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What we can learn from the death of Anthoine Hubert
Following the tragic death of French F2 driver Anthoine Hubert last week at Spa during the Feature Race the FIA has begun an investigation into the causes of the incident. Motor racing is inherently dangerous, although this is something that many of us forget. Driver deaths used to be a regular occurrance back in the 50’s and 60’s. One of the most imfamous incidents occurred at the 1955 24 hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France where a crash sent debris flying into the crowd and killed 83 spectators, French driver Pierre Bouillin and injured another 180 spectators. Since then there has been a much…
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My weekend with the 2019 Kia Sorento
Recently, my 2016 Kia Sedona was in for some warranty repairs and was not done in time for the August long weekend. Kia of Saskatoon had my back and let me borrow a 2019 Kia Sorento EX in Blaze Blue with 11,000 km on it and a list price of $40,460. I got picked up from work by the Kia shuttle driver and when I returned to the dealership I noticed that my van wasn’t sitting out in the lot like it usually is after a service. When I walked into the service area I was immediately greeted by Sarah from the service team and informed that my van wasn’t…
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My weekend at Time Attack!
A couple of weekends ago was spent attending an event in Gimli, MB at Gimli Motorsport Park. The event was hosted by the Winnipeg Sports Car Club, who owns the Gimli Motorsport Park, and took place on July 27-28, 2019. And it was one of the greatest weekends of my life. I went with a good friend of mine, and co-contributor to At the Apex, Reece Digney. I drove from Saskatoon to Regina and met him before driving all the way to Gimli, MB with only a few short breaks in his Toyota 86. The 86 was packed full with his extra set of tires, floor jack, tools, racing helmet,…
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The Rich Energy saga
Sometimes reality is more interesting than anything you can find on TV. Rich Energy and their sponsorship of the Haas F1 team has become a soap opera on the biggest scale. Back in 2018, when the Force India F1 team had gone into administration, a company that almost nobody had heard of submitted a bid to buy the F1 team. This bid was nearly successful but the group overseeing the administration ultimately decided not to take the Rich Energy buy out and instead sold the team to a consortium led by Canadian billionaire, and father of F1 driver Lance Stroll, Lawrence Stroll. Very quickly after that Rich Energy attempted to…
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The 2020 C8 Corvette Unveiled!
After waiting for almost 3 years after the first images of the heavily camouflaged C8 Corvette mule were leaked we finally get to see the production model in the flesh. GM unveiled the 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray tonight in Tustin, CA ahead of the Monterey Car Week. And it didn’t disappoint. The idea of a mid-engined corvette goes back nearly 60 years and has had several false starts throughout history. The closest it ever came to becoming a reality prior to 2019 was back in the 1980’s, although GM decided not to pursue it as a production model at the time. Since the excitement has been building for so many…
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The Crossovers you didn’t know you wanted
SUVs are popular, extremely popular. Now this may be the understatement of the century, but go with me here. With many brands dropping once popular sedans in favor of the increasingly popular compact and mid-sized SUVs the SUV trend looks to have no end in sight. And now with less sedans and other body styles to make hotted, more and more brands letting their performance divisions loose on their SUVs. Super SUVs are picking up steam lately with a hotter version of nearly everyone’s mid-sized SUV. Mercedes has been doing this for years with their AMG versions of the GLC, G-Wagon and (formerly) M-class SUV. All of the other brands…
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Is the Infiniti Q50 really worth $50,000?
I recently had the chance to stop by the local Infiniti dealership and try out the 2019 Infiniti Q50. The thought in my head going into this was, is it really worth $50,000? The answer may surprise you. The model I wanted to try was the Q50 Red Sport, however the only one they had in stock was inside of the showroom, so instead we went to another model, the Q50 Signature with a list price of $48,540. The Q50 Red Sport comes with an uprated version of the 3.0l twin turbo V6 that puts out 400 hp, while all other variants of the Q50 come with the same motor…
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The joys of cleaning your car
Ahhh, that feeling when you clean all of the winter grime off of your car for the first time after the snow has melted. When you wash the floormats and realize that they’re actually black and not some weird greyish, browish colour. That is one of the most satisfying feelings I have all year – when I can look at my car and see the actual paint colour for the first time in months. But it never lasts. Or at least not for me. I love cleaning my vehicle. I find it relaxing and something that I can take pride in. Currently I’m driving a 2016 Kia Sedona minivan, and…
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Did Ferrari push their power unit too far in Bahrain?
Charles Leclerc, the second youngest pole sitter ever, was in total control of the 2019 Bahrain GP. With 10 laps to go it all went wrong after reporting an engine issue, resulting in a loss of power and straight line speed. Immediately Leclerc could see his maiden win slipping away as Hamilton started gained over 6s per lap on him. After a poor start, Leclerc dropped all the way back to 4th place by the fought back by the 6th lap to be back in the lead and ahead of his teammate and running with a Ferrari 1-2. Leclerc then proceeded to push ahead and create a comfortable gap between…
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Can the AWD Mazda3 stop the compact SUV trend?
There are a lot of people who are buying compact and subcompact SUVs these days, mostly so they can get the practicality of the hatch and All wheel drive (AWD). Up until now most auto makers only put AWD into their SUVs or large sedans. Luckily Mazda has come up with a solution to this problem – adding AWD to the Mazda3. Honda, take note. Not only has Mazda been killing it lately in the styling department, but the Mazda3 has been a perennial hit among Canadians, selling 26,728 units in 2018. While that is down 4.1% from 2017 (27,862 units) it is still a healthy number when compared to…
