Bfgoodrich Enters The WorldrallychampionshipAlready a known name in the time attack and off-road racing circles, Michelin subsidiary BFGoodrich Tires is setting its sights on the World Rally Championship (WRC). Featuring turbocharged 2.0L four-wheel-drive monsters that make over 300hp and blast through forests at triple digit speeds, the WRC is the logical next step for BFGoodrich after the Paris-Dakar Rally and the Baja 1000. Running BFGoodrich tires for the 2006 season include Kronos Racing, BP Ford, OMV Peugeot Norway, Stobart VK M-Sport Ford and Red Bull Soda. Two-time WRC champions Sebastien Loeb and Marcus Gronholm can be seen jumping their respective Citroen Xsara and Ford Focus RS on BFGoodrich rubber, just a few names off of a long list of talent BFG is attached to. Thanks to the Playstation generation and the growth of WRC awareness in the US, BFG can only hope to gain in its rally endeavor. We're hoping that some BFGoodrich rally slicks are going to make it to the US market, and did anybody say WRC car giveaway?
Hondaracingf1'sfirst BattleAs the team formerly known as B.A.R. Honda, Honda Racing F1's first season under full Honda ownership began under the blaring sun of the Bahrain desert. Finally grasping complete ownership of the Formula One outfit, Honda has thrown its weight into the ring against such other manufacturers such as Toyota, Renault, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, and BMW. The newly-developed 2006 Honda F1 car packs a 700hp V8 that does over 19,000 rpm, a full carbon fiber body, advanced aerodynamics, and a seven-speed sequential transmission. Packed with more exotica than the space shuttle and your ride combined, a F1 car is the pinnacle of automotive technology. Showing some early promise, Honda F1 driver Jenson Button finished in fourth-place through the dusty conditions. Honda is sure to show heavy interest in development of the car and is expecting good results for the millions of dollars that they're spending. Plus, taking down Japanese rival Toyota in the F1 circuit couldn't hurt their corporate moral. If the season goes well, will we see a more powerful, reinvigorated NSX? We certainly hope so.
Sparcousa Opens Its Doors And Lowers Its PricesSparco, a company whose aftermarket safety equipment is immediately familiar to all our readers, opened its doors on March 11, 2006, for a semi-annual clearance sale. Digging through the back of their storage warehouse, Sparco USA cleared out their 2005 stock of damaged and discontinued items with discounts of up to 60 percent off. Nearly $400,000 in merchandise was up for grabs, which included gloves, bags, hats, racing suits and a sea of racing seats. The sale was scheduled to run from 10AM to 3PM at Sparco's Irvine, California, facility, but eager buyers began showing up at the crack of dawn in order to camp out, hoping to be the first one to pick through the offerings. With the line for the sale stretching around the building and down the block, it was just another example of the early bird catching the Alcantara-covered worm. In addition to the sale, Sparco offered a free lunch to the first 300 entrants courtesy of IN-N-OUT Burger. To all our Midwest and East Coast readers, we say sorry. With locations in California, Nevada, and Arizona only, all of our non-West Coast readers will be plenty pissed to know that they missed out on both a massive sale by Sparco and a chance to taste some of the finest burgers to grace the United States. There's always next year.
Munizvs.Shatnertoyota Pro/Celebrity RacePushing the boundary of what is considered either pro or celebrity, the 30th annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race is set to return to the streets of Long Beach, California. Having already run by the time that you hold this magazine in your hands, the Pro/Celebrity Race is one of the more devilishly interesting support races that runs in conjunction with the Long Beach Grand Prix. Stranger than the Champ Car, World Challenge, Formula Drift, and Grand-Am races set to take place, the Pro/Celebrity Race stands on a whole different plane of existence.
Facing off such celebrities as William Shatner and Antonio Sabato Jr. (of The BigHit and Earth 2 fame) against such pro drivers as Todd Bodine and returning celebrity champion in the middle Frankie Muniz. The Pro/Celebrity Race reached new heights during the 2001 race when Donny Osmond flipped his Celica right on to its roof. Now using near stock Scion tC's, beefed up only for safety, the race is all for charity and is one of the most entertaining events that you'll catch on TV, aside from Deathrace 2000 that is.