Test Drive: 2013 BMW M5

Back in 1988, the first-generation BMW M5 wowed driving enthusiasts with a six-cylinder engine producing 256hp and 243 lb-ft of torque - capable of reaching 60mph in 6.7 seconds, which was pretty damn quick for the time. Fast forward 25 years to 2013, and the latest fifth generation M5 is continuing to fulfill its original role as a four-door sedan with supercar performance, though it’s now going about it in a different way. The 2013 M5 is more than just another model generation with a new body and interior, it’s also the first M5 to use a turbocharged V8 after years of using normally aspirated inline-six, V8 and V10 engines.

It’s a safe bet that the BMW engineers that worked on the original M5 back in the 1980’s are surprised that today’s M5 makes as much power as it does, yet is so efficient. Thanks to technology like turbocharging, direct injection and variable valve timing, the 2013 M5’s 4.4-liter V8 makes an incredible 560hp and 500 lb-ft of torque, well over twice what the original M5’s inline-six produced. What may be just as impressive as those power figures is that the 2013 M5 is a lot faster than the original M5 while getting better fuel economy, even though it weighs almost 1,000 pounds more.

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"Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!”

Sebring, Fla. – This year’s Mobil 1 Sebring 12 Hours brought with it two major dramatic themes. Both involve the closing of an age.

For nearly as long as the American Le Mans Series has run, one of its biggest attractions has been the super high-tech presence of Audi’s LMP team. Their drivers have always been among the world’s finest, often with Formula 1 pedigree (indeed, the years-old joke on the paddock is that F1 is the “feeder series” for Le Mans sports cars), nearly as diversified as the UN, or at least Angelina Jolie’s nursery.

Thus, with the FIA World Endurance Championship continuing to play to the more sterile but market-friendly circuits (its only US date for 2013 being COTA in Texas), and with the LMP1 class departing from the series after this year, the Audi team returned for a Swan Song run – a thank you and farewell to the fans and the series, and as always a tune-up for Le Mans 24. What’s remarkable about Audi’s run last Saturday was not that they won, but how they continue to make it look so easy. It isn’t. Just completing 12 Hours at Sebring is a conquest of its own; winning it, and winning so convincingly for so long, leaves Audi with an overall streak to rival the greatest ever.

Then, there’s the story of the Series itself.

“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!” 

The words of Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters may have been intended as a joke, but no less hyperbole has been spent in recent months on next year’s integration of the American Le Mans Series and Grand Am into one combined program.

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The Way Things Were.

View Gallery Daytona Beach. For those of us who live, eat, and breathe sports car racing (or for those who just follow it on a casual basis), 2013 is the last year of The Way Things Were. Over the past 14 years, the split between the Grand Am Rolex Series and American Le Mans Series has forced divisions between teams, manufacturers, sponsors, circuits, media, and fans. Every one of those variables means millions of dollars.

This went on much the same way that the Indy Racing League and Champ Car steadfastly remained in their own walled gardens, until. Until it was too late. Until nobody else cared anymore. Until the rest of the racing world – and even the IRL’s media darling, Danica Patrick – had moved on.

So, while the two sets of racing series spent years with each pretending the other didn’t exist, NASCAR kept cashing all the checks. More than five years later, the unified IndyCar series is still struggling to rebuild.

The split in sports car racing has followed a similar trajectory – a cold war of sanctioning bodies, each hoping the other would eventually either run out of money, or just give up. Last year, the two sides reached a détente of sorts: NASCAR (which owns Grand Am) agreed to buy out the American Le Mans Series and pretty much everything that came with it. The rest of the deal will some day be history – except that history is being written on tarmac right now.

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Test Drive: Audi R8 Spyder

It wasn’t that long ago that Audi would have never been mentioned in the same breath as Ferrari, Porsche or Lamborghini. That has all changed not because of Audi’s racing success at Le Mans, but because of the car you see here, the R8. The multiple endurance victories certainly helped to elevate Audi brand awareness and equity with the sportscar cognoscenti, but the R8 takes all of Audi’s know-how and engineering prowess that has evolved through racing and puts it into a high-performance road car model – a model that is also raced very successfully around the world. I had a chance to spend a week driving an R8 and my time in the car revealed how good it really is, even as it is set to be updated for the 2014 model year.

Audi offers the R8 in a few different flavors that are differentiated by body style and engine choices. You can buy the R8 with a 4.2-liter V8 that makes 430hp, a 5.2-liter V10 that makes 525hp, or in the case of the GT model, a 5.2-liter V10 that makes 560hp. These engine choices are available in either coupe or convertible (Spyder) form, ranging in price from $114,200 for the R8 4.2 coupe to $210,300 for the R8 GT Spyder, and all R8 models come with Audi’s famous quattro all-wheel drive. While my first choice for our test would have been a GT coupe (since its closest in performance to the R8 LMS race car), I didn’t hesitate when Audi offered me an R8 4.2 Spyder to drive.

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GRAND-AM, ALMS Announce Class Structure For Unified Series

Organizations take inclusionary,‘Best Of Both Worlds’multi-class approach

Scott Elkin, Richard BuckDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 4, 2013) – Underscoring the cooperative spirit of their merger announced last September, GRAND-AM Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón today unveiled the initial concept for the organizations’ unified competition class structure that will debut in January 2014 at the 52nd running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

The lineup – in effect for the 2014 and 2015 seasons – is based on a philosophy of inclusion. The majority of classes from both the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and the ALMS will be retained with the exception of the ALMS’ P1 prototype class.

Individual class names have yet to be determined. The planned structure:

• GRAND-AM’s DP and the ALMS’ P2 classes will combine into one, headlining prototype class that also will include the revolutionary DeltaWing prototype, with performance of the cars balanced to maintain close competition.

• The ALMS’ Prototype Challenge (PC) class for spec prototypes will continue to run as a separate class.

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Trans Am Series puts the pony back in the paddock for 2013

Photo Credit: John ThawleyThe rivalry is renewed as Mustang and Camaro prepare to face off in TA2

MIAMI- December 21, 2012 – While the Trans Am Series has a long and storied history full of races and rivalries, none stand out quite like that of the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro—two iconic and quintessential American cars forever linked by a competition that transcends racing.  They have inspired generations of car enthusiasts, racers and fans.  And now, once again, they are going head-to-head in the Trans Am Series.  

“Mustang versus Camaro is one of those rivalries that resounds for all fans of motorsports, or even just cars,” said President of the Trans Am Race Company John Clagett.  “When we had the Camaro enter what was the TA2 class, we had a huge outpouring of interest, and entries into the class skyrocketed. We’re excited to see if we get a similar response with the Mustang’s addition.  Really, this is what Trans Am is all about—Mustang versus Camaro, Ford versus Chevrolet. This is going to be racing at its’ finest.”

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Test Drive: 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Back in 2010, I tested the Chevy Camaro SS and while I found the car entertaining to drive, it was more because of its honking V8 engine and cool retro looks than its handling prowess. In that review, I commented that the SS was “a point and shoot car that feels great going in a straight line, but is not the kind of car that you’re going to go out in search of twisty roads with or be anxious to take to a track day.” Over the last two years, Chevy engineers have consistently worked to improve the Camaro, and after spending a week driving the new top-of-the-line ZL1 model, I can tell you that it’s quite a different car than the SS model I drove two years ago, with the primary differences coming not so much from the big increase in power, but from the suspension tuning.

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It's a wrap from Petit Le Mans.

Click Image for Full GalleryBraselton. With the full assimilation of the American Le Mans Series into the NASCAR family of racing still more than a year away, this year’s Petit Le Mans is already showing some early signs that one era of racing is winding down and another is taking shape. Much of the talk on the paddock and infield centered on 2014 and what it means to everyone in sports car racing. Opinions were, well, what you might expect:

“At last, we can address the need for restrictor plates at Sebring!”

“Hey, wouldn’t it be great if NASCAR bought its way into a monopoly of road racing in America – no, wait, nobody’s ever asked that.”

“’ISCAR?’ Really?”

And then there’s the High Octane love-it-or-hate-it Truth: “It had to happen, eventually.”

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