Jaguar: The Art of Performance Tour!

Brian in the F-Type

A few years ago, the NMS team attended an exciting day of driving with Jaguar that was titled "Drive Alive". We were mightily impressed with what was a first class event, and mostly enjoyed driving their great cars on the road, on an autocross, in a straight line speed test, and on a four wheel drive course. Another highlight was seeing the Jaguar F-Type in person, just a few months before it went on sale in the US. You can see Brian in the top photo of this blog enjoying the driver's seat of the F-Type!

Get the 360 degree view of new Jaguars!

During the Drive Alive event we got to learn from Jaguar personnel all the features of their cars, and then they tossed us the keys and encouraged us to drive them hard! If you've never had someone let you test drive a new Jaguar and then repeatedly ask you to REALLY get on the gas and REALLY get on the brake pedal, I can tell you it's a blast!

Brian shows us how it's done

If you're wondering if Jaguar will be doing this again anytime soon, you're in luck! According to the Jaguar USA website, a similar event may be coming to a city near you in 2016, this time with the name "The Art of Performance". JAGUAR LINK

Subtle "JAGUAR" sign in the middle of the auto-cross!

Here's the list of cities scheduled so far, dates are yet to be determined:

San Francisco
Dallas
Miami
New York
Washington DC
Chicago

We don't have more details than that so far, so it looks like a few hours of driving Jaguar automobiles, highlighted by the new XE model and Jaguar's first SUV the F-Pace, will be a great experience. This was a first class event, with plenty of new cars to drive and some nice exhibits like an original E-Type on display, good food and drinks, so we suggest you sign up for updates on the Art of Performance and plan to attend!

Jaguar takes care of EVERYTHING!

Great Gift Ideas for MotorHeads!

   Specifically, if you are interested in auto-crossing (like we are) and are looking for ways to get started or improve in 2016 (like we are), then this blog is for YOU! We all have different interests in cars and different abilities in driving, so hopefully this short list will have something that might interest you or the driver in your life for gift giving. In addition to the items below, you can always give the car enthusiasts in your life something really cool like tires, new brake pads, money for tools, a shirt from their favorite racing team, etc.

EVOLUTION PERFORMANCE DRIVING SCHOOL

   Car drivers only talk about two things. First, what modification to do with their cars to make them faster, and secondly, when they aren't talking about modding their current ride, then they're talking about what OTHER car they should buy to get faster! What those two wonderful topics are MISSING is the #1 way to improve your car and make it faster: Learn To Drive Faster With a Pro Instructor!
 
   The best instructors we know (and this is from experience since we've both taken a day or two of driving school with the EVO folks) are the Evolution Performance Driving School instructors, many of them national champions in autocross, and getting in YOUR car with them to show you how to get faster is well worth it.
 
   For 2016, NMS-South and the South Carolina Region of the Sports Car Club of America have already scheduled the EVO team to be at Darlington SC on April 30th (Phase One) and May 1st (Phase Two). You can find out more and sign up now at this link: EVO SCHOOL LINK

SNAP-ON TOOLS CATALOG 

   Cars and tools for working on the car go together like ham and eggs, milk and cookies, or, well, wrenches and sockets! You may not have any top shelf (read that as "not cheap") Snap-on tools in your collection, so that's why getting their catalog for FREE is a great present for any car fanatic.      
  You can even be funny and tell them "I got you one of EVERY tool that Snap-on makes as a gift"! They will think they've won the lottery, until they realize it's a catalog and not a bazillion dollars worth of great tools! Regardless, they'll love the catalog, and did I mention it's FREE? Free is still my favorite flavor! Check out this link and order one today: Snap-on Catalog LINK

CRAFTSMAN BOTTLE OPENER

   Odds are that if you like cars, driving cars, and driving cars fast, you might also enjoy beverages that frequently come in bottles that need a real old fashioned bottle opener. Sure, you might even know how to open a bottle with just your belt, on the edge of the counter with just your hands, or even with a potato, but nothing says "AWESOME" like what I call the world's-greatest-bottle-opener. This one comes from Craftsman tools, and you can find it at any Sears store, maybe even Kmart since they're the same company.
 
   These normally go for about 14.99 bucks, but recently I saw some on sale locally at Sears for $4.99. Even if you pay the regular price, it's worth it, will last forever, and is just too darn cool to leave hidden in a drawer. Please don't ever drink and drive, but please make sure you have a bottle opener that looks and feels like a  heavy duty wrench in your hands! Craftsman Wrench Bottle Opener LINK

NMS Press Conference Scheduled December 15th

Nixon Motor Sports has announced that they will hold a press conference at the NMS-South Headquarters in Columbia SC at noon on December 15th. Creative Director and Chief of Competition Brian Nixon stated that "Following our record setting performance in 2015, NMS will announce drivers for 2016 on December 15th. Also, our off-season testing and development of a new engine continues on track, as well as a previously unannounced "Skunk Works" project that we will reveal for the first time in two weeks."

A flurry of questions, emails, and telephone calls to NMS HQ were not answered, which leads this reporter to speculate that NMS has been in negotiations with a leading Indy car team about a full time switch to open wheeled racing next season. With the NMS background of having lived in Indianapolis and actually run on the 500 Speedway in the past (by that I mean literally "run", when one of the NMS drivers ran a half marathon that included a lap of the Indy 500 oval).

Should the Indy race series not work out to be their future, we could also see the NMS squad return to autocross in 2016. One indicator of this path of development was seen earlier this year when one of the NMS drivers attended the autocross  Evolution Performance Driving School. With the addition of the Ford Fiesta ST in 2015, maybe the NMS team will leave their usual E Street Miata class and G Street Abarth class and go to H Street class. 

On the other hand, there is also the chance that the NMS team will pack up and take their racing to Formula 1, since we can confirm that both NMS drivers have also lived in Europe at some time in the past. Although there is no known information on what they did while living in Germany for several years, the existence of two F1 tracks in Germany (both the Nurburgring and Hochenheim) could mean that Germany is the ideal place to live and train while developing future F1 drivers.

For now, we'll avoid speculating too much, and wait for the NMS announcement due on December 15th.