In a secure car storage space in New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, it’s dark and mostly silent. There’s a shuffle of feet, an arc of light gently working its way through the darkness, and the click of a camera shutter. The camera’s screen glows with the result of a 10-second exposure. A quick assessment of the image, then the process repeats, again and again. This is automotive light painting.
Hissing, whooshing, and burbling, the Kimera EV037 announced its approach before I could see it climbing toward me on the roof of the garage. Looking down through the parking structure, I saw flashes of blue as the car shot up each ramp. Squealing tires on the last switchback, the car lunged fully into view. Yellow rally lights on the front end looked vintage – that is, until it got closer.
Photography for a story by Brian Silvestro on RoadandTrack.com
t was only after we entered the stream and started to sink that it occurred to me: We probably should have tested the depth first. As the car inched forward, water sloshed just below the window frame, and the exhaust sounded like it was gargling. Halfway across, I had some serious doubts about whether we were going to make it. The lifted 1986 Porsche 944 Safari tribute on knobby tires struggled to find grip, and for a moment I thought we were floating.
Strapped in securely with a five-point harness, I barreled up Angeles Crest Highway in the world’s most unlikely Volvo. Traffic cleared ahead and my right foot dropped to the floor. The revs climbed along with a cacophony of whooshes and whines as we surged ahead, right until I grabbed fourth and looked over at my passenger, Mathias Evensson from Cyan Racing, to let out a few four-letter words.
Evensson just laughed and asked why I shifted early. I was trying to be nice to the car, I told him. “Don’t be nice,” he responded. Yes sir. Foot to the floor again and off we went, on what I can safely say was the wildest restomod driving experiences money can buy.
The Mercedes-Benz C-Class has been around since 1993, or in layman terms, forever. It has always been a solid leg of the German mid-size sport sedan triumvirate, along with the BMW 3 Series and the Audi A4. But Mercedes-Benz is usually a step ahead in tech and safety features, and this new C-Class is no exception. The 2022 C300 4MATIC follows the thread, with an extra helping of S-Class sauce to spruce it up.
The trickle-down effect is one of the best parts of the automotive industry. The latest fifth-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class—known internally as the W206 generation—is an amalgamation of great features gleaned from previous great cars, all trickling down into one quite capable pool. It’s an all-new platform with technology and engineering borrowed from higher-spec models—and with a full exterior redesign and a multitude of technology upgrades—the new C is poised to be a qualified contender against its other German competitors. Based on a rear-wheel-drive platform, the new C boasts a 48-volt mild-hybrid system that helps improve gas mileage, along with providing an extra 20 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque at lower rpm for a short period.
Formula Drift descended on Long Beach, California, last weekend for the first event of the 2022 season. And it’s a special kind of racing series. It’s loud, it’s smoky, it’s wildly entertaining to watch, and it’s not even remotely about the fastest time. It’s about technique, style, and fun. And from the passenger seat of one of the drift cars, I cannot stress that last one enough.
The Formula Drift series isn’t like other events, where all the cars are tightly homologated versions made to look loosely like the road car they’re based on. In most cases, Formula Drift cars start as a shell. Then they are built out or fabricated to handle the power and—of course—to go as sideways as possible.
In the winter of 2002 I was thirteen years old. The world seemed like a dire place in the wake of 9/11, no one was flying and terrorism panic reached far and wide. I asked my dad if we could drive across the country that summer, and amazingly he agreed, eventually. What started as a whim turned into a two-month, 11,000-mile road trip across America and back.
Read part 3 from my 7,000 road trip from CA to NY and back on TheDrive.com
When my family moved from the United Kingdom to New Jersey in 1993, our new car was a dark green Volvo 850 wagon. This car would be the one to deliver my sister and me to all manner of playdates, sports games, school dances, and even an occasional house party. This would be the car I decided to liberate from the driveway as an unlicensed 15-year-old delinquent, only to be caught by my parents as they walked home through the neighborhood. This would be the car my sister rear-ended someone in after her first time taking the SATs; she blamed it on being focused on the test. Sure.
Night five on the road, somewhere outside Topeka, Kansas. That’s where reality seemed to hit. We had covered some 1,500 miles at this point, about halfway across the country, but the driving wasn’t the hard part. The hard part was at night in some roadside motel, when the headlines can’t seem to stay out of your thoughts. The place we came from was tightening virus restrictions and banning outdoor dining; the place where we were headed required a quarantine. In either direction, it seemed there was bad news.
Photos and interview for a series of posts on Type7:
Photos and interview for a series of posts on Type7:
Photos and words in a series of posts on Type7:
Photos and words in a series of posts on Type7:
Photography for a story by Chris Perkins on RoadandTrack.com
Photos and words in a series of posts on Type7:
Honda just unveiled the 2022 Civic Prototype, a preview of a totally new design aimed at hooking younger buyers. We got a close look at the redesign, and spoke to Honda representatives about the automaker’s goals and inspirations for the eleventh-gen Civic.
The current, tenth-generation Civic is the second-best selling car in America, behind only the Toyota Camry. Honda touts the outgoing Civic’s popularity with Millennials and Gen Z, specifically citing the angular design as one of the car’s top selling points. Young buyers prefer the Civic’s unique styling over the competition, Honda spokesperson Carl Pulley told Road & Track.
Photography for a post on Jalopnik.com written by Andrew Collins
Early on a cool California morning, at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, I meet Julian Carmona and his 2001 Isuzu VehiCross. Some low clouds burn off just as we ease into the San Gabriel Canyon Off-Highway-Vehicle Area.
We pay the $8 fee to get dirty. The only way to enter the expansive sandy wash is a stream crossing—to Julian and his VehiCross, it’s barely a warmup. We trundle deeper into the canyon, the 3.5-liter V6 purring along while Julian gets into his history with this oddball platform that demands dirt and double-takes in equal measure.