24 Hours of Le Mans!

It's that time of year again, the oldest and greatest auto race in the world celebrates its 90th anniversary this weekend in Le Mans, France (June 23-24, 2013.) The race is fast and torturous. It is where the world's premier auto makers--Aston Martin, Audi, Chevrolet (Corvette), Chrysler (SRT Viper), Ferrari, Honda, Lotus, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Porsche, Toyota--come to show not only that they have the fastest, best handling, most advanced cars but in order to win, they must also be reliable and economical.

The race attracts top drivers including celebrity Patrick Dempsey who in past years has been a LeMans class leader. Audi once again captured the pole in 2013. Toyota was third fastest in qualifying with a hybrid prototype.

Unlike most races, these vehicles must run all-out for 24 hours straight without breaking down and with as few stops as possible. At 2013 speeds we can expect the leaders to travel more than 3000 miles (5000 km)

NASCAR, Formula 1 and Indycar feature straights that can be a thousand feet long. LeMans features a straightaway that is 4 miles (6 km) long followed by a series of curves, hairpin turns and shorter straights.

It is our favorite race at Almost Everything because the cars look like real cars and the technology is often a few years away from making the cars we drive everyday safer, more fun and better performing.

Video of Nissan GR-R vs Audi R8 V10

Star Trek, Spock(s) and Audi

Almost nothing to do with Almost Everything Autobody EXCEPT that some of us here have loved Star Trek since the 1960's (others only since the 1990's) and we are always fans of cool cars. This video puts 'em all together (with 2 Spocks no less!)



Our friend Tod says that old Spock needs to have said "illogical" when his golf clubs won't fit in the trunk!

Gold Plated Audi R8 Crash

Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day is a "gold plated" Audi R8 in Hamburg, Germany. We're not sure there is any actual gold involved. . . other than the money that went down the drain when this happened. As is most often the case, the driver was at fault. He ran after a police chase ended when he hit parked cars. It isn't clear if it was the owner who was driving or a thief who the owner claims took the car.

Thanks to WreckedExotics.com for the photos and alerting us, as always, to the destruction of another exotic car.

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1999 Audi A4 Color Restoration

Almost Everything's Car of the Day is a 1999 Audi A4. This car came to us with alot of peeling/delaminating paint, which we repaired by sanding and "feathering" the rough edges of the failed clear coat so that they became smooth. Next we layed down the foundation for the new paint, we sealed the smooth sanded surface with a primer which gives the new paint something to "bite" onto. Lastly we refinished the entire outside of the car with our Performance Base Coat-Clear Coat paint!

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24 Hours of Nurburgring 2012

Great video highlights of the 2012 Nurburgring 24 Hour race. Thanks to Joseph Reynoso for letting us know about it on Facebook!

Congratulations to Audi and Team Phoenix for their overall win in the R8. A second Audi R8 finished second.

Race Results (Drivers, Car):

1. Basseng/Haase/Stippler/Winkelhock, Audi R8 LMS ultra
2. Mamerow/Abt/Ammermüller/Hahne, Audi R8 LMS ultra
3. Frankenhout/Simonsen/Kaffer/Arnold, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
4. Leinders/Palttala/Martin, BMW Z4 GT3
5. Fässler/Mies/Rast/Stippler, Audi R8 LMS ultra
6. Abbelen/Schmitz/Brück/Huisman, Porsche 911 GT3 R
7. Müller/Müller/Alzen/Adorf, BMW Z4 GT3
8. Hürtgen/Schwager/Bastian/Adorf, BMW Z4 GT3
9. Klingmann/Wittmann/Göransson/Lamy, BMW Z4 GT3
10. Zehe/Hartung/Rehfeld/Bullitt, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

2009 AUDI A4 AVANT INSURANCE REPAIR

Almost Everything Autobody's Car of the Day is a 2009 Audi A4 Avant that was in a accident. We worked hand-in-hand with the customer's insurance company to put the car back to showroom condition.

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Motor Trend--World's Greatest Drag Race

This one "goes to 11"

Sebring 12 Hours Looks Like a NASCAR Race

Ferrari 458 crash at 2011 12 Hours of Sebring
Photo by Rick Dole for Michelin North America

Race winning Peugeot 908 at 2011 12 Hours of Sebring

Almost Everything Autobody watched the 59th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring on ESPN.  We thought we were watching a NASCAR event instead of American Le Mans. Endurance racing used to be tough enough without worring about other racers hitting you on purpose. No longer. Drivers bumped & grinded all 12 hours. Cars were destroyed, carried back to the pits, rebuilt and went back out on the track. Favorites from Audi & Ferrari were totaled allowing Peugeot to win overall for the 2nd year in a row and BMW to win the GT2 class.

Here's footage from one of the big crashes that took out the Ferrari 458: