Brian Ballard's Chevy Cobalt, newly painted blue and with Mobil1 sponsorship, will race in the NOPI Turbo Street class.

Atlanta Rain Out!

Not much to report from the first event of the 2008 Sport Compact Drag Racing season. We waited for two days, but the sun refused to come out to dry the soggy track in Commerce, GA. A full day and night of rain on Saturday was followed by a damp, cold, and grey Sunday that prevented the Atlanta Dragway crew from being able to prep a safe track.

So, we packed it in and got ready for the next event, only one week away at Moroso Motorsports Park in Jupiter, Florida.

Despite the uncooperative weather, there were quite a few NOPI fans and show-car owners who came out to support the event. It’s a good sign for events to come; I’m anxious to see what kind of crowd we’ll get when it’s not raining and cold! GM is hosting the first 50 entrants in the “GM ECOtec VIP” category (sign up on nopi.com) in a special owner’s area at the Moroso event. I’m looking forward to meeting you all!

See you there. read more...

More Blogosphere Love for The 2008 Cobalt SS

We are starting to really get excited about the new 2008 Cobalt SS. Media all over are already talking about this car. Our friend Jonel Zula from www.CobaltSS.net had a chance to drive the new Cobalt SS and absolutely fell in love.

He did a post on his site, which is the largest Cobalt fan sites on the net, and has received amazing response. As of March 27, this post is up to 19 pages!

How amazing is that? read more...

GM Tuner Tour Invades HIN LA

HIN LA is always a huge show and this year sure didn’t disappoint. With big expectations and eager to build on the success of the season opener, the GM Tuner Tour headed to Los Angeles for the 2nd HIN show at the LA Convention Center.

The GM Tuner Tour placement was exceptional. We had prime positioning in close proximity to the Boost Mobile stage. Overflow from the stage added to the already steady traffic moving through the GM Tuner Tour display all night long. Crowds remained heavy all around the GM VIP Studio. A steady stream of people moved into the studio to have their pictures taken with the gmtunersource.com models and the Pontiac Solstice SD-290. The radical speedster design of the Solstice SD-290 was the perfect draw for this crowd. Many VIP Studio participants were eager for the chance to come into the studio just to get an up-close look at the Solstice. A consistent lineup of people waited for their turn in the studio and resulted in 1337 consumer photos taken. This represents our highest throughput for the VIP Studio beating our previous best from HIN San Mateo two weeks prior.

Consumers were also eager to sign up for their chance to win a Pontiac G8. The newly added 50 Cent G8 banner featuring the Rides Magazine cover helped generate additional exposure for the 50 Cent G8. If you have a chance to make it out to a show where the GM Tuner Tour is present, make sure to signup to win a G8! read more...

ECOtec Owners Unite! Let GM Treat You For The Weekend!

Calling all Cobalt, ION, Solstice, Sky, HHR and G5 owners …

Come join us at the NOPI Drag and Drift event held at Moroso Motorsports Park in West Palm Beach, FL on April 5. read more...

Chat With a Pontiac Designer on GMnext

"GMnext.com" is hosting a virtual chat on its site with Pontiac designer Jose Gonzalez on Thursday, March 20 from 11 a.m.-noon EDT. This is an exclusive chance to direct questions to the person who worked on the newest iteration of Solstice, unveiled at the New York Auto Show. Please note the chats are open to the media and the public. read more...

Times Have Changed

It’s March 2008, and the buzz for the new 2008 Cobalt SS, which won’t be out till the end of the year, is already making tremendous noise! This is the car that the tuner world has been waiting for from GM. Keeping to its roots with FWD power and FINALLY the turbo setup we have all been dying to have! Well ECOtec fans … as you may have already known, the wait is soon to be over with the new 2008 Cobalt SS.

Recently we held a media event and invited all kinds of media. Hot on the list were our friends and partners from the Tuner media world, which were some of the first that we invited to this 2008 Cobalt SS meet and greet! Stories are already circulating online and will soon be in print as well. read more...

The Show Season Has Begun!

The show season is upon us and the Tuner Tour is on the road! The kickoff happened at San Mateo HIN this past weekend. After a two-year hiatus from the season opening Hot Import Nights show in San Mateo CA, the GM Tuner Tour has returned. Kicking off the 2008 season, the GM Tuner Tour rolled into San Mateo with engaging new displays and the undeniable presence of the all-new GM VIP Studio and hot new feature vehicles.

Our placement was awesome as we were in the front row near the main entrance. We were also surrounded by what were clearly the event’ s hottest show cars. Foot traffic was very heavy throughout the night. Crowds of people gathered around the new GM VIP Studio to catch a glimpse of Jason Whitfield’s Cobalt and our GMTunerSource.com models. The throngs of gathering onlookers were prompted by the GM Tuner Tour Staff to come in to the studio and have their picture taken with the 900hp Cobalt and models. We where overwhelmed with the amount of traffic in the new GM Tuner Tour display. The show was a HUGE success for us! read more...

Welcome to the new-and-improved GMTunerSource

We figured with a new racing season gearing up, and with all the excitement surrounding our racecars and drivers, that it only made sense to spruce up the site. We now have a year under our belt and are celebrating all over the world. That may be a small exaggeration, but we are very happy! When we started this, we didn’t know what to expect. But now, we have a full-blown site with great fans!

We’ve gone in depth in bringing you as much information on the ECOtec drivers as possible. We are still on our way with updates to the team sections, which you will see done this week and next. This year we want you to have a great connection with the teams and people behind GMTunerSource, so we are working hard to make that happen. read more...

GM race teams gathered last weekend to test their cars and work out bugs before the race season officially begins later this month.

The Season Begins (Almost)

We had our first sport compact drag racing test of 2008 for the ECOtec-powered drag cars. Several Chevy teams came out to dust off their cars: Bryan Jimenez, who will be running his Chevy Cobalt in Hot Rod for 2008; Bruno Massell, with his RWD ECOtec-powered Chevy Cobalt competing in NHRA Comp Eliminator DD/ALT; 2007 NDRA Pro Extreme Champion Don Nase Jr; 2007 NDRA Pro Outlaw FWD champion Jason Hunt; and, new to the sport compact camp, Grace Howell in a re-vamped All-Motor entry owned by Marty Ladwig. Not present were Marty Ladwig’s Pro FWD Chevy Cobalt and last year’s NHRA Pro FWD champion Gary Gardella, along with his Hot Rod entry, Jamie Farrer.

By the way, check out the variety of cars running the ECOtec engine: a turbo-charged dragster, a RWD turbo tube-frame car, a FWD turbo tube-frame car, a FWD turbo uni-body, and a naturally aspirated FWD uni-body. And that’s just what’s present at our test—you can find ECOtecs competing in Drifting, SCCA Road Racing, Inboard Powerboat Racing, sand rail racing, and the Ariel Atom. There’s probably more that I’m missing, but I just wanted to point that out here because I think it’s pretty cool! read more...