN, BUT HE HAS A SHARP PERSPECTIVE ON STOCK-CAR RACING BY AL PEARCE



FELIX SABATES WAS IN AN ANTICastro guerrilla force until his father pulled him from a transport truck and sent him, alone, to America. It was June 1960, and the 14-year-old refugee landed in

Miami with little more than the clothes on his back. Significantly, that was perhaps the last time Sabates was in dire straits. During the next 50 years, he became a multimillionaire by relentlessly pursuing one business opportunity after another, often at minimum wage. He went from washing rental cars to selling luxury yachts and high-end cars. He saved and borrowed enough to buy Top Sales Co., which introduced “Pong,” Nintendo and the Teddy Ruxpin talking plush bear to Americans. The now-72-year-old eventually became part-owner of two NBA teams and was involved in pro football, and minor league soccer and hockey. Sabates, however, is best known for his 25 years as a NASCAR team owner, solo from 1989-2000, and with Chip Ganassi since 2001. We spoke with racing’s most outspoken, nobull, straight-shooter about NASCAR’s new Race Team Alliance, sagging attendance and TV ratings, the championship Chase and NASCAR’s crowded schedule.

AW: This year’s Chase has a new format, the most radical of all, featuring elimination races through the season finale. What do you think of it? FS: I love the new Chase format, but I’d make a couple of changes. I’d make it only for the top 15 teams determined by winning races or points rather than 16 teams. I’d reserve the 16th spot for the winner of the Sprint All-Star race [this year, that was Jamie McMurray of Ganassi-Sabates Racing]. If the All-Star winner also qualifies by winning a points race or by points standings after 26 races, then the 16th spot would revert to points. AW: At-track attendance has occasionally been pretty dismal this year. Does that worry you, or is it cyclical: Will things eventually get better? FS: We built way too many seats [in the expansion heyday of the 1990s]. I’d remove seats and make it more exclusive. It’s the old supply-and-demand game: If there’s no urgency to commit to going to a race, the chances are that the undecided will stay home and watch it on TV. If a fan plans ahead to

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AW: TV ratings have been down almost every weekend this year. Do you expect them to eventually rebound? FS: TV is hard to understand. Our ratings have stabilized, and I believe the awareness level is increasing. The new TV package will help as both networks [Fox and NBC] have made big investments. They need to bring coverage to new levels, and it’s very simple. Follow the format of the NFL pregame shows: Make the commentators look professional, act professional and sound professional. Make people watch their shows and they’ll watch the races. Today, with social media and other ways of following a race, it’s not as important to watch the race. You can keep up with a phone or iPad or any tablet. The networks and NASCAR need to figure out

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with the old-timers if we had the money weighted to the top 12 finishers and a big drop from there.

Winless Ricky Stenhouse Jr., right, is a young driver still learning to race with the leaders in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC (2)

go see a race and knows he has to buy tickets in advance, he’ll buy them and then go to the race. About 90 percent of our races have many more fans than any NFL game. For sure, a lot more people go to races than NBA games. People who want to be [at NBA games] are urgent; they become season-ticket holders. With racing, people can wait till 10 minutes before race time for good seats. Take out seats and make it more exclusive, and you’ll see stands full again. I’m a firm believer that we’ve seen the last of the fan erosion. We need the Generation-Y fans who can associate with the younger drivers. But those younger drivers have to learn to run up front. Making races more competitive will also help. We need to put racing back in the hands of the drivers, not the teams. We need good guys and bad guys, but more so we need aggressive drivers who want to win, not just place.

10/27/2014

how to get those who follow the races on a phone to stay home or stop at a sports bar and follow the races live. We need to add sizzle and make the fans want to eat the steaks. Make it fun and exciting racing, not just follow the leader. Race the leader and pass him. … That’ll get fans back in front of the TV. AW: Is competition better today, or was it better in the ’60s, ’70s, into the late ’80s? FS: The old days with Petty, Pearson, [Junior] Johnson, Yarborough, the Allisons and Baker were fun and exciting. Those guys ran to win, but there were only a handful of them who could win on a weekly basis. Today, we have 15 to 20 drivers capable of winning. The thing is, the money just to finish today is so big that many drivers don’t give their best. They’ll go for it if their car is perfect, but they’ll ride around if it’s not. There’s not much difference in money between finishing 10th and 30th. You’d see the same type of racing we saw

I’m a firm believer that we’ve seen the last of the fan erosion. We need the Generation-Y fans who can associate with the younger drivers. But those younger drivers have to learn to run up front.

AW: The new Race Team Alliance made a lot of noise early on but has been pretty quiet lately. Do teams and owners need what many people perceive as a union? FS: I think the press made more of the RTA than it needed to. Nobody wants to fight. The owners want to work with NASCAR and help it clearly understand our needs. This has become a very expensive sport in recent years, and in many cases those [increased] expenses were self-inflicted. There haven’t been many new people coming in as owners the past five years. When you look at the ownership, we have many owners playing in the fourth quarter of their lives. In a couple of instances, some are in the last two minutes of the game and some are even playing into sudden death overtime. [Former owner] Bud Moore used to talk about the over-the-hill gang, and sorry to say, but a lot of us are there. We’re getting old and we need young, dynamic, wealthy men and women who want to become involved as owners. NASCAR and the RTA need to work on how to attract the new breed of people who’ll commit the resources to continue moving forward. It’s our job to make it attractive for everyone. I truly believe [NASCAR chairman and CEO] Brian France is committed to doing so. After all, he’s a France and so is [his sister] Lisa. They’re still playing in the middle of the second quarter. They’re young, and for them, the game has a long way to go. They haven’t even heard the whistle for the two-minute warning of the first half. c

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BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE... PHOTO WITHOUT CAPTION

BEHOLD! THE WOODGATTI

䡲 A team of Indonesian craftsmen has created a

1:1-scale Bugatti Veyron replica out of wood scraps, complete with a fully detailed interior, including a functional steering wheel, pedals and seats. Built for a German customer, it reportedly costs just over $3,300. No snark here, folks—this is impressive stuff.

LEBRON HAS A NEW RIDE ACE OF DARTZ

FROM RUSSIA, WITH BOOBS

䡲 Looking for a safe haven in the

䡲 Sex sells, folks. But it can also

impending zombie apocalypse? Try Latvia. There, you’ll be able to pick up this 1,500-hp Dartz Prombron Black Shark, a Mercedes-Benz GLclass-based SUV that—with its bulletproofing, windows that go opaque and Kevlar/titanium body—looks like it was designed to either drive over or through just about anything.

be dangerous. Some 30 advertising trucks hit the road in Moscow recently, displaying an ad with a giant picture of a woman’s breasts in an attempt to show that mobile ads do, in fact, grab your attention. But these mobile gawk-machines proved to be super-distracting, causing some 517 accidents in just one day.

‘THE WORST CAR ON CRAIGSLIST’

䡲 According to Car

Crushing, you’re looking at "The Worst Car on Craigslist." Oh sure, there have got to be worse out there, but this, um, modified

Mercedes-Benz R-class is indeed rather dreadful. It’s been painted lavender and fitted with matching 32-inch Forgiato wheels (or, dare we say, rims). Inside, no

fewer than six TVs have been added, and the seats have been lined in—what else?—snake skin. The best part? All this elegance can be yours for just $16,000.

䡲 Celebrities and cars go hand in hand—in fact, many are notable collectors of all things automotive. Take pro basketball superstar LeBron James, for example. The man has already owned wares from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche, so it’s only fitting that his next buy would be a Kia K900, right? Highfalutin, indeed. James has already been seen "rolling around in my K900," according to his Twitter profile, and his enthusiasm for the Korean luxury car has caused Kia to sign him on as a spokesman. It’s an interesting move (though not as interesting as his defection from the Cavs to Miami and back to the Cavs again). Hey, at least it’s better than those dancing hamster things.

Editor’s Note: This edition of But Wait, There’s More... provided by Steve Ewing. Ewing, 28, is a senior editor at Autoblog. He started his career as an intern at Automobile Magazine, then worked at Winding Road before joining Autoblog in 2010.

Got a BWTM submission? Mail it to Autoweek, 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207, Attn: BWTM; or email us at [email protected]

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