Auto News
AutoGuide News Blog
The AutoGuide News Blog is your source for breaking stories from the auto industry. Delivering news immediately, the AutoGuide Blog is constantly updated with the latest information, photos and video from manufacturers, auto shows, the aftermarket and professional racing.

25/06/2010 | By: Dave Pratte

Driver Will Chan and his twincharged Enmo Racing Honda Civic turned the Time Attack world on its ear with a dominating performance at the Redline Time Attack Autobahn Country Club event (near Chicago), where Chan won the Street FWD class by 5-seconds over the nearest competitor and reset the class track record by over 3-seconds. In fact, Chan’s car was so fast his time was just 0.2-seconds off the Street AWD record.

Proving that racing is often a fickle mistress, the Enmo Racing Civic was then unceremoniously rear-ended by a Mitsubishi Evolution VIII that slid off the track in the same puddle of oil that the little Honda encountered just moments before. As the pictures available after the jump show, this left the oil-spewing Honda S2000 that started the unfortunate chain reaction and the Enmo Civic sitting in a dangerous spot on the outside of an oil-covered corner, and before the corner workers could throw a red flag to warn the oncoming Mitsubishi, it too hit the slick patch and careened off the track into both Hondas.

Enmo Racing hasn’t let this cruel twist of fate slow them down though, so expect to see this amazing turbocharged and supercharged old school Honda tearing it up at an upcoming Redline Time Attack event, perhaps even at the legendary Sebring road course in August as well as the series finals in November.

[Source: Enmo Racing]

Continue Reading…

Report: Autobahn Country Club Adds Audi S5, TTS Coupe to ‘Autobahn Experience’ Driving School

Partnership formed between Chicago-area racetrack and local Audi dealers

10/08/2009 | By: Colum Wood

Autobahn_Audi.jpg

Chicago-area Audi dealers have formed a partnership with the Autobahn Country Club, that will give the race track the use of an Audi S5 and TTS Coupe for its high-performance driving school.

The Audi dealers are now the official sponsors of ‘The Autobahn Experience’, a high-performance program for those interested in improving their driving skills. Autobahn’s professional instructors will give lessons both on the autocross and on the race track in the 265hp TTS Coupe and the 354hp S5, both of which feature AWD and are capable of hitting 60 mph in 4.9 seconds.

“When looking for an exclusive partner in Chicagoland to provide hands-on customer excitement, Autobahn Country Club was the clear choice,” said Scott Zuercher, Area General Manager for Chicago, Audi of America. “The proximity to Chicago, high-quality facilities, and staff expertise all contributed to making the project become a reality. This is a great opportunity for customers to test drive the latest Audi performance models. Our dealer partners in Chicagoland all benefit from the investment of customer enjoyment and familiarization with the Audi brand.”

Along with “The Autobahn Experience,” the Autobahn race track, Located in Joliet, Ill., also features one, two and half-day driving schools, a teen defensive education program and training for Chicagoland police departments.

For more information visit the Autobahn Country Club website here:

http://www.autobahncountryclub.net/

Official release after the jump:

Continue Reading…

23/06/2009 | By: Colum Wood

slrmain.jpg

The Corvettes, Porsches and Vipers that compete in the SPEED World Challenge GT series are about to get some serious competition from a serious car – the Mercedes McLaren SLR 722 GT. The car was homolgated to World Challenge specs by The Racers Group (TRG) and our sources at the series tell us it will first see competition at the Autobahn County Club outside Chicago on July 24-26th.

Designed specifically to run it a spec series in Europe, the 722 GT is powered by a modified version of the supercharged 5.5-liter V8 and makes 680hp and 612 ft-lbs of torque. It also only weighs 3,200 lbs, meaning it can accelerate to 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds. Thanks to some serious aerodynamics and a significantly lowered ride height, the 722 GT is also capable of hitting 2 Gs in the corners.

No doubt the SCCA (the governing body for World Challenge) will level the playing field, forcing the SLR to either add weight or reduce horsepower… or probably both.

TRG Motorsports should still put on quite a show with the SLR as the team has plenty of racing experience, running cars in the Grand-Am Koni Challenge as well as in the Grand-Am Rolex Series. In 2005 and 2006 TRG competed with a Pontiac GTO.R team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series GT class, and has since been involved with a two-car Porsche effort in the GT Class.

See the Speed World Challenge series website for more info:

http://www.world-challenge.com/

Follow the jump for all the specs on the McLaren SLR 722 GT

[Source: TheRacersGroup]

Continue Reading…