Toyota NASCAR Truck Race Reviewed

Six Tundras drivers finished in the top-10 at Memphis: Jack Sprague (second), Mike Skinner (fourth), Aaron Fike (fifth), Ryan Mathews (No. 36 Lilly Company/Toyota Industrial Equipment Tundra, sixth), Johnny Benson (No. 23 360 OTC Tundra, seventh) and Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Tundra, eighth). Other drivers in the field were Brad Keselowski (16th), Terry Cook (No. 59 Harris Trucking Tundra, 29th) and Ken Butler (No. 00 Aaron's Lucky Dog Tundra, 33rd).

Keselowski started, for the first of his NCTS career, on the pole in the No. 9 Team ASE Tundra for Germain Racing and led three times for 23 laps. Skinner led 16 laps, and has now led at least one lap in the season's first 12 races. As a result, he tied the NCTS record for consecutive races led to start a season (Jason Leffler, 2002).

No. 60 Con-way Freight Tundra driver Jack Sprague said that it was a difficult race. He explains that they were horrible but they did a great job with we made some great adjustments. According to him, his truck was a little loose but cooperated by rotating pretty well in the center. He added that they have to give up something at this race track because it is not going to be perfect on both ends.

No. 5 Toyota Tundra diver Mike Skinner said that the truck was very consistent though each set of tires they put on it was a bit different. He considers the recent race as the best run they have ever had in Memphis.

No. 1 RFMS Tundra diver Aaron Fike said that they were looses the whole race but it was their first top-five of the season. He added that they probably should have had a couple top-fives already this year, but they caught a couple bad breaks. He further said that they been in the top-10 in points all year so it is nice to get a good finish and keep the truck up there in points.

No. 9 Team ASE Tundra driver Brad Kaselowski commented that they had a strong truck all night, but it just did not end how they wanted it to. He said that he used everything he had to get to Travis and pass him. Kaselowski caught a little break in traffic to get by Travis. The two got into more traffic and could not get around a couple lapped trucks, and used the rear tires a little too hard and used them up. Though disappointed, Kaselowski was certain that it was the best run he has ever had.

Motorsport Vs the Reality

Cars have come a very long way since these four wheeled machines were invented as something perceived to have the capability of replacing horses and such back then. Nowadays, with technology providing great amounts of safety features as well as luxuries to keep passengers happy throughout any journey without forgetting the speed the journeys can take with today's engineering, people are just not contented by the prospect of getting from point A to B in a car anymore. Despite rising fuel prices and more critical environmental issues, motor sport has never lost its popularity as one of the main forms of showcasing how cars can be put to the test in the name of competition, engineering and recreation.
However, there is always a question on whether a car maker successful on track can be as successful in building what cars are meant to be in the first place. This is not so the case vice versa as building a car for the masses is definitely an easier task than building the perfect race machine capable of conquering the tarmacs and dirt roads presented upon them anywhere in the world. Or is it?

Take a look at the mother of all motor sports for instance. Three of the most successful constructors are Ferrari, McLaren and Renault. While Ferrari does make brilliant road-going cars, not many will argue the fact that the 599s and 430s gracing town and seaside roads are simply heavily toned down versions of the monster machines that have won them so many titles in F1 ever since God knows when. Furthermore, only the very wealthy can afford them which do not make Ferraris very applicable in the real world. While Mercedes is among the finest car makers in the world building some fantastic road legal cars with McLaren, McLaren are otherwise simply their tuners and refiners in Britain, one the Germans can do without considering how Mercedes have decided to part with McLaren within the previous year.

Renault is a funny story altogether, building very good cars for all sorts of people but having many failed attempts at designing a visually appealing or properly attractive sports car for the average driver. Even of late, while the Laguna Coupe is deemed to be one of the finest French designs since never ever, the original saloon was simply a sight to induce sore eyes. The other French maker, Citroen, has an almost equal dilemma, being highly successful in the Word Rally Championships, but building uninspiring and dull cars which have quite a record for being unreliable for the open market.

Drift - Beginnings of this Wild New Motorsport and Where It's Going

Drifting, a crazy, once underground Japanese motorsport born in the windy Japanese mountain roads or "touge", the Japanese word, as it's affectionately known these days. Drifting is a relatively new motorsport inspired by one 1970's Japanese circuit racer's unique driving technique. His racing technique was to use excessive over steer (rear of the car sliding out) in corners to maintain speed. Now, for any person clued up about circuit racing, you would know that over steer or under steer is not the fastest way around the race track. However, for this Japanese racer, his slippery, ice skater like corner exiting technique became his trademark and a spectacle to inspire the form of racing as we know today as "Drifting".

Drifting's popularity quickly spread through the country of Japan typically amongst the young male "boy racers", from the circuits to the streets. DORIFUTO as it's commonly pronounced in Japanese, soon caught the attention of the boys in blue, the police, for reasons I'm sure you can imagine.....Reckless driving, excessive noise from screeching tires, loud revving engines. Drifters now needed somewhere to practice their drifting technique without disturbance.

The quiet hillside "touge" roads became perfect drift playgrounds for the young drifters to perform their hairy auto acrobatic stunts. Of course, this didn't stay a secret from the police for a very long time and the danger of the blind, dark curvy mountain roads, persuaded drifters to move back to the circuits. Although a day at the circuit costs more than a trip to the mountains, it is still cheaper than lifting scrap that was once your nicely modified drift car from the bottom of a mountain.

The inclusion of hundreds of race circuits built in the last couple of decades in Japan, a fair share especially made just for drifting, has seen a huge increase in the drift community. As of late, it has exploded into the mainstream with movie titles such as "Initial D", starring the infamous Toyota AE86 Trueno Sprinter and third inclusion to the Fast and Furious series with "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift". Both of which capture the excitement of today's hottest motorsport, Drift.

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