DrivingEnthusiast.net Prior Blog Posts by Date DRIVING: that's what it's ALL ABOUT! A blog and website for automotive driving enthusiasts, featuring my interests as I see them: news and opinion about manufacturers of interest, significant enthusiast cars, and driving them hard and well. May 2006 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31       Apr   Jun Use this calendar to navigate thru prior posts by date.     Saturday, May 27, 2006    State of Ohio Promoting Motorsports   I came across an unusual ad tonight while reading about Ferrari's disaster at Monaco this morning. An ad running on a USA Today webpage invited me to Ohio for a motorsports getaway. Since so many of my earliest motorsports adventures were in Ohio (Nelson Ledges), this sounded interesting. See the ad presented by the Sate of Ohio here: http://www.discoverohio.com/racing_06/main.asp Nice site... but Nelson Ledges is nowhere to be found! What kind of a car enthusiast wouldn't know about Nelson Ledges? View and add Comments: Comments: Trackback: Trackback Link [] See similar posts in these categories: My Automobilia Search for similar posts on the web: Google It!  Top Gear & Jeremy Clarkson test the 2006 Z06   No introduction is necessary.  See the video of Top Gear here: http://media.putfile.com/Z06-90 View and add Comments: Comments: Trackback: Trackback Link [] See similar posts in these categories: GM | GM - Corvette | Media: Top Gear & Jeremy Clarkson Search for similar posts on the web: Google It!  Archives: my 1970 Mercury Cougar XR-7 college ride   Previous entries in my Archives series have shown various autocross and track events from the earliest days of my car hobby. Now I'll take a step a little further back and show my second college car: a 1970 Mercury Cougar XR-7. Yes, that's me - wearing the T-shirt AutoWeek used to hand out with subscriptions 'way back then (AutoWeek enthusiasts will remember those, along with the large newspaper-print format). The big Cougar replaced a '67 Mustang, which had very literally given it's all to my early college days. The Cougar was an XR-7 model, with leather and cloth interior (houndstooth cloth, very sharp), power everything, a vinyl top (the only one I've owned), and a 351 and automatic. I was the second owner, having bought the car from a nearby Corvette enthusiast who used the Cougar for daily driving. The Cougar didn't handle at all, but it was a comfortable ride in it's time. It served me very well until I was ready for my first brand-new car. It did have some rust on it, of course (being a Ford), but not anywher enear as much as the '67 did. When I traded in the car, it was going to be used as a college car for the son of a local car dealer owner. It was in great shape, and I beleive it only had about 50k miles on it. I wish I had the Cougar now - it'd be a good show car and there are very few around. I also understand the attraction of the Cougar, and would like to see Ford offer one on a modernized version of the S197 chassis. I used the Cougar for a few TSD rallies, but my hobby really took off when I purchased a '79 Mustang Cobra the following year - doing even more TSD rallies but also starting a huge run of autocross and open track events that would initially last for 6 unbroken years. Since I was then stuck up north in the "rustbelt", half the year was of course shut down. But the other half of the year was absolutley consumed in autocross and track events every single weekend from the beginning of April until the end of October. "Those were the days".   Anybody out there still have one of these original AutoWeek shirts, or did have one originally? View and add Comments: Comments: Trackback: Trackback Link [] See similar posts in these categories: My Automobilia | Mercury | Mercury - Cougar Search for similar posts on the web: Google It!  Pride of ownership - engine compartments   As I was writing my new Miata "tour" section, I came across a couple of pictures of interest. Following are engine compartment pictures of three current sports cars: S2000, Solstice, and Miata. The visual differences are very apparent: which car has the engine compartment you'd want to show your friends? The S2000 (of course): By contrast, the Solstice engine is covered by a large peice of plastic - you can't see it at all (note that the air intake is aftermarket, otherwise it'd be a dull black hose). And the Miata engine is also covered. The engine compartment itself is a mess of hoses, covers, and plastic. Of course, the most important element is the driving dynamics - not appearances. And the S2000 wins hands-down there again. But when you are done with the driving, and people wonder what kind of engine you have, it's a pleasure to show it off. Sports car fanatics want to examine engines in detail - compare and contrast parts, look for differences, imagine ease of modification. Only the S2000 engine compartment is inherently designed to that purpose. View and add Comments: Comments: Trackback: Trackback Link [] See similar posts in these categories: Mazda | Mazda - Miata | Honda - S2000 | GM - Solstice & Sky Search for similar posts on the web: Google It!  New: MX-5 Miata high-detail cutaway images   New on my site: 55 high-detail images of a cutaway 2006 MX-5 Miata - showing the suspension, engine, and drivetrain in great detail. Reference link: http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-mazda/products/mx5-miata/   (note: this is the new updated link) Sample images follow: View and add Comments: Comments: Trackback: Trackback Link [] See similar posts in these categories: Mazda | Mazda - Miata Search for similar posts on the web: Google It!