On the premiere episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan race against the clock to rebuild David's infamous 1970 Dodge Super Bee in time for Moparty at the Strip. Take a look at what goes into a last minute thrash and find out what happens when the reborn Bee finally hits the Vegas drag strip.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, Doug Glad and the Car Craft crew try to transform a beater 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle into a respectable street machine in one day!
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, we look at the history of HOT ROD magazine's longest-term project car, the Crusher Camaro. Watch as the '67 goes to the drag strip for the very first time in its latest configuration as a '70s street machine, complete with an 8-71 blower on a big block Chevy. For you tech heads, here are the specs on the car: It's a '67 Camaro that weighs 3,650 with the driver. The engine is 489 ci with a Weiand 8-71 that has been blueprinted by The Blower Shop in Simi Valley, California. The carbs are 750 Holleys, and the oval-port heads are also from Holley. The engine has a very small (226-at-0.050) hydraulic roller cam. At 5 psi boost, it makes 520 hp at the wheels, and 500 lb-ft of torque. The transmission is a Gearstar 4L85E auto-overdrive, and the rear gears are 3.50:1 in a Ford 9-inch with a Wavetrac diff from Moser Engineering. We ran the Crusher on 30x9.50-15 Hoosier radial slicks for this trip to the track, though on the street it rides on Pro-Tracs from Coker Tire. This car is very streetable on 91-octane gas.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, we take you behind the scenes of the buildup of the car that was named America's Most Beautiful Roadster for 2012 at the Grand National Roadster Show. The Indy Speedster is an amazingly detailed, hand fabricated track roadster that was a project of Jackie Howerton's for well over a decade before he sold it to Bill Lindig who had the car finished by So-Cal Speed Shop. In the video, we get the inside view from So-Cal's Pete Chapouris and Jimmy Shine.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, we raise a '66 Buick from the dead. After spending 33 years sitting outside in the desert, the broken down Buick Special is revived by David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan of HOT ROD and Rick Pewe of 4-Wheel & Off-Road magazine. Rick's mother bought the car when it was near new and parked it when the transmission failed in 1978. In 2011, the guys spent two and a half days wrenching on the car, with the hopes of driving it home from Phoenix to Los Angeles. Come along for the ride and see what happens!
It's the baddest factory Camaro ever! The 2012 COPO Camaro is a pure drag racing car built to compete in NHRA Stock Eliminator and Super Stock classes, and in this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, we go behind the scenes within General Motors to learn about the car, watch some radical burnouts, meet some of the people behind the COPO, see one of the engines on the dyno, and visit the Performance Build Center where the engines are assembled. At the time of our visit, the only COPO was the very first one, known as the Proof of Concept car, serial number 001. GM was not ready to release engine power numbers, drag times, or vehicle weights, as class details are still being worked out with the National Hot Rod Association. COPO stands for Central Office Production Order, a process that was used in the '60s for fleet managers to order unusual combinations of options. Dealer Fred Gibb figured out how to use the system to get GM to assemble cars that were never intended for production. He ordered 1969 Camaros that used a derivative of GM's 427ci, all-aluminum ZL1 race engine, and bought enough of them to make them legal to compete as production cars in NHRA and AHRA drag racing. There were 69 ZL1 Camaros built in 1969, and Chevrolet is building the same number for 2012. The new COPO is a pure race car, not able to be licensed for the street, and is available with three different engines: a 427 that's naturally aspirated, a 327 with a 2.9L Whipple blower, and a 327 with a 4.0L Whipple blower. Buyers have the option to own all three engines, all stamped with the serial number of their car. The COPO is gutted of all the street equipment, has a rollcage, and the original independent rear suspension has been replaced with a Strange 9-inch rearend with 4.29 gears and a spool. Other aftermarket parts include Strange struts and brakes, and ATI Powerglide transmission, an Aeromotive fuel system, Bogart wheels with COPO engraving, and Hoosier 30x9.00-15 radial slicks and skinny front dr
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, HOT ROD Editor In Chief David Freiburger drives the Lingenfelter Performance Engineering Camaro ZL1 to 202 mph, making it the first 2012 ZL1 to exceed 200 mph. This very same ZL1 in the exact same configuration (save for wheels and tires and the rollcage) was also the first to run 10s in the quarter mile. The ZL1 Camaros were first delivered to the public in early April, making 580 hp from their supercharged, 6.2L, LSA engines. Within days of delivery, Lingenfelter had its ZL1 making 720 hp at 6,500 rpm and 650 lb-ft at 4,650 rpm, both measured at the rear tires. The performance parts are all from Lingenfelter: CNC-ported cylinder heads, a GT9 camshaft, a ported supercharger cover, overdrive blower pulleys, a cold-air kit, 63-lb/hr fuel injectors, a voltage booster for the fuel pump, a 160-degree thermostat, and tuning. The entire package, installed, is $11,495. Everything else on this manual-trans car is stock. The performance testing was done with 109-octane VP fuel and 15 psi boost. On April 18, 2012, the Lingenfelter ZL1 ran 10.79 at 134.36 mph at Muncie Dragway in Indiana. That was on drag wheels and tires. On April 30, 2012, the car was delivered to the Continental Tire Proving Grounds in Uvalde, Texas. Shod with Continental Extreme Contact tires on the original ZL1 wheels, the Camaro was tested on the 8-1/2-mile oval. The three-lane surface is like a road rather than a race track, the turns are not banked, and there are a few elevation changes. During the top-speed run, Freiburger pulled 0.4 to 0.5 g at 190-plus mph in the sweeping turns, then held it down for nearly 40 seconds on the pull from 190 to 202.67 mph before lifting to avoid cresting a small hill at corner entry at 200-plus mph. The car had not reached terminal velocity. Conditions included a head/crosswind, ambient temperatures in the 90s, and a density altitude of 3,280 feet. The car had not reached terminal velocity. Conditions included a head/crosswind, amb
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, HOT ROD Editor In Chief David Freiburger explores the very first standing-mile race to be held on the runway at the Airpark in Wilmington, Ohio. This race was sanctioned by the East Coast Timing Association, which for years had been running on an old WWII runway at the airport in Maxton, North Carolina. When military needs caused the ECTA to lose access to Maxton at the end of the 2011 season, the city of Wilmington was happy to accept the racers. The very first meet was filled to capacity with 175 entries, and despite rain delays, 24 vehicles eclipsed 200 mph at the event. Watch as Freiburger makes his first passes at Wilmington, hunting for 200 mph in Wayne Jesel's former Busch-series NASCAR race car.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, we look back at the unique relationship between Carroll Shelby and the flagship magazines of Petersen Publishing -- HOT ROD and Motor Trend. We visit Bob D'Olivo, the publishing company's longtime director of photography and a close friend of Shelby's, who gives us a rare glimpse at his personal archive of Shelby photography. You'll also hear from the magazines' current chief content officer and our executive producer Angus MacKenzie as well as from HOT ROD's publisher Jerry Pitt and Editor In Chief David Freiburger. Finally, we revisit the very last video interview that HOT ROD magazine had with Carroll Shelby, where Shelby reflects on his longtime friendship with Robert E. Petersen, founder of HOT ROD and Motor Trend, and reveals the crucial role Petersen and his staff played in the development of the Cobra.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, come along for ultimate gearhead roadtrip, as we travel over 1500 miles with some of Americas hottest performance cars for the 2012 HOT ROD Power Tour presented by Chevrolet Performance.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, follow along with Scott Shanks and his '70 Dodge Challenger convertible as he participates in the Royal Purple Performance Driving Experience at the 2012 HOT ROD Power Tour. For 2012, 5,000 cars were involved in a trek through seven cities in seven days, starting in Detroit and ending in Arlington, Texas. There's a big party every night, and the Royal Purple Performance Driving Experience is part of that scene. It encompasses three action events that are open to all the cars: an autocross, a drag race, and a burnout contest. See if Scott's 6.1L Hemi-powered Challenger is up to the challenge.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, HOT ROD Editor-in-Chief David Freiburger shares a brief history of the magazine from its inception in 1948 to its massive redesign that launched with the September 2012 issue. The new issues of HOT ROD have 40 to 50 percent more editorial pages, and the content and presentation has been reimagined from scratch. Along with HOTROD.com, HOT ROD TV, HOT ROD Live Radio, HOT ROD apps, social media, and events, this iconic American brand is bigger and hotter than ever.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, David Freiburger meets up with Pro Touring legend Mark Stielow to compare old and new Camaros head to head. Mark Stielow is a GM engineer with a long history of building vintage, street-worthy Camaros with amazing handling prowess. His latest is the Red Devil, a '69 model powered by a 427ci, supercharged LS9 that tops 750 hp and 800 lb-ft. It runs a six-speed trans and complete suspension from Detroit Speed, and has won a number of shootouts with similarly built Pro Touring cars. But can his modified muscle car outrun the technology of the Magnetic Ride suspension on the new, 580hp, 2012 Camaro ZL1? We head to GingerMan Raceway in South Haven, Michigan to find out.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, HOT ROD's Mike Finnegan visits with Holley Performance Products during the 2012 HOT ROD Power Tour, where 3 participants were chosen to have their cars custom tuned on the road by Holley's experts.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan hit the road in the hottest new muscle cars, the 2013 Shelby GT500 and the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. This isn't a serious performance comparison, but a look at how two muscle car guys view the pros and cons of each car while thrashing them on the street and strip like you might if you really owned 'em. But you probably wouldn't do as many burnouts and donuts as these guys, because you'd be replacing tires every week. Watch this and make the call: which car would YOU buy?
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, HOT ROD magazine heads to Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs for the 90th running of the world's most famous mountain race; the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. We follow Jess Neal and Morgan Combes as they attempt to make it to the top of the treacherous 12.5 mile course in a 1971 Plymouth 'Cuda.
Ever see an 800hp off-road race truck on the drag strip and road-race course? Neither had we, which is why we set that up on this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited. Join Mike Finnegan as he takes a look at the fabrication and the power behind Cameron Steele's Desert Assassin Trophy Truck that runs in the SCORE off-road race series, sponsored by Monster Energy and Yokohama tires. You may also know Steele from hosting action-sports shows on TV, but in this video he's at the wheel of his desert truck on the quarter mile of Auto Club Famoso Raceway and the big track at Willow Springs International Raceway, right alongside us in a new Mustang Boss 302 and a Raptor 4x4. Watch the surprising results!
On this bonus episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, it's the return of our '66 Buick Special convertible. In episode 5, we showed you how this car had been abandoned in an Arizona backyard for 33 years with the top down. Freiburger and Finnegan flew into town, got the car running with the help of Rick Pewe from 4-Wheel & Off-Road magazine, and drove it home to Los Angeles. Watch that original episode here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLWndk...). The car proved to be a ton of fun, so now we are turning it into a daily driver. In this video, Freiburger and Camaro Performers magazine's Nick Licata bring you along for the autocross, slalom and brake testing of the car's all-new performance suspension from Classic Performance Products (CPP). It's a sight you won't soon forget.
This episode of HOT ROD Unlimited screams with action from 200-mph street cars at one of the most grueling events in all of motorsports: HOT ROD Drag Week, presented by Gear Vendors. This is the most brutal test anywhere of real drag-racing, street-driven cars, as the competitors hit the road for 1,400 miles to race five times at four different drag strips in five days in a battle to post the lowest average elapsed time at the end of the week. The winner is crowned the HOT ROD Fastest Street Car in America. In this video, we'll follow the chase for that title in Drag Week's most outrageous class, called Unlimited. Imagine cars that run 7 seconds in the quarter mile, in excess of 200 mph, and then drive on public roads—in the rain, over potholes, whatever it takes—to make it to the next race day to do it again. Five times. Ever see a 2,800-horsepower car hauling its own trailer full of tools and parts? You will here. When you wonder how the staff of HOT ROD could ever make the statement that a Lamborghini Aventador "isn't $400,000 fast," this video will prove why with legit American street cars in a battle of speed and survival.
HOT ROD Drag Week is the event where racers compete and five drag races at four different drag strips in five days, driving their competition cars on the street from track to track. At the 2012 event, presented by Gear Vendors, 180-plus cars drove 1,400 miles, starting and ending in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is the ultimate test of the quickest real street cars, and racers battle mechanical problems and sleepless nights just to finish. Now imagine how difficult that would be if you had never been to the US, you shipped your car from another continent, drove it 600 miles to the start of Drag Week, and raced the whole five days. And your car is a Bedford van that you handbuilt with a turbo four-cylinder that runs 11.50s at 120 mph in the quarter, and there's a not a single part for it that you can buy in America. Now imagine doing all that while helping other racers at every step along the way, with a smile on your face the whole time. That was Mick "Wacky" Wilkes from England, who was the 2012 winner of HOT ROD Spirit of Drag Week award, an honor that the magazine and the racers take very seriously. When Drag Week was done, Mick and his girlfriend Deb hit the road again, traveling all of Route 66 until they wound up at the HOT ROD magazine office in Southern California. Watch this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited to see their adventure.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, Elana Scherr heads up to one of the most important racetracks in drag racing history, AAA Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif. This is where it all started for many legendary California drivers, and the track is still jumping today. The NHRA Heritage series hold two of its eleven nostalgia racing events in Bakersfield, and the California Hot Rod Reunion is the final event in the series. We talk to driver Adam Sorokin about his chase for the championship in his small-block Chevy front engine top fuel dragster and meet up with one of our racing heros, Don "The Snake" Prudhomme who tells us what it takes to drive a top fuel car and why he never meant to be a jerk when you asked him for an autograph back in 1973.
On this episode of Hot Rod Unlimited, Mike Finnegan takes us for a drive on the wild side as he helps amateur drag boat racer Jeff Conrad compete in the 9.00 second bracket class. The duo take an 1,160 hp jet boat and enter it in the sportsman class, giving us a glimpse of what its like to tune and race a drag boat in this dangerous and unpredictable sport. Will they be going home early or will Jeff drive the boat to the finals?
On this episode of Hot Rod Unlimited, Elana Scherr speaks with Bruce Meyers, the creator of the Meyers Manx dune buggy. Bruce visits the HOT ROD Studio with some restored and original Manx buggies for a photo shoot and explains the inspiration behind the development of the Manx in 1964 and its subsequent racing and cultural legacy. Then we head to the Meyers Manx headquarters, ride in an original Meyers Manx with the Manx club and take a new Dual-Sport manx on the autocross.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, the HOT ROD staff takes a field trip to the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. Through a series of driving exercises, the HOT ROD editors learn the basics of evasive maneuvers, heel-toe shifting, and road course driving both in the classroom and on the track. See what happens when six people, with no road coarse racing experience, are given the keys to high performance 2013 Grand Sport Corvettes. The weekend results in a little friendly competition amongst editors.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, The HOT ROD staff shows how you can trick your friends into a party so you can paint your hot rod in a weekend. Associate Editor Jesse Kiser and HOT ROD Magazine Live host Dennis Pittsenbarger shows how the staff painted their hideous 1967 Chevrolet Impala in a couple days. Using kits from Summit Racing and Eastwood Industries, anyone can paint a car almost anywhere, hot wings optional.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, Staff Editor Thom Taylor drives a channeled, topless Deuce roadster in the dead of winter from Nashville to LA, encountering what you would expect in the middle of winter: ice, rain, cold, frost, and did we mention cold. Thom drove the roadster back to LA to promote HOT RODs 65th anniversary event, HOT ROD Homecoming, taking place in March 2013 (HotRodHomecoming.com). Watch the roadster slip, slide and spin 2,000 miles as Thom takes Interstate 40 through eight states and 70-degrees of temperature change, taking breaks for burnouts, breakdowns, bad weather and junkyards.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, the team heads to Vegas to see what's faster: a Factory Five kit car or a 542hp rear-wheel drive Lamborghini Gallardo. Associate Editor Jesse Kiser, Staff Editor Brandan Gillogly and professional driver Mike Essa pilot four of Factory Five's kit cars to see which one's the best on the 1/4-mile, road course, and street. The Mark IV Roadsters feature a 5.0L Coyote V8 and a 427ci from Summit Racing's new line of Factory Five drivetrain packages.
Associate Editor Jesse Kiser grabs the keys to Mickey Thompson Tire's SEMA car On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited. It's a 2013 5.0L Mustang topped with an Edelbrock supercharger and it puts 575hp to the wheels. He headed down to the American Street Car Series event: Run to the Coast. This is the first event for of the season and features a speed-stop challenge, autocross, and 2.1-mile road coarse. See how Jesse finished at his very first event, and the first time this SEMA car has been raced.
The Evolution of the Corvette: Innovative Design from the C1 to the C7 StingRay. We hitch a ride in a '57 Corvette to the Petersen Automotive Museum to catch the debut of the new 2014 C7 StingRay. At the museum we meet up with StingRay designer, Kirk Bennion, who walks us through a brief history of Corvette design from the car's introduction in 1953 through the body and design changes leading up to the current C6. Finally we pull the cover off the C7 and Bennion tells us why he believes the car deserves the StingRay name. Along the way, we see many rare Corvettes including the very first Motorama prototype, the race winning Grand Sport and one of the last C6 'Vettes ever built.
Ever wondered what a job at HOT ROD magazine is really like? In this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited we take you inside the offices at HOT ROD to show you what goes in to publishing the longest running automotive magazine of all time. You'll see the staff at work as we brainstorm new issues, work in the shop, shoot feature cars in the studio and drive our favorite cars. It's hard work, but someone has to do it.
It's HOT ROD magazine's 65th anniversary in 2013, and to celebrate, the staff hosted a once-in-a-lifetime car show: a collection of 300-plus cover and feature cars from the pages of the mag, dating all the way back to 1948. In this video you'll get details on many of the cars that were on display at the Fairplex in Pomona, California, March 23-24, 2013. You'll also hear insights from magazine staff members past and present, as well as visits with hot rodding legends such as TV Tommy Ivo and Roland Leong. For further coverage, see HOTROD.com or the Sept. '13 issue of HOT ROD magazine. HOT ROD thanks Chevrolet Performance and Edelbrock for supporting this historic event.
Most hands-on car guys have spent at least one afternoon at a wrecking yard scrounging for parts, but did you ever wonder what happens to the cars once they've been picked over? In this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, we get a tour of Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking, where we learn why a junked car is pure gold to recyclers, and then we get to smash stuff into tiny, little pieces at SA Recycling.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, our resident scaredy-cat, Elana Scherr, faces her fears and gets behind the wheel of a 9-second dragster at zMax Dragway in North Carolina during a day at the Doug Foley Experience. Along with instruction from Doug Foley himself, Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers Brittany and Courtney Force are on hand to help encourage Elana to put the pedal down. Will she floor it or wreck it? Ride along and find out.
Spend the day with Mr. Hot Wheels, Larry Wood, also known as Elwood (like his initials L. Wood). Wood has designed Hot Wheels since 1969 and still consults on designs today. He has designed some of the most famous Hot Wheels ever, including the 1949 Mercury, the Boyd Coddington collector set, and the Ramblin' Wagon. After graduating art school he worked as a designer for Ford and then in the aerospace industry, before moving to Mattel. We tour his garage filled with his artwork, streetrods, and years of Hot Wheels designs.
It's time for motor mayhem! On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited we head to Westech Performance Group with Mike Finnegan to dyno-tune a new engine for the Draguar, the 1974 Jaguar XJ12 with a small-block Chevy under the hood that he and Freiburger bought for $1,000 and installed a supercharger onto in a parking lot during episode 7 of Roadkill. After the supercharger upgrade the guys road-tripped the dilapidated car from San Francisco to Sacramento for a drag race. With the summertime air temps hovering around 113 degrees, the worn out 350 overheated and Freiburger only managed to run a 15.30 ¼ mile ET at Sacramento Raceway. Looking for redemption, Freiburger ordered a new 383ci long block from Blueprint Engines, a definite upgrade over the old powerplant. Though the new longblock is only rated to 600hp it features forged pistons and rods and a forged crankshaft, which means that the guys can turn up the boost and make double the power of the old engine. The engine effortlessly made 650hp with 91 octane fuel in the tank but Finnegan was feelin' froggy so he added 118 octane race fuel and upped the boost to 15 psi in an attempt to make 700hp with the 383. Did the engine leave the dyno shop in one piece?
HOT ROD's Thom Taylor takes a vintage Indy Roadster around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before the 2013 Indy 500. Driving the Bill Akin-restored Bowes Seal Fast roadster, built by Quinn Epperly, and raced to 6th place by Johnny Boyd at the '59 500, Thom runs with other historic Indy roadsters racing around the track on Carburetor Day before the Indy 500 race.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited we discover a hidden collection of cool old hot rods, muscle cars, old gas pumps and dealer signs in Evansville, Indiana. All of which belongs to Rick Bonenberger, an avid collector of hot rods and other automotive memorabilia.
By now every car lover knows who Carroll Shelby was, but what makes his cars so great? To find out, we headed to the Autoclub Speedway in Fontana, California, where the Shelby American Automobile Club was holding its annual Shelby Convention. We talked with racers and collectors, and got a chance to ride in a GT40 with a man who raced for Shelby back in the days, High Performance Driving School founder, Bob Bondurant. We also were on hand for the debut of the newly restored Essex Wire Cobra, one of the winningest big block Cobras ever to compete. We also take a look at what makes driving these cars special, and why people come from all over the world to see them in person, and hear them on the track.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, we get a closer look a Ridler Award winner! At the 2013 Detroit Autorama, eight cars were chosen to compete for the prestigious Ridler Award. The winner was Ron Cizek's 1940 Ford, "Checkered Past", built by Andy Leach at CAL Automotive Creations. Andy and Ron invited us out to Bennington, Nebraska to get a closer look at the supercharged, flathead-powered Checkered Past, and meet some of the talented fabricators who made it possible. We take the car on its first street drive, and stop by a local car cruise to see what the enthusiast scene is all about in Bennington. Andy also takes us through the CAL Creations shop to give us a sneak peek at some of the current projects, including a '71 'Cuda and a land speed racing car.
HOT ROD Drag Week is the world's most brutal test of a real street/strip car, requiring the cars to drive 1,200-plus miles in one week while racing five days in a row at four different tracks. Larry Larson has done the impossible, winning five times in a row in his '66 Chevy Nova that has been as quick as 6.94 seconds in the quarter mile at 200-plus mph. This ranks as one of the most impressive feats in all of motorsports, and has earned the Nova the title of HOT ROD Magazine's Fastest Street Car in America. In this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, meet the humble chassis builder from Oak Grove, Missouri, who makes it happen.
It's been the core of grassroots hot rodding since the very beginning: you're on the street with your car, another rodder pulls alongside and you go -- drag racing to see who has the quicker ride. Illegal street racing found its way to sanctioned tracks as early as 1949 and that's when street-driven cars began to morph into pure racecars. Yet for 65 years, hot rodders have remained interested in real street-driven cars that are also fast on the strip. David Freiburger traces the history of street-legal drag racing, with insider information on the development of the Fastest Street Car Shootout in the '90s, the HOT ROD Pump Gas Drags in the mid-2000s, and the current challenges facing HOT ROD Drag Week.
On this episode of Hot Rod Unlimited we go drifting! In recent years, the swap of the GM LSX motor has become more and more common, so we decided to check out the effects in the world of drifting at Englishtown, New Jersey during Club Loose's Freedom Moves event. Staff editor Brandan Gillogly speaks to three regulars at Club Loose about their setups and opinions on cars with and without V8's, and what suits them best.
On this week of HOT ROD Unlimited, we go to Georgetown, Colorado for the 60th Anniversary of the Hot Rod Hillclimb, last run in the early 1950's. Thomas Taylor tours the greater Denver area, talking to original members and new faces about the resurrected race in the quant little town. The race itself binds everyone of all ages to the younger days of race cars in Colorado, and takes over throughout the whole town with bands, food and of course old school hot rods.
On this episode of HOT ROD Unlimited, we join up with TireRack.com to test six handling-oriented, street-legal performance tires on one car at one track and with one driver to name the winner. In the process, we show you a ridiculous four-door, big-block powered 1970 Plymouth Satellite that outruns a BMW on Tire Rack's test track! We also name a winner in the tire test, which includes the BFGoodrich G-Force Rival, Dunlop Direzza Z11, Hankook Ventus R-S3 z222, Michelin Pilot Super Sport, Falken Azenis RK615k, and Nitto NT05.
This week on HOT ROD Unlimited, Brian Lohnes hosts and announces at the inaugural Super Diesel Shootout in Tulsa, Oklahoma presented by Shell ROTELLA. Custom built and everyday tow rigs of all makes battle it out in a two day event featuring drag racing, dyno, and a tractor pull! Watch trucks roll coal in sub 10-second passes on the strip, and "roll coal" with the sled pull.
Believe it or not, hot rods played a key role in the popularization of the old-school minibike that so many of us remember from our childhoods. In this video short, David Freiburger applies his encyclopedic knowledge to two wheels, telling the tail of Hot Rod magazine's involvement with these goofy little bikes, and how hot-rod culture and minibike culture develped hand-in-hand. It's a fun trip down memory lane with some insightful info about these rad little machines.