2012 Ford Focus Electric

“Ford research shows the majority of Americans would consider buying an electrified vehicle but do not yet understand the different technologies,” said Mark Fields, president of The Americas. “Highlighting the Focus Electric as a pace car is a fun way to educate consumers about the kinds of benefits our electrified vehicles deliver and show people our commitment to provide Ford customers the power of choice for leading fuel economy in the vehicle that best meets their needs – from EcoBoost-powered gasoline vehicles and hybrids to plug-in hybrids and full electrics.”

“Our fans are customers,” said Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing. “And just like in racing, they expect both fuel economy and performance from their daily drivers, and that’s what Ford is delivering.”

The all-new Fusion range, which includes EcoBoost, a hybrid and the Energi plug-in hybrid version, is the best example of how Ford is giving customers true power of choice for fuel-efficient vehicles.

This year, Ford will offer nine vehicles reaching an anticipated 40 mpg or more. Plus, the company is building six new electrified vehicles by the end of this year.

Ford will offer fuel-efficient EcoBoost engines in 11 vehicles in 2012, up from seven in 2011, tripling the production capacity of EcoBoost-equipped Ford vehicles. This expansion of fuel-efficient offerings will be led by the 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine in the high-volume Escape compact utility vehicle and Fusion sedan.

Delivering up to 20 percent better fuel economy than conventional engines, EcoBoost uses smaller overall size combined with turbocharging and gasoline direct injection to bring customers the power they want and the fuel economy they need.

Ford was also first to use a hybrid to start a NASCAR event when the Fusion Hybrid served as pace car for the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2008 making this yet another groundbreaking marketing campaign for Ford and NASCAR.

Update: New Images of the 2012 Ford Focus Electric Pace Car

Ford Focus Electric

[source: Ford]

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2013 IZOD Indy Car Racing

Check out Don Armstrong’s post on In Wheel Time for more info on the return of Indy Car Racing to Houston.

Published March 29, 2012 | By Don Armstrong
IZOD IndyCar Series to race in Houston in 2013

The announcement March 28 confirmed an IZOD IndyCar Series race weekend that INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard and Mi-Jack Promotions principal Mike Lanigan had sought for more than a year. The Oct. 4-6 event will be known as the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston… read more »

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There hasn’t been a street race in Fair Park, Dallas, since 1984. March 17th will be the first race, raced on the legendary track in 28 years. This isn’t a F1 race, or an Indy race; this will be a Karting race.

We will be there checking out all the excitement so be sure to Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter for up-to-date information! If you end up going yourself, which we encourage you to, be sure to hit us up!

For more information and to purchase tickets online go HERE!

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Texas Motor Speedway - Dirt Track Racing

FORT WORTH, Texas (Feb. 29, 2012) – The Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track will host the esteemed Port-A-Cool® Texas World Dirt Track Championship this weekend, featuring some of the elite in O’Reilly Auto Parts SUPR Late Model, Modified and Limited Modified racing.

The Port-A-Cool® Texas World Dirt Track Championship is the first of two dirt racing events held annually at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track, a .4-mile, clay-surfaced track known to produce some of the most competitive dirt track racing in the nation. The renowned event begins Friday with a field highlighted by more than 20 Dallas/Fort Worth-area residents including Midlothian’s Troy Taylor, a three-time champion at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track.

Defending IMCA Modified champion Dean Abbey, a Haslet native and 20-year-olddirt racer on the rise, will be among the many lining up against Taylor this weekend in the Limited Modified division. Abbey started his racing career with go karts at the age of seven and later entered the Bandolero Bandits division in Texas Motor Speedway’s Lone Star Legends series. He raced his way through the Legends ranks all the way to the Pro division, picking up state and national titles along the way.

Abbey now has a state, regional and national modified championship on his racing resume and looks to add a Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track win Saturday night. With a win in the Southern SportMods feature Saturday at Abilene Speedway, he has the momentum to do so.

“A win at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track would be a big deal,” Abbey said. “It’s such a big event and you’re going up against the best of the best with guys like Shane Hebert, Steve Whiteaker and Troy Taylor. Just to say you’ve won at Texas Motor Speedway is a big thing, but to outrun those guys would be a huge accomplishment for me.”

Abbey has six starts at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track with a best finish of fourth at the 2011 Port-A-Cool® U.S. National Dirt Track Championship in September.

On-track action for the Port-A-Cool® U.S. National Dirt Track Championship will begin Thursday with practice for all three divisions beginning at 6 p.m. CT. Practice is closed to the public. Heats for all three classes will run Friday, beginning at 5 p.m., and the championships will be decided Saturday with racing beginning at 6 p.m.

Grandstand tickets are $10 on Friday and $15 on Saturday, but fans can take advantage of a special offer at more than 200 O’Reilly Auto Parts stores regionally. Fans purchasing event tickets at O’Reilly Auto Parts will receive $5 off either night and also will have the opportunity to purchase $5 children’s tickets (12 and under). Event parking is free on Friday and Saturday. Fans and competitors can visit www.texasmotorspeedway.com or call (817) 215-8500 for additional information on the Port-A-Cool® Texas World Dirt Track Championship.

[source :TMS Media Relations]

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GAINSCO 2012 Corvette Daytona Prototype

Texas based GAINSCO has been testing it’s new 2012 Corvette Daytona Prototype racecar for the coming Grand-Am series.

Check out their photos and page on facebook!

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Have you always wanted to join in those fantastic cross country car rallies but never had the money or time to make it happen? We might just have the event for you, and it’s right here in Texas.

The Border Run Rally will be a 500 mile, one day journey down amazing Texas roads toward an unknown destinations and unknown adventures. The best part is that the entry fee is only $50. That takes care of the time and money constraints for most people.

This rally sounds like it will be a lot of fun and we’re hoping to hear back from some attendees on how it goes. If you are interested in running the rally act quickly and check them out at BorderRunRally.com.

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3. 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Review

2011 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart by txGarage

The Mitsubishi Lancer has been around for a while now, and even though it didn’t start out being sold in the American market, it has always been the platform for Mitsubishi’s halo car; the Evolution. When I was in high school, I had a friend who owned a Mitsubishi Mirage, yeah remember those, that had a body kit to look like the Japanese only Evo. My first experience seeing a true Evo was also in high school. I knew this one was the real deal mostly because it was right-hand drive. Needless to say, even though we didn’t get the Evo in America, it was still a very popular car. So popular that Mitsubishi finally decided to bring the Lancer and the Evo to the United States in 2003. This was the eighth generation of the Evo, so you see that Mitsubishi took it’s time.

Ralliart was the high-performance and motorsports division of Mitsubishi. The Ralliart division was responsible for the company’s rally racing programs and also built high performance cars for the public market. It was Ralliart dealers across the world that started importing the Evolution into markets other than Japan. So, obviously, anything with a Ralliart badge on it is going to be great, right?

Not so fast, the first Ralliart Lancers to hit American streets were no more than a regular Lancer with some wheels and Ralliart badges. If you wanted the halo performance car, you still had to splurge for the Evo. Just like any other car, the Evo had gotten bigger, faster, more technologically advanced, and more expensive. Mitsubishi itself started seeing the gap between the Evo and the Lancer growing and needed something to fill it. In come the 2011 Ralliart.

This is no normal Lancer with some fancy wheels and badges. This is a detuned version of the Evo with a 237 hp 2.0 liter turbocharged engine and all-wheel-drive. The Ralliart is a fun car that gives you some of the Evo fun for less money.

So the real question is how did it handle in our Texas torture testing?

2011 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart by txGarage

Let’s start with the interior. The Lancer isn’t known for its great interior quality. As a matter of fact, the base Lancer’s interior is pretty poor when compared to others in its segment. This Ralliart had a nice interior. We had bolstered seats with nice quality leather, a leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter, and nice leather touch-points around the cabin. The dash and center stack were minimalist at best. No navigation system and not a ton of buttons to distract you. The most important buttons lay near the shifter. One was the traction button to let the electronics controlling the awd systems know what kind of conditions you are facing. Your options are tarmac, gravel, or snow. The other button to take note of is your shifting pattern. The Ralliart comes with a SST (Sport- or Sportronic Shift Transmission) and this button allows you to switch from normal shifts to sporty shifting. Most of the time, we would prefer a manual transmission over an automatic, but when you put this SST into Sport Mode and shift with the paddle shifters attached to the steering column, this car moves! One great aspect about the paddle shifters is that they are big and made of medal. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven a sporty car with paddle shifters and wished they were as nice as these.

So knowing the most important parts of the interior have to do with traction and shifting, let’s see just how well this thing goes. As I mentioned before, this is a detuned Evo engine, but this car doesn’t like to be driven slow. It actually seems to taunt you into driving fast and aggressive. Every time you let off the gas as you’re cruising down the road, the nose seems to dip as if to give the feeling that it’s restraining all the power. As soon as you mash that gas pedal down, it seems to rear back and shoot like a rocket and finally feels as if the car is happy to be on the move. Mix in the paddle shifters and some loose gravel and this car really comes alive. Luckily we have plenty of dirt and gravel roads around Texas to really put the Ralliart in its natural environment. If you are looking for a quite, smooth ride though, this might not be the car for you.

So it’s time to run out and buy one, right? A cheaper version of the Evo that’s still fun to drive and works well when traction isn’t there, what’s not to want? Well when we say cheaper, we’re talking a little over $32k specked out as ours was. That’s not too bad when shopping for performance cars nowadays, but you also have to factor in fuel economy. The Ralliart did okay on the highway where we were able to push it up around 22mpg, but on the city streets you were lucky to keep it above 14mpg. Take in the fact that this car entices you to drive like a 12 year old playing Gran Turismo and you’re looking more at the 12mpg range. For some, the fun factor will outweigh the fuel cost. If you can justify having the space granted by the hatchback Ralliart, the traction abilities, and the fun factor over the fuel cost, then you’ll have one great ride!

Check out the full Photo Album on our Facebook page.

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We were surprised to say the least when Hyundai debuted the Veloster with its 3 door configuration and sport looks. Shortly after showing the Veloster, Hyundai gave us a peak of whats to come with the Veloster Rally car. 
It’s been only a little over a month since this car was on stage at the Chicago Auto show, but now has already made it’s competition debut at the Global Rally Championship this past week.

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Austin F1 Track Layout

Updated info on Austin F1 by our friends at Motor Talk:

Well…it’s officially official now, as they have finally broke ground on the U.S. Grand Prix racetrack.  Some of the news we get from this video, is to expect a race sometime in June of 2012.  Here is the video from the Austin American-Statesman… more…

and even more from our good friends at Austin Grand Prix:

On Friday, November 13, I hopped on yet another friendly Southwest Air flight from Chicago to Austin, but first made a few stops in Kansas City and Dallas.  This time the stops were welcomed because they allowed me to change seats (while waiting on new passengers to board the plane) and grill my Pilot on how we would be flying into Austin… more…

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Hennessey Venom GT

Our buddies at Hennessy announced a few years ago that they would be building a supercar of their own. Going from a tuning shop to producing your own supercar doesn’t happen overnight and now almost two years after their announcement they are telling us the car will be debuting at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2010.

If you have been following the Venom GT you know it was supposed to be powered by the Viper V10, as Hennessey has a good relation with the Viper brand. We also heard that it would be weighing in at 2700 lbs with a 1,000 horsepower ratting. Now we are hearing a little different, but better, story. Hennessey is now saying that the Venom GT will be powered by a “Hennessey V8” the weight is down to 2400 lbs and horsepower is up to 1,200 bhp. This spectacular looking mid-engine supercar will be able to deliver the goods, but will it make a real splash within the supercar world? That we’ll just have to wait and see…

Let us know what you think!

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