Stewart, Hamilton all smiles after car swap at WGI

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Lewis Hamilton looked at Tony Stewart, smiled and gave a thumbs-up.

"Shake and bake. That's what we're going to do," Hamilton said Tuesday as he climbed behind the wheel of Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet at Watkins Glen International to prepare for a day like no other in his racing career.

And that's exactly what the two star drivers did in an event dubbed the Mobil 1 Car Swap at The Glen, with Hamilton taking the helm of a non-open-wheel race car for the first time and Stewart hopping in an F1 car.

Not even a cool, drizzly day that forced them to use rain tires at the storied road course could dampen their spirits.

Hamilton was first to go out for setup laps in the McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 that he drove to the F1 title in 2009. He wowed the crowd with a burnout as he left the pits and did only two laps as the surface slowly began to dry.

Stewart followed in his Chevrolet, going five laps as he tried to get accustomed to navigating the famed mile-long Boot section of the layout. Stewart has a record five Cup victories at The Glen, but NASCAR uses the 2.4-mile short course that eliminates the Boot.

Then came the swap.

"I never in a million years thought I'd have the opportunity to drive a NASCAR," said Hamilton, who isn't accustomed to standard shift and admitted to being nervous. "I don't know what to expect. I know in NASCAR, you blow engines. We very rarely do that nowadays."

Stewart, who was fitted for his new ride Monday, was curious, as well.

"I think I've raced one time in my career in the wet," he said. "That was about five years ago. This ought to be a very interesting day, for sure. I got to run in the simulator yesterday quite a bit, but it didn't have a rain program."

Hamilton wowed the crowd, spinning the tires of Stewart's Chevy as he left pit road and turned six laps. The track was slowly drying after a morning rain, and when he was finished, Hamilton did an impressive burnout as the crowd roared.

"I just feel like a kid. It's good to feel like a kid again. It's one of the coolest things I've done outside of racing Formula One," said Hamilton, who crashed early in Sunday's rainswept F1 race in Montreal and finished last. "The competitive side of (racing) is so serious. After a tough weekend, I was worried even this morning."

The smoke from the burnout made Stewart grin from ear to ear, even if it was one of his own cars.

"The good part is when you see somebody doing a burnout like that, you know they're having a good time," he said. "That was icing on the cake."

An F1 car can go from zero to 100 mph and back to zero in 6 seconds, can reach speeds over 220, can turn 18,000 rpm, and weighs a ton more than a Cup car. No problem for Stewart, though, who won an IndyCar Series title before moving to NASCAR in 1999.

After a shaky departure from the pits, Stewart got up to speed fast in the McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 despite not having driven an open-wheel car in a decade. Among his four laps, he turned a fast one of 1 minute, 42 seconds in tricky conditions.

That was 8 seconds faster than Hamilton's best setup lap, which Hamilton ran on a much wetter surface. The track record for the long course is 1:28.597 at 136.935 mph, set by IndyCar's Ryan Briscoe in 2009.

"I couldn't even get it up high enough in the revs to get it to actually pull away in first gear. I kept having to reset it," Stewart said. "I kept trying to tell myself, just get on the gas a little bit. As a competitor, you want to go out and find the limit. At the same time, you realize that if you make a mistake, the penalty for that mistake is going to be pretty harsh, so you may back it off a little bit just to enjoy the experience.

"Once we got rolling though, it was unbelievable. It's just amazing what the capabilities of the car are. I told the guys on pit road that it's probably going to make my crew chief a little more stressed during the weekends now because I'm going to want it to handle like that all the time. That was truly the experience of a lifetime."

The event was a triumph for Watkins Glen president Michael Printup, who counts F1 as a passion. The Glen hosted F1's U.S. Grand Prix from 1961-80. And for one day, that distinctive engine roar that once woke campers up on race day echoed through the hallowed turns of the famed course.

Heck, the event, which was free, attracted 8,000-10,000 fans.

"I can't get rid of my goosebumps and my chills," Printup said. "It was amazing, and it was amazing to have these fans out here. For me, personally, I haven't come down from Cloud Nine. And I think I'm going to stay there at least for the rest of the day."

Lingenfelter Opens His Car Collection to the Public

There are a rare number of car collectors in the world who can actually handle the magnitude of keeping cars in great condition. Cars are just like art, if they sit for a long time they will deteriorate. The Turbo seals will dry out and the supercharger gaskets will fall apart just due to moisture in the air. Ken Lingenfelter is a man who knows how to do just that and his collection span the whole range of cars from Pontiac to Ferrari. Recently Lingenfelter opened his collection to the public to view, it is a seriously amazing sight and only $15 to get in.

The Doors open up to a virtual warehouse of the most amazing cars on the planet. Lingenfelter is the son of a General motors executive and has dedicated his life to collecting the most beautiful machines on the planet. The collection includes a number of exotics, just a few examples are an Enzo, Bugatti Veyron, Alfa 8C, Ferrari 599 GTB and even a BMW Z8 just to name a few. Lingenfelter is not only about the supercars though, he has a collection of classic and new muscle cars that would make any man weak in the knees.

All of the cars are kept in a temperature and the humidity controlled warehouse. Each is also subject to monthly inspections and cleaned on a regular basis to keep them in tip top shape. What has to be the best part of the collection are the concept cars and limited production cars too. Lingenfelter has 4 of the original 2010 Camaro concept cars as well as a Lamborghini Reventon the 12^th ever built.  This amazing collection is in Michigan and if you are in the area and you’re a motor head…it’s worth the trip. 

Kawasaki Ninja 250R with Air Brush Painting by Prhazt Portal Airbrush.

Kawasaki Ninja 250R with Graphics Air Brush Painting is a Mascot for Prhazt Portal Airbrush workshop provides an illustration in order to facilitate his work on potential consumers. Selected base yellow paint you will look striking. Combined with other festive color, likered, blue and white. The combination of straight lines and curves, makes this 2 cylinder motorcycle (Kawasaki Ninja 250R) body seen alive. The holes and grooves fairing becomes more pronounced. That’s because airbrusher smart play gradation. between graphic motif is the symbol of a circle with a cross in it, which is attached to the helmet Jorge Lorenzo, MotoGP world champion 2010.

more sleek in the body of Kawasaki Ninja 25-R is applying four (4) layers of lacquer applied! No Wonder very striking eyes and look smooth! Well let more and more tempting, also sprinkled with powder varnish cyralic, so that when the light hit show blink-blink effect. Finished painting that need funding of about Rp 3 Juta (3 million rupiah), turn some partsdecorated carbon printing. Some areas are coated including the dashboard, the speedometer, close the chain,body right-left and front-rear Footstep. All of the carbon black. Medium triangle topand carbon coated brake calipers yellow gold.

Last pair of Modification Kawasaki Ninja 250R is applied angel eyes, replace the handlebar clamp and custom undertail. Then toraise performance, wear freeflow exhaust and re-jetting the carburetor and replaceprogrammable CDI.

Detail Modification Air Brush Kawasaki Ninja 250R : Kawasaki Ninja 250R front & rear Tires using Bridgestone Battlax BT92 size 120/60-17 & rear size 150/60-17, Handlebars using Nui Brand (Thailand Aftetrmarket Products), Undertail Custom Single seater from Kawasaki Genuine Accessories, Handle brake & clutch using Nui Brand (Thailand Aftetrmarket Products), Sein Lamp Aftermarket, Frame sliders Aftermarket, CDI using BRT Brand I-Max type, Jetting kit Factory Pro, Exhaust using Two Brothers brand, Paint & varnish: Dupont, Thinner using Cobra brand.