New M3 commercial...the car that builds bridges

BMW has released a new M3 Commercial.... Apparently the car is so powerful it builds bridges.... not entirely sure what message that is supposed to convey, but it sure is pretty to watch ;-)

[Watch Video]

First time in 31 years, a modern F1 race car takes on the Nurburgring Nordschleife

Here are the raw un-edited press videos from Nick Heidfeld's attack of the Nurburgring Nordschleife. It's been 31 years since a modern F1 car hit the full ring. Note: At first the time of 8:34 appears slow, only 1 second faster than e36 M3, so I have to wonder if Nick did a full uninterrupted lap. The in-cockpit video is the fastest I've ever seen the ring fly by so I can only imagine there is a reason the BMW Sauber F1 car was two minutes off the track record.... surely this was the best opportunity to set a new record.

From the Press Kit

BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM - NURBURGRING NORDSCHLEIFE
04/30/2007

"I'll never forget today as long as I live"

Munich/Nürburgring, 28 April 2007. BMW has written another chapter in motor sport history on the legendary Nordschleife at the Nürburgring. Today, Saturday, a modern Formula 1 vehicle was driven round the 20.8 kilometre race track for the first time in 31 years in front of a crowd numbering 45,000 BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Nick Heidfeld was extremely enthusiastic after three laps in the F1.06: "This drive was simply incredible. I thought it would be great to drive on the Nordschleife before I started out. But it was even better than I had expected. This racing track is the best in the world. I'd really like to have emptied the tank. It was a very special moment when I left the grand prix circuit in the direction of the Nordschleife. I was really shaken up at the Bergwerk section and on the Döttinger Höhe. I'll never forget today as long as I live. Another particularly special experience has now joined the many fantastic childhood memories and racing successes."

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen said: "We wanted to give fans a special treat. And I believe we have done this with the entire BMW motor sport programme. The BMW M3 GTR that Olaf Manthey presented today was welcomed like an old friend. The car is actually much too athletic for the museum. Naturally, the high point was Nick's drive with the F1.06. We had implored him to be careful. The day was a homage to the fans and to this unique circuit in the world of racing. For once, the lap times were a secondary consideration."

Despite unusually hard demonstration tyres and short transmission ratio, Heidfeld notched up a top speed of 275 km/h on the long straight called the "Döttinger Höhe". The second lap was his fastest lap and took 8:34 minutes. A camera car took shots of the 29-year-old on some sections of all three laps and Heidfeld slowed down for the photo calls.

The F1.06 was adjusted for maximum ground clearance to drive on this uneven traditional circuit - four centimetres at the front axle, eight centimetres at the rear axle. No other modifications were carried out on the vehicle. One special measure was necessary for wireless communication. Team Manager Beat Zehnder travelled with the camera helicopter in order to secure the radio link over the entire distance instead of sitting on the pit wall as usual.

As far as BMW is concerned, the Nürburgring is rather like a second home, not simply because of numerous past successes - including 18 overall victories at 24 hour races and a one-two Formula 1 win. BMW Motorsport is also the partner for the VLN endurance championship at the Nürburgring, with one of the races being held today (Saturday). BMW Driver Training, BMW Ring Taxis, the BMW Performance Centre and a permanent racing-car exhibition in the "Erlebniswelt" leisure park are fixed institutions at the Eifel circuit.

In addition to the BMW Sauber F1 Team with Heidfeld and test driver Sebastian Vettel and the BMW M3 GTR, the BMW works drivers from the World Touring Car Championship (FIA WTCC) guaranteed lots of exciting action , as well as talking to fans and signing autograph books. Two-times world champion Andy Priaulx (GBR) and Jörg Müller (DEU) also played taxi driver on the Nordschleife, as did Augusto Farfus (BRA). The BMW motor-sport fleet was out in force on the legendary circuit. There was Formula 1 and the BMW M3 GTR, the BMW 320si WTCC to the BMW Z4 M Coupé. Even the smallest of all BMW racing cars put in an appearance: In the morning, Heidfeld took the inspection lap in the Formula BMW packing 140 hp.

[Watch Videos]

Face Lifted Porsche 997 on the Nur

Looks like Porsche has made some minor tweaks to the 997, know what that means? An excuse for the Porsche engineers to hang it out on the Nur... I can see their board rooms now...

Marketing: "Why don't we release a new shade of `Lapis Blue'?"
Engineering: "The Color may reflect heat differently thus changing the aerodynamics, we must test this change at the track"
Marketing: "Oh okay, very well"
Engineering: "Woo-hoo! Another company paid trip to the Nuerburgring!"

Unless there is something more under the skin only the most die hard Porsche fans are really going to notice th changes. The LED tail lights are neat, but that's the only real stand out to me and hardly a reason to do track testing. My theory is there might be some other tweaks in play here.

[New 997 Porsche Video]
[All Vids from Global Motor Spies]

EVO X is here!!! Official Pics

Nick at Left Lane News just put up the pics, get em while they're hot. Looks almost exactly like the concept car with some minor tweeks, It's gonna be a good year for car lovers next year :-)

[EVO X]on [Left Lane]

Ferrari 550 Maranello the Movie

Love seeing well edited videos. Love even more seeing a prancing horse. The 550 is one of those great Ferrari's because it heralded the company moving back to a front engine layout for their range topping car. In many ways the front engine lay out and conservative design is the antithesis of the Testarossa which is the car it replaced. The pendulum seams to be swinging back toward more gregarious styling with the 599GTB. Next to that the 550 reminds me of my favorite front engine Ferrari the Daytona....ah what a car..... Anyhow, so check out this great video of the modern classic Ferrari, the 550.


[Watch Video]
[Hot Fire Studios]

Mercedes CL65 AMG in motion

United Pictures has some great footage of the new Mercedes CL65 AMG in motion....a car long overdue. The old CL65 had an excessive engine but the rest of the car was just a bit too long overdue for an update. This new beastie is just slick inside and out.

[Watch CL65 Video]
[View All Videos from United Pictures]

BMW Concept CS Videos, Most Amazing Interior ever?

I'm not a big fan of the current 7 series, primarily because it isn't as athletic looking as the car it replaced. Much of that look comes from the long and low stance which I guess BMW decided to cede to Jaguar. So as soon as BMW stepped toward the Mercedes S-Class, Mercedes stepped in with the CLS. Porsche is moving in with the Panamera, and even Maserati and Aston Martin are looking for a piece. So here is BMW's answer for a move back into this sector. Commentary provided by the Director of BMW design.

My Take? the interior is absolutely incredible. BMW needs to stop the assembly line right now and put this interior into SOMETHING they make. The rest of the car is very Maserati meets Aston Martin Rapide....but that is like saying like a girl is a cross between Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale. The front doesn't really do it for me, but the rest of the car is spot on, and that interior?....wow......

[Video of Side Views]
[Video of Rear Views]
[Video of Interior]
[Video of Front Views]
[Commentary, About the concept]
[Commentary, Reasons for building]
[Commentary, On the Interior]
[Commentary, On the Materials Used]
[Commentary, Production Possibilities]

Something Wicked This Way Comes, the new GT-R

Woo Hoo! Global Motor Spies has posted their first video and it's a big one, the new Nissan Skyline GT-R being driven balls out around the ring. In the first few minutes it's lapping with a brand new Porsche 911 Turbo, no doubt to test and make sure the new 997 model is still inside of Nissan's performance reach. Nissan has always stated the 911 turbo is the mark the GT-R strives to exceed, I just can't wait to see if Godzilla returns from it's long hiatus as the champion of the Nur!

[Watch Video]

Grooviest Dyno video of the week

I just love it when we get a video like this. Makes me want to tear my car apart and put it together stronger. Also goes to show what a little editing can do for a pretty static video. Great job by the folks at Macellaro's Performance Tuning.

[Watch Video, Camaro SS on the Rollers]
[Macellaro's Performance Tuning Website] [More Vids]
[Cool Overview Vid]

Japanese commercial for the S14 200SX and 240SX

Japanese Commercials, a source of unending entertainment. Don't believe me? Check out Octopus Drop Kick and prepare to loose the next hour of your life. Anyhow, the Silvia has had massive resurgence of popularity here in the states due to the "Durifu-to" scene. check out the commercial they used to sell these cars on it's home turf.

[Watch Japanese 240SX Commercial]
[the ODK for more Funny Japanese Culture]

Supra Meet

An older video, but still just as cool. If you love late model Supras then here is cool compilation from Florida. Scenes from Ft. Lauderdale Fl, and the central Florida Supra Meet in 2003.

[Watch Supra Compilation Video]

Pagani Zonda F

The fact the video is not in English, makes it more enjoyable to me because I can completely focus on the glorious sound coming out of those 4 exhaust pipes. Wow! This car simply does not get enough time in front of the video camera, while it looks pretty good in stills it's simply perfect when you see it in motion and hear it screaming through the RPMs....okay I'll stop gushing now.

[Watch Video Pagani Zonda F]

RoadFly Review's the 3-Series Convertible

How could this be better timed? Just as other sites are releasing spy shots of the new M3 Convertible, RoadFly submitted this video review of the car it will be based on. I've allways liked my convertible BMWs with either two seats or two wheels, so this is a tall statement for me to make that this new 3-series makes a very nice looking convertible. I'll reserve final judgment until I get to drive one in anger sideways on a mountain road.

[RoadFly Video review of the 3-Series Convertible]
[Watch All RoadFly Videos]

Quick Lap of Sebring

Started watching this one because I thought I would get some good audio off the SMG tearing up and down the gears, but unfortunately the audio is pretty well drowned out by wind noise. That said the rest of the video is gold showing a great lap of Sebring being knocked out in 2:39. Very nice.

[Watch Video]
[Chinmotorsports.com]

Drawing an STi (Direct Download)

iTunes Direct Download

Unbelievable video. A video by computer artist Raffaele Picca, it starts with a completely blank canvas in Microsoft Paint and turns into a near photo-realistic painting of a Subaru WRX STi. I'm sure Raffaele is working with a tablet off a photo, but that doesn't diminish the fact he's working in paint. This just goes to show it's all about the talent of the artist, not the sophistication of the tool.

I've made a higher quality version of this video available for download on our iTunes feed as well if you would like to put it on your AppleTV or iPod.

[Watch Streaming on StreetFire]
[Direct Download on iTunes]
[StreetFire PhotoChop Forum]
[Portfolio Website of Raffaele Picca]

Our Hearts and Prayers to Kayla

The dark side of our hobby is that when an accident happens it touches us all. This one was particularly brutal as it nearly took the life of a beautiful young girl. She's in the hospital right now fighting for her life. She's suffered massive trauma, and the family is reaching out for people to offer their support through prayer.

[Watch Kayla's support Video]
[Kayla's Progress]

Limited Edition CamaroZ28.com Die-Cast 5th Gen Camaro

I just found out they're taking pre-orders and they're already halfway sold out! If you've been following Chris and Jason on the CamaroZ28.com Podcast, you've heard about the limited edition 5th-Gen Camaro Die Cast models that are being made. Well, pre-orders have started and they're filling up fast. Only 1,500 will be made and at under $10 it's quite a deal. So if you love the new Camaro, then check it out, it's a nice keep sake to help tied you over while we wait for Chevy to put this car in your garage.

[More info on CamaroZ28.com]
[Q&A Thread]
[iTunes link: CamaroZ28.com podcast]

FXX Fixx

Ferrari claims the Enzo is an F1 car for the street, so what is an Enzo for the track? The FXX of course. One of our videographers caught this group of Ferrari FXX cars at Infineon Raceway. I agree, they sound amazing.

[Watch Video]

BMW E46 M3 Air to Water Intercooled Supercharger System

Very Clever system that really takes advantage of the throttle body lay-out on the e46 M3. The Folks from VF Engineering fabricated a custom plenum in the same general shape as the stock plenum that integrates an Air to Water intercooler. What's interesting about this is, other companies have also identified the stock plenum as a weak component and provided their own replacement as part of their kits. To the best of my knowledge, VF is the only company that has integrated an intercooler into the replacement.

Fantastic video product demo, as an M3 owner myself, I really enjoyed seeing the installation shots, and step-through of the components.

[Watch Video, E46 M3 Intercooled Supercharger System]
[VF-Engineering]
[Comment on the Modification News Forum]

Street Run in Stockholm

I've seen lots and lots of street runs through this town... I'm starting to wonder if the cops just go ahead and set up a course for you to run between the hours of midnight and sunrise. Regardless, here is a Honda NSX and Corvette playing back an forth on the streets of Stockholm. Love the camera angle mounted low on the bumper. Very sweet.

[Midnight Run in Stockholm]

Eibach gets their Groove on in WRC

Now why can't more manufacturers make fun vids like this? Good mix of on the track and behind the scenes at Eibach with a little Euro-funk dance music tossed in to keep it groovy. Disclaimer, While Eibach is one of our sponsors, I'm featuring this vid because I thought it was rather neat.

[Watch Video]

Denim Brain Bucket

I love to check out the Two-Wheel news at HelemetHairBlog.com ...found this little gem that was just too funny not to share....yes it's a denim covered helmet....yes denim....I guess I have seen fur helmets too, so why not....though it does make you look like a butthead from behind.

[Nexx Denim Helmet] via [HelmetHairBlog.com]

Direct Download the NSX Widebody Video

Update from over the weekend: A lot of users sent PMs asking me to make this video available for direct download on iTunes. So we've added the high quality version of the this to our Best of StreetFire podcast feed, download away! Thanks again to JPJ Studios for the video, we've included the high quality 640x480 H.264 direct download version on iTunes, so check it out!

[Direct Download on iTunes]
[Podcast RSS feed]
[Streaming on StreetFire web Site]

RiceKiller.com Dallas Meet

Just a bit of house keeping, the folks at RiceKiller.com are moving their very popular car hang out to a new location. Sounds like they're a victim of their own success, and they keep attracting more and more people. Great problem to have at a car meet ;-)

So if you're in DFW Texas looking for something to do tonight, go check it out!

RKC BIG MONDAY NIGHT MEET

Every MONDAY NIGHT, Weather Permitting
Winghouse, Dallas
2231 W Northwest Hwy
Dallas, TX 75220
8:30pm - 11:30pm
[RiceKiller.com Monday Meet Details]

[Video Explanation about the move and event details]
[all Videos from RiceKiller.com]

Drifting Enzo

Just a quick little video to get your Monday started. How about an Enzo being chased by an FXX and a GT3 as it drifts a corner? Thanks as always to SLICK for the great find!

[Video Drifting Enzo]

Widebody NSX

If you close your eyes and listen to the soundtrack you almost expect to open them to a Lord of the Rings battleground. But with fantastic fantastic camera work, effects and great editing the visuals keep up and even surpass mood of the Music. Great work by the team at JPJ Studios & Low Boost Productions.

[Video, Widebody NSX]
[More videos by JPJ Studios]

System update, slow encoding times

Hey folks, well last month I asked you all to support StreetFire by uploading your videos here vs. other providers and you did, THANK YOU! Great news our number of uploads/day are way up, ....the bad news is they went up so fast not only did you guys chew through our excess capacity you blew away the new servers we brought online to handle the load. We're working hard on our end to catch up, but the time to encode a video has slowed to a crawl. Unacceptably slow encoding times. Our goal is 15 minutes not 15 hours, so we're working hard to try and fix the situation.

First, we've moved around the priority que a little to try and speed things up. Second we have pressed some storage servers into encoder service, the result will be Flash videos will catch up in time, but you'll see a lot of broken thumbnails until the WMV version gets processed. These stop gaps should get us down to a more reasonable time frame, but still not ideal.

Next week we're ordering a couple more servers, I can't say for sure how long they will take to get online but all I can say is bear with us, but most of all, PLEASE KEEP UPLOADING, it's a good thing we're rushing again to keep up with you all!!!

Thanks for your support, we're working hard over here!!!

[Comments]

10 years for Fidanza, and a little something for the Mustang crowd

Happy 10 year anniversary to the folks at Fidanza! We've had a lot of fun hanging out with the folks from Fidanza over the past year and really enjoyed their videos as well.

While not related directly to the anniversary, Fidanza is also announcing their new line of Mustang Clutches and Fly Wheels as well. After seeing the abuse they put their Corvette through, you know these guys like to make a product you can have fun with.

[More Info: Fidanza Clutches for Mustang]
[Fidanza Anniversary Announcement]
[Fidanza Videos on StreetFire]

TunerVlog gives us a sneak peak at Pinks All Out

The folks from SPEEDtv work with us at StreetFire by uploading video clips, so I hope they won't get offended if TunerVlog spills the beans a little on an upcoming episode of PINKS all Out. Personally I think this little teaser will give some folks a taste of the action, it's one of the better car lifestyle shows out there and maybe my favorite "reality" TV show. Anyhow so TunerVlog sneaked a video camera into the Rockingham Dragway for the shoot.....spoiler warning.....

[TunerVlog gives us a Sneak Peak at PINKS all Out]
[TunerVlog videos]
[SPEEDtv videos]

R-Bike, a Shape Shifting Motorcycle

Now how is this for a cool idea? For our non-riders asking "why do this?", the angle of the front forks determines much of a motorcycle's personality. At a very high rake (like a your classic chopper) the front wheel always wants to point straight ahead, This gives you a calm, stable relaxing ride. On a hyper-maneuverable bike like a dirt bike, the forks are practically straight up and down, this gives you a twitchy fast reacting nimble machine. Sport Bikes are closer to the dirt bike side of rake, cruisers on the chopper side.... you get the idea.

Most riders I know dream of having two bikes, a long distance cruiser, and a sporty maneuverable mountain carver. The problem for most of us is that if you have a sport bike, you're typically worn out by the time you get to the good twisty roads, or if you have a cruiser, you're dragging your boards in the mountains.

So here is a very novel solution that accomplishes both goals in one package. Literally a shape-shifting motorcycle, just in time for the Transformer movie. :-)

[Video 1]
[Video 2]
[Video 3]
[Website for more Info]

Blast from the past, the 1961 French Grand Prix of Rheims

How far we have come! After seeing the Malaysia Grand Prix last weekend this video really takes you back to a simpler time when teams would drive their Grand Prix cars into town, crews would drink and smoke around the pit lane, and fans would sit ten feet off the track. What really makes this a great video for me, was getting to meet Dan Gurney in LA recently. He is still just as passionate about the sport as when he was a driver. Great video, really enjoyed this one!

[The 1961 Rheims Grand Prix]

Retro Tuesday continues with Classic Corvette Thrashing

Hmmm, maybe I should make this a habbit? We're getting a lot of great retro vids today, here we have 1965 Stingray destroying the tires at an airstrip in Denmark..... now you know that has to be fun.

[Watch Video, Stingray doughnuts]

Cool Rat Rod

I have a whole stack of videos from the Panoma Grand National Hot Rod show I'm dying to get up on the site. Lots of cool Hot Rods, interviews with builders, etc, etc. Just saw this video come through and thought it's a pretty good taste of Rat Rod culture. Check it out.

[Short Rat Rod vid]

Art Morrison Builds a digital car for Sony

Grand Turismo 5 in all it's High Definition awesomeness is just around the corner and famed car guru and friend of StreetFire, Art Morrison, is going to have a car featured in the game. We sat down with Art and discussed how his company got started, some of the builders he does work for, and how he got into building a car for a Sony Video game.

[Watch Video, the history and future of Art Morrison]

Fast Lane Daily: Spy shots of the 1 Series & new M3

And the M3 coverage continues to pour in. My Favorite is still the M3 V8 Header Video with the pipes glowing red....but that's just me. Anyhow FastLaneDaily has been providing fantastic coverage of the New York Auto Show all week long. Hats off to Derek DeAngelis and the whole FastLaneDaily team for getting these vids out every day. That has to be a tough schedule to keep. Anyhow be sure to check out the latest.

[FastLaneDaily covers the new M3 and BMW 1 Series]
[All Videos from FastLaneDaily]

Audi V10 R8 test Mule Burns to the ground

AGH!!!!! On my Daily Browse of Jalopnik I stumbled across this sad sight....A Photo-Gallery of Burning Audi R8 V10 wreckage on CarConnection.com. Anyhow be sure to click on the gallery to see the ring workers putting out the fire on this one. Sadly no close up shots of the engine bay.

[High-Res Photos on LeftLaneNews]
[CarConenction coverage of R8 burning up the Ring] via [Jalopnik]
[Audi R8 V8 videos on StreetFire]

Edit: Added LeftLaneNews link since the CarConnection link comes with pop-ups (ugh)

GT500KR Reveal video

The debut of a new Mustang is always a historical event and RoadFly captured this piece of history for all of us to enjoy. So here is the debut of the Shelby Mustang GT500KR as it happened in New York.

[Debut of the GT500KR]
[More RoadFly Videos]