The 2012 Monterey Motorsports Reunion will certainly be a loud one. The featured marque will be the Shelby Cobra, which will celebrate 50 years of exciting existence. Ahead of next year’s festivities, one man decided to get a taste of on-track action a bit early. That man is Jim Farley, and if his name sounds familiar, that’s because his day job is Group Vice President, Global Marketing, Sales and Service at Ford Motor Company.

A well-liked, well-known car guy, Farley got to push a U.S. Road Racing Championship Cobra around Laguna Seca during California’s recent Monterey Historics weekend. The rare, open-top racer had a few cameras, a lap timer and a g-meter strapped to it, which is good news for the rest of us. The Cobra produces sounds that would make modern race cars shriek in terror, and Farley does a good job of pushing it around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Click past the jump to check it out.

Continue reading Ford marketing VP Farley pushes real Shelby Cobra around Laguna Seca

Ford marketing VP Farley pushes real Shelby Cobra around Laguna Seca originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Autoblog

No related posts.

Sometimes, the key to a good lap time is to drive in such a way as to not lose the hard-fought momentum you’ve already gained. Such is the case when you don’t have a lot of power underhood and you’ve got more road-holding grip than horsepower.

For an excellent demonstration of this technique, we turn to Achim Korden, owner of the so-called Ringmini. This 1971 Mini Clubman Estate is powered by a 1.6-liter Honda four-cylinder engine from a fourth-generation Civic ED7. Suffice it to say, it’s a revver that likes to spin as fast as you’re willing to push it.

Click past the break to see what one Honda-powered Mini Clubman, piloted by a driver who knows his way around the Nurburgring, can do around what appears to be a somewhat slippery and damp track. Pay special attention to how much time the little Mini-that-could spends at top speed.

Continue reading Take a trip around the ‘Ring in a Honda-powered Mini Clubman

Take a trip around the ‘Ring in a Honda-powered Mini Clubman originally appeared on Autoblog 5.0 on Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Autoblog 5.0

No related posts.

No related posts.

msnbc.com: Autos

No related posts.

To clarify, he’s not taking just one fare, but a bunch of fares from all around the world. The purpose is The Extraordinary Taxi Ride, set up by the state of Western Australia’s tourism office to promote what many consider a rather remote region of the world. Out of 460 cabbies who applied for the job, Bunbury, Western Australia taxi driver Doug Slater was the one chosen by the Internet masses, and so he will be trekking fares from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Germany through about 4,000 miles of WA glory.

Although the trip started with a dead battery, things appear to be moving nicely now. You can check out a video of Slater after the jump, or follow the progress at the Extraordinary Taxi Ride site. Good luck to all involved, and good on ya, Doug-o…

Sources: News.com.au, Extraordinary Taxi Ride]

Continue reading Report: cabbie takes fares on a 6,500km taxi ride around Western Australia

Report: cabbie takes fares on a 6,500km taxi ride around Western Australia originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Autoblog

No related posts.