Or, more accurately, money doesn’t equal a clue when it comes to drag racing. That is all.

Thanks Jalopnik!

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One of our most popular videos here at Street Muscle Action is our piece on properly breaking in an engine equipped with a flat-tappet camshaft. You can see it here. But a few things have changed since that video came out, and we thought we’d update you here. When the video was made, we recommended Comp Cams’ break-in additive, but since then the company has added 10W-30 and 15W-50 oils to its catalog formulated specifically for engine break in.

Both oils are fortified with ZDDP additives to provide that critical lubrication against sliding friction that modern oils cannot. Here’s what else Comp has to say about it’s new oils:

“Heavily tested and proven by the COMP Cams® R&D team, these advanced lubricants deliver maximum engine life. They do so by improving the surface mating of valve train components (especially flat tappets), rotating assembly, rod journals, piston rings, valve guides and other vital areas of the engine. The proprietary formulas of both the 15W50 and 10W30 oils include optimum amounts of critical additives ZDDP (Zinc & Phosphorus), Molybdenum, detergents and high grade base oil.
 
The mineral-based COMP Cams® Engine Break-In Oils are fully-formulated and require no additives or supplements. In addition, both popular weights are fully compatible with gasoline, methanol and high octane racing fuels. They can be purchased in single quarts, cases of twelve quarts or pallets of eighty-four cases.”

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Thought I’d pass along some unused shots from a recent car shoot I did for Cragar Wheels.

The car is a 62 Corvette that was outfitted with Cragar’s new 612 Series two-piece wheels. The wheels have a great old-school look that really goes well with a classic car like this. The shots that were chosen will show up in an Cragar catalog sometime in the near future. The shoot started just before sunrise, and the thing I remember most is between each shot frantically trying to wipe down the dew that kept forming on the glass and trunk.

I was told this car was purchased off of Barrett Jackson, so if anyone remembers seeing it (with different wheels) let us know in the comments.

[View with PicLens]

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It has been years since any compact car has caught my eye, but there’s something about Ford’s new Focus RS500 that’s pretty appealing–like the 350 horsepower coming from the tiny 2.5-liter engine.

Unfortunately, the top of the line RS500 model is a Euro-Spec only model that we won’t get to drool over on these shores. If it helps, you can watch this video of one being upfitted by hand after it comes off Ford’s assembly line. Didn’t realize the flat black paint was actually a vinyl wrap.

Check out the video after the break.

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The Goodwood Festival of Speed took place last weekend, and we’re getting some good video footage of some of the great cars that were part of the event.

One that caught our attention is this on-car video of a 1970 Porsche 908/3 taking part in the one-mile hillclimb. It doesn’t sound like the driver is really putting the screws to the old race car (not surprising since only 13 were hand built and they helped Porsche win the 1970 Manufacturers’ Cup), but it’s still fun to watch it negotiate the tight course nonetheless. Hit the jump for the video.

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Will Roegge is one of my favorite videographers, and I just found another great vid he’s made. This time he’s gone back to Pikes Peak and worked with driver Jeff Zwart. Roegge and Zwart are putting together a video of the weekend, but as a teaser, he’s released an in-car video of Zwart’s record-setting qualifying run in the 2wd class of 11:31.095. Watch and enjoy.

Pikes Peak 2010 – Jeff Zwart Qualifying from Will Roegge on Vimeo.

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Conditions didn’t allow him to break the magical 10 minute barrier, but Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima unoficially won last weekend’s Pikes Peak Hillclimb by posting the fastest overall time in his Unlimited class Suzuki XL7. His official time was 10 minutes 18.250 seconds, which was slower than his record 10 minute 1.408 seconds, but still several seconds faster than second-place finisher Paul Dallenbach, wh0 clocked in at 10:39.534. Rhys Millen, the third competitor in the Unlimited class, suffered mechanical problems in his brand-new Hyundai with 11:06.208.

Tajima, who shipped his car over from Japan along with 64 tires and enough spare parts to build a second race car, said he thought his time was fast enough to break the 10 minute barrier. “I’m very disappointed,” he said, “I thought I was faster. It was a very good run. The car and everything worked well.”

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Here’s a little warm-up video for you to get you ready for the Pike’s Peak Hillclimb. The video is a practice run by J.T. Taylor in his Tube Shark rock racer. Obviously, he won’t be the fastest up the hill, but it’s still fun to watch and listen as his navigator calls out the turns.

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We’ve drooled over Hennessey turbo installations before, and that’s exactly what we were doing while watching this YouTube clip of a Hennessy tuned Ford Raptor pickup when we noticed it. Yes, we love the 600 horsepower “VelociRaptor,” but watch the video and look closely for yourself. The expensive twin turbo system is tucked in right behind the truck’s front bumper. Isn’t that the crush zone for any front-end hit over five miles per hour? It may make for a clean installation, but is that really the best place to put two quite expensive turbos?

Maybe I’m missing something here. If so, help me out in the comments.

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Just got an interesting email from Lotus this morning and thought we’d share some of it with you. You can see the teaser image provided (today is the Summer Solstice, which is a big deal at Stone henge), but nothing of a car.

But the text reveals a little more. Here’s part of it:

So you think you’ve seen
all there is to see?

Think again.

As peace-loving druids gather to witness the magic of the annual Summer Solstice at one of the UK’s most symbolic landmarks, prepare yourself to witness the dawning of a new era for Lotus.

The email goes on to say that Lotus will “unveil the future evolution of an iconic British brand”  at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. We’re assuming it will be a new Lotus model, but after the recent debut of the Evora, what could be up this time? Leave your guesses in the comments section below. Does the photo provide any clues that you can see?

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