What Makes You Roar?

What gets your engine revving more: one of these American-made Flowmaster mufflers:

or one of these hot American-made models?

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Thule Base Racks Demystified: Part 1

So, that kayak has been sitting in the corner of your apartment long enough to develop a quarter-inch patina of dust, and the only mountain your bicycle has seen is the mountainous stack of Bicycling magazines next to your armchair.

You’ve been putting it off and putting it off, but the time has come to act: you need a roof rack to get your gear down to the lake and off to the trailhead. Admitting that your vehicle has a cargo-carrying problem is the easy part, though. Figuring out what you need to overcome the shortcomings is trickier. To help demystify picking out the right roof rack for your ride, here’s a brief explanation of the differences between the Thule roof rack systems.

Thule Base Rack: The Foundation

The words “roof rack” have a lot of different definitions. Some people call their actual cargo carriers “roof racks,” and others say that the crossbars or side rails are “roof racks.” For the sake of clarity, we’re going to chuck the term “roof rack” out the window and use a more descriptive phrase instead: base racks.

So, what exactly is a base rack? That’s easy enough: a base rack is the foundation upon which all carriers mount. In other words, it’s the crossbars that span the width of your roof and the hardware that holds the crossbars in place, called “feet”.

Crossbars are pretty universal, so you just have to pick the right length for your auto (longer crossbars for Expeditions, shorter crossbars for Mini Coopers). Picking the right feet, though, is where the brain work comes in because there are different feet for different roof types. The one thing that all the feet have in common is that they all work with Thule’s One-Key Lock Cylinders, which come in packs of two (Thule 512), four (Thule 544), eight (Thule 588) or ten (Thule 510).

Before running through the different roof types and the feet that love them, here’s a quick word about crossbars. Thule makes two different types of crossbars: the oval-shaped Rapid Load Bars and the square-shaped Square Load Bars. Rapid Load Bars are the premium option, boasting a sleeker look, improved aerodynamics, and T-slots for easy mounting of select Thule carriers. Square Load Bars are the classic choice, and they cost less. You’ll need to decide which style of crossbar you want before you pick feet because feet designed to hold Square Load Bars, like Thule LB65 65″ bars, won’t work with Rapid Load Bars, and vice versa.

Bare-naked Roofs

If you’re roof is as bald as Yule Brenner, Thule still has lots of options available.

Rapid Load Bar Feet: The Rapid Traverse (Thule 480R) is the latest and greatest option, promising a stronger hold, safer fit and an easy installation. If you’re looking for a more low-profile look and your vehicle has fixed-point rack attachment location or flush mount side rails, go with the Rapid Podium (Thule 460R). And, if your roof is totally bare and you don’t have rain gutters on the side, the Rapid Aero (Thule 400XTR) is the choice for you.

Square Bar Feet: The latest and greatest square bar foot system for nude roofs is the Traverse Foot Pack (Thule 480). Like the Rapid Traverse, this system delivers a tighter fit than other feet and is easier to install. For a low-profile fit on vehicles with fixed-point rack attachment locations or flush mount side rails, pick up the Podium Foot Pack (Thule 460). Or, if your roof is completely bare and you don’t have rain gutters, the Aero Foot Pack (Thule 400XT) is the way to go.

Keep an eye out for Part 2 of this guide to learn about base rack systems for other roof types.

Hot Swedish Models, Hot Swedish Cargo Carriers

Sweden. Their winters may be bitter cold, but their women are bone-tastically beautiful. And, their roof top cargo carriers are better than a plate of gravy-soaked meatballs with lingonberry jam. In case you’ve never experienced either, here’s a side-by-side showdown: girl for cargo carrier, tit for tat.

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Brutal Lamborghini Gallardo Crash and Burn

The specter of Eastern Bloc bureaucratic inefficiency nearly cost racer Giorgio Bartocci his life at the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo in Brno, Czech Republic. After losing control and slamming into the track wall, Bartocci’s Lamborghini Gallardo lights up like a chain smoker after an international flight. As you can see in the video, the safety crew working the track seems to be waiting for someone to file a 27B-6 form before they attempt to pull Bartocci out of his rapidly melting Lambo. Instead, Bartocci’s own crewmembers and co-driver step in to save their teammate while the Czech crew continues to dribble flame retardant on the track. Read more

She Knows How To Work A Stick

Think only wiry little Italian dudes know how to maneuver high-speed sports cars around windy European streets? Better think again. The blonde vixen behind the wheel of this Lotus Exige shreds down the asphalt and runs through the gears like a champ—all while wearing a pair of short shorts no larger than the napkin you’ll probably want on hand when you watch this video. I must say, though, the way she mashes the pedals in her high-heeled boots makes me wonder whether she’s done some work as a dominatrix in Dusseldorf back in the day. Read more

Spectacular Car Crashes Caught on Tape

I know, I know. We spend a lot of time ogling leggy ladies on this site. Can you blame us? But the world isn’t just a playpen for airbrushed beauties—terrible things happen to amazing cars. Gut-wrenching things. Spine-tingling things. Readers, if you’re the type who shivered every time you passed by the box for Faces of Death at the video shop, then you don’t want to continue with this post. If you’re not too squeamish, then check out these heinous car crashes. Read more

Baby, You Can Wash My Car

 

Spring is in the air, and that spells one thing: ’tis the season for skimpy, swim-suited hotties to break out our hoses and start squirting. There are some who say it’s still a tad too cold in some places for proper bikini car washes, but we say nuts to that. The colder it is, the more the pencil erasers pop up. Read more

10 Low Low Lolitas

All your friends may know the low rider, but are you familiar with just how hot the hood rats who hang around these hoppers are? Let’s just put it this way: even if you have 16 switches, your right hand will be too busy to fiddle with any of ‘em once you sneak a peek at these hydraulic hoochies. They may not be as polished as the BMW booth babes working the Paris Auto Show, they may not have all of their molars, and they may not have an opinion on whether the US and Iran can reach a detente—but I guarantee they know how to change out a flat if your Ds deflate. You gotta love a beauty with some grease under her nails, and you know these ladies get greasier than a bucket of KFC. Read more

Hot Italian Car Models That’ll Stiffen Your Gabagool

Mama mia! If you think Italian meatballs are spicy, you’ve gotta take a look a look at the sizzling car cooze bent over these smoking hot Italian cars. Read more

Car Show Booth Babes: A Retrospective

With the 2010 New York Auto Show winding down, we couldn’t help wondering what happens to the women who work the booths once the stalls are torn down, the cars packed up, and the mobile pretzel stands mothballed until next year. Maybe they’ll head back to Buffalo to finish their oral hygienist certification courses. Maybe they’ll land a marriage proposal from a crooked hedge fund manager. Or maybe they’ll return to a cryogenic freezer in Subaru’s corporate headquarters. Wherever they go, we’ll miss these be-heeled, be-spandexed, be-body-painted beauties.

In honor of their hard work, we’ve put together an homage to booth professionals from car shows past. Enjoy: Read more

Long Car Dong: Hot Korean Car Models That Make Our Pyongyangs Pound

The Korean peninsula may look flaccid, but the girls born on its shores are beautiful enough that one peek at their perky bodies makes men stiffer than a shot of soju. Even though I’m fully aware of this fact, I wasn’t sure if everyone out there knew just how drop-dead gorgeous these Seoul sizzlers truly are. So, I set out on a mission to create a collage that exposes everyone to these kimchi-ckas. Enjoy: Read more

DeLorean Interpretive Dance By Greased Up Germanic Woman

Just how much cocaine went up the noses of the executives overseeing the marketing of the DeLorean? After viewing some vintage commercials for the failed car maker, I’d say kilos and kilos. Case in point: the video below. Read more

Stick These Colored Tires in your Pipe and Smoke ‘em

Nothing beats a big, billowy burnout. Just thinking about the ripe reek of melting rubber makes my throttle foot itchy. But, you might think that smoking tires only pump out white clouds. Not so. Kumho makes a special set of colored tires that belch out a rainbow of colored smoke. You used to have to be as high as Sergeant Pepper to see colors like these. Check it:

When Subaru WRXs Fly

I’m no fan of queuing up in parking lots, especially movie theater parking lots packed full of acne-bearded teens who just got out of watching the latest installment of the Twilight series. Idling behind so many Hyundai Elantras, I’ve often wished I had the ability to just leap over the whole lot of ‘em. Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s had that fantasy. Ken Block, rally driver extraordinaire, has also fantasized about launching long distances in his tricked out WRX. The difference, though, is that he actually did it. Check out this 171 ft jump: Read more

Girls and Cars That’ll Torque Your Panhard Rod

The only thing sexier than a half-naked beauty with two X chromosomes is that same succulent sweetheart standing near an equally eye-appealing automobile. It’s because of these two stimulants that man invented textbooks—we needed something to hide our boners. Read more

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