The Garage Presents "12 Items of Garage Talk"

Whether it's two-wheels, four-wheels, dirt, pavement, air, water, snow, backflips, pit stops, super this or moto that, Garage Talk gets inside the world of Red Bull motorsports.

I. Burning Midnight Oil
II. A Doughnut, Officer?
III. Bienvenidos a Baja!
IV. Renner Does it in the Dirt
V. Chambliss Comes Up Big Down Under
VI. Last Man Standing? Well, Almost!
VII. Supermoto in the LBC
VIII. No Mo Moto(GP), until March 2007
IX. French or Italian Dressing?
X. Dakar Rally: American Year?
XI. Champ Atlantic: Two More on Four Wheels
XII. And Finally?

I. Burning Midnight Oil

Can you guess which motorsport series has the shortest off-season? A clue:it's been less than 30 days since the last race and it's near over already. That's right, the NASCAR off-season. And that's if you want to call it an off-season, since the crew at Team Red Bull and drivers Brian Vickers and A.J. Allmendinger, have been busy gearing up for the official 2007 launch with Toyota. Get the daily team scoop at http://teamredbull.blogspot.com.

II. A Doughnut, Officer?

Spy video of the TRB No. 83 spinning a doughnut on the cobblestone Dumbo area streets of Brooklyn, NY the other week has surfaced at YouTube.com. The next day, the top 10 NASCAR race cars from the past season paraded through Times Square at the rapid rate of two mph. The Garage personally prefers Brian Vickers' approach to a street show. See the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LSPXPtsf2Q.

III. Bienvenidos a Baja!
Red Bull athletes got down and dirty with success at the 39th SCORE Baja 1000. Steve Hengeveld, competing in the Class 22 motorcycle division (the top motorcycle class), captured his sixth overall win, and fifth straight, topping his former teammate Johnny Campbell, who was going for his 10th straight win. Robby Gordon won his third Baja 1000 in the prestigious Trophy Truck class. He started the race, drove halfway down the Baja peninsula and tossed the keys to his co-driver Andy McMillin, who finished the race. Gordon hopped on a helicopter and then boarded a jet bound for Miami and the NASCAR season finale. You can't say Robby isn't driven.

IV. Renner Does it in the Dirt

Ronnie Renner took the overall title at Red Bull Ride to the Hills. The competition brings freeride motocross back to its roots, on natural terrain, not ramps. This year's event took place at two different locations in Southern California, Ocotillo Wells, with hard-packed hills, and Glamis, featuring sand dunes. The riders chose the winner amongst themselves after watching video at the end of each competition day. With solid whips and an amazing launch over a huge ridge, Renner danced away, sprinkler and all,
with the coveted golden shovel trophy. Robbie Maddison missed the contest after crashing hard on a step-up, but stuck around to offer moral/heckling support to his fellow riders who included the likes of Nate Adams, Mike Mason and Tommy Clowers. To see behind the scenes footage of these guys visit www.redbullridetothehills.com and click on the "videocast" link.

V. Chambliss Comes Up Big Down Under

The 2006 Red Bull Air Race World Series ended in Perth, Australia on November 19, but this is just the start of things according to World Champion Kirby Chambliss. He took third place Down Under, but that was more than enough with his four previous victories to earn the series title. Though he took control early on, challenging new courses such as Barcelona provided some turbulence in what may have seemed like a smooth ride for the American. Next season is sure to have his rivals Mike Mangold and Peter Besenyei gunning to stay on pace with Chambliss' new EDGE 540. Keep up with the pilots during the off-season and look ahead to the 2007 calendar at
www.redbullairrace.com.

VI. Last Man Standing? Well, Almost!

The final major enduro event of the year nearly lived up to its foreboding name, as only two of 128 riders completed both 40-mile laps of a brutally tough course on the Texas/Oklahoma border that was made even tougher by a rare snowstorm two days before the event. Everyone on-site left with a free souvenir - authentic Red River dirt stains on shoes and pants from mud around the course that was up to a foot deep. World Enduro Champ David Knight again trounced the field, but he said afterwards that LMS was the toughest race of the year. Runner-up, Wayne Braybrook said this was also the hardest race of his 27-year career. Check out the proof at http://www.redbulllastmanstanding.com.

VII. Supermoto in the LBC

Troy Lee's Duel at the Docks was the final race of the 2006 AMA Supermoto season. The historic Queen Mary in Long Beach was the site of the event, although no bikes are actually allowed aboard the big boat. It was a clean season sweep for Red Bull-supported athletes and teams. The ageless Jeff Ward of the Troy Lee Designs Honda Team captured the Supermoto championship, his second career title. Other series champions included Troy Lee Designs Honda's Cassidy Anderson in the Supermoto Lites class and Team Red Bull KTM HMC's Ben Carlson was crowned the Supermoto Unlimited champion.

VIII. No Mo Moto(GP), until March 2007

How does a world champion celebrate his triumph? Well, if you're 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden, you go under the knife to repair an injury that you revealed to nobody outside your immediate family until a month after the season ended. Hayden suffered a fractured shoulder when he was taken out by his teammate in the penultimate round of the season in Portugal, seriously damaging his title hopes. The Kentucky Kid, not wanting to tip his hand to rival Valentino Rossi, gritted his teeth and raced the final race with the busted wing, Rossi shockingly fell and Nicky went on to make history. Get ready for the 2007 season at http://www.motogp.com and http://www.redbullusgrandprix.com.

IX. French or Italian Dressing?

The engine choice for a Formula 1 car is much like the dressing choice at the salad bar, pick the wrong one and your beautifully prepared meal could be reduced to a sloppy mess. Hopefully there will be no slop this year for the Red Bull F1 teams. The Italian Stallion of racing, Ferrari, will supply Scuderia Toro Rosso with engines for the '07 ride and the French folks at Renault will supply Red Bull Racing with their engines. For up to date
information, visit www.redbullf1.com.

X. Dakar Rally: American Year?

It's time again for the grueling Dakar Rally, and for the third year,
Red Bull will support the VW Touareg driven by American Mark Miller. This could be the first Diesel vehicle to win the Dakar. As for two wheels, American Chris Blais will race for the Red Bull KTM team, which has been a part of the rally for four years now. Last year Blais was fourth overall, so like Miller, he has a great shot at podium this year. Tune in to watch the rally highlights on "Versus," which used to be OLN. The first program airs on
January 7 at 3:00 pm ET. For ongoing schedules visit
http://www.versus.com/nw/article/view/673/?UserDef=true&catID=76. For more information on the Dakar Rally visit http://www.dakar.com.

XI. Champ Atlantic: Two More on Four Wheels

Red Bull-branded athletes John Edwards, who has been racing in Europe for Red Bull's Driver Development program, and Canadian Robert Wickens will make up the Forsythe Champ Atlantic team in 2007 with partnership from Red Bull. A supporting series to the Champ Car World Series, the Toyota
Atlantic Series consists of 15 races beginning on April 8 in Vegas, baby! Learn more about this series at http://www.champcaratlantic.com.

XII. And Finally...

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!