Jay Leno has a special place in his heart for steam power. The comedian has a collection of vintage vehicles that have more in common with a classic train than a modern car, and of those, his 1906 Stanley Steamer seems to be one of his favorites.

In 2007, the Stanley suffered a bit of a catastrophic failure, and Leno and his team of steam mechanics have been working to get the vehicle back into ship shape ever since. Of course, in Leno’s vocabulary, “ship shape” means better than ever. The Stanley now wears hydraulic drum brakes from a Jaguar XK120 instead of the manual drums found on the original Steamer.

The crew also worked in a set of electric fuel pumps and replaced the acetylene headlights and oil tail lamps with electric versions. The team also managed to bump up the horsepower. The Steamer originally cruised along with a 23-inch boiler, but Leno had a new 30-inch boiler made and installed. It took his shop 26 tries to design boiler baffles that could accurately and evenly spread heat across the full surface, but now Leno has the equivalent of a hot rod Steamer. Pure awesomeness. Hit the jump to check out the lengthy video for yourself.

Continue reading Jay Leno upgrades his 1906 Stanley Steamer Vanderbilt Cup Racer

Jay Leno upgrades his 1906 Stanley Steamer Vanderbilt Cup Racer originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota tucked its Yaris B-Spec Club Racer amongst a flotilla of pickups at SEMA 2011. The slammed hatch is set to compete in the SCCA B-Spec class with BMX guru Jamie Bestwick behind the wheel. The race-ready Yaris was built by SportsCar Magazine and features a stripped-out interior and an Autopower Industries eight-point SCCA roll cage for less weight and greater driver safety. OMP supplied the complete fire suppression system as well as a six-point racing harness and a WRC-style steering wheel.

A Cusco Zero-3 suspension gives the hatch greater grip and Cusco center-lock pillow ball upper mounts provide greater rigidity and less suspension flex than the stock components. Enkei 15-inch wheels shod in Hoosier racing tires help keep the car stuck to the tarmac as well.

SportsCar Magazine gave the Yaris B-Spec Club Racer a little nudge in power as well thanks to an AEM series 2 engine management system, a Beta Motorsports cat-back exhaust and a custom tune by Church automotive testing.

Toyota Yaris B-Spec Club Racer originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The man pictured above is Phil Ward. He is a former pro Touring Car driver who was inspired by the American Legends and started the Aussie Racing Cars series. These are scaled-down imitations of popular racecars found in the V8 Supercars series, powered by turbocharged 1.2-liter twin-cam Yamaha motors. That mill is paired with a sequential manual transmission, and the entire concept seems like it would equal about as much fun as you can have with 125 horsepower.

But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. Before the start of a recent race in Queensland, Ward apparently wasn’t happy with the track conditions. Rather than sit and wait for officials to do something about it, Ward ran his Aussie Racing Car to the front of the grid, hopped out and told officials to delay the start. We guess if you own the series, you can do things like that.

Still, the delayed start nearly caused serious issues for those drivers finishing their warm-up laps. Click past the jump to see Ward delay the race, and the resulting (almost) carnage. Also, pay close attention towards the end of the video to get an idea of the scale of cars being raced. Either they are that tiny, or the Porsche Panamera pace car is enormous. (Okay, so maybe it’s a bit of both…)

Continue reading Aussie racer objects to track conditions by… taking over?

Aussie racer objects to track conditions by… taking over? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters is heading to Munich next month, racing right in BMW’s backyard at the stadium built for the ill-fated 1972 Olympic Games. And when it does, the Bavarian automaker will take the occasion to unveil a preview of what we can expect from its new DTM racer.

BMW has been working on its return to the German touring car series since announcing its plans last year. Probably even earlier. That’s set to take place next year, with BMW joining arch-rivals Mercedes-Benz and Audi for the first time in 18 years.

The car will be based on the M3, just like the BMW DTM cars from the 1980s which will be displayed alongside the concept at BMW Welt following the unveiling at the Olympic stadium. We’ll have to wait until July 15 to see exactly how it shapes up, but given the company it will be keeping, we can expect a lot of little winglets. Follow the jump for the press release.

Continue reading BMW to unveil concept DTM racer in Munich next month

BMW to unveil concept DTM racer in Munich next month originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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