BTCC 2012

British Touring Cars Championship could possibly be the best racing series around, just let me explain. First let's take a quick look at the cars and their technical regulations. BTCC's cars are based on two types of regulations -

WTCC/S2000 spec:
 - based on a production model, normally aspirated 2-liter engine, 6-speed sequential gearbox, no electronic driver aids and a maximum price of €168,000

NGTC (New Generation Touring Car) spec:
- 300+ bhp turbocharged 2-liter engine, slightly wider tyres, maximum price of £125,000 (including engine) ... the rest is basically the same as S2000
- these regulations were specifically made for BTCC

This year there are lots of NGTC cars, in 2011 there was only Frank Wrathall's Toyota Avensis, team Dynojet. You should be getting one of BTCC's big advantages - the variety of cars on the grid is very wide. You can have rear wheel drive, front wheel drive, turbocharged, N/A, hatchback, saloon,... It's basically up to you as long as it meets the regulations. There are literally 11 different cars at the moment, if you've ever heard of DTM (German touring car championship), there are only Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Honda Yuasa Racing Team - Honda Civic

Then there's the atmosphere, all the drivers are very friendly, they take it more as a pastime than a job. There are only 2 manufacturer teams (Honda and MG) and lots of private racing teams racing just for joy. If you take Formula 1, there's really no pleasure for the drivers at all, they are under constant pressure, have to make their sponsors happy at every corner and so on... 

Dynojet - Toyota Avensis

And last but not least - the crashes! Oh yeah, BTCC resembles destruction derby more then often. These guys aren't afraid to hit you in order to get in front of you. But if they do, they don't get punished by the marshalls, it's just a custom here.

Ok, so what's it all about? 23 cars, 7000bhp, lots of crashes, breathtaking maneuvers and a brilliant atmosphere. So tune in next weekend - Donigton Park is gonna smell like rubber! (in case you don't have itv, all the races can be found on youtube, you just have to search)

Official info - http://www.btcc.net

Ready to have some fun?

What's the best recipe for a car that makes you smile? It's very simple - engine in the front, manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive. Seriously, there's nothing better than this, even the mid-engined supercars aren't that much fun. And who would know better than Japanese?

Subaru BRZ concept

Subaru have anounced the BRZ concept - it has everything you need plus some extras like a massive rear spoiler. It will produce around 300bhp and you know it will be brilliant just by looking at it. Jeez, I love it so much. They are planning on getting it into production in the summer, I just hope it won't change a bit from the concept version... actually, they have to put gold alloys on it! Just do it, Subaru, for me, please!!!

Toyota FT-86

Do you remember all the sporty Toyotas? The almighty Supra, Cellica and my favourite Corolla AE86... Well, they have finally decided to build a new sportscar - FT-86. It's very much like the Subaru I mentioned earlier, although it's a bit less powerful (around 200bhp) and lighter. And it will be cheap - 25.000€ is a bargain of the century.

Nissan GT-R 2012

Oh, I almost forget to show you the new Nissan GT-R 2012. This is different kind of fun, it's just out of this world. It has more power than those two coupés combined and more technology on the board than a space shuttle. This year they've tweaked up the engine to produce 550bhp (that's 20 more than last year's model) and reduce the 0-100km/h time from 3 seconds to 2.8! Two point eight seconds... It's actually faster done than said. I'm just worried what the 2013 version will have under the bonnet, I guess it will spin the Earth backwards!

This is SEMA!

Today starts the biggest international tuning show - SEMA in Las Vegas. I'll be reviewing some of the coolest cars you can see there. Before it even started some pics of heavily modified Toyota iQs (basically a shopping cart with some alloys and seats) were posted on the web. Once again the Japanese have proved they are the maddest bunch around, just watch this:

iQ-RS Evasive

Toyota iQ-RS Evasive - nitrous injection, air suspension, racing seats, rollcage, 17" Advan Racing rims and uprated Wilwood brakes. These are the qualities we want from a shopping cart... Or maybe they aren't, but I can't help it, this car is just somehow awesome and I would definitely ride this to my local shopping centre just to see the looks on everyone's faces.

iQ-RX Sibal

   Or if you aren't that much into racing and don't like to waste time getting over the rollcage and fastening yourself into the racing harnesses, you can have a street version of iQ - RX Sibal. It comes with a custom grey metalic paint with a bit of a bronze pearlescent effect, 18" HRE rims (oh my god!). You get the same Nitrous Express powered engine and Air Runner suspension as the RS.

iQ-MR Tatso

Not enough? Here you go - the most radical modification of iQ by Tatso - the iQ-MR. A mid-engined rear-wheel drive piece of motoring excellence, you get a pure striped-out racer with 16" Axis wheels. And you know there will be a day when this car pulls out next to you at the lights and embarasses the sh*t out of you. Well done, Japan, you've done it again!

Nürburgring record

Earlier this year Peugeot set a new electric car record around the Nürburgring. 9m 1.338s was almost a minute faster than previous record holder, Peugeot used their high-performance EX1 Concept electric car, a 340bhp all wheel drive beast. But the 'Ring demands some serious competition and to hold a lap record there is very prestigious.

 

Peugeot EX1 Concept

It didn't take long to beat that record again - by Toyota. About a week ago they let their own high-performance electric car TMG EV P001 (this really sounds like a kitchen appliance) lap the 'Ring and it did it in 7m 47.794s! This Radical-based 375bhp racer wiped the previous record so hard Peugeot's executives shed a tear...

Toyota TMG EV P001

To put this time in perspective, let me show you some other cars that lapped the 'Ring in 7m 47s - Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Lamborghini Murcielago LP-640 and Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano. And here are some other amazing lap times:

• production vehicles - Radical SR8 LM - 6m 48s
• non-series vehicles - Pagani Zonda R - 6m 47.5s (fastest road-legal car)

And the absolute record holder Porsche 956 at 6m 11.13s driven by Stefan Bellof in 1983. I will definitely come back to this legendary car later, it deserves it!

BMW recalls 120k cars

Have you worked hard and finally decided to buy a decent car? Yes! So you pay a visit tou your local car dealership and for some unknown reasons it's a BMW dealership. But which one should I buy? There are so many models... You finally decide to go for a 5 series and because the petrol prices went through the roof recently you buy a diesel one. What a smart choice... or is it? One day a telephone wakes you up in the morning and it's a BMW employee histerically screaming your car is dangerous and in some rare cases it can even burn you to death. Oh hell no, I should have bought an Audi or a Mercedes instead, runs through your mind. Yes, you really should have... But that's not the point.

   It seems lately the car manufacturers really mess up. BMW now recalls 120k cars because of a fuel filter malfunction and it's not just the 5 series, it's actually 1, 5, 7, X3, X5 and X6! You think this is the only case?

• GM recalled 1.5 million cars because of a screenwasher malfunction (fire possible)
• GM recalled 250k cars because the seat belts weren't working properly (death possible)
• GM recalled 100k Cadillac CTS's, the airbag didn't work (death possible) ...Jeez, GM, do something about it! 
• Toyota recalled 100k Priuses (every single car of the first generation) - steering and transmission issue

   And the big one: Toyota recalled 14 million!! cars over the last two years, no biggie, just the gas pedal jammed flatout from time to time. This could lead to some serious performance! Or, you know, a nearby tree.

  I mean how could this even happen? Apparently they just don't test the cars properly to discover some serious issues. Shame on you! And you would think that Toyota's and BMW's build quality and reliability were bulletproof.