Videos of exotic sports cars doing high speed runs are all the rage on youtube. But recent complaints about 200 kmh activity on public highways have some police forces asking questions.

The specific video that the RCMP in Alberta are investigating was linked on pretty much every car forum around the world and even made it to the front page of Digg.com.

With the healthy run-up in the price of light sweet crude, local real estate, and the Canadian dollar, 25 year olds in Calgary can use their fat paychecks and new-found home equity to buy exotic cars from the US significantly cheaper than they could in Canada. Late model Porsches Turbos, Ferraris and Lamborghinis are also in steady supply from a few local dealers. Cars ranging from 996 Turbos to Gallardos and F430s are a relatively common sight. The new owners of these cars often stage impromptu cruises, first meeting at a parking lot, and then going for a scenic ‘drive’ outside the city, in packs ranging from three or four to sometimes over 20. Seeing one of these car club runs on any summer weekend is not uncommon. Pictures taken by keen car spotters are often posted on forums and photo sites.

Zahir Rana, owner of the pre-owned exotic dealership ZR Auto (and a spectacular yellow Enzo Ferrari) , stages a few of these cruises with his customers every year. Two dozen exotics, usually ordered by type of car (Enzo in the front), head out together on a long drive through the scenic rocky mountain and British Columbia region. Nearly every car in the group can reach 200 km h very quickly and very comfortably, let alone much higher speeds. Rana has been known to hire helicopters to film their exotic car mountain road escapades.

The video filmed in October 2006, shows Zahir Rana outside the city with a couple of his customers. The cars featured are an Enzo Ferrari and a Novitec Rosso F430 F1 Supersport both belonging to Rana, and 2 lightly modified Lamborghini Gallardos. A ‘Top Speed’ run is attempted in each car, with the Enzo Ferrari easily taking the crown, its digital speedometer recorded a Max 339 km/h. (see photo below)

The video clearly states that the top speed runs were done in controlled conditions, by experts, on a closed highway.

At the time of its popularity on the web , there were many discussions of whether the roads were actually closed-off to the public when these high speed runs were performed, and if cops had been informed and this was done legally.

All that discussion can be put to rest as Alberta Police are stating in public that they had no idea!

This story is being covered now all the major newspapers in Canada. The globe and mail article includes transcripts of several noteworthy excerpts from the video, including this gem:

“I could have done 350, but I ran out of road,” Mr. Rana tells the camera.

Rana is currently declining comment.

August 14, 2007 ‘Dangerous driving speeds up in Alberta’ Article

Update: Wed Aug 15

Zahir Rana is interviewed in the Calgary Sun

In the article, Rana says they were not out racing, they were “out for coffee!”
Rana also acknowledges the video is under investigation, and then says ‘the film is fiction’.

Calgary Sun Article

CBC reports 4 people were arrested based on reports of 3 Ferraris and a Lamborghini driving at 200 kmh early Sunday morning outside Calgary. The article confirms that one of the people arrested was infact Zahir Rana.

Rana once again claims the video is a fake!
“It’s not factual at all,” he said. “You can make … spaceships land on the moon and put it on TV and [make it] look real.”

CBC Article

[Article Source: Globe & Mail - August 14th]

[Video Source: YouTube.com]

Check out this quick video where Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear substitutes clay pigeon shooting for something a little less British and a little more rock and roll American.

I still don’t understand why I have always found blowing things up super fun and exciting. Maybe some of you psychologists who read our blog could offer an explanation?

[Source: YouTube.com]

Tesla Roadster Reviewed by Jay Leno

People think that if you’re a car enthusiast you have something against electric cars. Not in the least. To me the nice thing about electric vehicles is, if nothing else, they free up the gasoline for our other cars.

I think many car enthusiasts see the future as one where they will use some kind of electric car or hydrogen car during the week and will save their sports cars for the weekend, just as you would play golf or football at the weekend.

What Tesla, an American company that has made an electric version of the very British Lotus Elise, has done is find a way to enjoy a sports car all week long and be green.

The problem with electric cars up to this point is what I call the veggie burger syndrome. When they came out with the veggie burger they made it look like a hamburger, which was disappointing because it doesn’t taste anything like a hamburger. It had been the same with electric cars until this point.

They would take a Volkswagen Golf or some equivalent, rip out the innards and replace it with an electric motor. So you get a car that is not only slower but would not be as safe because most of the safety features were probably taken out of it, it wouldn’t go as far and you’d have something that was less than what you started with.

Tesla is quite smart in that it is reaching the enthusiasts of the market. If you like sports cars and you want to be green, this is the only way to go. The Tesla is a car that you can live with, drive and enjoy as a sports car. I had a brief drive in the car and it was quite impressive. This is an electric car that is fun to drive. Prior to this, most electric cars were driven by people with earth shoes.

I love electric cars. One of the favourites in my garage is my 1909 Baker Electric car. But in the 98 years since that car was made, battery technology and therefore electric car technology has not changed a huge amount.

In the early 1900s Thomas Edison developed an alkaline battery to double or triple the range of the electric car. It didn’t quite do that, but alkaline batteries were neat in that they could be rinsed out and used over and over again. In fact I’m still using the alkaline battery that came with the Baker and was made by Edison himself.

In 1909 a frustrated Edison wrote on a napkin at a dinner and handed it to Henry Ford. On it he’d written: “The electric car is dead.” Almost from that note right up until Tesla, Edison wasn’t far wrong. Not much has been done to progress the battery-powered car since.

Tesla is not the first major manufacturer to have an electric car. GM came out with the EV1 in the early 1990s. I had one for a week and I loved it. It was quick but it only went about 125 miles on a charge. In 80 years it went only 10 miles further that my 1909 Baker Electric, and really a 125-mile range means you only have about a 60-mile range, because you have to come back.

One of the hidden things they don’t tell you about electric cars is that you get good mileage when the temperature is 20C, but when it drops down towards freezing you lose 20-40% because they’re dependent on the ambient temperature. What Tesla has done is put in a cooling/heating system that keeps the battery at a constant temperature.

It’s also built a car that weighs 2,600lb, which is a few pounds heavier than the standard Lotus, whereas most electric cars would be hundreds of pounds heavier. And it handles and drives, for all intents and purposes, like a real sports car.

The difference with this is that it’s faster than a standard Lotus. For something to succeed it has to not only do it as well but better. The Wankel engine was the only brand new engine of the 20th century, but the trouble was it was the equal of the internal combustion engine, it just wasn’t better. So why change? To the average person it’s a case of I’ll stick with what I have.

With this Tesla, you have a Lotus which is faster. The only disadvantage is that you can’t refuel quite as quickly. However, when you do refuel, it’s the equivalent of five cents a gallon, or something similar.

The Tesla handles well. I suppose if you took both it and a Lotus on a racetrack, the standard Elise would win. But for the average person taking it out for a drive, I think you would be really, really impressed. It’s a proper car that meets emission and safety standards. Prior to this, when you saw an electric car in America you didn’t get the airbags and it was sort of a kit car. All you were doing was saving energy. This one meets all federal standards of car production.

Driving the car takes some getting used to. But boy is it quick. It does 0-60mph in 4sec. Like a petrol car, you just put your foot down and go. The real trick with electricity is that it’s alive. You put it in a box and it either escapes or dies. The best way to use power is at the point of generation, which is what hybrids do but then you are back with the problem of having two power plants and the extra weight. Electricity is the best way to run an automobile in the sense that there is no maintenance of any kind.

I have never done any maintenance on my 1909 Baker Electric, other than maybe greasing the wheel hubs. You don’t do anything. You plug it in, charge it and drive it. The motor is virtually maintenance-free. This is a car made back in 1909 I am talking about, and the Tesla is the same way. There is nothing much to break or wear out in the engine department, with the exception of maybe the battery, which remains to be seen. They are claiming well over 200 miles per charge, which is pretty impressive.

Behind the wheel the power comes on sharply because it’s linear. You have instant torque. The faster you accelerate the faster you go. You’ve got a two-speed transmission so you can actually shift it. It’s a slightly different sensation but I think it’s something you’d get used to quickly. You’ve got air-conditioning and a radio and all the things you would have in a normal car. It’s quiet. But many fast cars now are quiet.

When I drove the EV1 I was amazed at how fast it was. Back in the 1990s it was really quick. Top speed was about 85-90mph, but in the real world most of the fun is between 40mph and 80mph, where you put your foot on it.

In the real world I have a Porsche Carrera GT, I have a McLaren F1, and anybody that tells you they’ve taken those cars to 200mph is a liar. They haven’t. Believe me. I did a couple of hundred laps at Talladega and the fastest I got to was 190mph – on a track. By myself. And it was scary. Nobody does those speeds on a public road. If you do, you should be in prison. The real-world fun of acceleration is between 40mph and 80mph.

I think Colin Chapman, the Lotus founder, would be impressed by the technology in the Tesla. He was always looking at making cars lighter and lighter. Lightness is, of course, what makes a car handle. I would say this is the first electric car that truly handles. I think Chapman would be pleased if his design was chosen as an example of superior handling and dynamics.

If one day they were to start a green racing league that used no petrol of any kind, this car would probably win the race the first year out. It feels like a proper sports car.

Would I buy one? Well yes, I would be interested in it. Right now they’re $100,000, so consequently it’s something rich people would buy. But most new technology starts out with rich people. Anti lock brakes started out on the big Cadillacs and Lincolns. They didn’t start out on economy cars. To start with it’s the rich buyers that can absorb the cost. Anybody who buys a Tesla now is making a statement about buying responsibly. It’s a way to make a high performance statement for the new millennium.

If you dropped somebody in from another planet and said, this one with a petrol engine or this one with an electric motor, well, they’d probably say the Tesla. The only downside is the time it takes to charge and that is probably the next step.

The Tesla shows sports cars can be electrifying. The sports car needn’t die once oil runs out. I guess this is the first car that means we as sports car aficionados can see beyond the end of the internal combustion engine.

[Thanks To: Jimmy On The Madwhips Facebook Group ]

[Review Source: http://driving.timesonline.co.uk]

Can you think of a better way to send off last season’s Mustang SVT Cobra’s worn out tires than to give them the final salute?

Exactly, I didn’t think so.

I’m not sure who had more fun, me filming this, or my friend doing donuts.

Cheers

[Camera Man: WhipDaddy]

All to often we all observe some extreme and rediculous behavior on the road. Whether its in your neighborhood, during your commute to work or even on a hazy Sunday drive in the country, one thing is certain -> Idiots are on the road. Statistics have proven that 99% of the world is comprised of Idiots, so its of no surprise to me that sooner rather than later you are bound to run into these Idiots on the road. Please keep in mind that 33% of all statistics are usually false.

Either way, this weeks Darwinian Award goes to:

I noticed this stock SRT-8 pulling out of a gas station and the cap was out and the gas door was open. What a combo!! I mean most of the time I see the cap in, but the door left open, pretty common automotive fallacy when you’re rushing. This guy was going for the double header of rediculousness!

About 5 minutes later, the same car passes me at the stop light. I take a look assuming he would have been privy to the fact that his fine SRT-8’s fly was down and cap was hanging out. NOPE! Even funnier, the door was closed… I have one theory but need to test it out next time I am in a charger: will the gas door close if you go fast enough?? I hope so, because otherwise the only other logical explanation is that he noticed it and decided to just ’shut the door for now’…. Hilarious.

If you have a camera handy, cell phone included and observe idiots on the road, feel free to email them to us to showcase the worlds most sophisticated drivers!!

[Photo: WhipDaddy @ MadWhips.com]

In celebration of tomorrow’s DAY 1 of the 2007 Gumball 3000 rally (ahem race), here is a video from April 30th, 2006 in London. These exotics are SICK, and I love how people have absolutely no problem painting them up with graphics and logos! (I can’t wait to do this to my exotic) I also want to re-iterate how SIMPLY AWESOME this race is and how I cant wait to have a Madwhips / Carzi sponsored car in the next ~3 years!

[Source: YouTube.com]

For those of you who have forgotten the joys of spring (in a climate that includes snow), think back to those early March/April days when your parents used to haul out your bikes from the shed, or rafters in the garage, tune them up and let you have your mobile freedom. Unfortunately this joy has been long forgotten as my Norco VPS-Drop was my main mode of transportation in University even during the harsh winter months (wicked awesome fun by the way). Although this joy is long forgotten, it is far from long gone.

Today was the first true day of spring for me. It was a day of freedom and a day to celebrate even after a crazy 4 hour thunderstorm. Today was the day my summer wheels came out of storage and slammed onto my 1993 Prelude. What better timing than a morning alignment, a lunch date with my torque wrench and jack, an afternoon of torrential downpours to cleanse the pavement, and an evening to put 150km on a new set of Falken FK-452 RUBBERS! YES, it might as well have been Christmas for me!

The Falken FK-452’s are a brand spanking new tire from Falken Tires this year. The Falken Tire Corporation is a subsidiary of The Ohtsu Tire and Rubber Company Limited of Osaka, Japan. The FK-452 is the replacement tire for the Falken GRB FK-451’s (no longer in production) that I was sporting on all 4 corners last year until an amazing intersection drift blew a hole in my front passenger tread. (You should have seen the drift… sickest drift I have ever pulled off) Seeing that the FK-451’s were a major step up from the all season ZE-512’s I had on 2 years ago, I figured I would keep the rears and just get new rubber for the front (front wheel drive vehicle).

After a quick trip on the 401 to Guelph and back through some heavy rainfall and then a 30 minute playful drive around the city I have the following to conclude: These tires kick ass! Wow. They are pretty much the same price as last years FK451’s but I feel that I almost have zero wheel slip from a hard shift from 1st to 2nd. Even accelerating hard off the line on somewhat dry pavement I noticed a considerable amount of jerk compared to some slippage from last year on completely dry pavement. I can see this is going to be a fun summer and its only April! I will post a review at the end of the summer when I have had a chance to perform my very own summer of controlled and non-controlled torture testing! Here is a performance comparison chart I pulled from the FK-452 “Technical Info” section that sums up what I felt upon my first 150km test drive with them on.

Notice how the comfort level has remained unchanged, thats because any ride with low profile tires gives a racier and less comfortable ride no matter what shocks or dampers you have. Why? Because any sharp force applied to the tire (bumps, potholes, curbs for the unfortunate) gets directly transmitted to the rim, through the suspension (some force is absorbed) and to your seat and steering wheel. Unlike your big thick rubber 15 or 16 inch winters or all seasons that have the ability to dampen the majority of the force before transferring it onward through the rim, suspension and to your seat where you barely notice it and barely appreciate it.

[Source: falkentire.com, fk452.com]

Now, in its ninth year (1999-2007), the Gumball 3000 is by far the world’s largest, cult car rally created by Maximillion Cooper. With over 120 some cars and 240 some participants the Gumball 3000 appeals to the adventurer in all, regardless of status or wealth.

Forget the amazing race, that is extremely boring and lame, and as much as I love Formula 1, I keep partying so hard in Montreal every year, that I have slept through the last 3 years of race day. I more than owe it to myself to be part of the Gumball 3000 race within 3-5 years. That’s one of my top 5 goals in the next couple years to say the least.

Here is the 2007 Gumball 3000 Agenda you all have been asking for:

Saturday April 28, 2007
Registration Launch Party at the Trocadero, London. The street out front will be closed, the red carpet ready for the sickest cars on the planet accompanied by supermodels, rock stars and automotive crazies.

Sunday April 29, 2007
(1:00pm) Cars and drivers at Pall Mall for car display.
(4:00pm) From Pall Mall, London, the cars will drive to the Amsterdam checkpoint via Eurotunnel and Belgium. It is going to be Queens Day so there should be quite the Vegas style party happening. And like Vegas, what happens in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam.

Monday April 30, 2007
Cars drive through the night to a secret airport in Frankfurt where all cars will be loaded into 2 Russian Antanov airplanes. After a 4 hour flight (and maybe some sleep) the crew lands on the Asian side of Istanbul and the cars are escorted to one of the most famous streets in the city; Bagdat Street. The teams will retire for the evening at Kempinski Ciragan Palace where they will party like the rock stars they all are at a themed James Bond Party!! Crazy Awesome!

Tuesday May 1, 2007
After shaking off (not stirred) last nights mild hangover the race continues to Athens via Thessolaniki checkpoint. Once in Athens, they will stay the night at the Hilton Hotel as well as party at a WHITE PARTY themed event on the top floor of the Hilton (I wonder if Paris is covering the bill in order to snag a quick and dirty advertising spot?) While the participants of the Gumball 3000 will be getting their party face on (not that they have taken it off since departure on April 28th), their wicked awesome cars will be posing for the masses at the Zappeion Area.

Wednesday May 2, 2007
Rise n shine early leave for Tirana in Albania! I can guarantee you at this point, some people will be begging themselves to take it easy for the rest of the trip, but I can also guarantee there is a fat chance of this happening. The party must go on.

Thursday May 3, 2007
Cars drive through 7 countries today: Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and arriving at Bratislava Slovakia. Once arrived, the Gumballers will stay the night at the Raddisson SAS Hotel and there exotics on display at Hviezdoslavovo Square.

Friday May 4, 2007
Continuing the mayhem through the Eurospeed race circuit, the Gumball 3000 heads from Bratislava, to Prague (GERMAN AUTOBAHN TIME YAAAAAAAAAAAA) ending in Berlin. Here they will shack up at the sexy Regent Hotel and get ready for another psycho night out partying in Berlin.

Saturday May 5, 2007
Exhausted but not out partied, the Gumball 3000’s final day routes them through Holland, Belgium, France and back to Great Britain. Crossing into London via the Eurotunnel, the finish line at the Whitehall Place where a massive final party with a live music concert should finish off these party-goers for a couple days.

Bottom line, looking to the future I personally guarantee that you will be seeing a Madwhips.com and Carzi.com cars at one of these races in a few years to come. I think this would make an absolute awesome way for David to celebrate his 16th b-day. Looks like I have 3 years to make my mark, buy and modify some hot cars in order to rip it up with the automotive elite in the Gumball 3000!

I can’t begin to explain how much I look forward to taking part in the coolest automotive event of the year (not to mention giving these Olympic partyers a run for their money) as well as cover it live from a my view. I’m pretty sure I’ll be rocking a modified and trustworthy 911 Turbo.

[Source: gumball3000.com, eyecandymediapartners.com]