Author Archive
Every single year, beyond members gather online and debate the merits of winter tires, and compares what works best in our climate. Over the last 5 years, winter tires threads are by far the most popular winter discussions on our forums. We have a mix of the all season tire warriors, the winter tire nuts, and the crazies like myself that drive their sports cars in the winter trying to find a winter tire that’s actually manufactured in aggressive sizes. These threads must have garnered the attention of Michelin, as they have invited us to their unveiling of the brand new 2012 Michelin X-Ice Xi3 for review (don’t forget to check out the Xi3 preview for more pics).
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How do you improve on something as good as the Michelin X-Ice Xi2? Apparently, Michelin has found a way. This week, Michelin is debuting the all new X-Ice Xi3 winter tire at the Mecaglisse Ice and Snow track. Like it’s successor, it’s a dedicated snow and ice tire, which are very popular (and mandatory in Quebec) on our Canadian winter roads. How much better? The ice acceleration improvements stand out, delivering a whopping 17% shorter distances to get up to speed.
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With today’s passing of Bill 26, Albertans are soon to face much tougher penalties in regards to impaired driving, and blowing between the 0.05 BAC warn limit, and the 0.08 BAC criminal DUI limit. Under the new law, if a person is caught driving with a BAC level from 0.05 to 0.08, their license would be suspended for 3 days, and their car could also be seized for the same period. That’s an increase from the previous 24-hour suspension for blowing between the 2 levels.
There has been a lot of debate over how strict this limit is, and how many drinks will actually tip you over the limit. In our first unscientific breathalyzer challenge, we found that most of us couldn’t even register a 0.05 while drinking at a bar, even though all of us did not feel safe to drive. We concluded at that time that 0.08 is way too high of a limit, and applaude the tougher 0.05 rules that were being considered.
There were a lot of criticism over our testing methods,
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Here’s a reason to be happy if you’re in Calgary. The City of Calgary launched a highly anticipated free app for the iPhone this morning, called YYC Roads. The app allows the user to receive notifications for snow events, current road conditions, access to traffic cameras, live locations of plow trucks and sanders, and status of roads that have been plowed.
You can download the app here, or simply search for YYC Roads in the app store. Be sure to join our forums to discuss the app with fellow motorists!
May 1st, 1994. I was into the 3rd race of my 2nd year of following Formula 1. That fateful morning in Canada, I watched my racing hero, the man that got me interested in the sport, crash into the wall at Tamburello and die at the San Marino grand prix, live on television. 17 years later, I’m still following Formula 1, watching nearly every race live.
Senna was a Formula 1 legend, a legend that deserves such a great film documenting his life, his career, his mark that he left with us in Formula 1 history. A few beyonders joined me at The Uptown Theatre in downtown Calgary to catch this excellent documentary on the big screen.
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We’ve covered the C63 AMG Black Series in depth over the last few months, revealing details of the car before anyone else, and covering the Nurburgring worldwide debut of the car. So what better place for a North American debut of the C63 AMG Black Series than Laguna Seca. Mercedes AMG brought 5 of the cars, optioned up with the Track Pack and Aero Pack, to flog around the legendary track for a press event a few days before the LA Auto Show opens up.
And what a car. A logical successor to the wildly successful 2008 CLK63 Black Series, Mercedes spent over a year tweaking the setup, fine tuning the aerodynamics to create a beast that can lap the Nurburgring a whopping 19 seconds faster than it’s predacessor. That’s an eternity in terms of laptimes.
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For the last 2 months, I’ve been whining and complaining on our forums about how boring the 996 Turbo is. Monday night, after our first dusting of snow on the roads, I take it all back. But first, let’s go over the progress of our 911 Turbo winterization program.
Intro: Porsche 911 Turbo, the Ultimate Winter Car
Our first modification was a set of winter tires provided by Integra Tire on MacLeod Trail. Due to the 996’s AWD system, there’s only a small number of winter tires that fit the 996 Turbo. We choose a set of Hankook Icebear W300’s, 225/40R18 up front and 265/35R18 out back. These tires have average grip in snow and ice, but grips well on cold dry pavement, which is a great compromise for Calgary’s winters. Because the 265’s require a 10″ rear wheel (factory rear wheel is 11″ wide), a new set of winter wheels were required, and was provided by Kulu Motorcar.
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The AMG Performance Tour Road Show made a stop in Calgary this week, bringing with them 14 AMG vehicles for a lucky few to sample. AMG owners were invited by their respective dealerships and sales staff to join AMG in testing out their current line of vehicles in an enviroment they were designed for, on the race track, at Race City Motorsports Park.
Being the biggest AMG fanboy out there, and having owned 4 different AMGs in the past few years, I was given an invite to this event. Seeing as this is the final week for Race City (it’s officially closing after this weekend), what better way than to spend a few hours on the track I grew up with, hammering on some of the finest (and personal favorite) vehicles from Affalterbach.
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Porsche 911 Turbo, the Ultimate Winter Car
I’m a Mercedes-Benz guy, have been for the last decade. It comes as a surprise, even to myself, that I ended up back where I started, behind the wheel of a Porsche. My first real sports car was a Porsche 944 Turbo, which I owned since high school, and drove to it’s grave 5 years ago with a hole in the block of the heavily modified engine. I missed her while she was gone, for a few months anyways. Looking back, with all the money that I spent, and the toxic love/hate relationship that I had with the car, I vowed not to get back into a Porsche again.
And here I am today, with a 2003 Porsche 911 Turbo sitting in my garage, a month away from winter. You’ve all seen those Porsche Everyday commercials. This is supposed to be the ultimate winter car. I’ve read about it, heard about it from other owners that winter drive their 911’s in the winter, and see them on the road, which made me curious… is it really the Ultimate Winter Car?
With that being said, here’s the introduction to our 911 Turbo, Ultimate Winter Car series. Let’s take a look at the car that we’ve aquired:
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In all honesty, it doesn’t look so bad!
Jay-Z and Kanye West debuted their Otis video last night on MTV and Youtube. In the video, they took a brand new Maybach, chopped it up, added some tin widebody fenders, and created this Mad Max styled masterpiece. The hood for a trunk was a nice touch, and surprisingly, fits the monster look well.
For the watch geeks out there, it’s nice seeing non blinged out watches being worn by the pair. Jay-Z was sporting a Hublot Classic Fusion in Rose Gold, and Kanye was sporting a Rolex Yellow Gold Daytona with a Mother of Pearl dial. Very classy choice!
Video after the jump.
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