The Car Show on SPEED channel has not been picked up for a second season, and as a result has been cancelled. It first debuted back on July 13th and was supposed to be SPEED TV’s alternative to Top Gear – which has been picked up for a second season.

The panel of hosts on The Car Show included Adam Carolla, Dan Neil, former NBA star John Sally and Matt Farah, who is also the host and producer of The Smoking Tire and a contributor to AutoGuide.com. It appears that several of the cast members doesn’t have a whole lot of great things to say about working with SPEED TV, with Matt Farah stating on his Facebook “R.I.P The Car Show. On to bigger and hopefully much better things (that I have actual control over to make sure they are good).” But the better of the quotes is what Dan Neil had to say: “great news everybody! The Car Show didn’t get picked up for a second season. That means I can move forward with the TV show I really want to do, about green energy, electric cars and socially appropriate transportation solutions. It’s call ‘Titties.’ Ratings, you know”

Cadillac released its third teaser video for the 2013 ATS, their compact sport coupe. In the video, Cadillac engineers explain why they have focused their efforts so closely on gathering data at the Nurburing track, saying they can gather more data in one lap at “The Ring” than in twelve at any U.S. track.

Dave Mikels, energy and powertrain integration engineer, tells us that the car will experience full compression loading and being airborne during a lap. What that really speaks to is the company’s dedication to the ATS and making it a true performance machine.

With the Detroit Auto Show coming up next month, expect more details on the ATS very soon.

You can watch the video below

If you like playing Nissan‘s GT Academy, you’ll want to watch the TV series that uses the popular video game to find the next racing superstar. Catch the five-part reality show on the Speed Network, where virtual gamers will compete for their chance to become a professional race car driver.

You get to see the last of a three-part competition, which started with 54,000 people that took to digital racetracks of GT5, hoping to take home the grand prize – a professional racing contract with Nissan. The gamers first competed online, racing Nissan vehicles on a variety of virtual raceways. Only 32 made the cut and they went to Orlando, Florida, to battle it out for the top 16 positions available.

Over the course of a week, the TV show was shot at the Silverstone Racing Complex in Silverstone, England. The brave 16 contestants were subjected to a series of physical and mental challenges, putting their skills to the test with an assortment of races and boot camp-style workouts. Judging to see who will come out on top are former race car drivers: Danny Sullivan (winner of the 1985 Indy 500); Tommy Kendall (the only American to finish Australia’s Bathurst 1000 race); and Liz Halliday (the most successful woman to race in the American Le Mans Series).

The show airs on the Speed Network starting September 20 and will run over five episodes, where the winner will be announced on the last show. As part of their grand prize, the winner will join a four-person team, joining the three winners of Nissan’s European GT Academy, and make their debut at the 24 Hours of Dubai in January 2012.

With Top Gear America failing to meet the expectations of bloggers across the nation, it’s time to put your hope on Adam Carolla’s “The Car Show.”

Without having to live up to the expectation of finding another Clarkson, “The Car Show” instead focuses on Carolla’s love affair with the car and appears to include an ESPN-style discussion format. Let’s call it “The View” for men.

Along with Carolla, it includes John Salley, The Wall Street Journal‘s Dan Neil (the only man to win a Pulitzer prize for automotive journalism), and AutoGuide contributor and host of The Smoking Tire, Matt Farah.

The Car Show will premiere Wednesday, July 13th on SPEED at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Watch the promo video after the jump:

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This weekend’s famed 24 Hours of Le Mans race will have full coverage thanks to Speed TV and Corvette Racing. Though only 17 hours of live coverage will be done on television, Corvette Racing and Speed TV will be hosting an additional seven hours of content, including a live stream of in-car coverage from one of the Corvette Racing machines. The No. 73 Chevrolet Corvette will play host to the live stream as it seeks out its seventh class win at Le Mans.

As one of the most prestigious and demanding events in all of racing, the extensive online coverage will be commercial free and will also include links to an in-depth video tour of the legendary Le Mans circuit in the No. 74 Compuware Corvette C6.R. Undoubtedly though, the spotlight will be on drivers Olivier Beretta, Tommy Milner and Antonio Garcia as they try to get their seventh class win.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans will begin at 9:00 AM EST on Saturday. The live stream can be found at http://www.speedtv.com/corvette.

Jason Saini raced to the top of the podium in his Mazda6 this weekend, during the SCCA’s SPEED World Challenge Touring Car series event at New Jersey Motorsports Park’s Thunderbolt Raceway. Saini placed third in qualifying but quickly made it to second place off the standing start, and spent much of the rest of the race fender to fender with defending series champion Peter Cunningham in his RealTime Racing TSX.

Saini passed Cunningham on the third lap but only secured some distance when Cunningham got tied up defending his position from Andrew Aquilante in the Phoenix Performance Inc. Subaru WRX.

When the checkered flag flew, however, Saini had secured an almost three second advantage after Cunningham, giving him not only the race victory but also the lead in the points race.

“I raced with Peter a couple of times last year. We had some side-by-side battles. He came out on top last year. This time, I came out on top. It is a dream come true to race with a guy like Peter,” said Saini. “I looked at where his strengths and weaknesses were and tried to push him. I tried to stick the nose in every once and a while to see. I just had a bit of a stronger car at that point and I was able to get down on the inside. I tried one time. I didn’t make it stick. I tried again and it did.”

As for the third-place Aquilante, he managed the last podium spot in just his third World Challenge race. Initially much of the credit can be handed to Subaru’s all-wheel drive system, which allowed Aquilante to race from a standing-start grid position of 8th to 3rd overall in just one lap.

“The start was good,” Aquilante said. “It was kind of wild the first couple of laps, with Jason and P.D. going back and forth. Jason got around him and things settled in single file. Then, about halfway through the race, I started to try to pick it up and the tires started to go away.”

“I finally caught up to them. I had a few runs at Peter down the front straightaway. We went side-by-side. He knew what I was going to do, so he protected the inside well. There were a couple of times he let me on the inside, but I couldn’t quite make it stick. I tried not to run him off the road. It was a good race.”

Finishing out the top five were Cunningham’s teammates Kuno Wittmer in 4th and Pierre Kleinubing in 5th.

As for the points race, as mentioned, with the win Saini takes the lead, with Kleinubing in 2nd and Seth Thomas in 3rd with his BMW 328i.

The race will be broadcast on SPEED Chanel Friday, May 22 at 2 p.m.. The next race is scheduled for Mosport International Raceway on May 16th and 17th

[Photo Credit: Mark Weber/SCCA]

Complete race results after the jump:

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One of the best finds at the 2008 SEMA Show was this Gallardo racecar at the Performance Friction Brakes booth. Built by DP7 Racing, this one-off custom racecar is set to take on the big boys in the SPEED World Challenge Series in the GT Class, competing against Corvettes, Vipers and Porsches.

The car makes 570hp and 450 ft-lbs of torque and weights just 2,800-lbs – a significant reduction from the stock curb weight. As well as stripping out the entire inside of the car, the Gallardo gets additional weight reduction through the extensive use of carbon fiber parts, including a new carbon hood, trunk lid, bumpers and fenders.

No decision has been made on if the Lambo will run a RWD or AWD setup, as there are advantages to both. (The removal of the factory AWD system will certainly help in the weight category, although AWD may come in handy as SPEED World Challenge is one of the few pro motorsports series that still uses a standing start.

The car will be piloted by former NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini, a man who also has had a career as a professional drag racer.

Official Spec Sheet after the jump:
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