Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • D13

Friday, December 17, 2010 D13 Richmond Times-Dispatch lb place a Classified ad, call 8Q4 643 4414 or visit Tim Plspatch.com This might be the onlyj way-tp get behind! -ATA Av the wheel of your fantasy A A nde.j 'ii -O-SA 1 1 Where etea wH you find a legal matchup of two race-brad street cars such as the QT Malan and the Gumpert Apollo? Chevrolet fans wil get to see their beloved ZR-1 Corvette square off ayaBiai ura uvu)JB wipoi. Axn i i i i XAi fX mm mm 1 rT a ft BY DAVID HARRIS WHEELBASE MEDIA You're sitting in the back seat of Cadillac's latest CTS-V sedan, steaming along as its 556-horsepower supercharged engine bellows at full song. Trees are mere blurs and Michelin's Laurens Proving Grounds tarmac can be mistaken for the Mulsanne Straight of the famed French 24 Hours of LeMans as far as you're concerned. that's 2003 IndyCar Series champion Paul Tracy in the driver's seat and his speedometer is rolling through 140, 150 and 160 mph much like you would be flipping through four, five and six p.m. to set your digital clock.

Who needs alcohol when you can get intoxicated like this? "Now that's an office place," laughed actor Lee Reherman, who was in the passenger front seat. This thing can sure put it to the ground." "Yeah, but it's still heavier than Tanner's (Foust) Mercedes," Tracy quipped. This could be a close one." Tracy quickly and effortlessly slowed the CTS-V to smoothly negotiate a 180-degree keyhole turn, pulling alongside a Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG of similar splendor, thus setting the stage for what would become a static set background. You quickly jump out of configurations on 3,300 acres. Tracy, who still gets behind the wheel of an 800-horsepower open-wheel race car on occasion, is the edgy yin to Foust's light-hearted yang, who also poses as a Hollywood stunt driver, two-time Formula Drift champion and co-host of the upcoming Top Gear USA TV show.

"In going head-to-head with Paul, we rely a lot on what the car's capabilities are," Foust commented. "You really have to rely on the weapon you showed up with. There is a road course element, typically, and Paul is used to lightweight cars with aerodynamics. So the fact that I'm used to sliding heavy cars around on street tires as opposed to the slicks (sticky, treadless tires) he's used to is a big advantage." With 13 episodes on tap, drooling will be aplenty. Matchups include; a Porsche 997 (911) Turbo against the Nissan GT-R, Dodge Viper versus the Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1, Gumpert Apollo against the GT Malan, the Lamborghini Gallardo against the Ford GT, Ultimate Aero versus the Bugatti "We're both quite different personalities, and we're both competitive and neither of us likes to lose," Tracy added.

"Even though it's a friendly, spirited battle, you still don't want to lose. When one car is inferior to the other, it definitely doesn't make you happy about it." I'm not holding back at all." Each episode features like-equipped exotics in a series of competitive tests of car balance, driving skill and, of course, trash talk. At the moment of aforementioned production, brute drifting star Foust against open wheel's Tracy in some of the world's most-gifted performance machines. "Some of the cars I've gotten to drive this year are pretty rare and unique," Tracy said. The (640-horse power) Gumpert (Apollo) for example, is pretty much a race car with a license plate on it Not too many people get an opportunity to horsepower had taken center stage as the two powerful sedans were lining up to compare drive a car like that and pretty rolling elapsed times.

Michelin's Laurens Proving Grounds is I located near Greenville, S.C., the car as a producer yells, "Are we ready?" Off they go. No, you don't have to wake up. You're backstage on set and features more than XvV a dozen of Battle of the SuperCars (which began July 22, 10 p.m. ET), SPEED'S new original competition series. Hosted by Reherman, best known as "Hawk" from the popular '90s hit, American Gladiators, the show pits rI Kf ACA" r-HTiit Over 13 episodes, youll get to see how cars Jr such as the Gumpert ApoMorealy and truly A drive, thanks to racer Paul TVacy.

The new SPEED series entitled Battle of the SuperCars is your chance to see rare exotics in action..