The craziest jump in rally is a big statement. You have the famous jumps in Finland. El Brinco in Mexico. WRC Sweden has an award named ‘Colin’s Crest’ for the longest jump on SS16. These are massive jumps, but they aren’t the largest or the craziest.
There used to be a car called a Pontiac Fiero. It was awful. Like a mid-engined Corvette with half of its cylinders and silly little tires. But it allowed a bunch of really cool kit cars to be built around its mid-engine layout, and some people were foolish enough to swap in V8 engines thinking they had just built a…
Determining the best Formula One lap ever is answering a big question. One far greater than I have the knowledge for, but maybe one of you might know.
I’ve known about Hoonigan Racing, Ken Block’s motorsport team that competes in FIA World Rallycross as a Ford factory backed team. I even saw them compete at Lydden Hill last month. But I never really understood just Hoonigan, which is separate from Ken and Ford and is based out of Long Beach, California. I assumed…
Corvettes are dirty cars. I don’t care how many times they go to LeMans with the Z06, a Corvette will always remind me of Dirk Diggler, the 1970s, shag carpeting, and porn. Even the new ones. Most owners I know embrace their heritage rocking excellent vintage mustaches and jewelry. They learned at an early age that…
Choosing the best motorsport movie is a tough decision as there are so many good ones. Everything from documentaries, like Truth in 24 to biographies on Colin McCrae to movies like Rush. I’ve seen most of them but I keep coming back to The Evolution of Rally: 50 Years of Sideways.
There are an immeasurable amount of books on motorsports. These few are a some of my favorites because they capture the dream of motorsport. Guys like Donohue, Hunt, Hill, Caracciola and Rosemeyer, Buffum, and Perry McCarthy. Guys that weren’t born into a motorsport family. Guys that found racing on their own and did…
Rally racing is unique in the world of motorsport. You race on roads that are normally open to the public but now closed for car racing. What was an intersection with a stop sign last weekend is now a massive jump that lets you clear the whole intersection. You race up mountains and through the woods. You race in the…
1994 was a depressing year for Formula One. During the third round of the season, the world lost Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at the San Marino Grand Prix. At the very next race, Karl Wendlinger’s had a big crash and the FIA asked for series of track safety modifications. This basically means they asked the…
Bad decisions are made in the media world every day, and boy do I have one for you: we interrupt your regularly scheduled weekend programming to bring you a special bout of insanity from friend of the site and crapcan racer hero, Bill Caswell.
I usually get the same answer whenever I bring it up: “No, you can’t make your own engine. The castings are too complicated. How will you actually pour your own block? Do you have foundry in your mom’s basement? It’s too expensive to machine one from scratch. You don’t know what you’re doing!”
It’s midnight and it’s freezing. The tiny industrial park is dead and empty, save for one open garage bay. Bathed in harsh lights and fatigued by 48 hours of continuous work, six guys are dirty and bloody trying to turn the husk of an old BMW into a race car. They don’t have enough time. They don’t have the right…
On January 21st Miami, Florida’s Marlins Park will be lit up by The Race Of Champions. It’s like an all-star dunk contest, but with some of the world’s most talented racing drivers wielding big horsepower on a stadium-sized track. And if you vote, your favorite grassroots goofball and $500 Craigslist BMW rally hero …
Professional lunatic Bill Caswell was still trying to finish his Mad Maxian BMW E30 when I wrote this, less than 24 hours from the start of the 2016 Baja 1000. That’s why I wasn’t expecting to make it over the border with him, but there I was, preparing to do just that. Here’s how to be ready if you get the same phone…
The 2016 Baja 1000 race will go green for four-wheeled vehicles at about 10:30 a.m. PST on Friday, November 18. I’m not going to disclose exactly what time I’m writing this on the 17th, but if Bill Caswell actually gets his insane old BMW into the race it’s going to be an epic story before we even hit the course.
Ex-finance guy turned motorsports hero Bill Caswell rose to fame in 2010 by living so many of our dreams: dragging a $500 BMW from the bowels of Craigslist and racing it in big-league rallies. Now he’s back with even bigger ambitions, and somehow, still, remarkably unprepared. And I’m along for the ride this time.
The 2016 Ford Focus RS: all-wheel drive, 2.3 liters, four cylinders, 350 horsepower, 350 pound-feet of torque... minus 100 Euros.
Car maniac (and all-around maniac) Bill Caswell has done some amazing things with cheap cars. His next trick is to take this 1974 International Scout II racing rig and turn it into... something. Here's where the story starts.
The Rotek Racing team, led by friend of Jalopnik Robb Holland, and joined by other friend of Jalopnik Bill Caswell, along with multiple VLN-series victor Danny Kubasik, just won their class at the Nurburgring 6 Hours in an SP8 Audi RS4. Congrats guys!
Four years ago today, Bill Caswell went on a crazy adventure that changed his life forever. It also changed this site as it was, at the time, one of our biggest stories ever. If you've never read it, or if it's been a while, check it out below.
