American Le Mans

The first two generations of the Dodge Viper (Some sources break those two generations into two further generations.) were brash, brutal and downright angry. These thundering 10-cylinder neo-Cobras, both open- and closed-top, routinely beat up on all manner of European supercars, not to mention crosstown rival Corvette. What’s more, these beating occurred on the street and on the track, the latter being where race-prepped Vipers scored numerous wins, including three consecutive GT class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the overall win at the 2000 24 Hours of Daytona.

However, the Dodge Viper’s story came to an end on July 1, 2010, as the last example rolled out of the Conner Avenue Assembly plant in Detroit. Scarcely two months later, though, word came down that a new third (or fifth; take your pick) generation Viper would be coming in a couple years. Well, now it’s a couple years later, and the new Viper is indeed here. A lot has stayed the same with the new car, but a lot has changed, too.

Throughout 2011, Sub5Zero traveled across the globe to bring you coverage from an incredible variety of Motorsports events such as Goodwood Festival of Speed, X-Games, and MotoGP. As we celebrate the closing of 2011, and start planning the adventures we'll embark on in 2012, we decided to bring you some of our best moments from this year's events. Take a look past the break to see some of our favorite Motorsports photos from 2011. 

To help kick off our "Featured Rides" section here on Sub5Zero, we decided to do something a bit different than what you would expect. In the future, this section of the site will showcase cars, bikes, etc. we feel deserve a bit of special attention. We'll feature unique rides we come across at events Sub5Zero covers, at races we attend or even something we run across in the local shopping mall parking lot. Today we wanted to give you a bit of insight into what we think is one of the most incredible race cars we've seen in person - Aston Martin Racing's Lola-Aston Martin B09/60. Click past the break to read more about this amazing machine and see some more of our "private photoshoot" with the race-winning #007 car.

This past weekend Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway hosted the American Le Mans Series once again. And after completing 248 laps in 6 hours – the #007 Aston Martin Racing entry ended up on the top step of the podium. Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister in the #45 Flying Lyzards Porsche took the top honors in the highly competitive GT class. Click past the break to continue reading about all the action this weekend on the Monterey Peninsula.