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Here we go! It’s the unofficial start of the Winter Series at Bradenton and there are a bunch of racers on hand already for testing. We’re going to to be sharing all the highlight videos right here for you to enjoy all week, so check back each day to see what you have missed. Monday’s video is at the bottom and we’ll keep stacking the newest ones on top! If for some reason you haven’t heard of the Drag Illustrated Winter Series at Bradenton Motorsports Park, now is the time to get familiar. Enj

A Return to a Familiar Idea Mitsubishi hasn't built a car in the US since the Normal, Illinois plant shut down in 2015. That factory, originally launched as a joint venture with Chrysler in the 1980s, once produced models like the Eclipse and Galant before demand cooled and costs took over. Since then, Mitsubishi has relied entirely on imports from Japan for its American lineup. Now the idea of building vehicles in the US is back on the table, but it needs help. Mitsubishi's footprint in North A

Buyer Got It For Almost Half Its Original Price A heavily outfitted 2021 Ford F-250 Shelby Super Baja, one of only 250 produced, sold for $70,500 on Bring a Trailer. One might consider this a great value, given that the last time we wrote about a similar listing, it sold for a whopping $129,999. The winning bid landed on a machine finished in Oxford White with black Shelby stripes and showing 46,000 miles, presenting as a ready-to-use, off-road capable, collector-grade Super Baja with verified m

American Honda Hits a Wall in November American Honda concluded November with a disappointing performance in terms of sales volume. Compared to October, which saw a slight 0.5% month-over-month bump, the results for November show a steep decline: total sales slid to 102,824 units, down 16.8% from the previous month. The slowdown cut across just about everything the company sells, whether hybrid, pure combustion, or the few EVs it currently offers. SUV volume – usually Honda's backbone – lost mom

Bentley turns up the sporty appeal Bentley has revealed a new Carbon Fiber Styling Specification for the Continental GT, GT Convertible (GTC), and Flying Spur sedan. For a brand more commonly associated with fine wood and sumptuous leather, it may come as a surprise to learn that a quarter of Bentley customers chose the previous carbon fiber pack. Together with an optional Blackline Specification and titanium Akrapovic exhaust system, Bentley once again positions itself as a much more driver-foc

Century: A Cut Above Lexus During the 2025 Japan Mobility Show, Toyota not only introduced a bold luxury coupe, but it also launched a new ultra-luxury marque that sits above Lexus. That brand is Century, and it could soon be Japan's answer to Rolls-Royce and Bentley. The Century Coupe looks like a good rival for the likes of the Bentley Continental GT and Rolls-Royce Spectre. Big, bold, and blocky, it has all the potential to ruffle the feathers of British automakers, just as Lexus shocked the

Diesel Dreams The mad geniuses at Grind Hard Plumbing Co are reviving a crashed and burned-out Ferrari F355 Spider with the engine swap you didn’t see coming. The team is currently working on dropping the 5.0-litre twin-turbo V10 diesel motor from a VolkswagenTouareg TDI into the lightweight Italian chassis.  Grind Hard Plumbing Co As you can imagine, this revival involves extensi

Robotaxis: Tesla’s Long Game Meets Rimac’s Bold Pivot For years, Tesla has been seen as the frontrunner in autonomous mobility. From Autopilot to self-driving cabs, the company is inching toward a future of driverless ride-sharing through gradual improvements in its driver-assist software. Elon Musk’s long-promised robotaxi network remains aspirational, its timeline repeatedly pushed back as the technology proves harder to perfect than expected. While Tesla continues to retrofit autonomy onto ex

Lowering the bar According to new reports published on December 2 by Reuters and Bloomberg, sources close to the Trump White House told the outlets that the administration is prepared to introduce newly adjusted fuel economy standards as soon as Wednesday, December 3, in an effort to lower what it sees as a barrier to new car affordability. The unnamed sources stated that executives from Detroit's Big Three manufacturers, including the CEO of Stellantis, Antonio Filosa, as well as senior officia

Following the sharing of a shadowy teaser image in September, heralding the imminent introduction of a new G-Class Cabriolet, Mercedes-Benz has now released clear images of a prototype thereof, with the body still wrapped in camouflage. The trio of images was accompanied by a short spiel announcing that development mules for the new open-top G-Class have begun road and track testing in Austria, where traditional Gs are built by Magna Steyr. After this, the prototypes will head to the chilly cli

The Kia Stinger may be about to make a comeback as an all-electric sedan. The Stinger was foreshadowed by the 2011 GT Concept and the Kia GT4 Stinger Concept before finally entering production in 2017. With a front-engine rear- or all-wheel-drive setup and sharp styling, it drew comparisons to the BMW 3 Series, and all who drove it applauded its keen handling. However, sales weren't strong enough to justify its continued existence, and in April 2023, production came to an end. But new images and

The Reliability Crisis We Should’ve Seen Coming  There’s no escaping the fact that modern engines are failing at alarming rates. Toyota, Honda, and General Motors have all issued massive recalls involving hundreds of thousands of vehicles due to catastrophic engine failures. Engines are seizing up, catching fire, and leaving drivers stranded. Even brands with reputations for reliability are putting out engines that should last 200,000 miles, yet are barely making it past warranty periods. It com

Mazda unveiled the all-new CX-5 a few months ago, and one of the major talking points was its new user interface, now dominated by a large touchscreen. Many Mazda fans were critical of the layout, since the Japanese automaker was one of the last to make the switch to this Tesla-like interface. Perhaps in response, Mazda has released a new video with Matthew Valbuena, the brand’s Project Manager for In-Vehicle Technologies & HMI. In it, Valbuena highlights the new layout’s many advantages whi

A Look Back at a Truck We Won't Get When Nissan first showed the Frontier Pro earlier this year, it grabbed attention for something unexpected: its subtle Hardbody-era throwback. The Shanghai design team modernized the three-slot hood motif from the 1980s D21 and used it as inspiration for the LED light signature, creating a fresh but familiar face. Now that the truck has officially gone on sale in China, it still feels like Americans are missing out on the new-age Frontier we won't get. What ma

Can't Beat ICE When the new-generation Dodge Charger was announced to be going full-electric, most people, especially fans of the legendary nameplate, were skeptical. First impressions of the new Charger upon launch were mixed, but Dodge eventually promised to introduce some ICE models for those craving the authentic muscle car experience. And introduce, Dodge did. Back in August, the automaker launched the 2026 Scat Pack Charger. It featured a turbocharged SixPack high-output (H.O.) engine that

Stellantis has Berlin's back According to a new report published by Reuters on December 1, the large multinational automaker known as Stellantis is backing the German government's plea to soften the European Union car emissions rules that are set to take effect in about a decade, noting that the German Chancellor's proposal is aligned with demands to increase growth in the Automotive industry on the continent. "We welcome the German government's support for revisions to the European regulations

A Lifeline for the Flagship Quadrifoglio Models The most powerful versions of the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio almost reached the end of their production run. For a moment, it seemed like the Quadrifoglio badge would quietly slip away as the brand transitions toward electrification. Thankfully, Alfa Romeo reconsidered and extended the life of its combustion Quadrifoglios a little longer. Even better, the automaker has confirmed that the Giulia Quadrifoglio and Stelvio Quadrifoglio are getting t

Robovan Back in the News The Tesla Robovan concept was unveiled at the company’s ‘We, Robot’ event in October last year to quite a positive reception. The proposed fully-autonomous people carrier is seeing renewed interest following hints from a senior executive that it may evolve into a self-driving recreational vehicle. This recent buzz has put the spotlight back on one of Tesla’s boldest transportation concepts.  Tesla

A PDM, or Power Distribution Module, is like a smart fuse panel. They can not only control the application of power to certain circuits, but can do so based on user defined parameters. I’m not going to get into the meat and potatoes of PDM in the writeup though because the video covers that to help you decide which one of these is the correct module for your project. Make no mistake, with the right PDM and the right configuration, the resulting convenience and performance of your electrical syst

A (Very) Condensed History of BMW 3.0 CSL BMW has been involved since the mid-'30s and became even more active by the mid-'60s. Spurned by the successes on track largely thanks to Alpina and Schnitzer, the M division was formed in 1972 when Bob Lutz focused his efforts on building up a factory race team. There was also the intention to sell road versions of said race cars, which has been quite a successful venture, we must say. The very first official BMW M project was the 3.0 CSL. Affectionatel

Sheet metal intake manifolds are super cool when finished and a huge pain in the butt if you aren’t good at them and don’t have the ability to make the various components quickly and cleanly. There is a reason these things cost real money, and always have. Hell, it is easier to build one in 2025 than it was in 1995, that’s for sure. But if you have all the parts already sized and cut and finished and ready to weld together, it can be a fairly straight forward process. But how straight forward? W

The Grocery-Getter From Hell Among one-off automotive projects, few creations capture the imagination like a Hellcat-powered minivan. A Tennessee-based fabrication shop has now turned that fantasy into a fully functional machine, completing an extensive year-long build that transforms a humble 2021 Chrysler Pacifica into what the builders jokingly call the “Pacifi-Cat.” The project began innocently enough: a flood-damaged, fully loaded Pacifica was purchased from auction as a blank canvas. But

I’ve owned a lot of air ride equipped rides in my day and that means always having on board air, at least as long as you plumb yourself a fitting for an air hose and chuck. But what if you don’t have onboard air? Tons and tons of drag and drive folks don’t, and I’ve seen them using all kinds of inflators to air their drag radials back up and such. So how good are these things? And is it best to just buy a cheap one and not worry about it, or do the high dollar name brand units really perform bet

If you aren’t familiar with a Predator carburetor, don’t beat yourself up about it. That is unless you were alive during the heyday of Pro Street in which case you should be ashamed. But I digress. The Predator Carburetor was introduced in the early 1980s and was primarily targeted toward racing engines. They are a variable venturi design that has air doors that open as the engine needs more airflow. They only open as far as the engine needs and all fuel delivery is done based on the opening of

The recently launched BMW iX3 is proving popular among buyers and winning awards, and in 2026, Munich will capitalize on that positive momentum with the launch of the all-new 3 Series and its electric sibling, the i3. While we wait, a reliable insider has revealed what paint colors will be coming to the sedan pair. First noticed by BMW Blog, the information was shared on the Bimmer Post forum by user ynguldyn, an insider who has repeatedly proven reliable in the past. According to the post, the