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| photo courtesy of topgear.com |
Friday, September 3, 2010
Current Events: The Stig vs. Top Gear
For all of you who follow this site closely, you know that I love Top Gear. As many of you know they're going through a legal battle between a publishing house and the now ex-employee that resided behind the Stigs' mask for quite some time. Through my internet travels on another site I frequent quite a bit, Finalgear.com, I was ended up reading an online article recently posted by Andy Wilman, Executive of the Top Gear show on the BBC, addressing this situation. If you love Top Gear, I think this is good reading. Please go here to read this article.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
What to watch this Labor Day weekend while drinkin' & bbqin' (Sept 2nd - 6th)
- Battle of the Supercars - Ferrari Experience 548 vs. 599. Thursday @ 10pm - 10:30pm (SPEED/SPEEDHD)
- American Le Mans Series Racing @ Mosport Int'l Raceway. (Replay) Friday @ 12pm - 3pm (SPEED/SPEEDHD)
- D1 Grand Prix - Round 1. Odaiba Raceway in Tokyo, Japan. (Replay) Saturday @ 12am - 1am (SPEED/SPEEDHD)
- GT3 Series Racing - Mid-Ohio Sports Car course. (Replay) Saturday @ 1am - 2pm (SPEED/SPEEDHD)
- World Rally Championship @ Deutschland. Saturday @ 9am - 11am (Discovery's High Def Theater)
- Isle of Man TT - highlights from the first side car race. Monday @ 9pm - 10pm (Discovery's High Def Theater)
- Baja 500. Monday @ 10pm - 11pm (Discovery's High Def Theater)
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| photo courtesy of rallybuzz.com |
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Motivation with the blueberry
Long term projects can be both a blessing and a curse.
Ever since I picked up a daily, I've been a bit relieved of the pressure of trying to hold up a tower of water with only my bare hands. My car has slowly evolved from a field piece (relatively) to a decent-looking, ok-running pile of parts that puts a grin on my face. It's been taken off of daily duty and left alone in my parking lot, patiently awaiting it's heart transplant, among a great many other things.
With a lot of life happening lately (girls new job, move to another city, possible career change), and a lot of events and space changes coming up soon (a trip to Peru!, possible career change, shop space), I've come to neglect the poor blueberry. A rash of unnecessary car purchases, along with some new pass-times, has kept my attentions and mindsets in a decidedly non-forward direction.
I've picked up a set of wheels that I've always wanted, a set of Enkei 92's, that need a pretty serious refurb. I've got a "new" shortblock for my diesel that needs a quick refresh and a weekend of time. My interior could use some things, the list goes on.
But I just can't be bothered to think about it. I see it everyday, sitting lonely and neglected. Poor little fella, just wants a little love. How does one find their motivation when one remains unmotivated? I see a long road ahead; I even see the finish line. But I'm uncertain as to where my will has gone. I tend to work in short, highly-productive bursts, and those have worked well in the past, but this slow burn is getting to me. I'm more than halfway, probably 75% of the way there, but the home stretch is a doozy.
here's the wheels:
here's the motor:
and here's the car:
C'mon, man. Get it together.
Ever since I picked up a daily, I've been a bit relieved of the pressure of trying to hold up a tower of water with only my bare hands. My car has slowly evolved from a field piece (relatively) to a decent-looking, ok-running pile of parts that puts a grin on my face. It's been taken off of daily duty and left alone in my parking lot, patiently awaiting it's heart transplant, among a great many other things.
With a lot of life happening lately (girls new job, move to another city, possible career change), and a lot of events and space changes coming up soon (a trip to Peru!, possible career change, shop space), I've come to neglect the poor blueberry. A rash of unnecessary car purchases, along with some new pass-times, has kept my attentions and mindsets in a decidedly non-forward direction.
I've picked up a set of wheels that I've always wanted, a set of Enkei 92's, that need a pretty serious refurb. I've got a "new" shortblock for my diesel that needs a quick refresh and a weekend of time. My interior could use some things, the list goes on.
But I just can't be bothered to think about it. I see it everyday, sitting lonely and neglected. Poor little fella, just wants a little love. How does one find their motivation when one remains unmotivated? I see a long road ahead; I even see the finish line. But I'm uncertain as to where my will has gone. I tend to work in short, highly-productive bursts, and those have worked well in the past, but this slow burn is getting to me. I'm more than halfway, probably 75% of the way there, but the home stretch is a doozy.
here's the wheels:
here's the motor:
and here's the car:
C'mon, man. Get it together.
Quick Vid: Jaguar XJ-13
It seems the older I get the more older cars pull me in. I've always loved seeing footage of classic european car races from years (and generations) past, which made this video a must post when I saw it. Motortrends' Angus MacKenzie goes into this classic model of Jaguar's past; the XJ-13 racecar.
Video Courtesy of Motortrend's Youtube channel.
Video Courtesy of Motortrend's Youtube channel.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
The Red Coupe - Bodywork Confidence
Since the last update I was pretty much burnt out on sweaty sun-baked weekend work until I got some actual bodywork confidence. I wasn't getting a whole lot of body work, but as stated previously, some panels were in need of alignment and repair. I dropped my car off with my body guy Jason in Catonsville, MD (Performance Collision) and went on vacation. GD my trip to San Diego was awesome...I really gotta get back out there...but I digress. A few weeks later my car was returned to me with the following things done:
- hood alignment (past functional adjustment)
- repaired rust from battery tray area and lower rear valence
- refreshed body line texture
- painted mirrors and other bits
- new painted 'is' front lip (lost the last one to a large tire carcass after dark on I-95)
- replacement front apron painted
The hood is just about dead on (without metal work) and the valence rust repair was outstanding. I was still waiting on a replacement 'is' decklid spoiler I could have painted and install and I ended up getting my hands on one a couple weeks later. Since the rear end finally looked presentable, I moved quick to get my stashed Stromung exhaust installed with all new mounting hardware. Unfortunately my buddy Tim had an accident messing up his thumb pretty bad so instead of doing install with him, I dropped my car off at Euromotive to get the install completed while I washed my other car that had been on road duty during the repairs. At the end of the afternoon, I got the call that it was ready.
It sounds very throaty and deep, not annoying at all, really a great compliment to this old straight six. Over-run burble is nice, but will be much better once I throw some headers at this thing down the road. In the meantime I'm more than pleased. With this weather I get the pleasure of hearing the pipes sing for a couple of hours a day. Mhmm.
After a few weeks passed, VAG Fair 2010 came around. I saw a few e30s there and I was pretty disappointed I didn't get a chance to get more done before then. With H2oi around the corner I had all the motivation I needed. It also helped that my work schedule was getting back to normal and I'd have Fridays and Saturdays to allocate for the next few weeks. First things first, I'd need to make an updated to-do list and order some parts.
- hood alignment (past functional adjustment)
- repaired rust from battery tray area and lower rear valence
- refreshed body line texture
- painted mirrors and other bits
- new painted 'is' front lip (lost the last one to a large tire carcass after dark on I-95)
- replacement front apron painted
The hood is just about dead on (without metal work) and the valence rust repair was outstanding. I was still waiting on a replacement 'is' decklid spoiler I could have painted and install and I ended up getting my hands on one a couple weeks later. Since the rear end finally looked presentable, I moved quick to get my stashed Stromung exhaust installed with all new mounting hardware. Unfortunately my buddy Tim had an accident messing up his thumb pretty bad so instead of doing install with him, I dropped my car off at Euromotive to get the install completed while I washed my other car that had been on road duty during the repairs. At the end of the afternoon, I got the call that it was ready.
It sounds very throaty and deep, not annoying at all, really a great compliment to this old straight six. Over-run burble is nice, but will be much better once I throw some headers at this thing down the road. In the meantime I'm more than pleased. With this weather I get the pleasure of hearing the pipes sing for a couple of hours a day. Mhmm.
After a few weeks passed, VAG Fair 2010 came around. I saw a few e30s there and I was pretty disappointed I didn't get a chance to get more done before then. With H2oi around the corner I had all the motivation I needed. It also helped that my work schedule was getting back to normal and I'd have Fridays and Saturdays to allocate for the next few weeks. First things first, I'd need to make an updated to-do list and order some parts.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Car Pron - McLaren MP4-12C Launch
After many years of strictly racing involvement, since the release of the McLaren F1 road car, McLaren has reintroduced themselves into the production car market with their latest project, the MP4-12C. Unlike previous efforts, this will be a 100% McLaren effort, using thier own chassis, motor, engineering and production. This will be the company's first of several future automobiles, but in order to make this stamp on the industry as strong as possible they've made the MP4-12C absolutely undeniable in performance specs and capability. While this car isn't for sale until 2011, McLaren has done as much as they can to promote the car and the new production car division of the company; this video covers the MP4-12C promotion at this years Goodwood Festival of speed, using their two ace drivers from Formula 1.
Video courtesy of Motortrend's Youtube Channel.
Video courtesy of Motortrend's Youtube Channel.
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