laguna seca

A High Octane Holiday Gift from Mercedes-Benz

Looking for a high octane holiday gift idea? If you buy a very lucky someone a new Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicle for Christmas, they'll now get a free pass to the amazing AMG Driving Academy that we wrote about last year. If that's out of your price range you might still be able to afford them an adrenaline rush with a gift certificate to the thrilling course. In three skill levels, AMG Driving Academy provides race-tested instructors who teach drivers to train and use their reflexes for maximum driving excitement and performance on closed-off circuits. Drivers can bring their own cars, use the standard school cars or upgrade to the gull-wing SLS AMG supercar (above).

To purchase a gift certificate, visit www.AMGacademy.com/drive, select the Basic or Pro Class at the desired venue, and register the recipient. Pricing starts at $1,595. For 2011 the Academy is also adding Lime Rock Park in Connecticut as the third track in its impressive U.S. stable; the other two venues are Laguna Seca and Road Atlana. As an added bonus if you register before Jan. 15 you'll get a 20% discount.

Tags: AMG, Connecticut, driving school, driving tour, gifts, Holiday 2010, Laguna Seca, Lime Rock, Lime Rock Park, Mercedes-Benz, racing, SLS AMG

Day At the Races: MotoGP At Laguna Seca 2010

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Sports

There is an amazing amount of wealth at motorcycle races. You might picture the populous at a NASCAR race as being a bit above poverty level (no offense NASCAR fans, but you know what aura some of your fellow race lovers give off), but the followers of the world famous MotoGP series include some well to do participants. Many of them fervent collectors and sophisticated gear-heads. As such, you could easily quality MotoGP as a luxury sport (just for a different class than say the Kentucky Derby). At least the motorcycles themselves use top-notch hardware and technology. Amazing to think that the bikes themselves have serious computers on board. I went to the MotoGP race day at Laguna Seca historic race track near Monterey, CA - here are some of the sights and sounds of the excitement.

I've put together a bit of a visual article below when you go to "READ MORE." Much of what you see if pretty self explanatory. If you've never been to a motorcycle race, then be aware that most people attend and shove earplugs in their ears due to the incredible sound of many high-powered engines operating at full revs simultaneously.

Tags: 2010, Laguna Seca, Lorenzo, Monterey, MotoGP, race, track, video

Continue reading “Day At the Races: MotoGP At Laguna Seca 2010”

Dodge Viper Bids Farewell in Detroit with ACR 1:33 Edition

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

It's been a good run for the Dodge Viper. The all-American supercar gave Chrysler its reputation for putting its show-stopping show-cars into production back in 1992. Unfortunately those days are behind the troubled automaker, and that means the Viper is going the way of the do-do. But not before it's racked up some serious accomplishments, the most recent of which was claiming the fastest lap time at the venerable Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, one of the most challenging circuits in the world.

After setting a record 1 minute, 33 second lap time around Laguna Seca, Dodge announced it would create a special-edition American Club Racer, and that ultimate Viper just debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The Dodge Viper ACR 1:33 Edition gets a special paint scheme, revised aerodynamics and revised gearing, making this a fitting tribute to the sportscar that put Dodge on the map. Unfortunately only 10 examples will be produced, all of which have undoubtedly been spoken for by now. But you can see more in the gallery below.

Gallery: Dodge Viper ACR 1:33 Edition

Tags: 2010 naias, detroit, detroit 2010, detroit auto show, dodge, dodge viper, dodge viper acr, dodge viper acr 1:33 edition, DodgeViper, DodgeViperAcr, DodgeViperAcr1:33Edition, laguna, laguna seca, LagunaSeca, Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, MazdaRacewayAtLagunaSeca, MazdaRacewayLagunaSeca, naias, north american international auto show

$8 Million Ferrari 250 TR Crashes in Monterey

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

Last month while reporting for our sister-site Autoblog on the Ferrari Challenge race from the Mont-Tremblant circuit in Quebec, I got the chance to see a pair of multi-million-dollar Ferrari 250 GTOs racing flat-out against each other and a handful of other classic Ferraris, and I couldn't help but think to myself, My goodness, what if one of them crashed? Well that's pretty much exactly what happened during the Monterey Historic race which ran during the Pebble Beach this past weekend at the famous Laguna Seca race track. Only instead of a GTO, it was the even more valuable Testa Rossa.

Laguna Seca is known the world over for its most infamous corner, known as the Corkscrew. The left-hand turn is followed by an immediate near-vertical drop and then by another quick right-hand turn, and has been known to swallow up and spit out drivers who try to take it too fast. That's what happened to the owner of this 1958 Ferrari 250 TR, similar to the one which recently set the all-time auction record at $12.2 Million, only this one is reportedly worth $8 million. And our man Drew Philips at Autoblog was there to catch it all in frame. Follow the link to view the photos, but only if you can stand to witness the carnage.

Photo copyright ©2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

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Tags: corkscrew, crash, ferrari, ferrari 250 testa rossa, ferrari 250 tr, ferrari crash, ferrari testa rossa, Ferrari250TestaRossa, Ferrari250Tr, FerrariCrash, FerrariTestaRossa, laguna seca, LagunaSeca, monterey, pebble beach, PebbleBeach, testa rossa, TestaRossa