Fast Cars

The concept of the show is that a needy car, usually a Hot Rodable machine, is stolen and the owner pranked until the car is reborn in a week. An AP story I saw on the show said 160 vehicles have been done so far.

Do blogs have anything in common with Formula One? I think yes, and these are my reasons…

- This site is dedicated to my passion - Formula One - and I will discuss all things F1. The season is due to begin in a few weeks, so there will be no shortage of posts. Please subscribe to the feeds if you want or return regularly as there will always be something new to read.

Hate to bring the competition up, but look at Toyota. The Camry, according to reviewers and yours truly, is still bland, bland, bland despite of the nose job. But it’s numero uno in car sales in the U.S. because, somehow, the company figured that Americans wanted quality product for low prices. And–surprise–we discovered we do and we’re willing to pay for it.

I think I'm wrong to assume that the ownership of things makes me happy, because it probably won't. It's how I use things to interact or get a person's reaction. For example, I own two SUVs. One is a luxury while the other one is not. I'm just paying for the luxury car, while I drive a so-so car to work every single day of the week.

Having stopped by the auto show here in Chicago last weekend, it was interesting to see how hallmark European luxury brands start looking like generic US models within a few years of acquisition. The Jag and Mercedes immediately comet to mind, whereas the Mazerati was a stunner in terms of body style and interior. And Lexus with its disinctive brand experience once again pulled off an expansive exhbition space that provided its customers an extension of its approach to the driving experience, space, luxury and ease. You could barely see which models you were looking at for Mercedes, all the cars were cramped, almost lumped together, while it made it seem like Mercedes was packed with people, it also made it difficult to actually view the cars. Less than a luxury feeling.

Probably the second time I pulled onto a street, I shifted into first and hit the gas. With the front wheels turned pretty sharply, and the front-wheel drive gripping and grabbing under the throttle, the wheel jerked right out of my hand and nearly sent me into a parked van. I settled down and got a feel for the steering after that. However, I was never really able to feel comfortable really hitting the throttle while in a very sharp turn (that is, when I had one hand on the wheel and one hand on the shifter). I felt like I didn’t have enough control over letting the wheel slowly return to straight when only using my left hand, and if I really put my foot into it, the wheel would wrestle loose and send me off in a straight line, regardless if I was done with the turn or not. While this may not be the fault of the car, and more my problem, I have to wonder how many young tuner kids are going to get this without much driving experience, and make the same mistake I did. I also wonder if just by number, many of them won’t be as lucky as I was… It’ll be interesting.

Yeah well timeshares have grown up since then, in fact one of the more interesting one's these days is with Classic Cars. Club Sportiva out of San Francisco (with a satellite office in San Jose) advertises itself as the nation's largest and most established sports car share company. They also have a line of classic and exotic cars as well including a hot 1962 Corvette Convertible or a 1969 Jaguar E-Type Roadster. You can learn more about them or see their collection of cars at: Club Sportiva

Side note: Not that I’m thinking of replacing the Neon because earlier this week AutoPro’s service manager’s boss spent some time brainstorming ways to keep the Neon on the road for what he figures could be another 60,000 miles (currently it’s at 140,000 miles). He figures instead of fixing the leaking head gasket (because the repair is so expensive) they can try some stop leak. He also walked me through all the different fluids and emphasized how important it is that I know stay on top of their levels (the power steer fluid also leaks). The only other big work item is replacing the muffler which I’ll postpone until next month. I figure I save $500 a month by continuing to drive the Neon and resisting the urge to get a flashy sports sedan.

I took part of Friday off to hang out with Erica, who's visiting for the weekend. Saturday, we went to a BMW CCA private viewing of local car collections. Some amazing cars to see up close. Lots of old Ferarri race cars, a 'complete set' of current-model Ferraris (F40, F50 and Enzo), a collection of '30s and '40s Fords and many other classics.

The production of the new subcompact is part of Ford’s restructuring plan as announced last month which also includes the closing of 14 plants including those locations meant for sports utility vehicles. Bold move, but will it work to Ford’s advantage? That, we’ll have to wait and see.

We drove others (mini-vans and SUVs), but I have to say, this thing is really sweet. Drives like a luxury car. (The only thing it does not have is a bidet, but I believe next year’s model will feature that.) Because it’s the Touring Edition, it’s got the DVD with wireless headphones for the kids, absolutely kicking Bose stereo system with built-in XM radio (love that Latin Jazz station Luna), heated seats which at first I thought was just me getting excited about going to work, and all sorts of other electronics that will likely need costly repairing in the coming years. I call it the space shuttle for its size; had to really clean out the garage to fit the thing inside.

Every part of Prodrive has been involved in the development of P2 from its motorsport and automotive technology divisions. Prodrive’s chassis, engine and drivetrain and electronics departments worked with its in-house manufacturing operation to produce the specialist parts and electronic systems. The company also called on the skills of a number of its partners to provide additional complementary technical expertise and specialist components, such as wheels, brakes and lighting.

On a more positive note Scuderia Toro Rosso’s first car, the STR01, will be debut on track in Jerez tomorrow. This is a completely brand spanking new car and is not connected to any previous Minardi’s or last years Red Bull Racing car.

2) The 1964 Chevrolet Impala Sports Coupe. This car was title “A young people’s sports car”. Perfect for riding, picking up girls, and swinging out. Also during this year the Economic Opportunity Act was passed by congress.

Here is a video of a professional race car driver reviewing the E60 M5. Its fairly good.

Check out my new 2006 Mini Cooper S we recently ordered on January 21, 2006. I have also started a page on the Mini Challenge Club Sport Race Cars from Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) with the full John Cooper Works in-house race treatment.

It seems the President’s thin call to sustainble living has given sites the green light to produce articles hell bent on educating America on the real facts behind hybrids, solar panels, etc. Business Week has a very cool article on ‘The Top Ten Hybrid Myths’ circulating. They bust past the myth that hybrids must be plugged in, but also shed light on the longevity of batteries (The Energy Dept. stopped testing after 160,000 miles–a cabby in NYC has already logged over 200,000 miles in 25 months with no problems). Other interesting highlights: In 1905 an American engineer named H. Piper filed the first patent for a gas-electric hybrid vehicle. The 200,000 hybrid car sales in 2005 represent 1.2% of the 17 million new cars sold last year. If car numbers keep increasing at the present rate, there will be more than a billion cars and trucks on the road across the world in 20 years. Damn.

The first team did the last stunt and they did really well. The moms had to drive a little sports car (sons were in the passenger seat) under a semi and get their car locked in under the semi. Then they both climb out of the car and up into the semi, grab a set of flags each, climb out of the semi and hang all of their flags along the side of the semi. Still with me? It looked like quite a crazy stunt and having been in several accidents I don't think you could have gotten me to do it so it's a good thing I wasn't participating. But the first team did it no problem so it looked a lot easier than I had expected. They did the whole stunt in 2minutes 20seconds.