In the mid sixty's Carol Shelby teamed up with ford to develop a  track car that could keep up with the imports like Porsche and Ferrari. That car was the Shelby Cobra. The body is British inspired but the engine is all American. It was a 260 cubic inch 275 hp Ford block. This was just the beginning. In later production a 427 was dropped into these bad boys and with a 4:10 gear ratio these were unstoppable on the track. The super light fiberglass body and aluminum frame reduced the weight drastically. The low center of gravity and wide tire base was excellent for handling. The car does have some drawbacks, it is so light that at the right speed the car could actually lift of the ground, it is also not a top end car these cars will beat anything 0-100 but are very dangerous to drive at top end speeds (believe me I know). I have had the fortune to drive this car on a number of occasions and there is no better feeling then being in the drivers seat of a 445hp Shelby Cobra.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fngVM-hl8uc[/youtube]

I looked for weeks for an exhaust system for my truck, then I found MBRP. These are simply the best systems and packages you can buy for reasonable prices. They specialize in diesel systems which is what first grabbed my attention then I looked further into their website. From the down pipe back is heavy duty aluminized steel that is guaranteed to never rust through, however surface rust is not warranted. Their tips are made of t409 stainless steel and will never rust not to mention they look sick! I couldn't be happier with the results after installation of this which was also pretty simple. The flow-through muffler design gives you that deep sound with a great turbo whistle. This was worth the buy and I highly recommend it.

The Ford SVT team has had great success for almost two decades with the Lightning and cobra, now its the Raptors turn. This is a Baja inspired design of an F-150 with the help of Fox racing. This is by far my dream truck with a 320hp 5.4l under the hood and 390 ft lbs of torque this is the baddest F-150 on the market.......and this is just the base model, the second generation will have a 6.2l 400hp V8 with 400 ft lbs of torque!!!! Some other specialties of the truck is the 4.10:1 gear ratio which you don't find in many production trucks. SVT really out did themselves with this design, this truck can handle any slope, terrain, jump or load you give it. Another interesting aspect of this truck is the suspension developed by Fox racing. This allows the Raptor to his jumps and take corners at speeds that would cripple other half-ton trucks. The 2011 Raptor gets more than two thumbs up from me.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtxiMGA8QRQ[/youtube]

While the Duramax may not be the loudest or the most high preformance diesel engine on the market, Izuzu and GM have done a very good job designing this engine. The Best part of these engines by far is the transmission. Allison makes trannys from everything to military to these trucks, which use the Allison 1000 and are the best automatic trannys you can buy. I have driven a few Druamax diesels in my life and from what I have experienced I have no complaints. The acceleration was very surprising and shifting was the smoothest I have ever felt in my life. If you ask me these are very reliable engines that will always get the job done for you. Over the years Duramax has produced about 5 series of the engine the earlier LB7 and LLY, then came the LBZ and LMM and the most recent LML. All of these blocks are 6.6L and never had any major problems in production like the 6.0L powerstroke did. Even though I am a true Ford guy if I had to buy one of these trucks I wouldnt think twice between the Allison trannys and GM's new LML that puts out 397hp and 765 ft lbs of torque!........yea you heard me 397hp stock, let me put it this way if you wouldnt buy one of these trucks you can go drive your ricer and I'll roll coal in your window at the next red light.

The sport of Nascar has been dominated the past 5 years by a driver that could soon be in the same class as The Intimidater and The King. Jimmy Johnson has won multiple cups and numerous races. The point standings this year show Jimmy in third Jeff Gordon in second and Tony Stewart  in first. Now do I like Jimmy..........NO! I think he is a cocky driver that is cheating constantly. He was even caught with a modified restrictor plate race last year. Now I can honestly say I have grown to like Jeff Gordon over the years and am happy that he is doing good this year. As for the sprint cup's newcomer Joey Logano he is by far a crowd favorite, winning his first race last year in Lounden NH, which I witnessed, he has a long way to go and I hope that he ends up finishing in the top 10 next year. As for Jimmy this year I hope he continues to have his bad luck streak because I don't think i can handle another Jimmy Johnson Sprint cup win.