Performance Unlimited Blog

In the height of the pandemic, NASCAR took their races off track to the virtual world. With the eNASCAR/iRacing Pro Invitational Series, drivers who would have competed driving in the real world raced in the virtual world. According to The Sporting News (April 13, 2020), it worked pretty much the same as in a real race. While the NASCAR Cup Series races were postponed through May 9 of that year, “virtual races featuring many of the same drivers who compete in NASCAR’s top series …” were virtually racing. Even Indy Cars went virtual with a “six-race IndyCar iRacing Challenge” that year. According to the publication, you shouldn’t “think of iRacing as a video game. Consider it a simulator.” NASCAR Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer was quoted as saying the virtual races were “extremely realistic.”  Of course, the racers have long since returned to the actual race tracks. For instance, Marcus Ericsson just won the Indy 500 – the real race on the real track in Indianapolis. In 2021, Kyle L...

That Jeep of yours looks super cool driving down Elm Street in McHenry. But those high-stepping looks aren’t merely for aesthetic purposes; you drive that buggy because it’s made to go off road and that’s what really gets your adrenaline pumping. People from McHenry who haven’t been there just can’t relate to the thrill of scooting around rocks on a backwoods trail. They’ve never experienced jumping hills with all-four wheels going airborne. They can’t imagine traversing creek beds while making a wake with your 4X4. This is the sport of the young and young at heart. It takes a stout man or woman to challenge the worst that the offroad can throw at you. It also takes a sturdy mount to go offroad and come out the other side in one piece and on your own power. For those planning to go offroad, it’s a good idea to take care of themselves. Eat healthy. Exercise. Get enough sleep. Bouncing around offroad will take physical stamina. As for your ride, that Jeep, Ford F-150, Dodge RAM, Chevy ZR...

Is your car, truck or SUV’s AC up to the challenge of a McHenry summer? Hopefully, you’ve taken the appropriate steps to ensure that your car, truck or SUV engine has what it takes to stay cool this McHenry summer. But what about you?  When you’re driving through McHenry on a hot day, do you feel the cool and comforting air from the vents as your car, truck or SUV’s air conditioning efficiently keeps you cool? There are days ahead when you’ll definitely want to be able to answer that question affirmatively.  Summers in this neck of the woods can be a might bit uncomfortable. Heck, they can be downright sultry and hot. Your vehicle was almost certainly built with air conditioning as a standard feature. Shouldn’t it work efficiently? Keeping your engine cool in summer involves ensuring that it has enough fresh coolant to carry the heat out of the engine and through the radiator while the fan pulls cool air through to carry the heat away. You want the right thermostat in your eng...

How hot will it get this summer? The highest recorded temperature in Illinois was 117 degrees in 1954. But that was in East St. Louis, not in McHenry. The question to ask is how your car, truck or SUV would stand up to that kind of heat. The average temperatures in Illinois during June, July and August are 71.8, 75.3 and 73.5 degrees, respectively. But that’s average temperature that includes night-time lows. Day-time highs are higher than that. What we know for sure is that, over the course of the summer, we will see multiple days in the 90s. We’re liable to see days in the 100s. But even days in the 80s will test your car, truck of SUV’s cooling system. The cooling system includes the coolant, that liquid poured into the coolant reservoir. It includes the radiator. It includes hoses that move the coolant from the engine to the radiator and back again (after air has passed through the fins of the radiator cooling the coolant inside). The cooling system also includes a thermostat that ...