If you’re a fan of the British Touring Car Championship or the UK Time Attack series, then the name Brands Hatch will no doubt be familiar to you. And for you F1 fans out there, you probably associate Silverstone with the British GP, but it’s worth noting that starting in 1964, Brands Hatch was the home of Formula One in jolly old England every other year until 1986. But with growing concerns over track safety at Brands, Silverstone took over full-time duties as host of the British GP starting in 1987.

Specs & Details

'13 Lexus GS

Watkins Glen

Having just gotten off a plane that has taken me to Tokyo, Japan, and back in less than 48 hours, I can say with great excitement that the prototype version (basically a production-ready model) of the ’13 Scion FR-S is the car that we have all been waiting for.

Infineon Raceway, formerly known as Sears Point, is one of the more dramatic racing circuits in America. As much as this track’s name makes us want to dress up like Buzz Lightyear and shout, “To Infineon and beyond!” the track itself makes us want to throw on our racing shoes and do our best Gary Sheehan impression around this twisty masterpiece carved into the hillside terrain of Sonoma’s wine country.

Specs & Details

Cooper Tire Zeon RS3-S

Mount Panorama

Specs & Details

Goodyear Assurance TripleTred

So you want to be a race car driver, do you? Well, welcome to the club, because pretty much everybody who’s reading this mag wants to do the same thing. How in the wide, wide, world of sports does someone become a race driver, and what exactly is a race driver, anyway?

Specs & Details

'12 Hyundai Veloster

Autobahn Country Club

If we want to discuss the history of the electric car, it’s necessary to travel back to the early 20th century, where the first examples were actually produced. But I’m not in the mood for a history lesson right now. Not after having driven what I would consider the most, dare I say, electrifying car in my recent memory.

Located just 70 miles west of Washington, DC, there’s really no reason the president couldn’t spend a weekend or two Obombing around any of the three road racing circuits located at Summit Point Motorsports Park in wild and wonderful (yes, that’s the state slogan) West Virginia. If Barry H. asked us, we’d suggest he strap Biden in the passenger seat of a FBI cruiser and go for a rip around Shenandoah Circuit, a truly unique 22-turn thrill ride that has enough blind apexes, banked turns, jumps and rapid drops to test Smilin’ Joe’s aging ticker, if not his veneers and hair plugs.

Specs & Details

Specs & Details

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Specs & Details

Specs & Details

Known primarily as the home of the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix (though it also hosts MotoGP, Aussie V-8 Supercars and a few Asian-based series), Shanghai International Circuit was built in just eight months in 2003 and opened for business in 2004 as the grandest of all the Grand Prix circuits (though Dubai’s F1 track is arguably the current king of the F1 sandboxes). Its scale is simply mind-blowing, dwarfing all previous F1 circuits with the sheer enormity of its facilities, while the track’s design is inspired by the shape of the Chinese character shang, the first character in the name of the city Shanghai, meaning “above” or “ascend.”

Located in the Phoenix area, Firebird International Raceway has something for every type of go-fast enthusiast. With a NHRA dragstrip, four different road courses and several massive paved paddock areas ideal for autocrossing, it’s the perfect location for the annual Modified Tuner Shootout.

The new Ford Focus is a pretty damn good car. Let’s just get that out of the way from the get go. In the compact segment, this car takes the cake in every category, combining excellent driving feel with an almost unreal amount of cool gadgets, especially considering the price tag of well under $25K. If this comes as a shock to you, it’s time to move on from the late ’90s and early ’00s mentality that Ford is a car company with a lot of downsides in their vehicles. Here’s the plain and simple truth: the newest generation of Ford cars is really good. Let me tell you why.

Test Mule

If speed is the drug that hooks drivers on the go-fast crack pipe, then Mosport International Raceway is one of the world’s most persuasive drug dealers. Less than 50 miles from downtown Toronto, Mosport is one of the fastest road courses in North America, with ALMS cars averaging 135 mph during a lap and corner speeds of 165 mph in turn 8. If that’s not fast enough to scratch your go-fast itch, time to join the Air Force and hope you’ve got the right stuff to make it as a fighter pilot.

Los Angeles to San Francisco, then back to LA. Then LA to Vegas and back again, all in the span of three days with four people and our luggage. We logged a grand total of 1,338 miles in a ’12 Acura TL.

BeaveRun MotorSports Complex
Location Big Beaver Borough, Pennsylvania (45 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh)
Track Configuration 1.53-mile, 12-turn North Track
Facilities 400 acres, South Track (under development), Wilson Circuit 0.82-mile, 17-turn kart track, kart rentals, driving schools, off-road course, 12,000sq-ft Event Center, 6-acre Vehicle Dynamics Area (used for autocross and skidpad)