Independence from Boring Magazines!

 Happy Independence Day USA from  NMS! Today we're celebrating all things American, which means baseball, apple pie, and Chevrolet according to the Chevrolet people! Besides talking about cars, taking photos of cars, and driving cars, NMS sometimes just watches videos of cars or reads about cars. Today is one of those days, so here's a quick look at some of the car magazines cluttering up the NMS garage right now. 

Grassroots Motorsports is one of our favorites, always chock-full of autocross, track, tire reviews, car builds, etc. If it rolls on wheels, it's in Grassroots!

Via Corsa is the newest magazine, and it is quickly becoming a favorite. Their focus is not only on cars, but on the places you can go with your car. This cover story about taking delivery of a BMW at the BMW Welt (World) in Munich sounds like just the thing I'd love to do some day. 

Motor Trend is just about as all-American as it gets. The cover story kind of tells you that, this time they review the latest 4 cylinder Camaro VS. 4 cylinder Mustang. You can count on lots of new car reviews and news of cars coming in the future. They tend to repeat the Camaro/Mustang or BMW/EveryoneElse type of story, but it's a great story!

Automobile is amazingly similar to Motor Trend, it's published by the same folks and hits my mailbox on the same day every month too! Kind of gives me at least one day of the month to look forward to the mail! The 25 new models article was nice!

From the Hemmings folks that publish several other magazines, Sports and Exotics sticks with the cool older cars, as you can see with this cover story on the BMW 2002 and Alfa Romeo GTV. 

F1 Racing is a British magazine, so to me that means that the words are in English and not American! Seriously, very little problem with translating, and each issue has plenty of F1 racing news. The only complaint I have is that since it's printed overseas, they must deliver it to the US on a very slow moving ship, since the latest issue at book stores is typically a month late. Still, the best F1 magazine I've found in the US, so fun to read. 

4th of July Weekend Racing Roundup

On Sunday July 3rd the Formula 1 racing season continues from Austria, home of "The Sound of Music", so I'm sure the hills there will be alive with the sound of 22 cars racing around the Spielberg circuit. For more info on this event, we recommend reading the Haas F1 team website at this link: Haas F1  Just in case you've lost track, we're still rooting for the American F1 team of Haas, and you will be able to watch the race at 8am Eastern time Sunday morning on CNBC TV.

Closer to home, the NASCAR Sprint Cup returns to Daytona on Saturday July 2nd, with the Coca-Cola 400 starting at 7:45pm on NBCSN TV. You can check out the entire season's schedule at this website: NASCAR SCHEDULE

Even closer to home (for NMS anyway) than that, the Red Bull Global RallyCross is racing in North Carolina this weekend, with races both Saturday and Sunday, 5pm on NBC both days.  You can find out all about that here: Red Bull GRC Schedule   If that's not enough crazy action from 600hp small cars on dirt, then just wait for the end of July when they'll be racing up at Washington DC!

If you are an Indycar fan, and enjoyed last weekend's road course at Road America in Wisconsin, I'm sorry but they aren't racing this weekend. You'll just have to wait for next weekend when Indycar returns on Saturday July 10th in Iowa, 5pm on NBCSN TV: Indycar Schedule

One last tip, check out the TV listings on line from Racer magazine at this link: Racer TV  In addition to F1, NASCAR, Indycar, and RB GRC listed above, you'll also find information on the Formula E race, Trans Am, and other race series too.

Here at NMS, we're powering down a bit this weekend also, so no autocross events this weekend, and then we'll be back in action soon with events in South Carolina, Virginia, and in the next few days we'll be announcing a new venue for Rally Cross in Midway SC, so that will be fun to go auto crossing on dirt!

Post #400 and a New Car in the NMS Stable!

Welcome to post number 400 on the NMS blog! Thanks for following along with us on the Internet as we've been auto crossing, going to car shows, taking photos of cars, talking about cars, test driving cars, and then auto crossing some more! Like most car lovers we have a lot of thoughts on not only the cars we're driving, but also those cars we'd like to drive in the future. Sometimes this is just fantasy (yes, I would like to drive the Lunar Rover on the Moon, but can't find them on eBay, much less afford a Saturn rocket to get there), but mostly we plan to keep discussing our cars. Sometimes they need some TLC, some new tires, and all that regular maintenance that keeps them running.
Brian Nixon is obviously the talented driver and artistic director of the blog, so thanks to him for starting this thing, and he's still faster than me too!

Today I want to tell you about a 2000 V6 Mustang that followed me (NMS-North) home one day because I bought this at an auto auction in Norfolk VA. (Cue the flashback story-telling music and special effects here...) The bidding was quick and short that day.  At least it went quickly once the auctioneer realized that no one was bidding on his opening $500 asking price. So, with two other guys both raising their hands for the first bid at $200, and then my next bid of $225, that was all she wrote, and NMS turned out to be the winner! You just can't lose with a 225 dollar car can you?

It came complete with exciting options like, wheels and tires, a key, and more surprises inside than a box of Cracker Jack! Among the "freebies" inside the car were both a Haynes AND a Chilton repair manual for the car, a bunch of bottles of various auto-fluids, and an unopened 12 ounce can of Mountain Dew! Also, a huge set of Channel Lock Pliers, a drain pan, and an owner's manual for a 2006 Mustang. More to follow on this fine stallion as we see if we can get it running!

Special thanks to my friends that helped tow this beast home, Rudy Rendon, Michael Moore, Spencer Burnham, and Stephen Reier. You guys deserve a free lunch!

At the auction lot

Ready to trailer it  home

Currently resting at NMS-North HQ

V6