Brad Kyle's blog

For the past 15 years, the designers and engineers at Mongoose Motorsports have been fine-tuning their powerful Grand Sport Replica. Recently, this team unveiled their newest endeavor – the GTP replica. And is she ever hot.

This GTP kit car is Mongoose Motorsports’ homage to the super-rare Corvette GTP race car (only seven were ever built), and its looks are spot-on perfect. In fact, I’ve read that Corvette GTP aficionados have to look closely – two or three times – to be sure that the Mongoose GTP isn’t actually one of the extremely scarce originals. Of course, the Mongoose GTP has something the original GTP race cars never had – air conditioning. But this sleek beast isn’t just for the racetrack.

Carroll Shelby, the iconic racing legend and creator of the Shelby Cobra, continues to rack up impressive awards.

Shelby, who celebrated his 85th birthday in January, was recently named recipient of the 2008 Automotive Executive of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. The elite list of previous award winners creates a very rarified level of excellence with names like Henry Ford II, John DeLorean, Lee Iacocca and Dieter Zetsche.

The Automotive Executive of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award is sponsored each year by the DNV Certification and the Automotive Industry Action Group, with nominations submitted by a select committee comprised of auto industry media, industry analysts and the CEOs of various automotive suppliers.

I recently read about a wonderful non-profit group of racing aficionados called Racing 4 A Reason. This organization got its start as a grassroots movement raising funds for worthy causes. As the group become more solidified, they set out to raise both awareness and money for selected charities by soliciting pledges for each lap their racecars completed in specific competition races.

Today, Racing 4 A Reason has a very influential partner in Factory Five Racing. In fact, just last December, Racing 4 A Reason ran four Factory Five vehicles in the grueling 25 Hours At Thunderhill endurance race.

Just last week, as I was making my way down the beautiful South Carolina coast from a sunny Myrtle Beach to a quaint waterfront town called Beaufort, pulling a wobbling transport trailer that I rented from U-Haul to pick up my beloved 1985 Jeep Renegade. Forced to leave "her" behind during a recent move, I was happy with thoughts of being reunited.

After all, it was the perfect time of year for rides in the Jeep. With no top, the fast-changing weather, quickly gearing down from a non-existent winter these past few months to what I hope is a warm, dry spring, was what we Southerners often take for granted, with mild winds off the ocean and and a bright, sunny sky.

While surfing the Web, I came across a website called the DuPont Registry. I've got to tell you, I was absolutely blown away when I clicked on the Autos section of this website. From Cobra replicars to Lamborghini Countach-inspired vehicles, this website had them all. From all appearances, DuPont Registry would seem to be a great place to buy or sell just about any kind of completed, ready-to-drive automobile, whether a kit car or an original.

The Grand National Roadster Show has long been considered the "granddaddy of roadster shows." And the 2008 event definitely lived up to that billing. Held January 25th through the 27th in Pomona, California, this year celebrated the 59th annual GNRS.

While I knew that it's always been the first indoor custom car show of each new year, I was fascinated to learn that the Grand National Roadster Show is actually the longest running indoor car show in the world.

Ever since I was a teenager, I've loved Porsches. In fact, my first girlfriend drove a Porsche 911. I don't know, maybe that's where my sports car infatuation started.

At any rate, I recently discovered a company by the name of Special Edition, Inc. that teamed up with Beck Development back in 1986 to create some of the best looking Porsche replicas that I've ever seen.

These aren't your garden-variety kit cars, though. They're fully-assembled Porsche replicas.

As 2007 draws to a close, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the top ten most expensive cars for the year.  They're all real beauties, and most are legendary muscle-bound speedsters.

So it should come as no surprise that among the top ten is a familiar name that every kit car enthusiast reveres.  That's right, Carroll Shelby's 1966 Cobra was holds a top spot as one of the major automotive sales of the year.

So here we go ...

When I was a teenager, this guy who lived down the street had a Jaguar XK-120C. Yep, I’ll readily admit it – I lusted after his sweet ride. As I recall, it was a 1952 and had been restored to immaculate condition. By the way, the “C” stood for Competition and this car was made for it. She had enough horsepower to blow the doors off of just about any beefed-up muscle car around.

I suspect I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for this “faster than a speeding bullet” beauty.

That’s why I’m so excited about the newest replica car produced by Shell Valley Companies (http://www.shellvalley.com). Called the 1951 Jag C-Type Replica, this replicar made its debut at the Run ‘N Gun rally, followed by a hugely popular appearance at the SEMA show in Las Vegas.

I remember when Star Wars first hit the big screen and America fell in love with R2D2 and C3PO. Reach even further back into pop culture trivia and you’ll find the robot from Lost In Space fame (“Danger, Will Robinson!”). We definitely have an ongoing fascination with robots, but can they actually drive a car?

Recently, I came across an article about a project that’s working toward accomplishing just that. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is apparently an arm of the federal government, scheduled safety tests just a few weeks ago on 30 computer-controlled vehicles in Southern California. The goal was to get these robotic cars, trucks and off-road vehicles to drive on their own in a city-like environment.