PerformanceandLuxury

As an owner of a red car for almost two years, I can say that it has been both an awesome and awful experience. Here are some of the plights of owning a red vehicle. Cheers!

"Broads, bullets, booze, booty and blackjack." They’ve got a whole lot of that out there in Las Vegas. Last week, I had the opportunity to go down to there for a little vacation. I know what you’re thinking right now.. “Bennett, you’re only 18 you moron, what are you doing in Vegas?”

17 million dollars. Let me say that again. 17 million dollars! Hmmmm… What could I buy for $17 million? Let’s see, I could have exactly 8,994,709 burgers from the McDonalds value menu, I could probably take Kim Kardashian out for a night, or…. I could have myself one of these. A McLaren F1 GTR. Hmmm it’s a tough decision… Sorry Kim, I’ll take my chances with the McLaren.

Gather around kids! It’s story time.

Hello and Welcome! If you recall, I wrote a piece on my first encounter of the evil demon spirit known as Torque Steer. I talked about how I had my first discovered Torque Steer during a race against an M3, where I nearly killed my car and I also taught you guys a little about how it is caused. This came down to drivetrain flex and CV angles being the major contributions to a difference of Torque Delivery between the two front wheels.

Oh no. Here we go… I’m talking about front wheel drive again. C’mon Bennett, just prepare yourself for the hate. Take a deep breath, don’t let the negative comments affect you. Even though last time, someone had the nerve to say that my balls were in the wrong place for owning a front drive… I digress. If do happen to be a front wheel drive hater, you’re in luck! Today I’m talking about one of the many negatives of FWD, adding more fuel to your fire I guess.

Dear Automotive manufacturers,

1. My Subaru has a "Boxster" engine You’ll be surprised about how often I hear this, and has to be by far the most cringe-worthy statement that I’ve ever heard. I swear a little part of me dies inside every time I hear it. I’m pretty sure you meant to say “Boxer engine” and no, your Subie does not have a Porsche engine.

A few years ago, I read an article in an automotive Magazine called “PASMAG” if you’ve heard of the magazine, you probably live in around Canada, in that case, Hello my fellow Canadian brethren! (and even if you aren’t Canadian..) Hello my fellow earthlings!

To put it short, Yes! Yes you are! As a car guy, I love manual. I do manual everything. My car is manual, my toothbrush is manual, even my manual is manual

Seriously, what actually is Skyactiv? You may have heard about the famous Mazda SKYACTIV system before, either in commercial ads, from the sales people at the Mazda dealerships, or even from owners talking about their awesome new Mazda. That being said, the Skyactiv name is becoming very popular and gaining a large amount of exposure. But what exactly is it?

Wow. I can’t believe it. Who would’ve thought that I’d get to drive this? To some people, this is their dream car, and I get to drive it? Me? Some random Canadian college student? What kind of man in this world is insane enough to let a college kid pilot an AMG Mercedes? Dad. I love you, I’ll try my best not to wreck you car, please don’t kill me if I do.

This is it. Today’s the day. The day where I put my credibility, reputation and life on the line. The day where I get torn apart by the savages on CT Facebook. Today is the day when I get buried in hate filled internet comments from kids who aren’t even old enough to drive yet. Today is the day that I defend Front Wheel Drive.

Ah, the welded differential, the back bone of any drift missile build. The Welded Differential is becoming very popular in the drift scene, as it is a cheaper option to keep both rear wheels spinning under load, and keeping away those unwanted one-wheel peels.

Recently, my brother and I had decided to buy a beater car, so that we can put our vehicles away for the winter and not worry about the treacherous conditions that tear away at the paint and the metal on the bodies of our cars. My brother had found a car online. A 1988 Toyota Cressida (MX73). I thought it was an awesome idea, I remember seeing those cars on episodes of Mighty Car Mods (MCM) a few years back. Watching their 1JZ swapped Cressida beat a handful of cars at a drag strip, made me super excited about driving this car.

1988 Toyoto Cressida MX73 Grandpa Beater 5 speed manual transmission Swap Lowered Springs Purple Diamond Steelies Corbeau race seat Nardi Wheel Old school luxury is mint* Shoutout to MCM!

When I was a younger, I used to play a lot of video games, and being the gear-head that I am, you can probably guess what games I played. That’s right, car racing games. My childhood might’ve been spent indoors, but hey, it’s still a childhood nonetheless. One of the games that I played was the Need For Speed series. In most (if not all) of these games, you play the role of a street racer. Speeding around digital cities, racing virtual drivers and then running away from the virtual police when things got hairy.