
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Baby Drama!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Car Girl On Assignment- 2011 Honda CR-Z







Under the hood of the CR-Z is a 1.5L, 4-cylinder, i-Vtec engine combined with Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist which is their 10-kilowatt, Direct Current Electric motor. It has an output of, brace yourself, 122 horsepower and 128 lb-ft of torque. Those numbers might seem modest, and they are, but the CR-Z still has a good amount of pep and get up and go when accelerating.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
An Interview With Canadian Racing Star Paul Tracy

I was recently at he Honda Indy in Edmonton, Alberta and caught up with Canadian open wheel racing star, Paul Tracy. We chatted about cars, racing, what’s in his garage and why he was grounded frequently growing up! Check it out…
The Car Girl: Thanks for joining me, Paul. What age were you when you first started to get involved in Motorsport?
Paul Tracy: My first race was when I was probably 5 or 6 years old. My dad came home with a go-kart and we went out to the go-kart track. There was a race, we entered it, and that was it. We ended up going back to the go-kart track every week after that.
TCG: Was Motorsport something that you had suggested or was it something your father brought into the home?
PT: My dad has always been a car guy. He’s always had exotic cars and different types of sports cars. It wasn’t really something I suggested but what had really prompted it was that I had a little mini-bike when I was a kid. I had it in the garage and I got in trouble for showing it to my friend. I had started it up and the throttle had stuck and it took off across the garage and went through the garage door. My dad took it away from me and then I got grounded and a couple weeks later he came back with a go-kart.
TCG: So that was kind of a blessing in disguise?!
PT: Yeah!
TCG: When you were growing up, what kinds of cars did you idolize? Was there something that you wanted to drive, i.e. I’m 6 years old now but I can’t wait until I’m 16 to drive…
PT: I don’t know. My dad always had nice cars. He had lots of different kinds of sports cars.
TCG: What kinds of cars?
PT: My dad had Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, every kind of car you can imagine. Rolls Royce’s, MG’s, you name it. He would buy stuff cheap and sell it for more. He’s always been into that kind of thing. I guess I’ve always dreamt of driving racecars not so much street cars.
TCG: When you turned 16, what car did you get?
PT: My first car when I was 16 was a Fiero. A 1984 Fiero.
TCG: What colour was it? Red?!
PT: It was red! I crashed it quite a lot. It lasted about 6-7 months before I had crashed it enough to where my dad took it away.
TCG: And then which car did you get after that?
PT: My dad gave me a pickup truck from his work, which was all beat up. I got grounded from having the Fiero taken away, and got a pickup truck after that. It was a Chevy.
TCG: I read that you were into collecting electric vehicles, is that correct?
PT: No, I don’t know where the ‘electric’ came from, maybe it was ‘eclectic!’ I have a bunch of old vehicles now, like a 1964 Lincoln Continental, a ’64 Buick Riviera, a 1951 Mercury, so I don’t know where that came out because I don’t own an electric vehicle. I heard that the other day too. Somebody made that up!
TCG: Could be worse, right?!
PT: Yeah!
TCG: I also read, correct me if I’m wrong, that you’re into motorcycles. What kinds of motorcycles do you have in your garage?
PT: I have a couple of different Harley’s, I have a Chopper and in the next couple of weeks, if no races come together, I’m going to a motorcycle rally with a couple of friends.
TCG: I know you have multiple cars in your garage, what’s your favourite car to drive for everyday purposes?
PT: Everyday, I drive a CL600 (Mercedes Benz). My wife has an S600 (Mercedes Benz). I like to drive my older cars but in the summertime in Vegas, it’s really hot, so it’s difficult to get them to run cool enough and not have a problem.
TCG: What advice would you give to kids or individuals looking to get into motorsport?
PT: It’s very, very difficult nowadays. It’s really hard to find sponsorship and keep sponsors happy. It’s not like it was in the 80’s and 90’s where sponsorship was easier to come by. Now, if you really want succeed and make it here, it’s not just the driving of a car, it’s a full-time job trying to find and raise the sponsorship and capital to do it. And when you have that, you have to over-deliver to the sponsors. What you say you’re going to do, you have to go over and above everything you say you’re going to do. Because if you don’t, they’re not going to come back.
TCG: I remember asking you this question in 2004 when you were in Vancouver for the Molson Indy race. I asked, do you prefer, Tim Horton’s, Kristy Kreme or victory donuts?
PT: I like Tim Horton’s!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Amazing Times at the Honda Indy in Edmonton








Friday, July 16, 2010
Buick, Buick, Buick





Hi All,
It's been a while since I last posted anything car related BUT I'm back in action.
Over the last couple of weeks I've been working with an event planning company for the launch of the new 2011 Buick Regal. Needless to say, the days were extremely long but I definitely had a lot of fun and met some fantastic people. You know who you people are!!
I spent the better part of my time traveling back and forth from Vancouver to Osoyoos/Kelowna and everywhere in between. I even drove through the fire that happened in Peachland. What a smokey mess! So sad. I also put quite a few kilometers on the Buick LaCrosse CXS, a car that I had not previously driven but had a great time in. It's quite the touring vehicle (i.e great on the highway because it's very comfortable) and has quite a bit of pep under the hood thanks to its 3.6L, V6 that produces 280hp and 259 lb-ft of torque. I decided to make a joke and tell people I was on the "LaCrosse Team" since it sounded cool. I guess you have to know my sense of humor. I mean, who doesn't want to be on the LaCrosse team?!
I also had the opportunity of driving around the new Buick Regal (aka the Regal Beagle!!) and really enjoyed it too.
Before my experiences with the Buicks, I'd never really given that much thought to them. Even as a journalist, I hadn't spent much time in them, and didn't really see the appeal to a younger crowd. In my immature opinion, I thought they were old people cars!! Besides, there really isn't a model in their lineup that really has the youth in a tizzy like a Chevrolet Cobalt SS would or the Saturn Ion Redline (may it rest in peace!) But the Buick buyer is getting younger and younger; the average age of the Regal buyer in China is 32! Not too shabby.
The Enclave SUV, which I also spent a fair share of time in, is decent and drives well. I was lucky enough to sit in the third row seats which I really liked! I am so rarely in the back seat of a car, literally, so that was quite the novelty.
The Regal is a great sports sedan with the choice of a 2.4L or 2.0L Turbocharged engine, has a great interior finish and looks quite chic from the outside. It's actually based on the German-engineered, award-winning Opel Insignia from Europe. Handling is ideal and the manual mode on the 6-speed automatic transmission is a definite perk.
Here are my Highlights and Lowlights
Highlights:
1) Super fun to driver with the Turbocharged engine
2) Easy to use GPS (when available) and the standard stereo system is quite good
3) Seats are very comfortable especially for long distance driving
Lowlights:
1) The naturally aspirated 2.4L isn't as much fun as the Turbo
2) Visibility out the rear isn't ideal (BUT there is an available parking assist)
3) No manual transmission option on the 2.4L engine
High five to the Regal.
So what can you expect from the Car Girl in the next little while?? Well, more domestic car reviews. I recently had the Dodge Challenger with the 5.7L, V8 HEMI which was way too fun to drive. I'm planning on doing webisodes and posting them on YouTube. It'll be pretty cool so I hope you'll enjoy that.
Also, I've got some great cars coming into my garage but I'm not going to spoil it... You'll just have to wait and see what's coming.
Until then, have lots of fun in the sun!
xoxo
TCG
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The Car Girl On Assignment- 2011 Mazda2





