Pod Rods: a BTS visit with Big Daddy Don Garlits; an electric speed record; and Leno's 3-wheeled excitement
By Dan Scanlan
Short and sweet but full of speed and noise - that's this week's Pod Rods, with Jacksonville's longest-running car event calendar.
A group of students from the University of Stuttgart set a new (and so far unofficial) world record recently for the 0 to 100-lm/h sprint. And they did it with electricity. The GreenTeam Formula students logged a time of 1.779 seconds in a two-way run at JadeWeser Airport in Germany. The previous record was 1.785 seconds. GreenTeam used an all-wheel-drive, open-wheel race car with a 134-hp electric motor and a 6.62-kwh battery pack. It weighs in at just 352 pounds. Guinness World Records will confirm the time in a few weeks.
One week after Chevrolet and GMC announced design changes to their pickup trucks, Ford introduced its 2016 F-150 Limited with more standard technology and driver convenience features. Goings on sale this winter, the Limited gets 22-inch polished aluminum wheels, raised "LIMITED" lettering on the hood, a unique grille and satin-finished chrome badge on the tailgate, satin-chrome door handles and chrome exhaust tip. It gets blind spot alert with cross-traffic warning, chrome front tow hooks (4x4 only), panoramic vista roof, power-deployable running boards, quad-beam LED headlamps, remote start and tailgate release, as well as an integrated trailer brake controller. Power will come from a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 with 365 hp, 420 lb.-ft. of torque up to 10,100 pounds towing.
This being the fourth Saturday of the month, the Historic Main Street Cruise will see hundreds of classics and hot rods cruising up and down Main Street from 1st through 12th streets starting at 4 p.m. But last Saturday, cruise founder John Wells and some of the Main Street Cruise group went cruising themselves, down to the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing at 13700 SW 16th Ave. Garlits, who has managed to keep most of the Swamp Rat dragsters that he set many a record in over the past 50 years, opened the museum in 1984 to chronicle his and the rest of the history of drag racing.
The tour [see the video here] went into the racing and fabrication shops where Garlits and staff worked to make many of his race cars, and restore them and those of other greats. The Main Street Cruise group also learned the history of the museum, saw Garlits' wall of photos detailing the history of his record- and ground-breaking dragsters, and saw some of his cars and restored motors. Reporter Dan Scanlan paid his admission to tag along and his video report on just a few of the things they saw is on Jacksonville.com.
The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day but Thanksgiving and Christmas. For more information and history, go to www.garlits.com.
Jay Leno's Garage takes a look at an outrageous 3-wheeler in this week's installment of his popular web-series.
It's the Rocket II Trike, designed by Tim Cotterill and built around a supercharged Hemi V-8 with more than 1,000 horsepower to the rear tires through a three-speed automatic transmission. Leno doesn't drive it in this video clip, sure to entertain.
The hot summer days mean only a few car events:
Car events:
?Green Cove Dragway - "Beat the Heat" - race against a police officer, plus grudge matches and match races, starting at 7 p.m. Saturday. Gates open at 6 p.m. Admission is $10 per spectator, $25 for test and tune racers and $50 for running combination events. For more information, go to www.greencovedragway.com.
Cruise-ins:
?Informal cruise-in - 7 to 9 a.m. every Saturday at the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop, located at 11117 San Jose Blvd. in Mandarin.
?Historic Springfield Main Street Cruise-in - 5 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday and every fourth Saturday from 1st through 12th streets on North Main Street in Jacksonville.
?Dancing in the Streets Cruise-in - 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday and every fourth Saturday in the 700 block of St. Johns Avenue in downtown Palatka.
?Clay County Cruzers - New - 6 to 8 p.m. on the fourth Saturday of the month at Creek Life Food Shack at 2583 Henley Road in Lake Asbury.
?Sunday morning cruise - 8 to 11 a.m. on the fourth Sunday of the month at Vaughn Motorsports at 11350 San Jose Blvd.
?Keystone Heights Cruise-in - 4 to 8 p.m. every second Saturday at Brooklyn Boys Pizza, 205 NE. Commercial Circle in Keystone Heights.
?Jacksonville Beach Cruise-in - 5 to 8:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month at Seawalk Pavillion at 75 1st St. N.
?Jax Beaches Cars and Coffee - 8 to 11 a.m. on the first Saturday of each month at Fletcher High School at 700 Seagate Ave in Neptune Beach. Information - www.betterjaxbeach.com.
Georgia cruise-ins:
?Southeast Georgia Car and Truck Club cruise-ins - 6 p.m. the second Saturday of each month at Sonic's, 395 Charlie Smith Senior Highway, St. Marys; and 6 p.m. on the fourth Saturday of each month at the Millhouse Steakhouse, 1215 East King Ave. in Kingsland, next to Interstate 95.
?Bike Enthusiasts show - 7 p.m. the first and third Thursdays at Cavagnaro's restaurant, located at 1810 South Georgia Parkway W. in Waycross.
?Zaxby's Car Show - 6 to 9 p.m. the third Saturday of every month at Zaxby's, located at 2316 Memorial Drive in Waycross.
Please send information on car shows, cruise-ins, and automotive and motorcycle events to dan.scanlan@jacksonville.com or Dan Scanlan, Florida Times-Union, 1 Riverside Ave., Jacksonville, Fla. 32202
